John Stockton is a 10-time NBA All-Star, 2-time Mays Smith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, and former U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist. He is a fixture at the University of Gonzaga basketball games, and has been in the press for his refusal to wear a mask at a recent game. He talks about the reaction to his decision not to wear one at the game, and why he believes it was the right thing to do. He also talks about why he doesn t think the school should require athletes to wear masks in the games. John Stockton was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by the league s 75th Anniversary Team, and was a member of the 1992 Dream Team. He also played on the 1996 Olympic team and won two Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 96. In October 2021, John was again honored as one of NBA's greatest players of all-time by the NBA's 75th anniversary team. And he spent an entire NBA career as a point guard for the Utah Jazz, and the team made the playoffs in each of its 19 seasons. After his retirement from basketball in 1998, John and his family moved back home to Spokane, Washington, where he now lives with his wife and three grown children. John is a regular visitor at the Gonzaga University basketball games and is an avid supporter of his alma mater, the Zags, which is a great place to go to the games in Spokane, Washington, Washington. John has a daughter and a grand old dog. and a great friend, Anton Watson, who is a good friend of John s old high school friend. I hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast and that you enjoy listening to John's story and learn a little bit more about John's passion for the game and his love of the game. Thank you for listening and supporting the game! -Jon Stockton and I know you'll enjoy it. -Sue and I'll see you in the future of basketball in Spokane! -Tommy Stockton and I hope it's a great episode of his podcast, -- Tom Bells, too! -- - Timestamps: 1:00: 2:00 - 3:30 - 4:15 - 5:00 6:30 7:40 - 8:20 - 9:10 - 10:40 11:15 12:20 13:00 | 15:10 16:30 | 17:40 | 18:10 | 15:20 | 16:00 // 16:40 // 17:15 | 17:30 // 18 :00 19:00 / 21:00 & 22:00 ?
00:01:00.000He spent an entire NBA career as a point guard for the Utah Jazz, and the team made the playoffs in each of its 19 seasons.
00:01:09.000In 1997 and 1998, together with his longtime friend and teammate Carl Malone, Stockton led the Jazz of the franchise's only two NBA final appearances, both of which were lost to the Chicago Bulls.
00:01:25.000Stockton is a 10-time NBA All-Star, two-time Mays Smith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
00:01:33.000And he is in the press recently or having his lifetime tickets provoked by his alma mater, Gonzaga University from their basketball game for his refusal to wear masks at Gonzaga University from their basketball game for his refusal to wear masks at And John and I have been talking for several years about these issues.
00:01:57.000And he is a quiet, humble, very reserved man.
00:02:02.000He is now fed up with what's happening in this country.
00:02:06.000And he called me today and said he's at the point where he's willing now to start talking about it.
00:02:14.000So thank you very, very much, John, for joining me on the podcast.
00:02:24.000You sit across from those students and you inspire them.
00:02:29.000It's something that the university has used for years to publicize the game.
00:02:34.000Your presence there is something that everybody Well, the role's pretty special, actually.
00:03:02.000I mean, myself, my family, we've enjoyed Gonzaga games way back from the time I played there, but also, especially lately.
00:03:10.000Once I retired, we came back home to Spokane.
00:03:13.000I probably haven't missed a handful of games since we've been back, other than when my kids were playing either in high school or in college or doing something like that, something that took me away from it.
00:03:21.000So it's a special place for me and my family to go watch my Zags.
00:03:43.000To those students across the way that are so rambunctious, it's a special moment to sit there and watch them get after people in these games.
00:03:53.000talk about what happened after the pandemic and your posture with the mask.
00:03:59.000Because you did something that is really unusual, which is you went in there without a mask and people were, the press was so indignant and furious.
00:04:10.000And I think for the first time in your career, you got negative publicity and you have been quiet about it, but you just, you stoically and in there and took a stand that you believe in.
00:04:23.000Yeah, I don't get the newspaper and things like that, so I'm not too aware of bad publicity, but the school itself, you know, representatives of the school called me in and said, hey, we need to do something here.
00:04:33.000We can't have you not wearing a mask, and I know I'm not the only one.
00:04:39.000I get shown at the games quite often, and I guess I'm in a, I'm at the 50-yard line midcourt, so I attract a little bit of attention, I guess, but They can't have me being a figurehead of the school and not wearing a mask.
00:04:52.000And I said, well, I can't wear a mask.
00:04:56.000And I think the links with the mandates for vaccines that the school has now adopted, I just think that they're linked, that the health district or the state is dictating terms and dictating what we do with our own health and our own bodies.
00:05:09.000And to me, I'm looking across at these students and that's just unacceptable.
00:05:12.000When I know it's not what's best for those kids across there, and eventually my kids and their grandkids, etc., I can't do it.
00:05:19.000And so we basically reached an impasse that I didn't feel like I could morally wear a mask to the games because it means so much.
