Unthinkable! John Stockton Booted Out Of Gonzaga Home Games For Not Wearing Mask

North Carolina University would ban Michael Jordan’s home basketball games if he didn’t wear a facemask. Or how about Danny Manning and Kansas? Not a chance. They’re too smart to stoop that low and bite the hands that fed them so well on and off the court. Gonzaga had the bad sense to ban its most famous alum, John Stockton for not masking up.

Gonzaga can’t designate a VIP area, with fewer people and not requiring masks? Evidently not.

‘’Basically, it came down to, they were asking me to wear a mask to the games and being a public figure, someone a little bit more visible, I stuck out in the crowd a little bit,’’ Stockton told The Spokesman Review.  

Stockton was a 6-foot guard who scored 1,340 point in four years at Gonzaga. He averaged 20.9 points per match as a senior (1983-84). His senior year saw him hit a phenomenal 57 percent. He was also the West Coast Athletic Conference’s player of the Year, leading in scoring, steals and assists. Stockton’s Bulldogs’ shirt hangs from the McCarthey Athletic Center rafters. Simply, he is the best basketball player ever to come from Gonzaga University.

Stockton played from 1984-2003 for the Utah Jazz. He was an all-star who broke Magic Johnson’s NBA career record for assists, and Johnson called him the “greatest team leader” he ever played against. The Jazz twice gave Michael Jordan’s great Chicago Bulls teams stiff competition in the NBA Finals. The team also erected a statue to Stockton outside the arena after his incredibly great career. He’s a well-deserving member of the NBA Hall of Fame who was a two-time All-NBA first-teamer. Stockton also won a gold medal on both the 1996 and 1992 USA Olympic team.

Last year, Stockton appeared in the nine-part video series “V-Revealed, COVID Edition,” defending personal rights for individuals to make their own informed decisions about vaccines. Stockton instantly became a recognized man. He stated, “This virus isn’t cheating us off these opportunities.” The guys are making the decisions and saying “No, no. We’re too afraid.” We’re going to shut everything down.” Several doctors participated in that video as well.

PolitiFact said Stockton made some false claims, but that’s not why Gonzaga has suspended his season tickets. It’s because of his refusal to wear a mask to the games. That’s despite Dr. Anthony Fauci’s statement that face masks aren’t needed unless an individual is sick and that the coronavirus was able to pass through personal face masks easily.

Last August, Gonzaga reinstated its mask requirement when the Delta variant was surging. It would be nice if the university had some common sense.