by Edmund Bertram

Created on: June 13, 2008

Gerald Eugene Sloan was born March 28, 1942 in McLeansboro, Illinois where he lived through high school. He left McLeansboro to go to the University of Evansville, in Indiana about 80 miles from his home. He quickly became respected for his abilities on the court on his college team. He started for the team three years; he was the team's leading scorer each of those three seasons, averaging 15.5 points per game during that time period. He was the leader for the Purple Aces, taking them to the NCAA tournament twice. His efforts were honored his senior year as he was named to the All-American second team.

In 1964, Jerry Sloan was selected in the third round of the NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. He turned down this offer, however, and stayed in college another year, which proved greatly to the benefit of his career. The following year, he was the number six overall pick in the draft. It was again the Bullets who chose Sloan, but he stayed in Baltimore for only one season before going to the team where his career as a player would be defined. He is often dubbed "the original Bull," as Chicago made him their first choice in their expansion draft in 1966. It was the incredible defense that especially marked Sloan as a great player from early on in his career. In his first season with the Bulls, they made the playoffs, a feat seen as nearly impossible for expansion teams. During his time with the Bulls, Sloan led the Bulls to the only division title the team would win before the days of Michael Jordan. He was given many honors by the league; he made the NBA All-Defensive Team four seasons.

As a result of many knee injuries, Jerry Sloan's playing career ended in 1976. He was immediately hired as a scout for the Bulls. The following year, his coaching career began, still with the Bulls as their assistant coach. He was promoted to head coach in 1979, coaching the team into the playoffs his second year as coach. However, his third year, the team began living up to none of its expectations from the previous season. Sloan was fired as a result. He spent the next several years back at scouting, this time for the Utah Jazz, along with some CBA coaching with his hometown's team, the Evansville Thunder.

The career for which Jerry Sloan is most known, began in 1988 when he replaced Frank Layden as head coach of the Utah Jazz. He coached the Jazz into the NBA playoffs an amazing 16 consecutive seasons. This was largely due to a consistently strong line-up of players including

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