The Passing of Jerry Sloan

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Last week a legend of Southern Illinois, Jerry Sloan, died in Salt Lake City after a long battle with illness.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.indystar.com/amp/1751829001

Having spent time in Valpo, Southern Illinois and Indy I had heard a lot about the life and family of Jerry Sloan. While growing up in Valpo I had watched Sloan play for the Bulls with Norm Van Lear, Bob Love and their coach, Dick Motta. In Southern Illinois I heard about some of the personal stories shared by people about Jerry Sloan coming back to McLeansboro, his hometown, in the off seasons to do charity work. Sloan coached the Bulls for 3 years after his playing years but was let go. After his firing by the Bulls Sloan moved back to McLeansboro so his son Brian could play for Coach David Lee at McLeansboro High School. David Lee had been a high school teammate of Jerry Sloan. That 1983-84 McLeansboro Foxes team went on to win the Illinois class A state championship including being undefeated. Brian Sloan was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 1984 and went on to play for Bobby Knight at Indiana University. Brian Sloan is now a doctor at Wishard Hospital Emergency room (now called Eskenazi Hospital) in downtown Indy near IUPUI. Brian's two children both play sports at IU in Bloomington.

https://medicine.iu.edu/faculty/12465/sloan-brian

Jerry Sloan was one of 10 children. His father died when Jerry was 4 years old. His mother had to raise 10 children alone on a farm 15 miles south of McLeansboro in Gobbler's Knob. My favorite story about Sloan and his mother is about coming home one night in heavy snow after losing a high school sectional basketball game.

Lee said Sloan's mother, Jane, was a tough customer as well. After McLeansboro lost to Mount Vernon in the single-class sectional one year, the bus that Lee's father, drove got stuck in the snow so David ended up staying over at Sloan's house.

"She asked the next morning how we did and Jerry said, 'Oh, we lost.' She said, 'You must have not worked hard enough,''' Lee recalled.

In 2007 while visiting my son in Mount Vernon, IL I noticed a story about Sloan, then coaching the Jazz, who came back to the Rend Lake Resort, about 10 miles south of Mount Vernon, and held a charity event in the name of his wife, Bobbye Sloan, who died in 2004.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thesouthern.com/news/local/rend-lake-resort-hosting-jerry-sloan-fundraiser/article_02c7afee-d51f-541b-9b9b-66d787387e83.amp.html

Something else I noticed after rereading the story in the Southern Illinoisan newspaper from 2007 was who wrote the story. Becky Malkovich, was a well known writer in Southern Illinois, who died of cancer in 2014. Becky was the sister of actor John Malkovich, who grew up in Benton, IL.

https://www.franklincounty-news.com/2014/09/22/friends-colleagues-pay-tribute-journalist-becky-malkovich/

Her father, the late Dan Malkovich founded and was publisher of "Outdoor Illinois" magazine and her mother Joe Anne (Choisser) Malkovich worked for many years at the Benton Evening News. The Choisser family owned and operated the Benton Evening News for parts of seven decades.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Malkovich

Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, and grew up in Benton, Illinois. His father, Daniel Leon Malkovich (1926–1980), was a state conservation director and publisher of Outdoor Illinois, a conservation magazine. His mother, Joe Anne (née Choisser; 1928–2009), owned The Benton Evening News, as well as Outdoor Illinois.

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The IU side of the Jerry Sloan / Brian Sloan story in a Daily Hoosier article.

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/son-of-late-jerry-sloan-was-iu-basketballs-greatest-screener-according-to-bob-knight/

The son of a coach, McLeansboro, Illinois product Brian Sloan arrived at IU with the accolades of a future college basketball star.

Sloan won the 1984 Illinois Mr. Basketball award over future NBA players Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, and Hersey Hawkins.

But the 6-foot-8 Sloan never became a star in college.  Sloan started just 12 games over his 4 year career, scoring just 181 points during his stint at IU that spanned from 1984 to 1989.

Role players are a dying breed in today's game, with many young athletes deciding to transfer in search of more playing time rather than carving out a niche.

Knight had a deep appreciation for players like Sloan, who sacrificed for the good of the team.