All right, what's going on? Drivetime Monday afternoon, eleven minutes past the hour of two o'clock. It is very warm today. It is very hot.
It is about ninety three degrees in sunny.
It's a warm day. It's gonna be a very warm week, kind of the dog days of summer. Happy Monday to you. Hope you had a great weekend, and as it is every single day, it's going to have you along for the ride. Spence check, it's back beyond the mic. I was out last Thursday and Friday after a very busy Tuesday and Wednesday in Dallas for Big twelve Media Days. Had a good time down there. That's a heavy lift. Eight hours of live radio back to back days.
But good to have Sean by my side.
Sean O'Connell, and I want to remind you that any of the sound you may have missed from Media Days, University of Utah BYU and others, ESPN seven hundred, Sports dot com is where you go if you're pinting for more college football conversation.
After a massive, massive.
Couple of days down in Dallas, but it is great to be back in front of his microphone on this Monday afternoon.
Hope you had a great weekend. Happy Monday team.
The Vegas Summer League rolls along the Utah Jazz and several other teams have decided to load Management's summer league. Cooper Flagg has been shut down. We don't know if Dace Bailey is going to play again. He did not play last night. Neither did Wall Clayton Junior. The Jazz are playing the Spurs tonight. We'll see if Dylan Harper goes. But we have some summer league action, and we are inching closer and closer to fall camp in the world
of college football. But we're gonna do a little something different today. Last Wednesday, we lost Frank Layton at the age of ninety three, the legendary Jazz head coach, NBA Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year in nineteen eighty four, and quite frankly, that's like two percent of
the measure of the man pillar in our community. Father, husband, friend to many, And the timing of everything was very unfortunate because I was not on air the day after Frank passed, nor was I able to attend the services over the weekend. My father was there, some family members were able to attend, but I was officiating a wedding in Los Angeles, actually in Data Point, but I could not tap out of that. So I'm going to dedicate
today's show to Frank's memory. So we're kind of throwing out the rundown and we have a great guest list on tap. We're gonna start things off with Phil Johnson coming up at about two thirty. Fill, of course, was Frank's assistant and then went on to become Jerry's assistant. Phil himself was a head coach and a Coach of the Year winner, a great, great offensive mine. So we're
gonna bring in Phil right off the bat. Frank's son, Scott Layden will join us, and for those of you that know Scott, you know it's a big, massive coup to get him on the show.
So he's gonna stop by.
Later on, My father, Dave Jackets will stop by, and then Ron McBride, former head coach of the University of Utah football team, and then Richard Smith live in the studio, Phil Johnson, Smitty.
Scott Laden, Dave.
Checkets me, Spence checkets all of you, the great listeners, Coach Ron McBride, and that young man Porter Larson on a Monday afternoon. Happy Monday, buddy, how are you doing? Happy Monday to you?
Up?
What up?
How are you? How is your trip? So first of all, you know, maybe we'll do some story time later. I gotta say, you know, I speak for a living and I've done it for twenty years, and I have addressed groups, and I've MC dinners and I've hosted round tables. I was stunned at how nervous I was to officiate a wedding. It really caught me off guard, Like it's probably a unique pressure. I didn't feel nervous, and I prepared, I wrote my script. I went over the thing like four
or five times. In Orange County, there are specific pieces of legal ease you have to intertwine to make sure you say the right thing at the right time. And then as the Sarah, you know, I walked out there first because star of the show whatever, no deal. And as I'm standing there, I see some family, see some friends feeling good. What was your walkout song? Well, I didn't really choose it. It was whatever their wedding song was. I believe it was, you know, some sort of love song.
So I don't even remember. But I'm standing there, wedding party walks up, bride and groom stand there, and then I need to launch into Dearly Beloved. You know we're here, blah blah blah blah, and my hands started cheaking. I didn't like my body had this visceral reaction like fight or flight. Dude.
It was weird.
And you're usually sitting down doing a show.
That's fair, and also in a studio with nobody around.
Yeah, and to have hundreds of people do a d I don't know, man, it kind of caught me off guard.
How nervous so was.
There's a part of radio where you stop talking to the listener and you just start talking to the mic, and you just start, you know, doing it. You stop thinking about the audience. That's different when they're staring at you and it's the biggest moment of two people's lives.
Yeah, I get it. I get it.
But as you mentioned earlier, throwing out the rundown, only a few people on the planet I would do that for Frank.
Laydon's absolutely, So today's show is all about the life and the memory of Frank Laydon Without Frank. Yeah, I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that there is no Utah Jazz. So Phil Johnson will be our first guest via phone, but joining me live in studio, good enough to do this for the next four hours or so. Someone who has a unique perspective on not just Frank but the Leyden family, the legacy and the life of Frank Leyden. One of, if not the best friends to
that family. Rich At Smith live in studio, Smitty, happy money man, how are.
You, Spen's good to be with you and excited for this day. This is I'm predicting that this ends up on your podcast show on the on the the website they just spend seven hundred website in the future as the best show of the year. I'm predicting that right now because this guest list you have and the stories that I'm going to predict are going to start flowing and coming out. Are is going to be a great
moment for ESPN seven hundred. I'm excited that you and Porter decided to do this, and this is a great a great opportunity to uh to to honor, you know, one of the true legends.
In our community.
And I don't have to tell port this, but I'm going to remind him on air. Our bumps today will all be Frank Sinatra. I know he's already on that, yep. As we bring all these guests and so Smitty, let's start with as I referenced, Uh, you know, the timing of course of these things.
It's never great, and certainly none of this is about me.
But I had an obligation over the weekend that I could not tap out of, so therefore I was not able to attend the services. So we'll get into Frank's life, his legacy story time. But tell us, you know, talk to my father. We're gonna bring him on later. How are the services that kind of take us first?
Yeah, the services were great. It was a quick turnaround. Frank passed away on Wednesday midday and a decision was made by the family it would be best to do a service as quick as they could try and organize one, which ended up being on Saturday morning at eleven o'clock at the Cathedral of the Madeline here in downtown Salt Lake City, which, by the way, those who were not able to attend or would be interested in viewing the service, It actually is the whole service video online on YouTube.
You could just go to YouTube and just type in funeral service of frank Leyden and it'll pop up and you can watch the whole service. But it was, it was a beautiful, beautiful morning. A lot of people came Spence, you're not You're not the only dignitary who who couldn't make it on on such short notice. Chris Hill, who wanted to be there, was on a fiftieth anniversary cruise with his wife Kathy, Frank's good friends Chris Lino and Colleen Lindstrom, or or back east at a family gathering
in New York. Dave Friedman, who certainly would have been there, was an early jazz guy from the day one, and he's he's in a family obligation in southern Illinois and so people are spread all over the place. Ron McBride made it. He was at mac we'll talk about later, but he was at a wedding in Cincinnati on Thursday. On Friday, excuse me, Friday afternoon, got up at four am Saturday morning, six am, flight to Salt Lake, comes to Frank's services, comes to the celebratory lunch in the afternoon.
After that, goes home, takes a quick nap, gets up the next day on Sunday flies to Hawaii to to work at a football camp where he is this week. Uh and and that's that's the dedication that that people have when they when they want to honor somebody like that. And then coach Mack made all that effort just to make sure he was here. And he's the one who texted me earlier to say, hey, Vicky just texted me and said, you guys are doing a show about Frank this afternoon.
What time am I on? Oh?
I said, I said, okay, Mac, I said, let me check with Spence and I'll get.
Right back to you.
Yeah, and and uh And that's the kind of friends Frank has and and that's that's the legacy he has, and that's what what hopefully we're able to honor today.
And I do have to say thank you, Smitty to you because we have Phil Johnson, Scott Laden, Dave Check, it's Ron McBride today. But you sent me a list of about twenty names that I forwarded it on to my producer and Dynamite showbooker Porter And so this week we will intersperse the Dave All reads, the Jay Francis is the Dave Fredmans of the world and you know we'll do that next week as well. So it's not just going to be today, but today is all about Frank.
For our listener's context, Smitty, what's the origin story. When did you first meet Frank Layton? When did you first become connected to the family. Let's kind of get some contexts on just how unique the relationship is that you have with Frank and Scott in the entire family.
Yeah, well it's my mine's very very different. And then everybody has a has a different path and a different story.
Right.
I'm in graduate school in Connecticut. I'm working as a graduate assistant at Central Connecticut from my college coach there. I get a job offer at the University of View Talk. As I'm studying a graduate program in higher education administration. I've been doing some stuff on the basketball side at the school, and so I go to see my coach, coach Bill Dietrich, longtime venerable New England coach, to say
my goodbyes. I'm moving out west. He says, hey, when you get out there, get settled as you go see my friend Frank Layden. He just got the job as the general manager of the Utah Jazz. And I said oh great. Now this is in May of seventy nine. Well, the Jazz were still in New Orleans. And so at that moment, as I'm speaking to coach Dietrich, I'm trying to figure out a way to tell him that, well, Salt Lake City and New Orleans aren't exactly next door
to each other, you know. And then I said something you know to the extent to him and he said, no, no, you don't understand. I just talked to Frank the other day and he told me that they're going to make an announcement that the team is moving to Salt Lake and then he leaned forward spence for emphasis across his desk and said, don't tell anybody. And so I said, wow, okay, so that happens, I move out here. I'm I'm not gonna go see Frank because I don't want to bother
him because there's a million people after him. The team's moved here, and everybody's quote after a job. And then my coach sends me a handwritten note in October of that year, Hey, I hope it's.
