Jerry Sloan facts for kids
Sloan with the Chicago Bulls in 1969
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
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| Born | March 28, 1942 McLeansboro, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Died | May 22, 2020 (aged 78) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
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| High school | McLeansboro (McLeansboro, Illinois) |
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| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | |||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 195 lb (88 kg) | |||||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||||
| College | Evansville (1962–1965) | |||||||||||||
| NBA Draft | 1965 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall | |||||||||||||
| Selected by the Baltimore Bullets | ||||||||||||||
| Pro career | 1965–1976 | |||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 1978–2011 | |||||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||||
| As player: | ||||||||||||||
| 1965–1966 | Baltimore Bullets | |||||||||||||
| 1966–1976 | Chicago Bulls | |||||||||||||
| As coach: | ||||||||||||||
| 1978–1979 | Chicago Bulls (assistant) | |||||||||||||
| 1979–1982 | Chicago Bulls | |||||||||||||
| 1985–1988 | Utah Jazz (assistant) | |||||||||||||
| 1988–2011 | Utah Jazz | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||
As player:
As coach:
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| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||
| Points | 10,571 (14.0 ppg) | |||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 5,615 (7.4 rpg) | |||||||||||||
| Assists | 1,925 (2.5 apg) | |||||||||||||
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Medals
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Gerald "Jerry" Eugene Sloan (born March 28, 1942 – died May 22, 2020) was a famous American basketball player and coach. He played for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After playing, he became a coach for 30 years, spending 23 of those years as the head coach of the Utah Jazz.
NBA commissioner David Stern called Sloan "one of the greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history." Jerry Sloan was honored by being added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
After playing college basketball for the Evansville Purple Aces, Sloan was chosen by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1965 NBA draft. He played his first season with the Bullets. Then, he spent the rest of his playing career with the Chicago Bulls. He had to stop playing in 1976 because of injuries.
Jerry Sloan was nicknamed "the Original Bull" because he was one of the first and most important players for the Chicago Bulls. He was chosen for the NBA All-Star team twice. He was also named to the NBA All-Defensive Team six times. He was the first player to have his jersey number (number 4) retired by the Bulls, meaning no other player on the team could wear it again.
As a coach, Sloan won 1,221 regular-season games and lost 803. This made him one of the coaches with the most wins in NBA history when he retired. He was the fifth coach to reach 1,000 NBA victories. He is also one of only two coaches in NBA history to win 1,000 games with just one team, the Utah Jazz.
Sloan led the Jazz to the playoffs for 15 years in a row, from 1989 to 2003. He is one of only four NBA coaches to have 15 or more winning seasons in a row. He guided the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. However, his team lost both times to the Chicago Bulls, who were led by Michael Jordan.
In 2001, Jerry Sloan became the longest-serving head coach in American major league sports with the same team. He left the Jazz in 2011 but came back in 2013 as an adviser and scouting consultant.
Contents
Early Life and College Years
Jerry Sloan was born and grew up in Gobbler's Knob, Illinois. This small place is about 15 miles south of McLeansboro. He was the youngest of 10 children. His father passed away when Jerry was only 4 years old, so his mother raised him.
Jerry had to wake up very early, at 4:30 AM, to do farm chores. After that, he would walk almost two miles to get to school in time for basketball practice at 7 AM. After school, he would walk all the way back home from practice. He was a great player in high school and graduated from McLeansboro High School in 1960 as an all-state player.
Sloan played college basketball for the Evansville Purple Aces from 1962 to 1965. He was named the Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) Player of the Year in 1963 and 1965. He was also chosen for the first-team All-ICC three times.
In the 1964 NBA draft, the Baltimore Bullets picked him. But he decided to stay in college. He led the Purple Aces to win their second straight Division II national championship.
Playing Career Highlights
Jerry Sloan was chosen fourth overall in the 1965 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. The next year, the Chicago Bulls, a brand new team, picked Sloan in the 1966 NBA expansion draft. He quickly became known as "the Original Bull."
He was famous for his tough defense. He helped the Bulls reach the playoffs in their very first season. He also led them to their first and only division title before the Michael Jordan era. After several knee injuries, he stopped playing in 1976.
