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47-556: Puma wanted to continue its success it had and partner with a basketball player to help promote its brand. The company ultimately decided to work with Walt "Clyde" Frazier , who was known for always dressing extravagantly outside of games. Puma decided to sign Frazier to a deal and approached him with an offer. Originally, they wanted Frazier to wear the Puma Basket but Frazier refused because they were too clunky and he didn't like them. He told them he would sign with them if they made

94-493: A fedora similar to that worn by Warren Beatty in his portrayal of Clyde Barrow in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde . As a sophomore, Frazier's 17.5 points, 7.9 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game averages made him one of the most improved players in the league. On October 30, 1969, Frazier recorded 43 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 5 assists in a 123–110 win over the Houston Rockets. Frazier

141-521: A 91–86 loss to the Bulls on February 9, and assistant coach Tyrone Corbin was then named as Sloan's replacement. He was stubborn, you have to be as a coach. But, he had a system, and the system was effective. It's not easy to have a team in Utah. It's not the biggest draw in the country as far as free agents to go there, and they were able to have a really great home record, played the kind of basketball that

188-470: A lifetime deal with Puma and the shoe was brought back. The original release of the shoe with the same design and features. Has the same design as the original but instead of a suede upper, it features a full leather upper. After 20 years, Puma re-entered the basketball market and released a new shoe called the "Puma Clyde Court Disrupt" on September 21, 2018. The shoe was marketed as their flagship product for basketball. Another performance shoe update to

235-472: A new shoe and on 3 conditions: he wanted the first flat basketball kick to be made with suede instead of leather, his signature "Clyde" printed on every shoe, and a new color variation for every NBA game he participated in. The company agreed and work began that year. Puma took the Puma Suede and modified it with input from Frazier in order to create a shoe that he felt comfortable playing in. The new shoe

282-522: A rival — inspired the name of the popular Knicks blog, postingandtoasting.com. And his phrase for playing tough defense, "tenacious D," provided the name for actor Jack Black's humorous musical duo Tenacious D . Frazier lives in Harlem with his long-term girlfriend, Patricia James, and they also have a home in St. Croix . He is the father of a son referred to both as Walt Jr. and, later, Walt III. Frazier

329-637: A sophomore in 1965, Frazier led SIU to the NCAA Division II Tournament, only to lose in the finals to Jerry Sloan and the Evansville Purple Aces 85–82 in overtime. In 1966, he was academically ineligible for basketball. SIU moved up from Division II to Division I in 1967, and Frazier and SIU won the National Invitation Tournament , defeating Marquette University 71–56 in the final, in

376-476: A stepson as a result of this marriage. Sloan was known to wear John Deere hats, and collected antique furniture and dolls. He also collected and restored tractors as a hobby. After amassing a collection of 70 tractors, Sloan decided to sell all but two of them after a 35-year-old Allis-Chalmers tractor was stolen. In April 2016, Sloan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia . He died on May 22, 2020, at age 78, from complications of

423-582: Is a member of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha . Jerry Sloan As coach: Gerald Eugene Sloan (March 28, 1942 – May 22, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before beginning a 30-year coaching career, 23 of which were spent as head coach of the Utah Jazz (1988–2011). NBA commissioner David Stern referred to Sloan as "one of

470-561: Is currently a color commentator for telecasts of Knicks games on the MSG Network . In 1996, Frazier was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team . In October 2021, Frazier was again honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team . Walt Frazier was also named the MVP of

517-625: Is one of two coaches in NBA history to record 1,000 wins with one club (the Utah Jazz). Sloan coached the Jazz to 15 consecutive playoff appearances from 1989 to 2003. He is one of only four coaches in NBA history with 15-plus consecutive seasons that have a winning record. He led Utah to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998 , but lost to Chicago both times. After Tom Kelly stepped down as manager of

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564-479: Is sent away. For two decades we knew who the Utah Jazz were and what they stood for as a franchise. Now we, and they, can have no idea." A year later, Karl Malone , who played under Sloan for over 18 years, indicated that Sloan did not feel supported by Kevin O'Connor and Greg Miller. Longtime San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich would later mention him as a mentor for his overall coaching success in

611-604: The 1966 NBA expansion draft . He became known as "the Original Bull", known for his tenacious defense, leading them to the playoffs in their first season, and to their first and only division title before the Michael Jordan era; after a series of knee injuries, he retired in 1976. He averaged more than 18 points a game in 1970–71, and over 15 points per game three other seasons. Despite his height of only 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), his career rebounding average