Going well in Utah.
Make sure you go see frank leydon and tell him I sent to Maybe he can give you a job as a part time scout or something on the side.
Okay, So I.
Reluctantly go to see Frank because I'm thinking I don't want to bother him, but at the same time, I want to honor my coach who has made a couple of efforts to connect us. So I go see Frank and we meet and nothing happens of that. But a couple of years later, he takes over his coach. He hires Scotty, who comes out to help him. Scott and I start running in the same circles up at the University of Utah, pick up basketball guys, and we start
connecting and become friends through that. And then he decided he wanted to ask me if I would do some part time stuff for them on the game nights, and then uh, and then doing some video stuff, and then doing some scouting stuff. And then it all started, you know, uh, piling up one, you know, one year after another, another responsibility, another thing, Can you do this, can you do that?
And all that kind of stuff.
And and I did that for thirteen years on a part time basis, and never thinking it was gonna be anything else. I was just doing it to help out my friends, and the people became my friends who were Frank Layton and Phil Johnson and and uh and of course Jerry Sloan and and uh. And then in ninety five they they said they wanted to create a new position as a video coordinator in a college scout and do you want to come and do that full time? Wasn't sure I wanted to do it, but my wife
kind of convinced me, Hey, you should try it. And you know, you can always go back to higher education again, another job, whatever, but this is probably one one shot
deal to work in the NBA. And I said, you know, that makes sense, and Scotty was saying the same thing, so so I kind of took that leap of faith and it ended up snowballing into a twenty seven years and you know, working full time, but over the span of the life of my relationship with the Jazz and the Leyden family ended up going from eighty two basically to twenty twenty two with the Jazz and a forty year career working with the Jazz, and of course my
relationship with the Leyden's obviously much much further past the relationship with the Jazz once they left and went to New York and other stops along the way. But Frank just became a good friend because that's who he is.
He's just I know how to say it, because.
I know it sounds being redundant or like beating a dead horse. But he was a regular guy, and he was just everybody's friend, and everybody was the same to him, and he was concerned about everybody on the same level and always asking what he.
Could do for you.
And you know, we just became very good friends in recent years, became more meaningful to me as he got older, and our relationship became even stronger. And I'm all the better for that.
So Smitty, for context, oftentimes when he would be on his way into the studio to do his hit with me, you would be coming straight from spending some time with Coach.
In his care facilities.
So you were good enough to give me updates that I would share with my family. We will catch a break, but Smithy is going to be along for the ride during the entire show.
Coming up at three o'clock. It'll just be Smitty and I.
But let's catch a break so we can get to Phil Johnson coming up on the other side. So here's the rundown for the show today, it's a little bit different. We are honoring the life of Frank Laydon, who he lost last week at the age of ninety three.
Last Wednesday we have thrown out of the rundown.
Today we are honoring the life of Frank Laydon, who he lost last week at the age of ninety three. Scott Layden's going to join us a little bit later, my father Dave check its McBride. We may even get a random call in from Karl Malone. We're going to see how that work. Smitty is live in studio with me. All show a long which I appreciate. And let's welcome in our first guest of this Monday show, an assistant
coach for Frank. One coach of the Year in his own right, and of course went on with a great run next to Jerry Sloan. The great Phil Johnson good enough to give us some time on a Monday afternoon.
Phil, Happy Monday, sir.
How are you well?
Nice? Nice to talk to you, Spance. How's everything going.
Everything's good. I really appreciate your time.
So you're one of the first people I've thought of when we were putting this Rundown together. So I just wonder how you articulate your relationship with Frank in kind of the legacy he leaves behind as he passed away last week.
Well, first of all, I was in I was having trouble getting a job because Jerry and I had both been fired in Chicago, and so I didn't have a lot of opportunities. But Frank called and I came out for an interview to be his assistant, and that was the start of are of our relationship. And uh, it was just amazing to work for him. I had worked I have been in the in the Dick Mota, you know. And my my, my era of coaching was a lot with his style of coaching, and so Frank brought a
different outlook to me of his coaching style. And so it was it was really important to me in my life. And he was more than just a coach to me. He was a really good friend. And I could tell him anything and he could tell me anything. And uh, and we we honored each other and I honored him.
Coach this is Toby.
Uh, tell our listeners just a little bit about the inner workings when you were with coach Leyden, how how he empowered those of you who were working around him in terms of working with the team every day.
Well, it's interesting because you know when I first came out here, I moved out here, got the job, came out for an interview, and the press interviewed this and everything.
And.
I was wondering when we were going to have a meeting. I kept thinking, geez, are we going to have a meeting. I'd go down to the Selp house and Frank wouldn't be there, and so I just kind of waited. Finally, after I said, well, I'll go to the meeting early Westminster for practice, and so Frank came in and just before practice and looked in Scott and I were there and he said, Phil, I really like what you do offensively. Can you put that in? And that was the start
of us. And I said okay, And so that day I started putting the offense in that we used here for probably thirty years. So that's how much he trusted me as to what I could do for this team, and so he was very He really listened to me. He wanted to put things in that I wanted to put and I obviously made everything made sure he was agreed. I just didn't put things in without talking to him and so forth. But that's kind of how we worked it.
And a lot of times he just turned practice over to me and I, you know, he might Sam Batistone might come up to visit and he'd say, Phil, you got practice. I'm going to talk to Sam. And so that's how much trust he had in me. But more than that, it's how I watched him coach the team because he was a really good, tough coach. A lot of people get this idea that he was a jokester and he told jokes and he was funny. Yeah he
did that, but not with his team very much. Once in a while, but usually he was very strict guys. When guys guy rounded him to start practice, he had him have their hands behind their back, standard attention. Now, I've never heard of that before, but you know what, the guys did it. So that's kind of how it started, and that's how much trust he had in me.
Well, the nineteen eighty three eighty four team really solidified the presence here in the market, made the playoffs, first playoff appearance since moving to Utah, won the Midwest Division. Adrian Danley, Ricky green All Stars, Frank coach the All Star Team. He was Coach of the Year Executive of the Year. He was the first to do it at the time. Only pat Riley, Larry Bird and one other Frank has won of four people to have won both of those awards. But you already referenced the offense that
you implemented and the offense that year. You guys averaged like one hundred and sixteen points per game and one of the best offensive teams in the NBA. Tell us about that year and tell us about that experience and what it was like to watch that group come together and really the first playoff appear, Aaron's beating Denver in the first round, solidifying the Jazz here in Salt Lake.
Yeah, you got to have heart, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Denver thing, well, you know what, that the year before we'd kind of established how how are you going to play? And we had they had drafted Mark Eaton before before I got before I even came that year, but that's the same year I came. He came in the same year I came with the team. So we added like Rich Kelly and some important pieces to that. And I'll tell you what that team just came together. You know, Adrian Dantley, for his hike, was one of
the greatest players to ever play in the NBA. And so you know, you put John Drew with him. Even though he had some personal problems, he cleaned himself up for that year. And also he would come in off the bench, and so you had Ricky Green and Jerry's backing him up and Daryl Griffiths and these guys that could play basketball. And so it was like Daryl Griffiths, I mean, they shoot threes today, but he was shooting
them down. Not as often as they do today, but he could make threes and that really made us an explosive team.
Coach.
When you tell people, I don't think a lot of our fans know you were at that stint. You you were with the Jazz for a couple of years and then you got another opportunity to be a head coach with the with the Sacramento Kings. Uh tell our listeners exactly the how you connected Jerry and how coach Sloan ended up coming Uh to take over. When when you left the Jazz for that opportunity.
Well, we were playing in Portland and I got a call in the morning before the game that night, and Sam Battison said it was Kansas City. At that time they hadn't moved yet, and he said, Kansas City wants to talk to you, and I've given them permission to talk to you. And I said, oh, I don't want it. He said, Phil, you need to be a head coach again. And I said, okay, Well I'll talk to them. And so I interviewed with Kansas City and then they were
going to move the next year to Sacramento. But anyway, I ended up taking the job, which in retrospective was a mistake, but I took the job and Frank and Frank said, Phil, who do you want to replace? Who do you think I should hire to replace you? And I said Jerry Sloan. Now Jerry had done a little bit of scouting for us, not much, a little bit of scouting in the Midwest area, I said Jerry Sloan. He said, well, Phil, would you call him for me? I called Jerry and asked him if he wanted to
replace me. So that's how that happened. He said, yeah, I'll come out and talk to talk to Frank, and so that's how that happened. So That's an interesting story, isn't it.
Yeah, Well, what's interesting about the coaches is that how things work that way when when people are going to make a personal recommendation and just someone says, well, if Phil Johnson says that's that's what we should do, then that's what we should do. And there's not all this, you know, bringing in fifty people to interview and all this.