00:05:27.000It means so much more when it comes to the autonomy that we should have with our bodies that I couldn't do it.
00:05:32.000Then they said, well, we're suspending your tickets until further notice.
00:06:11.000I try to get myself in touch with experts that can help me with it just to see where I'm at.
00:06:15.000I don't go about it lightly, and I think vaccines, and particularly these ones with COVID, have been striking examples of of what's not right about our country and particularly my state right now that a governor can step in and mandate an experimental drug to anybody that wants to live in the state and live a normal life otherwise suffer the consequences and to me that doesn't seem right and then the health district It supports it.
00:06:39.000The health district holds pressure over the schools, whether it be the university like Gonzaga or my high school that my kids attended or the grade school.
00:07:32.000But my kids have to live through my choices when I speak.
00:07:36.000They're supportive, as is my wife, Nina.
00:07:39.000- I know that you've been quietly talking to other professional athletes.
00:07:45.000Can you talk about that a little bit, about what the attitude you're finding around the different leagues? - Yeah, it's difficult.
00:07:54.000I mean, I've been in this space for a long time.
00:07:56.000I think I mentioned to you before in a conversation, I had a child that we believe was impacted by vaccines.
00:08:03.000That's what started calling my attention to this.
00:08:05.000It's probably close to 30 years ago and it caused me to start learning this thing.
00:08:09.000So my evolution from being A guy that vaccinated my children on schedule to where I'm at today, where I question every one of them, has been a long one.
00:08:19.000And so to introduce, I've been calling ex-teammates, friends, acquaintances that are ex-NBA players, NFL players, to try to have this conversation.
00:08:27.000They're always lengthy conversations, and they're difficult.
00:08:30.000Everybody, all of us, are setting our ways a little bit, and I wish it was immediately impactful, but I think we set the seed and we start seeing some of the things, some of the toxins, for example, that are in each and every vaccine that we're introducing into our children.
00:08:45.000That's kind of where I'm drawing my line in the sand, is we're introducing toxins into our children with the illusion that it makes them safer.
00:08:53.000And it takes me back to my dad and my old coach and said be careful what freedoms you're willing to sacrifice for safety.
00:09:00.000And it just keeps resonating in my years and keeps putting me back to the grindstone to research a little bit more.
00:09:05.000And some of these NBA players and also NFL players have been very, very high profile who have refused to take the vaccine.
00:09:25.000And you're concentrating, you're focusing on your job every night and you need to play well and you need to be there for your teammates, your coaches, your fans and be all in.
00:09:34.000And so these guys that are stepping out In their limited windows, they're saying it and then they're going back to work.
00:09:41.000So, you know, although we're trying to reach them, I'm trying to reach them, it's been difficult.
00:09:46.000But the ones we do reach, most guys have been all on board, but have things they need to protect.
00:09:52.000You know, that pressure over all of us in every walk of life to try to be a good citizen, to not goof up things for your children so they can't get jobs or have a life.
00:10:01.000That's in the back of everybody's mind.
00:10:03.000So even when they're all on board, they're a little reticent because they know there are repercussions to speaking out.
00:10:08.000And then there's others that are harder to convince, and those take a while.
00:10:12.000Yeah, and you've been watching Aaron Rodgers.
00:10:15.000You've watched Kyrie Irving and Djokovic recently.
00:10:20.000And what's been your take on those from somebody who was at the center of sports greatness?
00:10:26.000Well, these guys are making major stands.
00:10:28.000I mean, Djokovic, he's, what is he, a nine-time winner of the Australian Open and he's not allowed there?
00:10:36.000I mean, I think by now, certainly everybody that's watching this or watching COVID in general has seen that we have people that are twice vaxxed and boosted still getting COVID. We have the same group still getting sick with COVID. We have all these doctors, MDs, speaking out that...
00:11:37.000Everybody below the 50% rate, you know, these guys that are struggling, grinding, trying to get a job, trying to keep a job, they'll do anything it takes, as I would have way back when I was 23, 24 years old, to get to put that uniform on.
00:11:51.000Such an honor and a privilege to get to play every day and just great experience to compete against the best.
00:11:58.000And that's taken away by something other than your level of play, other than what you can provide for a team.
00:12:45.000So they've admitted it's as immune as you can possibly get.
00:12:51.000And they've also admitted that if you take the vaccine on top of that, you're putting yourself at a severe additional risk.
00:12:58.000So why are we sacrificing what we know to be true about our health to let somebody who's going to make money on a shot that's injected in our system where our body has no ability to control its outcome?
00:13:20.000I'm from Eastern Washington, and I think most people, frankly, think similarly to me.
00:13:25.000I think we think that this is something we should just deal with naturally.
00:13:29.000I think we should have freedom to wear a mask.
00:13:32.000We should have freedom to run our businesses as we see fit, to go into restaurants or stores or basically live freely like we have for our entire lives, and yet we have a governor.
