John Stockton

He became the third generation in his family at GU; grandfather Houston Stockton was a well-known football player for the Bulldogs in the 1920s.

Fitzgerald was also the athletic director; he stepped away from coaching for four years after Stockton's freshman year and promoted assistant Jay Hillock to head coach.

John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player.

He attended grade school at St. Aloysius and moved on to high school at Gonzaga Prep and graduated in 1980, after breaking the city record for points scored in a single basketball season.

After considering offers from Don Monson at Idaho and Mike Montgomery at Montana (both in the Big Sky Conference), Stockton decided to stay in Spokane and play college basketball for Dan Fitzgerald at Gonzaga University.

Regarded as one of the greatest point guards, players, and passers of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) with the Utah Jazz, and the team made the playoffs in each of his 19 seasons.

During his senior year for the Bulldogs in 1984, Stockton averaged 20.9 points per game shooting 57% from the field.

The Zags posted a 17–11 record, their best in 17 years, and Stockton led the West Coast Athletic Conference in scoring, assists, and steals.

For his performance, he was named WCAC Player of the Year, the first-ever Gonzaga player to earn the award.

He was one of 74 college players invited to the spring tryouts for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team and coached by Bob Knight.

Stockton made the initial cut in April to the final 20, but was one of four released in May (with Charles Barkley, Terry Porter, and Maurice Martin) in the penultimate cut to 16 players.

Though not selected, the experience led him to meet his future teammate and friend, Karl Malone.

In June 1984, Stockton was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 1984 NBA draft with the 16th overall pick.

Though he was relatively unknown during his college career, his stock rose significantly in the months before the draft.

Nevertheless, the announcement of his selection to the thousands of Jazz fans gathered at the Salt Palace on draft day was met with a stunned silence.

On November 10, 1984, Stockton had his highest scoring game as a rookie, with 19 points in only 19 minutes of playing time, during a loss against the Denver Nuggets.

Stockton became the starting point guard for the Jazz in the 1987–88 season.

That season, despite eventually finishing tenth in MVP voting and being named to the All-NBA Second Team after averaging 14.7 points, 13.8 assists, and 3 steals a game, Stockton was not selected to play in the 1988 NBA All-Star Game.

In 1988–89, he played in his first All-Star Game, and led the NBA in assists per game for the first of nine consecutive seasons.

On January 15, 1991, Stockton scored 20 points and dished out a career-high and franchise-record 28 assists in a 124–102 home win against the San Antonio Spurs.

On February 12, Stockton nearly recorded a triple-double after putting up 19 points, 11 assists, and 9 steals in a 113–92 win over the Houston Rockets.

In 1992, Stockton and the Jazz reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time; however, they were defeated by the Portland Trail Blazers in six games.

Along with Malone, Stockton was named co-MVP of the All-Star Game in 1993 and the game was held in Salt Lake City.

During the 1994-95 season, Stockton achieved many milestones.

Stockton and the Jazz reached the Conference Finals again in 1994 and 1996, but lost to the Houston Rockets and the Seattle SuperSonics, respectively.

On February 1, 1995, he passed Magic Johnson (who had 9,921 assists) as the NBA's all-time leader in assists as he dished out 16 assists in a 129-98 victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets.

His 16 assists gave him 9,937 assists for his career at that time.

Magic Johnson, in an interview, said to Stockton, "John, from one assist man to another, you are the greatest team leader I have ever played against."

Seventeen days later, Stockton dished out 15 assists in a 108-98 victory over the Boston Celtics.

His 15 assists gave him a career total of 10,008 assists, the first-ever player to have dished out 10,000 assists in his career.

On March 25, Stockton just became the second player in NBA history to have recorded 2,000 steals after recording 6 steals in a 117-110 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

In 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

In October 2021, Stockton was again honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Born in Spokane, Washington, to Clementine (Frei) and Jack Stockton.

Utah set a franchise record and led the Western Conference with 64 wins in the 1996–97 season.

The team again reached the Western Conference Finals.

In Game Six of the Conference Finals, Stockton scored 25 points, dished out 13 assists, and made a buzzer-beating, game-winning three-point shot over the Rockets' Charles Barkley to send the Jazz to the first of two consecutive NBA Finals appearances.

In 1997 and 1998, together with his longtime teammate Karl Malone, Stockton led the Jazz to the franchise's only two NBA Finals appearances, both of which were losses to the Chicago Bulls.

Stockton was a ten-time NBA All-Star and holds the NBA records for most career assists and steals by wide margins.

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as a member of the 1992 United States Olympic basketball team.