Kind of stuff.
And and uh, you know that that relationship that you and Frank had and the trust he had in you to to to rely on a recommendation like that for someone who he knew Jerry Sloan of course as a player and as a coach with the Chicago Bulls, but of course didn't know him, you know, real well personally. Uh, until until you made that kind of a connection with them.
Yeah, And as it worked out, I ended up not lasting very long with Sacramento and U and uh, Jerry got the job and I was I was his first call, and so I was I got released by Sacramento and I was able to come and be Jerry's assistant. So you know, it was just, uh, it's in this in this business, you got to you got to get lucky, which I have been in my in my career of being able to find some work and and then when you get that job, you've got to you've got to perform.
And so that's that's the way, you know. I've always worked as an assistant coach. I try to be as loyal as possible. I don't do anything with the team without the head coaches knowing what I'm doing. I'm not going to talk to him on the side and tell them that they're getting they're not getting enough playing time and this and that. I'm always if I talk to him on the side, it's always backing whoever is the head coach. And I've been head assistant coach to three
great coaches, Dick Mada, Frank Laden, and Jerry Sloan. And so that's how I've always operated as an assistant coach. But Frank was such a good basketball coach. I I just uh, he doesn't get enough recognition and for his coaching ability gets more recognition for his jokester and and telling telling stories and stuff. He was good at bad obviously, but he was a great coach.
Phil Johnson is our guest longtime assistant coach Utah Jazz. Of course, Frank laden and then uh maybe best known around here for making sure Jerry Sloan was not ejected night after night, and good enough to give.
Us some time on.
This Monday afternoon, Phil, take us behind the curtains, and you've already referenced about, you know, how you were brought back to be Jerry's assistant. And Frank would joke later on in life that he knew if he knew coaches in the NBA were about to be paid four or five, six, seven million dollars a year, maybe he would have, you know, reconsidered his decision. But there are very few coaches in the history of pro basketball that have decided to walk away from a team that was ready to win at
a high level the way Frank did. And of course he wanted to, as he said, quote enjoy life with Barbara and his kids.
But take us.
Into your understanding of how that decision came down and your reaction when you heard that, even though he had put together a good team and already had some real success, he had decided to step away from a job that a lot of people would really really want.
Well, it's interesting because Frank I had talked to Frank, you know, during during when we saw them earlier in the year before he retired, and he says, don't make any moves. Something's going to happen here. That's what he told me. So I was not surprised. He said, don't you go any place or anything until you find out what's going on here. And so that's really how he
operated with me. And I knew that. And I'm an example myself and Jerry Sloan of when it's time and you feel it in your in your soul that it's time to get out and leave, that's what you do. And that's what Jerry and I did. That's what Frank did, and so that's the that's kind of what happens with that.
You just you feel like and you know it's in really good hands with with Jerry Sloan, that's how he felt and so I you know, I I haven't spent a lot time talking to him about it, but I think that was kind of his thought process.
Yeah, I think the coach, the relationship that you guys built with the players and the way that you coached them. You could always see, you know, the respect they had for for for how you approached the job every day in practice, and what that meant to you in terms of getting ready for the games.
Uh, can you talk to us just.
A little bit about you know that that daily practice regimen and and and the kind of approach that that you and coach Layden had had with the players.
Well, you know, it just was there was no there There was no joking around, There was no there. There was always serious business when we started practice, and you know we had and we had a reteam. For instance, I when when I came with Frank, I worked with the big guy. We would split up half on each end and Scott and Frank would work with the smaller the guards on one end and I'd work with the forwards and the centers on the other end of the and we had drills and something. So we got into
a routine. And that's that's been the story of my life. That's how I lived my life now is routine. And if you can get into a routine and let them know what's going to happen, and you've changed things obviously along the way, but get into a routine and know that you're going to work on the things that you're going to that's going to benefit them later. And that's that's really how you build their confidence and their ability to accept what you're doing, and so they don't have
to do a bunch of radical changes every time. Now, once you start the season, you're going to have to change for each opponent and that type of thing, and you've got to be ready for that. But that's kind of how we approached it, and so you know, that was that's just how we ran things.
That's interesting, Coach that you mentioned about how good a coach that Frank was and the x's and o's and how serious he was during during practice sessions and during the course of games and making adjustments and timeouts and
so forth. I recently saw a documentary done by the granddaughter of Yogi Bera, who put a documentary together about his career and his life, basically making the point that he was one of the best catchers of all time in baseball, and all the numbers, not just because he was on championship Yankee teams, but all of his individual numbers showed that he was one of the best catchers ever.
And yet he never gets quite that due for being an actual day to day baseball player because of all the quips and the quotes and the stories he would tell afterward. Everybody kind of gleaned on that and kind of didn't really pay attention to the hard court stuff
he was doing every day as a ballplayer. And that kind of alludes a little bit to what you were saying earlier about about how Frank you know, he'd got more attention for the stories and the interviews and all that than really about how good of a coach he was on the floor.
Yeah, I think that's very relatable. And you know, Frank during Frink, he had so much trust in me. Is like I said, routine and everything, but he had so much trust in me that he would come and you know, we'd call it, he'd call a time out and they'd come and he'd stand up and I would kneel down in the in the huddle and he would talk. He seldom got on his knees or anything, the way he would stand up and talk to him and he'd talk to him about this and that, But what's going on
the score, this and that. They ain't lean over to me, He says, Phil, what do you want to run? That's how much trust he had and that's how we ran things. And then Scott had his input to Scott was great with his his input as far as you know, he had knowledge way beyond his years, and so you know, it was just an effective staff. And you know, you can't overlook guys like Sparky that was our trainer, that had tremendous loyalty to the coaches, and you know, it
went down the line. The ownership. Sam Batistone was great to work for during that time, so things went well, you know.
And Phil Johnson is with us here on the drive. We are honoring the life and legacy of Frank Leiden, who passed last week at the age of ninety three. And I want to hear from both of you on this because I've heard both of you say this and other people as well. Because of Frank's front facing kind of comedic personality, did dazzling dunks and basketball bloopers with Marv Albert that I've watched ten thousand times as a kid. The coaching phase of his life is off and overlooked.
But what about the talent evaluation And it's certainly it's never a decision made by one person, and Frank had Scott and Scouts. But you can make an argument that John carl are two of the best draft picks of all time. And then there's Mark Eaton, then there's Throw Bailey, then there's Bobby Hanson and trading for Adrian Danley. Later Jeff Hornsack is brought in. So Phil will start with you, then, Smittye,
I want to hear from you as well. So Frank, certainly as a basketball coach, had high acumen, but it's pretty undeniable that he also was an excellent evalu evaluator of talent.
Yeah, well, I don't think there's any question. Uh, you know, first of all, Scott was really good at that and now it always has been and uh, and we were we're in a position where we would Frank really listen to people. He listened to Scott and he listened to
people around him. And then what goes with that is you got to get a little lucky, you know what you know, you don't, it's it's we made we made some choices that weren't particularly good, you know, but you've got to get a little better lucky for even for that guy to be available. And then once you get him that he's good as good as you think he's going to be. You know, we go back you and
take you back to when John Stockton came out. You know, we'd we'd heard he was a pretty good basketball player, and we went back to Chicago to the Trout camps back there, and I saw him play and I said, and Scott and I were sitting together and I said, Scott, this guy's pretty darn good. So we kept watching film and everything, and we kept thinking that that Portland was
going to take him ahead of us. And so when we when we called the press in to see who we had on our board as perspective draft picks, we didn't put John Stockton's name on the board. That's how how how we were hiding him from the press and not even using his name. And so when when we saw that and Portland didn't take him, we were right
there and were able to get him. So you have to juggle in there, and then you've got to get lucky that John Stockton's going to be as harder worker and a person as he is, and so's and that's what we tried to look for as character, guys that had character and were good people and in along with their talents. So really that's that's kind of how it went.
Yeah, it is, it is interesting coach.
The base of the foundation of the Jazz organization as it exists today, you know, some fifty years later, was all set by the tone I think of Frank as the general manager and then as he was the head coach, and the kind of players he tried to bring in, I mean, just right off the bat, you know, nineteen eighty drafting Darryl Griffith, eighty one, trading for Adrian Dantley, eighty two, drafting Dominic Wilkins, who never came could have been one of the guys with the group you know that.
Took off in the eighties, but had that thing.
But at that time, you know, we remember that the Jazz were in trouble financially, and so some of the the money that they paid to sell Dominic Wilkins' rights to Atlanta helped to keep the team afloat at that time. And and you know, something like that enters into the fray and and Frank just went, you know, just did what he had to do at that moment in time to make sure, you know, it worked as best as
you could. And then he drafts you know, Mark Eaton and Bobby Hansen, and then John Stockton, and then Carl Malone and and and that basis, but getting the right guys. And I remember being there. Those are the first two drafts that I was helping out with in eighty four eighty five, and you know, getting John at sixteen and then and then the next year Carl was supposed to go five, six.
Seven, and he kept falling.