00:13:43.000That comes out with one mandate after another, despite evidence that might suggest that we don't have an emergency anymore, and saying that now we have to be boosted plus 13 extra days to be considered vaccinated to reattain the privileges that most of us thought we were getting when we got the vaccines.
00:14:01.000So, Washington is kind of following the line of New York and California and Oregon or leading it.
00:14:07.000I mean, who knows who's leading it, but it's, you know, I believe the governor's kind of outstepped his powers and he's put a lot of people in bad financial situations, mental situations, all for the illusion of safety.
00:14:21.000And for the people, is there a division in Washington?
00:14:27.000Yeah, I'm not a real good expert on it.
00:14:30.000I don't know how to divide it myself, but it sure seems that way in terms of voting and in terms of what people's feelings are.
00:14:37.000Seattle and the west side of the state, they seem to be far more in tune with the vaccines and the mask mandates and those natures of things.
00:14:46.000And it seems like on the east, we didn't have a lot to be afraid of.
00:14:51.000And John, you represented our country Well, I now have grandchildren, and I'm watching my oldest grandson go to school every day in a mask.
00:15:10.000We as a society are masking this child.
00:15:12.000One of our ways of expressing ourselves and being able to learn how to communicate is with facial expressions, and that's being lost.
00:15:20.000Could you imagine being a teacher and not seeing 30 smiling faces in your classroom every day, or frowny faces?
00:15:25.000How would you do your job appropriately?
00:15:28.000Furthermore, they're saying that, hey, we're not quite mandating it, but if you have a religious exemption, then maybe we'll let you off the hook.
00:15:36.000So somebody in the health department gets to determine my religious fervor or the fervor of our children and grandchildren.
00:15:42.000So what I'm scared of is that our kids and grandkids won't enjoy freedoms that their grandparents are great-grandparents.
00:15:54.000But there's people that have fought, given their lives for freedom so that we aren't intimidated, where we're not forced to wear masks, take dangerous medicines against our will, just to retain our jobs.
00:16:06.000I mean, those freedoms are the key to what America is about.
00:16:09.000And if we fail these children now, shame on us.
00:16:14.000That's why I'm feeling like I need to spoke.
00:16:52.000It isn't their job to be experimented on so that we can be safe.
00:16:57.000It's our job to protect them and guide them.
00:17:00.000So That's what I would encourage administration is, look, sometimes there's people that are losing their jobs by getting fired, by saying if you're not vaccinated, if you're not willing to do exactly what the government is telling you to do, you're going to lose your job.
00:17:14.000So there's far more serious things out there than me losing my tickets.
00:17:18.000That's what I'm trying to encourage these members, these people that are running schools, is you have a responsibility, those children.
00:17:25.000Those young people to make it the best experience as possible.
00:17:28.000And that doesn't always mean so that they can go to games.
00:17:32.000They have their immune systems, their brain, their heart, their lungs, their bodies are safe to pursue any futures they hope to pursue.
00:17:40.000And we have no right to force it upon them, period.
00:17:43.000So that's what I try to get across, but I don't know how successful I am.
00:17:47.000One of the things that most of Is there any society in history that has said, well, we need to put children at risk in order to make grown-ups safer.
00:18:09.000Every other society in history has been a major, it's a foundational ethical presumption that the grown-ups and the adults make the sacrifices to lower the risk for children, not the other way around.
00:18:26.000What does that say about what's happening to our society?
00:18:30.000Yeah, people would even consider the opposite is very concerning and that a percentage, a decent percentage of people could consider the opposite.
00:18:41.000We've been parents, and you know what sacrifices you make for your kids, and you know what you would do to ensure their safety, and yet it's kind of being reversed.
00:18:52.000On January 17, Sarah Atchow, who is one of the fastest runners in the world, she's a sprinter, a Swiss sprinter, because of the mandates for her sport, she reluctantly took a Pfizer vaccine on December 22nd.
00:20:42.000That's 20,000 reported to VAERS, which is their system, their only surveillance system, which, like, the Vaccine Act told them, you've got to create a system that works.
00:20:57.000According to their own studies, fewer than 1% of injuries historically have been reported, but they have, as you say, close to 20,000 deaths, they have a million injuries, and it's more deaths And they need to know this.
00:21:26.000I mean, that's really why I don't wear a mask to the God's sake of games, to take it back to the simplest little thing, is people need to know these things.
00:21:54.000And like I said, I do the research, plus I have personal experience.
00:21:57.000I watched my dads take the simple flu shot and go into sepsis three years in a row.
00:22:02.000So it's something people need to understand if they're going to decide to move forward with their own decision to take the shot or Well, I sure appreciate the opportunity to do it.
00:22:23.000It's difficult to be able to speak out and have the opportunity to do it, and you're providing it for me as well, and I can't say enough about what you're doing out there every day.