Even though he was 6 feet 5 inches tall, which is not super tall for a basketball player, he was a great rebounder. He averaged 7.4 rebounds per game during his career. In one season, he even averaged 9.1 rebounds.
In 1978, the Chicago Bulls retired his number 4 jersey. This was the first time the Bulls had ever retired a player's jersey, showing how important he was to the team.
Coaching Journey
After Jerry Sloan stopped playing in 1976, his college coach, Arad McCutchan, suggested he become a coach at his old college. Sloan took the job but left after only five days. Sadly, that same season, the Evansville basketball team and coaches died in a plane crash.
Two years later, in 1978, the Chicago Bulls hired Sloan as a scout. After one season, he became an assistant coach for the team. In 1979, Sloan was promoted to head coach of the Bulls. He coached the team for less than three seasons. He led the team to the playoffs in his second year.
After leaving Chicago, Sloan became a scout for the Utah Jazz for one season. In December 1988, the Jazz chose Sloan as their new head coach. Sloan had a very successful time coaching the Jazz. He led his team to the playoffs for 16 seasons in a row.
During this time, he coached future Hall of Fame players like Karl Malone and John Stockton. He also coached other great players such as Jeff Hornacek, Antoine Carr, and Mark Eaton.
Sloan led the Jazz to win six division championships. They also had 10 seasons where they won more than 50 games. He took the Jazz to the NBA Finals twice, in 1997 and 1998. Both times, they lost to his old team, the Chicago Bulls, who were led by Michael Jordan.
After Malone and Stockton retired, Sloan coached a younger group of players. These included Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, and Deron Williams.
In the 2003-2004 season, many people thought the Jazz would be one of the worst teams. But Sloan and his team surprised everyone. They finished with a good record of 42 wins and 40 losses. He almost won the NBA Coach of the Year Award that season.
On December 11, 2006, Sloan got his 1,000th career win against the Dallas Mavericks. This made him only the fifth coach in NBA history to reach this milestone.
On November 7, 2008, Sloan reached 1,000 wins as coach of the Jazz. He became the first coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games with just one team. He continued to coach the Jazz, leading them to a 53–29 record and the playoffs in the 2009–10 season.
Jerry Sloan was known for being very intense as a coach, just like he was as a player. He was suspended from games a few times for arguing with referees.
In April 2009, Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. His former longtime point guard, John Stockton, was in the same Hall of Fame class.
Leaving and Returning to the Jazz
On February 10, 2011, Jerry Sloan and his assistant coach, Phil Johnson, decided to leave their coaching jobs with the Jazz. Sloan said that he had less energy and that he had always had disagreements with players. He said, "I forced myself out."
A few weeks later, player Deron Williams was traded to another team. Many people felt that Sloan's departure and Williams' trade marked the end of an era for the Utah Jazz.
On June 19, 2013, the Utah Jazz announced that Sloan was coming back to the team. He returned as an adviser and scouting consultant.
On January 31, 2014, the Jazz honored Sloan by raising a special banner. The banner had the number "1223" on it. This number represents all of Sloan's wins (regular season and playoffs) with the Jazz from 1988 to 2011.
Personal Life and Health
Jerry Sloan was married to his high-school sweetheart, Bobbye, for 41 years. They had three children. Bobbye passed away in 2004 after battling pancreatic cancer.
In 2006, Jerry Sloan married Tammy Jessop in Salt Lake City. He also had a stepson named Rhett.
Sloan was known for wearing John Deere hats. He also enjoyed collecting old furniture and dolls. A fun hobby of his was collecting and fixing up old tractors. He once had 70 tractors, but he decided to sell most of them after one of his favorite tractors was stolen.
In April 2016, Jerry Sloan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia. He passed away on May 22, 2020, at the age of 78, due to complications from these diseases.
Images for kids
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Sloan with the Chicago Bulls in 1969
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Sloan playing for Evansville in 1965
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Sloan as a coach of the Utah Jazz in 2010
See also
In Spanish: Jerry Sloan para niños
