Sons played in Bundesliga
US legend disturbed with statements about vaccination
01/27/2022 1:23 p.m
As basketball players, John Stockton and Karl Malone have become NBA legends. But outside the field, the reputation of the former professional athletes is increasingly suffering. Now Stockton is making absurd claims about the corona vaccination. His former university draws consequences.
Actually, John Stockton sits in the fifth row at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane alongside his wife Nada. Looking up, under the roof of his alma mater Gonzaga’s basketball hall, he can see the jersey number 12 banner hung in his honor. But that’s not possible at the moment, the former NBA star is undesirable, Stockton doesn’t want to wear a mask.
Stockton, congenial partner of “Mailman” Karl Malone at Utah Jazz, made famous by great passports and tight pants, has a very special attitude to the topic of Corona. The 59-year-old has no use for mouth and nose protection, and he doesn’t believe in vaccination either.
“More than 100 professional athletes have already died,” Stockton said in an interview with the daily newspaper “The Spokesman-Review” last year. “In the prime of their lives” vaccinated people simply “fell over on the field”. A total of tens of thousands of people, if not millions, died as a result of a corona vaccination. Strong stuff, not scientifically proven at all, there are no indications for it.
Stockton and Malone reached the NBA Finals twice, but lost in 1997 and 1998 to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
(Photo: imago images / PCN Photography)
It also remains unclear who all the deceased professionals he is talking about are supposed to be. Because, of course, famous athletes dying on this path would be a huge topic. Even the lack of reports should therefore trigger skepticism. The former point guard offends with his unsubstantiated and hardly tenable statements and his unsolidarity behavior, his university had enough now.
Millionaire Malone refused minimal alimony
“We take the enforcement of Covid-19 health and safety protocols seriously,” Gonzaga said. “The recent decision is an example of that.” It must not have been easy for the university to slam the door on John Houston Stockton. He is one of the most prominent graduates and is the all-time number one in assists (15,806) and steals (3265) in the NBA. Also a member of the “Dream Team” from Barcelona in 1992.
“I’ve been part of this campus since I was five or six years old,” Stockton said, “I was born just a few blocks away.” After the measure, the relationship with the university was “tense, but not broken,” said Stockton, “I’m sure we’ll get through it.” As legendary and sportingly outstanding as the duo Stockton/Malone was once, it has since lost its public image. With Stockton it is the unscientific and right-wing populist statements about vaccination, with Malone it was his relationships with minors and the way he treated the children that resulted from them.
Malone was 20 when 13-year-old Gloria Bell gave birth to their daughter, as became known through media reports in 1998. According to the US publication The Daily Beast, it is only thanks to the forbearance of Bell’s family that Malone did not face a rape charge. He denied paternity and initially refused to pay the required $125 a week in maintenance as an NBA superstar worth millions because he felt the sum was too high.
Malone only acknowledged paternity after a court case, as did twins Daryl and Cheryl Ford, whom he had when he was 17 with Bonita Ford, the same age. At that point, the three children were long teenagers, but the basketball player had never sought contact with them until then.
Stockton, who was born in Spokane/Washington, is worried about his image. “I understand I’m a public figure and they show me at every game. I take that responsibility very seriously,” said the Hall of Famer, whose sons Michael, 32, and David, 30, before some time played in the Bundesliga. He doesn’t want to change his mind. So the famous Gonzaga fan just waits. “If the rules change, it returns the tickets,” Stockton said. Until then, the seats in row five behind the writing table will probably remain empty.