And I remember Frank saying the Scott, what's what are we gonna do at thirteen? Well, we got to take Malone if he's there. And Frank, well, I hope there's nothing wrong with him. I mean, how come everybody else is passing him? And Scott goes, well, we got to take him. He's the best player. And that's what it turned out to be, that he came to us at
thirteen and we take him. And I remember Frank in the post draft media availability session said well, somebody asked him you hoping Malone will score a lot of points for you next year, and he said, well, we got a lot of scoring.
You know.
We have Adrian Dantley, and we have Drel Griffith, and we have Ricky Green, and we have John Drew coming off the bench, and he goes and we got Mark Eaton developing as a rim protector in the middle, but we really need some rebounding, so we hope he comes in and helps us with the rebounding and interior defense. And then if he scores eight or ten points a game, that'll be a bonus, you know, and thirty five thousand points later or whatever.
You know.
It's but like you say, you got to get the right guys, you got to get a foundation. But then also there's some measure of luck that where you get guys like John and Carl who not only end up being great people, hard workers, great talent, but also they just happened to play every night, uh, every game for all these years. You know, they're not taking nights off and they're not doing load management or whatever. They're just
playing every single night. And that that was a big thing that you just kind of luck into.
Yeah, that's that's that's part of it, that's for sure. And uh and that that is the part that comes along with the luck, you know. But but you also got to you've got to do your work and and also plan for anything you can.
Fill last thing and we'll sell you loose, sir, so much appreciate you joining us today. Uh, of course.
Uh.
I think it's safe to say the majority of our listeners of a certain age remember you and Jerry on the sidelines during the incredible run you had together that led to a couple of NBA Finals appearances, and uh, the the the golden era of jazz basketball. How much of that era I do not want to take any of it away from you and Jerry, But since we're talking about Frank, how much of that era had Frank's fingerprints fingerprints on it?
Well, he had them all. It was all over on with him because he had set he had set the franchise, he had saved the franchise bottom line, and uh, he had we had a basis to work from, and then we just carried it on, you know. And uh, And he coached, Jerry coached in his own style. He didn't coach exactly like Frank or he didn't coach exactly like any player coach he'd played for. He coached like Jerry Sloan coaches. And I helped him like I helped coaches.
And I helped him and we had a great relationship. And and that's really the basis for how we succeeded. We also were lucky to have really good players and uh, and then we're able to play games and play a lot of games and not miss games. I mean, players today it's it's amazing how how they take games off and miss games. And our players didn't do that. And so not only that, later on we had to end us backing of our players with ownership as far as
Larry Miller was concerned. You had Mark Eaton that back does tremendously, and we had John Stockton and Karl Malone that simply wouldn't have allowed. Now, Larry was loyal to us and everything, but if things got tough, you know, your players have to back you, and that's what we had, and we had Frank behind us as well. So that's how things worked out, and that's that's that's how the longevity happened.
Bhil Thank you sir for the time. We really appreciate the context. Hope everything as well with you and if you ever want to hop on the show, I've got a space for you.
Hope you know that all right?
Thanks a lot, Hiks.
Coach Phil Johnson long time or excuse me, but yeah, head coach in college and in the NBA, and then was Frank's assistant for a few years and came back to stand alongside Jerry Sloan for an incredible run of jazz basketball that nearly culminated in maybe one, if not two championships. If it's not for a guy named Michael Jordan, we have thrown out the rundown. Today we are honoring the life and legacy of the great Frank Layden, who we lost last week at the age of ninety three.
Richard Smith is good enough to join me live in studio, and really nobody better to be by my side today as we welcome in these great guests. We just spent about thirty minutes with Phil Johnson.
It was awesome.
Scott Layden will join us coming up at about twenty six or seven minutes from right now, we'll bring in Dave Checketts. Ron McBride will join us live in Hawaii, the former Utah football coach. He became very close with Frank. But Smitty, just you and I this segment, and I wanted to take advantage of this space to talk about
your relationship with Frank following his retirement. We will talk a lot about the man, the coach, the talent evaluator, as we have with Phil, but you traveled with Frank and Barbara.
You spent countless hours.
With the Leyden family on trips, and you would go see him on a regular basis. You have a unique prison and perspective on Frank Laydon the man, not just Frank Laydon the coach or the talent evaluator sort of inside can you give us based on all the time that you spent with Frank, Barbara in the entire family.
Yeah, we were very fortunate.
Linda and I spent a lot of time with them, even going back into the nineties where we would go on these trips and Linda was asking me this the other day, and I really couldn't remember the logistics of how we did it. But we always had a trip of three or four days down in early July every summer down to the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City on the campus of Southern Utah University. And it was Linda and I, Scott and Marcia and their young family.
Frank and Barbara would come, and Jerry and Rose Weber, who are good friends of ours, would come with their young family and we would go down there every year most of the nineties, every early July, and Linda was saying, well, how'd you guys do it when if you had summer league, or you had the free agent period, which which always is in early July, and you had the draft, you know, right near the end of June or whatever. And I said, you know, I don't I don't remember how.
We did it.
But we did it because because we were all there for a number of years in a row together, and this was before the advent of cell phones and really before you know, the proliferation of email and certainly texting didn't exist at that time.
So I'm not sure how we did.
Maybe when Scott comes on, he may recall, you know, how we did it, because because he was the front man on a lot of that kind of stuff that would be going on in the summer during that time. But but we just became close friends. I think it was maybe part partly because of our East Coast roots. I grew up in Connecticut, Frank was a Brooklyn guy. Scott, of course, grew up in New York and a lot of time up in the Buffalo area when he was
a teenager. And part of us because of our love for the theater, and that's what took us to the Shakespeare Festival every summer, partly our our love of baseball. We would go to a lot of the minor league baseball games here at that point in time, and then as Frank retired, he would have more time to do that and we would we would find time. Linda and I just became good friends with Frank and Barbara. We had a lot of mutual interests and we just enjoyed
each other's company to that extent. And then we in twenty eleven we started this annual summer baseball trip that was that was grown out of us going to Be's games with our our friends Chris Leno and Colleen Lindstrom, and we would sit there and and everybody would talk about, Wow, someday we should go to a major league game. Someday we should go to a major league game. And so one time I just said, hey, I'm tired of hearing about the Ajor league game. Either let's just go to
a major league game or stop talking about it. And everybody goes, oh, well, we could we could go to major league. I said, well, when when are we going to do it? And so right then, Franco Smith's right, let's let's k what do we got let's let's get a day, let's go, And so we hammered something out for that summer and we ended up going to Colorado Rockies and that started a fifteen year trek that still
exists today. The last couple of years, Frank and Barbara haven't been able to travel, uh, but they've always been in on the discussion of Okay, where are quote we going this year, And it was always to a ballpark that that somebody hadn't been to before. So it started in Colorado, and then it went to San Francisco, Then I went to Arizona. Then I went to Anaheim, and then I went to San Diego. Then I went to La then I went to Minnesota and so forth.
And and uh, and we just we just.
Had a great time planning those events and and spending time with each other in that regard, and and UH and a lot of dinners and a lot of uh hanging out of local restaurants and local theater up and Pioneer Theater, you know, a lot, and and and going to two plays or musicals downtown here and just just kind of you know how friendships evolve, spence, you find common ground and and you like each other's company and you enjoy and are comfortable with each other, and and
it just evolves and it just grows naturally, and uh we were the beneficiaries of that, uh friendship and and uh that kind of closeness over the years that that you know, again we're talking about building teams and drafting players and everything. Some some of it you can plan, and some of it you can control, and then there's a certain part of it that's out of your control
that just happens. And you know, our friendship, you know, started with certain roots, but then it just grew into something else that just they just took took place and evolved over the years and and very powerful for Linda and I to have those kind of friendships with the Laydon family.
Excuse me, I'll have to go back. Excuse me, I'll have to go back and try to find this sound. But I think it was about two years ago and maybe Porter Canel be out here. And we had Frank on a lot, so it wasn't like, you know, a one or two time thing. But his favorite Frank Sinatra song was I think it's called My Way. I think
that's the name of the song. And so to intro Frank I played it coming in and I noticed in the background that he was singing, and so I just laid back as the host, I just backed away from the mic and we let that breathe for like a minute, and he just sang the entire intro and it was just like the sweetest thing.
You know.
I wonder you already referenced some of the things that he was interested in outside of basketball. Can you elaborate on that, whether it's theater or food or music like jazz fans know Frank laydon as the coach and then the front facing funny guy, but the man, what was he interested in outside of sports?
Well, I'll tell you what.
You talk about, you know, joining the song, we would you know, we would you know, go out for an evening and uh, you know, have a dinner somewhere.
And it was nothing.
It wasn't like we were, you know, going to these five star restaurants and three Michelin star places or whatever.
You know.
Frank and Barbera were very mom and poppish and they just like to support the local, you know, small places. The other place Greek restaurant where we had the family celebration the other day after the funeral mass service, and we would go there frequently, uh for for a bite to eat, and then Frank would always say, hey, how
about some dessert. How about if we go get an ice cream at dairy queen Okay Coach and anytime we would drive by a dairy queen wherever it was, And Linda has a great story about the three of them. I wasn't there at the time, down at the Shakespeare Festival and spending an hour one night driving around Cedar City looking for a dairy queen because Frank said, no, that's what we have.
