While Karl Malone and John Stockton are currently the only Utah Jazz figures to have statues bearing their likenesses just outside Vivint Arena, many would argue that Jerry Sloan also deserves to be immortalized in bronze. Under Sloan’s direction, the team captured more than 1200 wins and made back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals.
Now, after decades of duking it out on the hardwood as both a player and a coach, Utah’s legendary former headman is in a fight of a different kind. Jazz Nation and the basketball world at large were shocked by the revelation last month that Sloan, 74, is battling Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.