"The numbers are staggering. His name still rings out and forever will.

Jerry Sloan collected 1,221 victories coaching the Jazz and Chicago, with 1,127 captured as he led Utah to two NBA Finals and 19 postseason appearances. He ranks third all-time in NBA coaching wins, was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, and is as responsible for the Jazz's golden era — and the fact the small-market organization is still entrenched in Salt Lake City — as much as anyone in franchise history.

Even the continuing fallout from Sloan's controversial Feb. 10, 2011, resignation — which has its first anniversary Friday — hasn't dimmed his legacy.

From 1988 until 2003, the quiet but fiery Sloan took the Jazz to the playoffs. It was 15 seasons of stunning consistency, with 50- and 60-win campaigns cemented into the calendar. By mid-April, Sloan, John Stockton and Karl Malone would again be in basketball's bonus round, with the Delta Center/EnergySolutions Arena sounding like a riot and the rest of the NBA wondering how the only game in town had done it again.

"It was, to me, like the eighth wonder of the world," NBA commissioner David Stern said. "It was sort of like the sun was going to rise and then it would set, and then the Jazz would be in the playoffs under Jerry Sloan. … I'm a great admirer.""