Speaker 1: Right now, though, we're going to talk to none other
Speaker 1: than the namesake of this program, Spence Check. Its joins
Speaker 1: us from places unknown, Spence. Welcome to the Drive with
Speaker 1: spence Check. Its How you doing?
Speaker 2: You call me minister Spence as I'm preparing to officiate
Speaker 2: a wedding.
Speaker 3: Really very centered.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Scott, Oh, very nice. Congratulations. Good for you.
Speaker 3: I like that, Thank you, sir. I've done this before. Man,
Speaker 3: I'm pretty nervous. Not a lot.
Speaker 1: Well, you just say do you do and do you do?
Speaker 1: And then we all do and it's all good. So
Speaker 1: it's it's it's pretty simple. You'll do fine.
Speaker 3: Good advice, Scott.
Speaker 4: Oh boy.
Speaker 1: There's some some some very interesting things happening, uh in
Speaker 1: the basketball world. Uh you've got the Summer League going on,
Speaker 1: and of course the passing of uh legendary coach and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, executive for the Utah Jazz Frank Laden.
Speaker 4: I know that.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've had have a ton of stories about
Speaker 1: coach and you know, just in general your thoughts about
Speaker 1: Coach Layden kind of what he meant to this jazz
Speaker 1: organization and just kind of your personal interaction with him.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, we talked about Frank for hours.
Speaker 2: One of the real bummers about the timing of the
Speaker 2: whole thing is that I'm out of town and I
Speaker 2: very much wanted to be on air today to talk
Speaker 2: about him and bring on guests. And I'm I'm surprising
Speaker 2: border with what I'm about to say, But I'm working
Speaker 2: on a show on Monday that we'll all be Frank.
Speaker 2: I'm hoping to have all of his children on the show,
Speaker 2: working on maybe Hub Brown, my father, other people that
Speaker 2: knew him across.
Speaker 3: The landscape of the league.
Speaker 2: And you know, part of it is a bit of
Speaker 2: a blessing. I think his information trickles out. People will
Speaker 2: start to learn that Frank has not been well for
Speaker 2: a number of months, if not, you know, maybe a
Speaker 2: year or two, and the last few months of his
Speaker 2: life were not comfortable for him.
Speaker 3: So great that he's not.
Speaker 2: Suffering, grateful that he's out of his misery and pain,
Speaker 2: but sad that a hero, a mentor almost like a
Speaker 2: second father of mine, has passed.
Speaker 3: I will miss him.
Speaker 2: I will miss his counsel, i will miss his smile,
Speaker 2: i will miss his advice, I'll miss his guidance, and
Speaker 2: I'll miss his zest for life. You know, I think
Speaker 2: the hardest thing for people around Frank over the final
Speaker 2: few years of his life is that zest was taken
Speaker 2: as a result of health issues. So as far as
Speaker 2: his impact in the community, I don't think it can
Speaker 2: be measured. I don't think it really can accurately be
Speaker 2: articulated by me or anybody else. It's not hyperbolic to
Speaker 2: say without Frank Layton there is no Utah Jazz. It's
Speaker 2: not hyperbolic to say that he probably is the most
Speaker 2: singular important figure in the history of the Jazz. I mean,
Speaker 2: without Frank, there's no John and Carl. Without Frank, there's.
Speaker 3: No Jerry Sloan.
Speaker 2: Without Frank, there's probably no Utah Jazz, quite honestly, and
Speaker 2: that's a sliver of what he men.
Speaker 3: To the community.
Speaker 2: After he left the Jazz, he stayed tight with all
Speaker 2: of our local teams constantly a figure that could be
Speaker 2: seen at these games singing the you know, take me
Speaker 2: out to the ball game, seventh inning stretch, Utah Football, basketball,
Speaker 2: b y U Utah.
Speaker 3: State, we were you name it.