658-630: The Baltimore Bullets and their star shooting guard Earl Monroe in the second round of the playoffs despite Frazier's 20.4 points per game average during the series. During the off-season, in May 1971, Frazier scored 26 points and was named MVP of an exhibition game played between NBA and ABA All-Stars in Houston's Astrodome . Following the 1970–71 season, the Knicks traded for Monroe, who

705-570: The Chicago Bulls , retiring due to injuries in 1976. Nicknamed " the Original Bull ", he was a two-time NBA All-Star , a six-time member of the All-Defensive Team and the first player to have his number retired by the Bulls. Sloan then became a coach, and had a career regular-season win–loss record of 1,221–803, placing him third all-time in NBA wins at the time he retired. He was the fifth coach to reach 1,000 NBA victories and

752-637: The Memphis Grizzlies in voting for the 2004 NBA Coach of the Year Award . Sloan collected his 1,000th career win against the Dallas Mavericks on December 11, 2006, in a 101–79 victory, which made him only the fifth coach in NBA history to reach the milestone. After disappointing seasons in 2004–05 and 2005–06 , the Jazz in the 2006–07 returned to contention. For this, Sloan was again on many sportswriters' ballots for Coach of

799-655: The Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball in 2001, Sloan became the longest-tenured head coach in American major league sports with their current franchise. He resigned mid-season from the Jazz in 2011 before returning in 2013 as an adviser and scouting consultant. Born and raised in Gobbler's Knob, Illinois, 15 miles (24 km) south of McLeansboro , Sloan was the youngest of 10 children and

846-507: The Clyde line but designed to resemble the original shoe instead of modern basketball shoes. The shoe was debuted alongside New York Knick players and released on October 18, 2019. The latest iteration of the modern Clyde line, the "Puma Clyde All-Pro" was released on November 19, 2020. The shoe was designed with Puma's own technology including a Pebax drop in the heel, ProFoam+ in the midsole, and an upper made with their own Matryx knit. The shoe

893-462: The Evansville basketball team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash at Evansville Airport . Two years later, Sloan was hired by the Bulls as a scout. After one season in this role, he became an assistant coach with the team. In 1979, Sloan was promoted to the position of head coach. He held the position for less than three seasons, winning 94 games and losing 121. He led the team to

940-445: The Jazz chose Sloan as the new head coach. Sloan enjoyed a successful run of 16 consecutive seasons of taking his team to the playoffs, during which time he coached future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton , along with other players including Jeff Hornacek , Antoine Carr , Tom Chambers , Mark Eaton , and Jeff Malone . Sloan led the Jazz to six division championships and 10 seasons with greater than 50 wins. He also took

987-605: The Jazz to the NBA Finals twice, losing in 1997 and 1998 , both times to his old team, the Chicago Bulls, led at the time by Michael Jordan. By the end of this period, he had joined Pat Riley and Phil Jackson as the only coaches with 10 or more seasons winning 50 or more games. After the retirement of long-time Jazz players Malone and Stockton, Sloan coached a younger group of players, including Carlos Boozer , Andrei Kirilenko , Mehmet Okur , and later, Deron Williams . After John Stockton retired and Karl Malone signed with

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1034-656: The Knicks to a second NBA championship in 1973 , topping the Lakers in a five-game series. His defense on Jerry West played a major role in defeating the star-filled team. In 1976 , Frazier was selected for his seventh and final NBA All-Star Game. Frazier held Knicks franchise records for most games (759), minutes played (28,995), field goals attempted (11,669), field goals made (5,736), free throws attempted (4,017), free throws made (3,145), assists (4,791) and points (14,617). Patrick Ewing eventually broke most of those records, but Frazier's assists record still stands. Frazier

1081-454: The Lakers in the summer of 2003, the 2003-2004 Jazz were widely predicted to be the worst team in the NBA and some even predicted that Utah would set the all-time single season record for fewest wins in a season. Despite the very low expectations and despite second leading scorer Matt Harpring being sidelined for 51 games due to a knee injury, Sloan and his team were involved in a battle for