We have to get a dairy queen ice you know.
So anytime we would go buy one wherever we were, and we'd be out of town somewhere traveling. We'd be down in Anaheim, we'd be in Phoenix or whatever, and we're driving by and Frank would go, hey, there's a dairy queen. How come there aren't more dairy queens, Like, I don't know understand why they're not on every corner like McDonald's. They're like the best thing ever. So we
would go up. We would go up there. There was one that closed recently up in Centerville and had been there for a long time Alex Jensen and knows it well growing up in Centerville, and we would go get a Dairy Queen ice cream and would sit in the parking lot and there's me and Frank in the front seats and Linda and Barbara in the back seats. We're eating it, and I'd turn on Frank Sinatra and whatever whatever it was, I just put it on onid of
my phone. Hit one of the songs. Boom, Frank and Barbara just go right into, right into the song.
Its boom boom.
Oh yeah, but it and they're just singing away and Linda and I and we're looking at each other, and so Linda would join in and then should be looking at me like, well, come on, come on, I go.
These guys are like they're they're like killing me.
And you know, they're and they're singing, and they're they're dancing their shoulders and what we what we all affectionately called seat dancing, and they'd be seat dancing and and whatever. And this is when they're in their late eighties. We're still doing this and they're they're they're singing, and they're and they're enjoying Dairy Queen ice cream cones sitting in
the car in the parking lot. This is this is like, you know, this would be like some story of somebody telling you know, yeah, George Bush, you know you used to like to hang out at the Taco bell or something, you know, and then and but this is a real thing, and this is how they were.
It was just the simplest.
Things and the the things that made them happy and that were were personal and they were easy. And that's just kind of the the friendship we had and that that evolved and it was simple and and we just knew that there wasn't any pretension to any of the stuff that we were doing together.
A man who was on a list with pat Riley, Red Hourback and Larry Bird is just smashing dairy Queen ice cream?
Was it vanilla? What was his order?
Well?
See, for example, you know, Frank would always get he always get, well, spitty, what are you getting, I get a medium vanilla con with the chocolate the chocolate dip. Yeah, I get that. I'll get that. And Barbara always had to has to have chocolate. Chocolate ice cream is her favorite ice cream in the world. So we all knew Barbara's getting a chocolate Linda's getting a vanilla chocolate twist.
Frank and Smithy are getting the chocolate dip okay whatever, And uh that was that was our regular order going through the Every Queen drive through.
Uh.
The other thing, Uh, Linda just texted me, Uh, so I gott and and and this is a good reminder you talk about Frank. Frank was such an avid reader. And Scott mentioned this a little bit in his his uh comments at the at the service the other day. But Frank was always about gaining more knowledge, gaining information about whatever. He was an avid reader, and he and Linda, my wife, would would always bond over the Sunday New York Times book section. So Frank would always get the
New York Times. He'd read the book section. And then whenever, you know, Linda and I happened to come over the next time to visit, and he was the first thing would walk in the room, and then Barbara and Frank would be sitting there and we'd.
Go, Hey, what's going on? Go Linda, Linda, right here?
I got the book report right here, and he'd hold it up like that was the first thing, you know, don't forget, don't forget. I got the book book, the book section right here for you, and Linda would take it and go over and sit next to Barbara and should open up and be, oh, yeah, I already read this book.
I read that book.
And then they'd be going back and forth about books they read that were in common and whatnot. And and he was he was always, even even up to his his uh last.
Months, uh, he was.
He was a voracious reader and accumulator of information. He wanted to know what was going on, What's happening in the world, What's new? What should I be aware of? I would walk in the room, Smitty, what's new?
Give me? Give me some updates?
Wow, this and that, this and that, whatever and and uh that his mind. Even towards the end, Spence was still was still in in uh and uh full speed, and was was still curious about the world around him.
So upon his passing, Smitty Frank and Barbara married sixty eight years.
Let me ask you about that relationship.
In preparation for the show today, I found a documentary that was done on that eighty three, eighty fourteen. I think our friends ATKSL put that together. And Frank that year had the honor of coaching the All Star team, and he was asked by a media member, is this the highlight of your life? Is this the most fun task that you've ever had? And he said, no, my
honeymoon was the highlight of my life. And you know, there was a humor intertwined into the tapestry of the response, but ultimately you could see the light in his eyes. And sixty eight years it's a long time. Children, grandchildren. Tell me about your experience with Frank and Barber.
Well, that's going to choke me up a little bit, because Frank was such a public figure and wherever we went, and somebody mentioned this the other day, Hey, whenever you're out to dinner with Frank, and Frank says, hey, I got to use the restroom, you know it's going to be least a twenty minute process because it takes him ten minutes to get to the restroom, because he stops at every table along the way with someone going.
Hey, coach, how you doing, Hey, what do you guys doing? What is that you got the lobster tonight? What is that you know? Whatever?
And the same thing coming back. And Barbara was used to that when they would be together, walking together, and yet Frank Whenever someone might come up and say, oh, coach, how you doing. Hey, can I introduce you to my to my cousin, he really wants to say hello, yeah, of course, you know, whatever, you'd introduce him, and Frank would always immediately turn and say, and let me introduce
you to my wife, Barbara. He would always include Barbara in anything that was going on, however small it was, or whatever fancy affair he was getting an award at or something. He would always mention Barbara as the backbone of what he was doing and that she was so
important to him and his life. And and I'll tell you Spence, Uh, even in in in the last few months, and and he was he was fighting, you know, in the in the hospital, and you know, every time I would go there, you know, one of the first.
Things he would say to me was, you know, uh, where's Barbara? Is Barbara coming up today? You know?
And she would come up, uh, virtually every day, uh to visit with him. And she was still living at home and and had some some people helping her out there. And and but he was always wondering where Barbara was or if Barbara was was doing okay.
And this, you know, this was the life they had.
They he was always always looking out for her and understanding that not only was she just as much a part of who he was as a public figure, but also that that she should not be left, you know, in the background in that regard that she had had earned and deserved to be recognized just like he was in any kind of of public setting. And Barbara was so great at it and was so so accommodating to Frank and understood what was going on and and just
had such a cheerful disposition. The both of them just together, they just lit up the room, no matter what the circumstance was, and it was such a heart rendering feeling and such a it's just a heartwarming experience to see them together and to try and learn for yourself that this is how I need to be, This is how I should be living my life with the people that
are important to me. Is the way that they are every single day, And it's, you know, that was one of the powerful parts of his personality that he had.
Also three children.
Of course, most people know Scott because he's had his own very successful career in basketball. Mike and Kate and I believe eleven grandchildren, ten girls, one boy, yes, right, right, So so give us some insight on Frank lad and the father and the grandfather.
Well, he's a very.
Doting grandfather, you know, one of you know, he loves all the obviously the grandchildren. He's always you know, the Scott's Scott's family with four daughters, are all really into reading and education, and they're always exchanging with Frank, conversations, phone calls, notes about books, about sending swapping books with each other because he was such a voracious reader. Katie's daughters we're all avidly involved in athletics growing up.
Uh.
Their youngest granddaughter, Riley is is a softball player up in the state of Washington and at the collegiate level, and and Frank was always going to her games as much as he could hear locally, and then always asking about how she's doing up there, Does she have a game this weekend, what's going on, how she how she hitting the ball, how she swinging all all that kind of stuff.
Is just you know, just just very.
Involved in the whole process of the grand children and how they were doing in their respective areas. And again, they all have different like all of us, different interests and and and different different things that they are involved in. But he always made sure that he was actively involved in what they were doing and showing interest. Uh, and and what they were involved in and uh. You know again that's just who he was. It wasn't a fake thing.
It wasn't something, oh, I have this obligation as a grandfather. I was supposed to do this and make a phone call about this or whatever. You know, he did it out of love and out of true heartfelt feeling for the for the family that he had around him. And you know, it's just one of one of his great personality traits.
Not to go James Earl Jones Field of Dreams on you, but you reference Frank's granddaughter playing softball and Frank love baseball, right was some of my favorite stories that Frank would share. And you know, as because I've one of the first things I thought of when I first got this job is like, I'm bringing Frank on to do all the Frank things and tell all the Frank stories because it's
great radio. And oftentimes I wouldn't even ask a question, but sometimes his soliloquies would kind of transition over into his stories of going to Ebbittsfield growing up watching the Brooklyn Dodgers when he was a child back in Brooklyn. I believe he played right. Tell me about his love of baseball a little bit. As you're handing me a picture of a baseball signed by the great Jackie Robinson.
A life is not important except in the fact it excuse me, A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
That's and Frank oftentimes has used that line.
That's that was his favorite Jackie Robinson quote.