Speaker 2: You're not going to find anybody in our ecosystem, Scott
Speaker 2: that hasn't been touched in a positive way by Frank Layton.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I've I've said these things today and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and I had a lot of interaction with
Speaker 1: coach over the years, and you know, I was I
Speaker 1: was here when the jazz showed up and and the
Speaker 1: lean years, and and just the the you know, bigger
Speaker 1: than life personality that Frank Laydon was was and just
Speaker 1: how he sold people on the Utah Jazz and just
Speaker 1: uh and we got a chance to talk to Thorow
Speaker 1: Bailey earlier, and just just he was just a tremendous
Speaker 1: human being and in the times that I actually interviewed him,
Speaker 1: just just fascinating.
Speaker 4: Iman.
Speaker 1: I could just uh, you know, these interviews, I could
Speaker 1: just go on for hours and hours, and a lot
Speaker 1: of it was I think that shocked me is yes,
Speaker 1: he has a personality, and yes he's just you know,
Speaker 1: one of those top three funniest people you ever meet,
Speaker 1: if not the funniest person you've ever met. But he
Speaker 1: was really a passionate guy about basketball and really knew basketball.
Speaker 4: And had an.
Speaker 1: Association with so many I mean, just the people he
Speaker 1: knew in basketball and his and just how he was
Speaker 1: respected and thought of was just a very very impressive thing.
Speaker 1: I said that thorough. I said, I think it would
Speaker 1: like how hard, how hard was it to play for him?
Speaker 1: Because you know when because he was such a jokester,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like, okay, when when is coach serious?
Speaker 4: Now? Is this a joke? You know?
Speaker 1: I think it would be hard to kind of figure
Speaker 1: out where that line was at time.
Speaker 2: But I think Scott, you touched on something that we
Speaker 2: should underscore that most people probably won't.
Speaker 3: Land on initially talking about Frank.
Speaker 2: That is he was a brilliant basketball coach. He was
Speaker 2: a brilliant basketball coach.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he.
Speaker 2: Saw things in John and Carl and Mark Eaton and
Speaker 2: Thurrell himself and others that nobody else saw.
Speaker 3: You know, the Mark Eaton story is great.
Speaker 2: Mark sent Frank a VHS tape of his highlight videos
Speaker 2: and it was Mark g just swatty and everybody's shots.
Speaker 2: And later on Frank found out that was Mark against
Speaker 2: high school kids, but still but still took a shot
Speaker 2: on him. How do the UCLA? I think it was
Speaker 2: the fourth round and Mark Hall of Famer, May he
Speaker 2: rest in peace.
Speaker 3: Defensive Player of the Year, Jersey and the Rafters.
Speaker 2: And the system that ultimately Jerry Sloan deserved league. It's
Speaker 2: a lot of credit for was implemented by Frank so
Speaker 2: because he was such a bombastic, front facing, funny guy
Speaker 2: and you know, did dazzling dunks and basketball bloopers with
Speaker 2: Marv Albert for the old school NBA fans because he
Speaker 2: was constantly joking.
Speaker 5: And you know that lady I don't remember, but the
Speaker 5: lady that used to be at the Forum that would
Speaker 5: run out with a low cut shirt on and she
Speaker 5: was very well endowed to leave that there and she
Speaker 5: would kiss Frank and he would faint, and he would
Speaker 5: have these funny interactions with fans, and he would have funny.
Speaker 2: Interactions with refs and all of that.
Speaker 3: Really, in a way, Scott.
Speaker 2: Was to draw attension to the Utah Jazz and become
Speaker 2: this characature that people can latch onto, like, oh, you see,
Speaker 2: back in the eighties, you thought Utah Jazz. You thought
Speaker 2: Frank Layton before you thought John Carl, before you thought Jerry.
Speaker 3: You thought Frank Layton. But all of that is what
Speaker 3: people land on first.
Speaker 2: And so I'm glad that you and Thurrell were able
Speaker 2: to talk about. Really who he was as a coach
Speaker 2: was a brilliant basketball coach.
Speaker 3: That was his first love.
Speaker 2: I don't know that he ever wanted to run a business.
Speaker 2: I don't know that he ever wanted to be the
Speaker 2: president of the team. I think he just wanted to
Speaker 2: coach basketball and.
Speaker 3: Then ultimately the other thing.