1128-672: The NBA. On June 19, 2013, the Utah Jazz announced that Sloan was returning as an adviser and scouting consultant. On January 31, 2014, the Jazz honored Sloan by raising a banner featuring the number "1223", which represents Sloan's total number of combined regular season and playoff wins with the Jazz from 1988 to 2011. Sloan married his high-school sweetheart, Bobbye. After a much-publicized six-year battle against breast cancer , she died of pancreatic cancer in 2004. They had three children and were married 41 years. In 2006, Sloan married Tammy Jessop, in Salt Lake City . Sloan had

1175-592: The Year, however, he lost the award to Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell , who led his team to a franchise record-tying 47 victories and their first Atlantic Division title. Sloan lost the vote 394–301. The Jazz advanced to the Western Conference finals on May 15, 2007, with a 100–87 win over the Golden State Warriors . It was the sixth time in franchise history that Utah advanced to

1222-558: The conference finals, all coming under Sloan. However, they went on to lose 4–1 to the San Antonio Spurs. During the 2008–09 season , Sloan reached 1,000 wins as coach of the Jazz on November 7 after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 104–97 in a Friday night game. He became the first coach in NBA history with 1,000 wins for one team. Sloan returned as head coach of the Jazz for the 2009–10 season , leading

1269-643: The eighth spot in the Western Conference , which would have given Sloan his 17th straight trip to the playoffs. The Jazz were tied with the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and last spot of the playoffs with three games to go in the regular season. The Jazz lost the final two games, causing Sloan to miss the playoffs for the first time in 18 seasons as Jazz coach. After leading a young team in its first year without Stockton and Malone to an unexpected 42–40 record, he finished just behind Hubie Brown of

1316-491: The first of two All-Star games played between ABA and NBA players in May 1971. Walter "Clyde" Frazier Jr. was born on March 29, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia . The eldest of nine children, Frazier attended Atlanta's David Tobias Howard High School . He quarterbacked the football team, and played catcher on the baseball team. He learned basketball on a rutted and dirt playground, the only facility available at his all-black school in

1363-546: The greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history". Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. After playing college basketball with the Evansville Purple Aces , Sloan was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the fourth overall pick of the 1965 NBA draft . He spent his rookie season with the Bullets before playing the remainder of his career with

1410-605: The last college basketball game played at the old Madison Square Garden in New York. Frazier was named Most Valuable Player of the 1967 tournament. Frazier was drafted fifth overall by the New York Knicks , going on to average 9.0 points per game and be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team during the 1967–68 season . During his rookie season with the Knicks, he picked up the nickname "Clyde" because he wore

1457-559: The late 1960s, Frazier has been known for being a fashion icon, and was one of the first major pro athletes to be acclaimed as such. The website Clyde So Fly catalogs and grades every suit he wears while broadcasting New York Knicks games on the MSG Network. Frazier has a line of Puma sneakers named after him. The first Puma Clyde was released in 1973. Until that time, the Converse Chuck Taylor, launched in 1917,

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1504-542: The league", Sloan said. "There's only so much energy left and my energy has dropped." KSL-TV later asked Sloan whether reported conflicts with guard Deron Williams forced him to leave. "I forced myself out", Sloan responded. Williams acknowledged that he had a disagreement with Sloan during the previous night's game, but he added, "I would never force Coach Sloan out of Utah . He's meant more to this town, more to this organization than I have by far. I would have asked out of Utah first." Sloan's last game as head coach came in

1551-655: The playoffs in his second year, but was fired after a poor start during the following campaign. After departing Chicago, Sloan became a scout for the Utah Jazz for one season. He then became coach of the Evansville Thunder of the Continental Basketball Association for the 1984 season but never coached a game instead accepting an assistant coach position with the Jazz. After Frank Layden became team president in December 1988,

1598-406: The racially segregated South of the 1950s. Although he was offered other scholarships for his football skills, Frazier accepted a basketball offer from Southern Illinois University , saying that "there were no black quarterbacks, so I played basketball." Frazier became one of the premier collegiate basketball players in the country. He was named a Division II All-American in 1964 and 1965. As

1645-634: The same class as his former longtime point guard John Stockton. Sloan chose the class of 2006 Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to introduce him during his induction ceremony. Sloan revealed on February 7, 2011, that he had earlier in the year signed a contract extension to coach the Jazz for the 2011–12 season, which would have been his 24th season as head coach with the Jazz. However, on February 10, 2011, Sloan and assistant Phil Johnson resigned their positions effective immediately. Sloan downplayed reports that conflicts with players prompted his departure. "I've had confrontations with players since I've been in