That's what he always used to use somewhere in any major speech he gave, in any kind of awards ceremony, or somebody asked him to come speak at some gathering, whatever it might be, he would always somewhere in his talk mentioned that quote from Jackie Robinson, and uh and and say, that's what we we all have to be about. We all have to be about, you know, figuring out how we can impact other people's lives. What was what
is going to be important for someone else? And that baseball picture I just showed you is a baseball that we got from the last Major League game that we were at, and we put that inscription on it from Jackie Robinson and Scott placed it on the on the on the casket at the burial site for Frank in honor of his love of baseball and his admiration for Jackie Robinson and and what he meant to American culture, but also to human relations and what Frank tried to
live by himself every day was the aspect of how can I positively impact someone else's life and whatever that's gonna be today, That's what I'm going to try to do. And I just gotta tell you this quick story, Spence. Frank was in the hospital. This is three weeks ago.
We're going down to la to see a Dodger game, Dodger Weekend series, and Frank knew about it, and he had good friends down with the Dodgers, and he was trying to tell me that, you know, he wanted me to get something from the Dodgers for one of the caretakers that was helping him, Omar and Lauren. They're great caregivers for the Leaden family. And he's telling me Omar is a big Dodger fan. Can you bring something back from the Dodgers for him?
So I do that. I bring it back. It's in his hospital room. I go in.
They're there visiting with him. They said, hey, hey, would you get the Dodger stuff for Frank. We go, no, listen for Frank, this is for you, and Omar says for me. I said, no, no, here, and I give him this stuff, a bunch of things, and he goes, this is unbelievable. He goes, oh, my dad, it's going to be Oh this is great. I said, no, this
is Frank. I said, I'm just the courier. Frank instructed me when I'm in La last the other day to go get this stuff for you and bring it back for you because he knew it was important to you. And it brought tears to our eyes and everything. And Frank's laying in his bed and giving a thumbs up because he couldn't quite talk, you know, clearly enough at
that time. But even there, even in that moment of his life, he's thinking about what can I do for somebody else that will brighten their day and make their day better? And you know, that's just such a great example for me and for everyone to be able.
To look at.
Let me clean up the quote quote A life is not important to accept in the impact it has on other lives attributed to the great Jackie Robinson.
We'll catch a break. Scott Layden is going to join us coming up next.
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Give you Tah Lead Service as a call for a no cost, no obligation estimate at eight one eight two one eight six seven zero. That's eight oh one eight two one eight six seven zero. Hi, welcome back in. We have thrown out of the rundown today to honor the life and legacy of the great Frank Layton, who he lost last week at the age of ninety three. Joined by Phil Johnson to start the show, I'm gonna bring in Dave Checkets. My father Ron McBride will join
us in the five o'clock hour live in Hawaii. Richard Smith is live in studio, and we go live to Las Vegas, where Frank's son, Scott Laydon good enough to give us some time on a Monday afternoon.
Scotty, Happy Monday, sir.
How are you?
I'm well, thank you? What a lineup? It's an honor, No, it is, well, thank.
You, It's awesome to have you, Scott, and I just I'm going to start with a simple question. What was it like being Frank's son?
Well, as you could imagine, it was amazing because so many lessons. Uh. He both he and my mom were incredible parents. And you know, I'm we were all blessed uh with them, and and and also he shared himself to so many people, and especially in the Utah community. But he he uh, from from early on, Uh, it was just a lot of fun being a gym rat
in his in his world. So and he had he had a lot of great friends, A lot of a lot of his friends were characters, and so that that was one thing I always enjoyed is the opportunity to be around him. And and uh you know, he was competitive, he was smart, he was a teacher, very very honest and kind and and and always did the right thing. So uh many lessons to be learned uh from him. And and again I I just think our family is blessed to have our parents and how they uh they were around us.
You know, Uh Spence, this is uh, you got Scott Laydon on on the air.
You got them on live.
So this is this is kind of like the Dallas Mavericks in the recent draft lottery chance of getting the top pick and and the balls fall your way and you have Scott Layden on the air.
This is like this is like over the lottery odds. This is this is amazing, Scott.
How before before you ask the question this is gonna devolve is your is.
Your role today to break my chops?
This is well apparently apparently that's the that's the position I find myself in. So we got we got way. Hey, I know I know better than anybody. This is a one shot deal. So we we got to get them all in on the one on the one shot.
That we have.
Hey, hardly, you know what, hardly hardly And you know what, uh Spence had had sent me a beautiful note last week and and uh, I said, of course.
And then as if I wasn't gonna go on after his dad strong armed me to come on. So there you go.
I tell you gotta say I'm doing it with Smitty, I go, well, and I don't have time for that. Hey, well tell us tell us a little bit before you get into it with your dad. Just what's happening in Vegas? Give us the give us the vibe at the Summer League.
You know, I just got here. I just uh here for a couple of meetings and visit some friends. And then uh, as you know, I told you Smitty, I'm gonna keep heading west so I can we can visit some of some more friends. So the the you know, because of uh uh the events this past weekend, I've had a lot of melancholy thoughts and and but it's it's it's certainly rich to see a lot of people here.
And I can't tell you the outpouring of you know, the NBA community, but also uh and and your your phone was going crazy too, Smitty because you're such a dear friend of mine, my parents. But it was like, you know, the jazz community, they were amazing, you know with the with the shirts and the signage and the you know, the the Utah outpouring was was fantastic. So this is an opportunity to visit and and uh uh be around some some great folks from the n b A.
Yeah, how about the Saturday service which is amazing. Uh you did such an amazing job there uh at that and uh and yet the people who who showed up with such a short, short turnaround, so to speak, who came from out of town to support you and your family at the services, it was just an uh an amazing tribute to your dad and what what he meant to all of them.
Yeah. No, I I think I think that we you know, we purposely had a quick turnaround and the and the uh uh the Cathedral of Madeline was so accommodating. I thought they did amazing job with the mass and the music and everything. I know my mom really enjoyed that.
But all the all the people that came out, and I know, the Jazz made an incredible effort to have their all their people there, whether it was Ryan Smith or or or Danny and Austin and Jay Z and you know, I'm obviously I'm very good friends with with coach Hardy, So it's it's a it was certainly amazing. And then other NBA folks came by that were I didn't anticipate any of that. And and there was a strong Spurs alumni because of of my time there, so you know R c And and Dave Tellip and Dennis
Lindsay of of Spurs and and jazz fame. Of course, Uh, Sam Presty made an incredible effort. He probably won the award furthest Away right, but you know, it just I don't know, they all these folks really appreciated my dad, and I think it's it makes you know, it makes the family feel special, It makes my mom feel special. So that that part of it was was was uh,
you know, an amazing that you you don't anticipate that. Uh. And then of course, uh we had the who's who of Paul Bears, John Stock to call him alone, Richard Smith, Rich Kelly uh and Thorough Bailey. That was the starting lineup and then off the bend was Dave check Its and you know it was really uh that to see those guys in the front all of you guys in the front row was I don't know, it just it was it was surreal and uh and you know how my dad felt about all those guys. And you know,
obviously Mark was missed in it. But when you put all those guys together, Uh, the I think the the common thread is that they all had tremendous character and and I think that's why my dad enjoyed being around those guys and coaching those guys because of their their commitment uh to uh playing harrd and playing the right way. You know, my dad had he only had a couple of rules and and and and he would you know, at the start of the season he would say, look,
it's this is very simple. I have two rules beyond time and play hard. And you know it sounds you know, with with where we are today with analytics and you know, everything we have going on in the game. But his teams were you know, they presented and then they played hard. So it and then it carried you know onto obviously coach Sloan, which was uh, you know, play hard, play smart, and stay together. So very simple. The simplicity of it was was was incredible. But we had guys of uh
uh tremendous character and then we had tough guys. I go down the roster and I wanted, I want you to tell me and I'm gonna miss some guys smittye, but in Larry Miller, Okay, Dave check Its, Frank Laden, Jerry Sloan, Phil Johnson, John Stockton, call him alone, thorough Bailey, Mark Eaton, and I can keep going. But if you just take that crew right there, there was a they had a they had a mental toughness about them that was it was amazing. And I you know, obviously I'm
showing up at work every day. I'm looking around, I'm thinking, wow, this is this is impressive. And they and they always exceeded expectations. They always exceeded uh and got better all the time because of the work ethic and the and the and the and the mental uh part of it, and and all those guys and can go right down the list. You know, your dad's fence is is tough minded. The guys I know Larry Miller would look, you know,
we don't. We don't need to go any further than you know, third West to see that, you know, his his accomplishments. So yeah, it was, it was. It was fun to be part of that. And I think in these moments you have so many you know, thoughts racing through your mind and so I'm I feel blessed for that.
Well, you know, the the emotional part I had scot of many at the at the service on Saturday was standing in the in the line with the pall bearers getting ready for the beginning.
Of the of the mass. And uh and there right at the front of the line.
Uh is uh John Stockton and karme Alone, who both live out of town and are both notified on I assume sometime during the day Thursday, maybe late Thursday, that that we're gonna have the service on Saturday morning. And uh, and then they are at the front of the line and you know, just showing showing what your dad meant
to them. Uh, not not just as players and employees and the team and all that, but just as as people and what influence he had on their lives in that regard that that they made whatever the arrangements were they had to make. H to be there to honor your dad in that in that regard.