Speaker 2: Frank needs to get a lot of flowers for, as
Speaker 2: the kids would say, because if you look back in
Speaker 2: the history of the the list might include one name,
Speaker 2: and the name might be Frank Layden, who had a
Speaker 2: good basketball team that he had built up and decided
Speaker 2: that he wanted to spend more time with his family
Speaker 2: and so walked away and handed the reins to Jerry Sloan.
Speaker 3: Now, Frank would.
Speaker 2: Joke later on in his life if he knew coaches
Speaker 2: were going to start being paid three four, five six
Speaker 2: million dollars.
Speaker 3: A year, he never would have done it. But he
Speaker 3: built the team, he.
Speaker 2: Drafted the players, he implemented the system, He hired Jerry Sloan,
Speaker 2: and then walked away.
Speaker 3: Before that team was even close to its prime. Scott
Speaker 3: nobody does that.
Speaker 2: So there are several things about Frank that are much
Speaker 2: more rooted in substance as opposed to his front facing
Speaker 2: comedic personality, which is what most people know him for,
Speaker 2: which is fine because that was part of his character.
Speaker 1: As you were talking about some of those players, I
Speaker 1: couldn't help but be struck by how unique they all are.
Speaker 1: I mean Marky, like he took a shot on Mark
Speaker 1: Marky Gouden was certainly unconventional.
Speaker 4: But he saw the value.
Speaker 1: He saw how how Mark Mark Eaton could make a
Speaker 1: significant contribution to to the success of a team just
Speaker 1: by his mere presence, and uh and and and that
Speaker 1: was unconventional. And and in some regards you might say
Speaker 1: that's a risk, that's you know a lot of people
Speaker 1: might not have seen the value of a of a
Speaker 1: Mark Eaton or you you know, John Stockton, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's the prototypical doesn't look like Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan kind of guard or or some of these you know,
Speaker 1: great guards that.
Speaker 4: Have been in the n b A.
Speaker 1: And and uh, you know it comes from a college,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know many people knew where it was,
Speaker 1: what even was at the time, and and and and
Speaker 1: that was very unconventional and and these moves proved to
Speaker 1: be brilliant and and and he saw the greatness in
Speaker 1: uh these players, And I know it wasn't just him alone,
Speaker 1: but he certainly had a significant but part of that
Speaker 1: and and it and in a lot of ways, it's
Speaker 1: kind of like Utah, you know, where he saw that, hey,
Speaker 1: basketball can flourish here in the state of Utah, professional basketball,
Speaker 1: the NBA can flourish here. And he was just a
Speaker 1: brilliant salesman on what that could be. And you know,
Speaker 1: putting together you almost could say a land of misfit
Speaker 1: toys into something pretty remarkable. I think speaks volumes to
Speaker 1: maybe his brilliance as a as a coach and as
Speaker 1: a visionary and someone who loved basketball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know the other thing that should be underscored.
Speaker 2: And as Frank, you know, Aged, I made sure to,
Speaker 2: I mean importable, will tell you.
Speaker 3: I had him on my show as much as I.
Speaker 2: Could, as much as he was able, and I always
Speaker 2: just wanted to give him space to tell stories. And
Speaker 2: it's Frank kind of aged a little bit. I think
Speaker 2: there was a little bit of a softening and he
Speaker 2: would share stories about the John Drews of the world.
Speaker 2: John Drew was a tremendous John Drew had more talent
Speaker 2: in his little finger than probably John N. Carl quite Frankly, yeah,
Speaker 2: or a Kerrie Scurry, you know, some of these older
Speaker 2: older jazz players that most fans don't know but had
Speaker 2: a lot of off core problems.
Speaker 3: And I'm paraphrasing here.
Speaker 2: I think I'll probably ask Smitty or you know, somebody
Speaker 2: else to share the story in its entirety. But for
Speaker 2: my recollection, Frank told a story about John Drew something
Speaker 2: along the lines of it, and Scott, you might be
Speaker 2: familiar with this dynamic. I don't know that this is
Speaker 2: even legal or allowed anymore, but John Drew I believe
Speaker 2: he played long enough to get a pension in the league,
Speaker 2: but some agent or some CD shady businessman struck some deal.
