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EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF THE NEWS-GAZETTE

This week: In In conjunction with Jerry Sloan's Hall of Fame induction, we look at Sloan's brief stop at Illinois to play basketball for legendary coach Harry Combes.

Date: June 7, 1997

Headline: Jazz coach still counts as a former Illini

By JIM ROSSOW

Former Illini winning NBA titles is a rare thing.

In an effort to improve the sorry ratio .. no coach and only three players have pulled it off in 50 years .. we'll allow Jerry Sloan in the club, even though he spent less than a semester on campus in 1960.

Not that Sloan can deliver the UI a ring for the first time since Steve Kuberski mopped up for the Boston Celtics in 1976. His Utaz Jazz trails the Chicago Bulls 2-1 after Friday night's 104-93 victory.

But Sloan, the coach with the silver hair and permanent scowl, has potential. Dave Downey saw it more than 30 years ago.

"The good news is that he appears to be much the same person he was then," said Downey, a three-time All-Big Ten performer at the UI. "Serious, but down to earth. What you see is what you get.

"I'm not surprised he's done as well as he has."

Downey and teammate Bill Small helped recruit Sloan, a rugged type from McLeansboro who eventually accepted Harry Combes' offer to play at the UI.

Sloan, though, never felt comfortable on campus. Downey, then a sophomore, tried to cheer him up, offering Sloan help with his homework and a room in the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house.

"He was a small-town kid with a girlfriend at home," Downey said. "The whole atmosphere, the size of the campus, the pressure .. it got to him."

(Sloan was the youngest of 10 children. An older sister, June Sloan Zick, still lives in nearby Thawville).

Sloan went home for Thanksgiving and never returned to the UI. He transferred to Evansville, where he began his march to the NBA.

Now's he trying to become the first former Illini to coach an NBA champion. Others have tried. Illinois is No. 1 in the nation when it comes to producing NBA coaches.

Seven former Illini have worn the whistle, including Phil Brownstein (Chicago Stags), Jerry Colangelo (Phoenix Suns), Johnny "Red" Kerr (Bulls, Suns), Andy Phillip (St. Louis Hawks), Roger Potter (Tri-City Blackhawks) and John Smiley (Waterloo Hawks). Few taste victory

Kerr and former Illini Wally Osterkom played for an NBA champion. The 1955 Syracuse Nationals wore real short shorts, took a lot of set shots and said thank you once in a while.

The '50s were the glory years for former Illini in the NBA, six players reaching the finals. The pace has considerably slowed.

Will it ever pick up? There's hope, however slim.