Yeah, they you know, I think they they love playing for my dad. He loved coaching them, and it's uh uh their their effort to come, you know, it just it really tickled my mom that that they were able to uh be there, and and you know as as both John and Carl and you know, Carl especially said im misses for the world. So those things are all like I think you you remember that forever, you know, and I think you know, going back to how my dad felt about all those guys, he he always appreciated, uh,
trying to get players of character. I mean, I can't tell you how often he would talk about Cyril Bailey and just you know, his character as a person and how unflappable he was and how you know he just he he was such a team guy. So those those guys are just I mean, they're they're there. They were blessing, uh when when my dad was coaching, but they're you know, they're blessing and a treasure to to U time.
Now, Hey, Scott, let's let's uh let's settle the uh the urban myth that that's been going on for years. Uh, here, explain to our listeners, h exactly how it came to be that Scott Laden was hired to be an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz.
Yeah. I don't. I don't know if it's a myth, but you know, I have I have always been I've always been a U a supporter, and I appreciate nepotism, so I think, I mean otherwise where you know, how
am I getting getting a job here? But the thing and reflecting a lot, now, the thing that was so incredible was working together with my dad in a competitive environment and you know that the staff was very small, and you know the other guys obviously, whether it was UH coach Johnson or and then coach Sloan, it was. It was an incredible lie time of of being in a in a an intense environment, a very competitive environment,
but then just you know, always being together. I don't know, like you knows, most kids when they graduate from college, they're running away from their parents. I ran towards them, you know, And I was fortunate that my dad would hire me and then we had this incredible relationship and it worked very well. And but he, you know, he had he had as you guys know, well, he had great street sense and he had great basketball since and and he knew what it took to to to team build.
You know, he was ahead of his time. And when you look at where when he took over the Jazz and one of his big things was, you know, always leave a place better than the way you found it. So when the team moved to Salt Lake City in seventy nine, I mean he he really ramped up the the talent on the team and identified, you know, players that could help us win. And it was it was before and long before we got into the uh Stockton to Malone era. And you know, Mark Eaton changed the franchise.
You go back to that that time. But you know, signing Ricky Green, UH, signing Jeff Wilkins, drafting Mark Eaton, you know right there. But then obviously uh drafting Darryl Griffith. Though all of a sudden the pieces were coming together, Adrian Dantley, John Drew on and on, and we were we were a competitive team, but we were anchored by uh, you know, a guy that didn't get enough credit, but
certainly talk about character and toughness. Mark Eaton was was the I beam that you know, kept us all going and uh, it was, it was, yeah, it was. It was a fun, fun time, but competitive and wasn't It wasn't always like fun and games, but it was. It was just in a world where we were, you know,
fighting to win. And then of course my dad turned the team over to my dad and obviously Dave check Its, but they turned the team over to Jerry Sloan and coach Sloan took everything to the next level, which was which was impressive.
Yeah, Chatty with Scott Layden, excuse me, on the show today we have thrown out the rundown to do something special. We are honoring the life and legacy of his father, Community Pillar frank Leyden, who passed last week at the age of ninety three. Scotty, I believe upon your father's passing, your parents have been married sixty eight years. I wonder, I wonder if you could to the extent that you
feel comfortable. She had some insight on experiencing that relationship, watching those two for your entire life.
Yeah, it was they they just they got along famously and they were they were always together, which was a wonderful thing about them. And you know, sixty eight years. As you know, it's a pretty good number right now, but it it never It always amazed me at how well they got along, how well they were both in public and in private, and how great a parents they were. But my mom always you know, set my dad up as as as the straight person to you know, to
make him shine. But it was an interesting quality. I know you guys have seen this. And because he was such a public figure and in the public often, he would always point out my mother and he would always talk about her in a public at him and and he would just just heat praise on her. And I
always remember that. I just said, you know, here's a he always had this opportunity, but he always took advantage of the opportunity to just tell everyone how amazing she was because she, you know, my mom has has an incredible resume herself as far as her education and helping people, uh you know, who are less fortunate than people that have had some addiction issues. So she's always like, uh, been behind the scenes, but but had this amazing career.
And my dad always appreciated that, always recognize that, and they were always you know, the couple they I talked about this a little bit at the at the at the mass but.
They they.
Uh, we're like always curious. So they were always reading. They were always into whether it was sports, watching TV, every sport, it wasn't just basketball. Going to the theater and then performing in the theater. You know. They performed a famous play that that couples uh perform a love Letters. And I just thought that that was an amazing uh a thing that they did because it, you know, showed
their depth and their intelligence and and everything. And and when you're listening to the smithy knows his play well, but when you're when you're watching love Letters, and it's usually performed by famous couples. But and and they probably did thirty or so performances. But the the the fiction of it was blurred with the reality of of their lives,
you know. And and it was in the last, the last scene of the play, there's a there's a great quote, he's uh uh uh, I don't ever think I've loved anyone the way I loved her, and I know I never will again. She was at the heart of my life and I already miss her desperately. I just wanted to say that to you and to her. So it was like it was really an amazing relationship and a
loving relationship. And then you know, I don't know if you guys knew this, but when when my parents where they first met is they met at Missus McGuire's bar, which is in Rockaway, Long Island, New York. And Missus McGuire was the mother of two Hall of famers. She had three boys, but two of them were Hall of famers. One was Al McGuire, who, you know, is interesting how you know, weaves through coach mcgaris and the whole Brooklyn thing.
But Al McGuire was not only a great basketball coach, won the championship at Marquette, but he also was a good player. But his brother, Dick McGuire is in the Hall of Fame for like, he was just an incredible NBA player and one of the first like real point guards. You know, whether it was McGuire cooozy and then you know, everybody compared John to those guys because they would pass
first and they were unselfish and everything. Anyway, they used to have basketball courts across the street from Missus McGuire's bar, and it was like one hundred and eighth street in the Rockaways, which is on the beach, and you know it's a short throw the rockaways is we're all firemen and cops and everything. But across the street from her bar where these basketball courts and guys would go out and play pickup games. And my dad, you know, like
everybody else, was playing ball. Then he just graduated from college. He's going in the army. Uh, he was playing ball, and he went and I went and had a I don't know what you're allowed to say as radio. Maybe maybe it's like a diet soda or something. But yeah, so he went to the bar and uh met my mom and I was it. And then they were you know,
they were inseparable. So uh it was a time, uh you know, and then they of course my dad went to the army and uh they they moved out to uh Long Island, and my dad started his uh uh coaching and uh a career and teaching in high school, you know, starting out at Saint Agnes where Billy Donovan's father played for my dad, and then eventually we drafted Billy Donovan. And so there's so many you know, basketball connections.
And one of my dad's good friends was was Luke on a second who coached Saint John's and you know, there there's a great connection there. And there, as I was saying earlier, it was always uh characters around that I that he knew his friends and would would uh they always beat You'd always see them, and you'd always go to their camps, and then he would take their their children into his camp. And it was really a fun time, you.
Know, Spence. Uh.
What's what Scott hasn't mentioned is during the time Frank and Barbara were dating, Scott's mom was an central figure working at the famous twenty one club in Midtown Manhattan. And and Frank you used to love to tell the story about going to pick up Barbara and guys out in front, going hey, I don't know whose jeloppy that is, but get it out of here because it doesn't belong here, and Barbara going, oh no, no, that's that's Frank's well, get them out of here.
We gotta we gotta get going.
And you know, and uh, but Barbara, to Scott's point, had a great uh life career of her own, not only early on, but of course in later years here at the University of Utah through the Master's program and and helping people involved in in substance abuse issues and and uh and stuff like that, helping and counseling and
and helping people along. And both Frank and Barbara were were so intertwined with the idea and the scope and and humanity of trying to help other people and trying to see where they could uh put themselves into a situation to be able to uh uh to help the next person uh who who who needed a little lyft and and uh both of them were equally adept at doing that all all throughout their lives.
Well said Maddie, Scott, are you able to hang through a break to join us for one more segment?
I'll leave that up to you, sir.
Of course, I'm here, Okay, Well catch any time.
We will catch a quick break.
Scott Layden is with us sun of frank Leyden in longtime high level NBA executive Live in Vegas. We are honoring the life and legacy on the program today of the great frank Leyden who left us last week at the age of ninety three.
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All right, welcome back. In it's Monday edition of the Drive. It's about ninety three degrees outside Sunday and hot thanks for making Thanks for.
Making us a part of your day. Hope you had a great weekend.
We have thrown out our usual rundown to allocate today's time and energy to honoring the life and legacy of frank Leydon, who we lost last week at the age of ninety three. So we're hoping my own father might stand me up on my on my own radio show. We're hoping, as Scott Layden is joining us live in Vegas, Richard Smith is live in studio. Both of you know this. My father currently is stuck on the Van Wick on the way to JFK, so we may we may get a call from him at some point, Scott, but I
can't guarantee it. So we're a little fluid this segment, gentlemen, Can you guys handle that?
Hey Scott, Scott, how many times have you used the excuse I'm stuck on the Van Wick?