Speaker 3: John needed cash.
Speaker 2: He had a terrible drug addiction, and he signed away
Speaker 2: his pension in the name of you know, a few
Speaker 2: thousand dollars in the moment because he you know, he
Speaker 2: was just in such a bad spot with his addiction issues.
Speaker 2: And you know, as as Frank is walking me through
Speaker 2: the story and tell me how, you know, he just.
Speaker 3: Did everything he could to help John.
Speaker 2: You know, if you play long enough in the NFL
Speaker 2: or the NBA, you're in your pension, you should at
Speaker 2: least be able to live semi comfortable life the rest
Speaker 2: of your days, and similar stories with other players that
Speaker 2: had off court issues. You know, Frank genuinely cared about
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz family and the Utah Jazz people and
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz not just players, but anybody involved with
Speaker 2: the staff, PR taketing community relations, and Jerry carried this
Speaker 2: on brilliantly. Jerry was the same way with everybody involved
Speaker 2: with Utah Jazz. You know, there's Frank to measure of
Speaker 2: the man as a caricature, there's Frank to measure of
Speaker 2: the man as a basketball coach. Then there's Frank the
Speaker 2: measure of the man. It's just somebody who cared about people.
Speaker 2: And he would always talk about that throughout the course
Speaker 2: of the final ten to fifteen years of his life.
Speaker 2: Because I've been on air twenty years, and as soon
Speaker 2: as I tracked the life, I'm like, Frank's going to
Speaker 2: be part of whatever I do as long as I
Speaker 2: do it, as long as he's willing to, because he's
Speaker 2: got great stories.
Speaker 3: He's such a great.
Speaker 2: Man, and he just cares about the Utah Jazz family.
Speaker 2: And I believe cared about the Utah Jazz family throughout
Speaker 2: the course of the final days of his life. I
Speaker 2: have no frame of reference for what his relationship is
Speaker 2: with the new ownership group or front office or coaching staff.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I know he didn't know Quinn well.
Speaker 3: You know, Quinn was kind of an interesting guy.
Speaker 2: When Jerry passed, I actually asked Quinn to join the show,
Speaker 2: and he declined because he said he had only met
Speaker 2: him a couple of times.
Speaker 3: So I don't know what Frank's currently.
Speaker 2: I know Frank was very close obviously with the Millers,
Speaker 2: with Steve Starks, with the old iteration of the jazz
Speaker 2: ownership in front office. But I can't speak to his
Speaker 2: relationship with Danny Ainge or Justin zanderk.
Speaker 3: Everybody knows Frank, but he.
Speaker 2: Always talked about the Utah jazz family. And you would
Speaker 2: tell me you are a part of this family.
Speaker 3: You worked over there, your dad worked over there. If
Speaker 3: you're ever a part of the jazz family, you're part
Speaker 3: of the jazz family forever.
Speaker 2: And it's kind of like Frank was all of our patriarchs,
Speaker 2: you know, he just was.
Speaker 3: He was that guy for anybody that's ever been a
Speaker 3: part of the jazz fabric.
Speaker 4: You know. Yeah, it's funny you say that.
Speaker 1: So when I was at in college at the University
Speaker 1: of Utah, I played on on the Jazz this summer
Speaker 1: basketball team or softball team, so Smitty and all those
Speaker 1: guys and and so uh so I got to know
Speaker 1: and and and and Frank was that way with me,
Speaker 1: and I I wasn't you know, I don't make any
Speaker 1: claims to be a part of the Utah Jazz or
Speaker 1: any part of it, but I had a small connection
Speaker 1: to them, uh through through that and and they were
Speaker 1: great to me. And and Frank was was great to me,
Speaker 1: always has been great to me. And uh, you know
Speaker 1: thorough that you know, that's what he spoke most of
Speaker 1: he said. He said, Uh, Frank was just so good
Speaker 1: at uh at staying in touch with and and and
Speaker 1: having that connection, uh even way past when you were
Speaker 1: done playing and and and you and you really were
Speaker 1: a part of his of his family, and he truly
Speaker 1: truly did care uh for people. So really really sad
Speaker 1: to see him go. And I'm really glad that, you know,
Speaker 1: we got a chance to spend a little bit of
Speaker 1: time here and chat about him. And I really appreciate
Speaker 1: your time coming on your show. I know you've got
Speaker 1: a lot going on, and of course you know, I'm
Speaker 1: really glad that you got a chance to talk about
Speaker 1: and share some thoughts about coach Laden.
