Karl Malone: “Please Pray for Our Coach Jerry Sloan”

With ‘The Last Dance’ concluding last night, we got to see a lot of the Utah Jazz and head coach Jerry Sloan who — SPOILER ALERT — lost two straight NBA Finals to the Bulls in 1997 and 1998.  Unfortunately, head coach Jerry Sloan has been in failing health since a 2016 diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and dementia and it was reported in July of 2019 that his condition had worsened.

Ahmad Rashad is hosting some ’90s reunion Zoom meetings, one of which aired before the final episodes of ‘The Last Dance.’ After thanking each of his fellow ’90s stars (and Robert Horry) for making him a better player, Utah Jazz great Karl Malone asked everyone “to please pray for our coach Jerry Sloan.” The whole video is worth a watch, but you can find the clip starting at 3:30:

Charles Barkley, David Robinson (@DavidtheAdmiral), Karl Malone (@TheDeliverer_32), John Stockton & Gary Payton (@GaryPayton_) closed out tonight's NBA Inside Stuff '90s Reunion by expressing gratitude for the other 1990s NBA legends that pushed them to be great. pic.twitter.com/4VCgoZgozt

— NBA (@NBA) May 18, 2020

Jerry Sloan was a two-time All-Star and four-time All-Defensive First with the Bulls from 1966-76. His No. 4 is retired by them. After an unsuccessful stint as Bulls head coach from 1979-82, Sloan joined the Utah Jazz and served as head coach from 1988 to 2011. Now 78 years old, Sloan’s coaching career was very close to never happening and he is lucky to be alive after something that happened over 40 years ago.

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After retiring in 1976, Sloan took the head coaching job at his alma mater, Evansville. However, he resigned from the position after only five days due to “personal reasons.” This decision ultimately saved his life as the Evansville team plane was involved in a plane crash on Dec. 13, 1977 in which all 29 people on board died, including 14 players and head coach Bobby Watson. Known for his extreme intensity, the incident changed Sloan:

“I’ve always probably been a little carried away by basketball,” Sloan acknowledged. “But at that point, I realized I needed to change and that I was wrapped too tight. I don’t think I lost any of my competitiveness; it was about how and why things happen.

“That’s when I realized basketball was just a game.”

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