Jazz to honor late coach Jerry Sloan with patch on jerseys

FILE  Head coach Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz talks with his team during the preseason NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center on October 12, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP

SALT LAKE CITY— The Utah Jazz will honor Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan by wearing a patch on their team jerseys and warmups when the NBA season restarts in Orlando, Florida.

The patch features the number “1223,” which was the amount of total wins for Sloan in his 23 seasons as head coach of the Jazz. Sloan died in May of complications from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was 78.

The team will wear the patch for the first time Thursday in a preseason game against Phoenix.

“Coach Jerry Sloan will forever be in the hearts of the Utah Jazz organization and fans everywhere, and we feel it is only fitting to honor him in this way,” said Greg Miller, a member of the NBA Board of Governors and director of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies. “His contributions to our Jazz family and communities are a defining part of our franchise history and we look forward to seeing 1,223 on the jerseys of our players in Orlando as a nod to his legacy.”

The team also plans to wear jerseys with a commemorative black strip and the same “1223” design next season. Other tributes will be announced later.

Sloan guided the Jazz to 16 straight winning seasons and 13 50-win campaigns. He coached 133 different players during his time as Utah’s head coach.

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.