Speaker 3: So thank you for sure.
Speaker 2: One more thing, because I have to share this before
Speaker 2: I go. Ultimately, my career in no small part is
Speaker 2: because of the advice Frank gave me.
Speaker 3: So real quick Scott, before I let you get back there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, please please do show.
Speaker 2: When I was I was twenty three years old. My
Speaker 2: first job out of college after the U I was
Speaker 2: I worked for the Olympics.
Speaker 3: I was a venue manager for the.
Speaker 2: Solid Ice Center, which was a great job, but it
Speaker 2: had a natural expiration date after two thousand and two.
Speaker 2: You got to find a new job, right So the
Speaker 2: game's ends, and I didn't know what I was going
Speaker 2: to do. I wanted to stay around sports. I was
Speaker 2: not a pro like you were. My career ended essentially.
Speaker 3: At the age of Night Team.
Speaker 2: I was not a professional basketball player. I was good
Speaker 2: enough to maybe play college. I was about it, so
Speaker 2: I thought maybe I'd look into coaching, and my high
Speaker 2: school coach taught Win that I was kind of interested
Speaker 2: in maybe exploring the space, and so he offered me
Speaker 2: the chance to be his lead assistant.
Speaker 3: And he said, I'm retiring in two years, done everything
Speaker 3: I want to do, retiring in two years.
Speaker 2: Come here, you'll be my lead assistant and you'll get
Speaker 2: the job in two years. So I would have been
Speaker 2: a head high school coach at twenty five. And that's
Speaker 2: young enough that you know, you work your way up.
Speaker 3: Who knows what happens. Maybe at some point I can
Speaker 3: make a living doing it.
Speaker 2: And I called my father for advice, and he says
Speaker 2: to me, he says, call Frank first. It's the only hit,
Speaker 2: he say, said called Frank. So I called Frank, and
Speaker 2: that great Brooklyn.
Speaker 3: You know, pretty accent. Let's go to lunch, you know.
Speaker 3: So we met over at the Old Iggys.
Speaker 2: With Frank love all the time. And this is when
Speaker 2: Frank had lost all that weight. He was eating very
Speaker 2: healthy salads, waters, you know, all that stuff.
Speaker 3: And I walk him through the scenario.
Speaker 2: I said, look, if I take this job, you know,
Speaker 2: a coach with my high school coach two years and
Speaker 2: I'll get the head job, and then who knows what
Speaker 2: happens from there.
Speaker 3: And he sits back and I'll never forget what he said.
Speaker 4: Don't do it, He.
Speaker 3: Said, you know, don't do it. Don't get into coach.
Speaker 3: And he said to me, have you ever thought of broadcasting?
Speaker 3: And I hadn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't take journalism classes in college. I didn't take
Speaker 2: broadcasting classes in college. I was a business marketing major.
Speaker 3: He said, you have the personality, you have the delivery,
Speaker 3: you have the voice. Let's find a way to see
Speaker 3: if you can do this. And he was the first
Speaker 3: person to kind of let me know that maybe this
Speaker 3: was something I could do with my life.
Speaker 2: And twenty years later, it's become my career in no
Speaker 2: small part because of the advice he gave me.
Speaker 3: I'll miss him, Scott, I'll miss him badly for sure.
Speaker 4: Well it paid off. Well, he knew what he was
Speaker 4: talking about.
Speaker 1: So there you go, all right, enjoy your time away
Speaker 1: and we'll keep things going here while you're gone.
Speaker 4: So thanks, thanks, good buddy, good.
Speaker 3: Go ahead.