1692-450: The series, playing the first two minutes of game seven and scoring the Knicks' first four points before limping off. With Reed out, Frazier went on to post one of the greatest performances in NBA playoff history, tallying 36 points, seven rebounds, 19 assists, and six steals in leading New York to victory in what is referred to by ESPN as one of the best game sevens ever played. The Knicks were unable to repeat as champions in 1971, falling to

1739-514: The team to a 53–29 record and the playoffs . Mirroring his tenacity as a player, Sloan was just as fiery as a coach. He was suspended one game for pushing referee Bob Delaney in April 1993. A decade later, Sloan was served a seven-game suspension in 2003 for pushing referee Courtney Kirkland in Sacramento . In April 2009, Sloan was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame , in

1786-453: Was 7.4 rebounds per game, with one season having an average of 9.1 rebounds. He was a career 72 percent free throw shooter. His number 4 jersey was subsequently retired by the Chicago Bulls in 1978, becoming the first retired jersey in franchise history. While at Evansville, coach Arad McCutchan suggested that Sloan coach at his alma mater. After retiring in 1976, Sloan took the Evansville job, but withdrew after five days. That same season,

1833-468: Was admirable. So, we all had admiration for him as coaches around the league. So, as a colleague, we’ll miss him. — Phil Jackson , former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers head coach Nearly two weeks later, Williams was involved in a trade on February 23, 2011, that sent him to the New Jersey Nets . Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated wrote, "First Jerry Sloan leaves, now Williams

1880-529: Was always difficult for Frazier to guard. Not many people thought the two players’ styles would mesh, but Monroe and Frazier soon became one of the best backcourts in the league, even earning the nickname the "Rolls-Royce" backcourt. The Knicks returned to the NBA Finals in 1972 , but fell to the Los Angeles Lakers , who completed a record-setting season with an NBA championship. Frazier led

1927-412: Was chosen as an NBA All-Star during the 1969–70 season , the first of seven selections during his 10-year stint with the Knicks. The Knicks made it to the 1970 NBA Finals thanks to the great play of both Frazier and star teammate Willis Reed . However, in game five, Reed suffered a painful leg injury. With Reed out, chances of the Knicks winning the championship were slim. However, Reed returned to

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1974-401: Was made more narrow and has a more pointed toe box and the sole was improved and made more durable. Unnecessary aesthetic features were also removed. The new shoe was called the "Puma Clyde" and was released in 1973. The shoe was met with great success and it was reported that Frazier wore all 390 different colors for the shoes throughout his career. Years later, in 2018, Frazier decided to sign

2021-689: Was named the Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) Player of the Year in 1963 and 1965 and a three-time first-team All-ICC selection. He was chosen as the 19th overall pick in the 1964 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets but he remained in college and led the Purple Aces to their second in two consecutive Division II national titles. Sloan was selected fourth in the 1965 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. The Chicago Bulls , an expansion team , selected Sloan in

2068-507: Was promoted by Kyle Kuzma . Walt Frazier Walter " Clyde " Frazier Jr. (born March 29, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As their floor general and top perimeter defender, he led the New York Knicks to the franchise's only two championships (1970 and 1973), and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. Upon his retirement from basketball, Frazier went into broadcasting ; he

2115-450: Was raised by a single mother after his father died when Jerry was 4 years old. He would wake up at 4:30 a.m. to do farm chores and then walk almost two miles to get to school in time for 7 a.m. basketball practice. After school, he would walk back home from practice. Sloan graduated an all-state player from McLeansboro High School in 1960. Sloan played college basketball for the Evansville Purple Aces from 1962 to 1965, where he

2162-408: Was the only basketball sneaker bearing a player's name. Frazier, then, is the first modern NBA star to have his own line of sneakers. The promotional material references Frazier's "signature colorful style". Frazier's loquacious, rhyming broadcast commentary has become part and parcel of his image. His phrase "posting and toasting" — a description of player moving close to the basket and scoring over

2209-613: Was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers after the 1976–77 season for the younger Jim Cleamons . The trade left Frazier stunned, and he later commented that "It was like getting traded to Siberia." Due in part to repeated foot injuries, Frazier played only 66 games over the course of three seasons with the Cavaliers. He retired midway through the 1979–80 season , when he only played 3 games and averaged career-lows of 3.3 points and 2.7 assists before being waived. Since

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