Yeah, how about that. But it is a great episode of Seinfeld when they when they discuss that. And unless you, you know, have grown up in New York, it's hard to it's hard to imagine, but it is real. It is. It is. It can be uh, yeah, it can It can really lock you up. I have to tell you it, as Spence. I've mentioned this t before, but I think
the world of day check its. I mean, what he did in concert with Larry Miller and my dad, bringing the franchise to a level of professionalism that was amazing. And you know he would always say first class or not at all, and we were first class. And I mean he could, he could. He was a dynamo. I loved working for him in Utah. I loved working for him in New York with that, you know, he had that corner office and just what he had on his plate.
It's it was unbelievable, what what what he had going on in New York and uh, you know now what I'm what I'm getting at is that I was so excited to see him get in the Utah Sports Hall Fame, which was well deserved, but but he should also be in Springfield. I mean, what what his impact on the sport basketball and how good he was and and just you know how he managed the teams and the team building and you know, getting the right personnel in place.
It really he's uh, I would think well deserving of of uh getting to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Scott.
You spent all these years with with the jazz in the eighties and nineties, and then then uh in ninety nine, summer of ninety nine, you get a uh, you get a phone call from I assume uh from from Dave Check. It's about the possibility of of maybe going.
To work for the New York Knicks. Uh.
Uh run our listeners through just a little bit where you can tell us about how that process actually took place and how that how that came about for you.
No, I mean it was I don't know. We we had made a decision as a family to to give that a shot. I talked to my friend, uh Rick Majeris, who was coaching the youths at the time, and he said, you know, uh, most men live in quiet desperation without
ever taking a chance. And so we had we had had so much success, and uh, I think our family, you know, because we had our four daughters were in grade school, and we we took a shot to go there, and you know, we've that's we've called that home ever since, even though I've had jobs elsewhere, We've always kept that as a home base. And when I was a kid, you know, my dad and I were we were Nick fans, and uh, it was like a dream come true. And then you know, to go back and and work again
with with day was special. I wish, As I told him the other night, I said, I wish, I just wish it was a little longer, because I think working for him and and and I'm gonna tell you something, and Spencer, I think you you've you've you've experienced a when people tell you everyone loved working for him because it was it was competitive, it was fast paced, it was intense. But he he always had a great temperament and he had that that mental edge to make the
place competitive and successful. I mean, and you go right down the list now, uh you know Madison Square, Garden, the Knicks, Radio City Music called the Rangers in no particular order, and then the other thing that and and this is like I was in awe of of how he managed all these entities. But we also had the Yankees. Listen to me, We we the the the the Garden. Uh managed the MSG network that had the Yankees on there and which which gave uh uh we hired my dad as a as a consultant, and and uh we
the Yankees. Like the few weeks after we hired my dad. The Yankees were in the World Series, and uh uh, your dad was nice enough to get what we're called the seats and they was right.
Behind I know the seats.
Yeah, yes, you know the seats.
Well, Scott us get us, give us the Spike Lee story.
Yeah so so, but you could you could reach out because we were right behind it, the Yankee doug out. You could reach out and touch Joe Tory. That's that's how good those seats were. And uh so, as you know, my dad's a bigger baseball fan, was a bigger baseball
fan than anything. So it was Marshia and I, my mom and dad and about the about in the fourth or fifth inning, the first baseman Martinez for the Yankees comes off the field and it was one of these moments where you like, you're just so excited for your dad. You know, it's like you couldn't you couldn't replicate it. And Dave I wish he was there to see it.
But Martinez comes off the field after a put out and he's got the ball in his mit and he rolls it across the top of the dugout right to my dad because he recognized my dad he rolls it right to my dad and my dad gets the ball and it's the World Series and the ball has a World Series marker on it and he's studying it and I'm watching him. I'm thinking, oh, it's the coolest thing I've ever seen. Here's here's a lifelong baseball fan. Now he's got a World Series ball, you know. And I'm thinking,
what's what's going through his mind? He's studying this ball and like the scenes in the logo and everything's I'm like tickled, I'm so happy, right And he looks at me and he says, you know, it's not I love Martinez so and then and then the game goes on. Two innings later, Martinez comes off the field again after it put out and rolls the ball across the dugout to me. So, now I have a World Series ball.
And I'm not as affected as my dad was because I like baseball, but I'm not like you and my dad, Smitty. But now I have a ball, and I'm thinking, I don't know, I don't know about this. This is like I just got the nick job GM the whole thing, and I'm thinking, okay, I need to I don't need his attention. Anyway, all of a sudden, spike Lee, who's sitting does not have he was not in the seats, he did not have as good as seat. He had
pretty good seats. But anyway, he's behind us and he starts a chant, one ball per family, I think, and now I'm like, I'm panicked. My first, my first public appearance in New York, I'm gonna be on a you know, back greedy. You know, he needed the ball for himself. So I turned around with this with this chant going on, and I started, you know, the little kid who was with his dad, and I tossed him the ball and then everybody was like they were okay. Then I was
all right. But I'll tell you, you know, you asked me before Spence about, you know, growing up around Frank Layton and who got the He got the Niagara job when I was ten years old, so it was nineteen sixty eight and he went to Niagara. So it was like a lifetime, you know, all all time opportunity for him to go coaches his old school. And he loved Niagara, loved Niagara, and Niagara not too long ago named the court after he and my mom. So I was ten
years old, and Syracuse came on to Niagara campus. The Niagara Gymnasium held twenty five hundred people, and Syracuse obviously was pretty big. East They come on to campus and Niagara wins the game. Calvin Murphy, all right, who was number three in the country and scoring it was Maravich Mount Murphy and average like Calvin average thirty six, Marriviage
average like forty four. And Murphy gets sixty eight in the game, no three point line, sixty eight And I'm ten years old and my dad, you know, they win the game, and so he and I are driving home and he looks over at me and he says, you know what's done. This is gonna be a lot of fun. And it was. It was like I, you know, you see your dad have success. There was nothing like it.
And to put it in context, the sixty eight points one game, no three point line, I scored fifty seven at Saint Francis Nice, So that puts it in context. You But it took me four years.
I should have let him fish, you know. Scott, First of all, thank you for the kind words about my father, and you know, I'll let him come on and unpack his thoughts. He loved your father. He loved your.
Father love I agree, and vice versa. By the way, vice versa.
Yeah, I wonder if you could share some insights in that relationship, because you referenced hiring Frank as a consultant back in New York, and you know they worked.
Together when and my dad was a puppy.
Frank could have very easily looked down on this young kid getting this opportunity at the age of twenty seven, but Frank alway treated him with respect and always treated him with kindos. I wonder if you could shut some insight on that working relationship.
Well, I think I think your dad came in and infused a professionalism and a business acumen that that was desperately needed. That's something that we didn't you know, we really didn't have. I mean, we were run by smart people, don't get me wrong. But your dad came in with an enthusiasm and just generated and made the jazz, you know, world renowned. And I think the other thing is because of the mutual respect that my dad and and your
father had that they it worked well together. They kind of like just it blended it and they they complimented each other so well, and they had so much respect for each other and they were able to have success that way. And trust me, these these relationships are not always like you know, uh like warm and fuzzy, and they're not always like it's not kindergarten. This is a competitive world that we were in. But they had so much respect that they could debate, they could argue, they
could disagree. But when that when they all left that room, when they when everybody left the room, we were we were unified together. And that's the the like I'm looking at, I'm looking at And I know your dad appreciates this too, because his alignment when when he was involved with franchises
was was elite. But when you look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, so mister Bennett, Sam Presty, uh, coach Dagenhall and the players, there's an alignment that is unique, special and and and it's and it's real and so I'm not surprised that they have success and they and that
they're able to be patient during that time. Quite frankly, when the Jazz were in that that window of you know, the competitive years, that twenty years, there was an alignment that was unique and was it always easy No, it wasn't always easy, but it was you know, Larry Miller, it was Dave Checketts, Frank Laden, Jerry Sloan, Stockton, Malone, Eaton, and the alignment was was real so that when you when we had a you know, we have like a
crazy one off, bad playoffs series. You know, you're losing five games to the Rockets, and you know, that's that kind of thing where you had, you know, we're winning sixty games every year that they're that you don't you don't waiver. And that's not to mean that we didn't have tough conversations, that we didn't figure out how to get better, but we never wavered on you know, who the coach was, who the important players were, and what
why were we having success? Uh in the in the regular season, but also then how do we get better? And then eventually we go to the finals twice. But that alignment and that you know is so unique and it was unique. Uh, and that's why I believe, you know, when you look at I was fortunate to go and and and work with the Spurs, who have obviously their elite at their alignment and and that. But they used to talk about all the time, you know, we used to study the jazz. We used to study uh, and
you know where the success was? Why was it successful? And then as they would tell you, not me, as they would tell you that that they they they had the same sort of alignment, and we put put the same sort of effort into keeping everything consistent and and and having a success day in day out, put year to year.
Let's go out to the phone lines now and bring in my father stuck on the van Wick.
Uh.
So we have we have Richard smith live in studio. We have scott Leyden in Las Vegas, and my father Dave check Its joins us from New York. So I'll try to play traffic cop best I can. Hello, Dad, how are you.
Hey?
It's been a great show. I've been listening and happy to join and say hello. And I don't know how I can add anything to what rich Richard and what Smithy and what Scottie said. Scotti gave the talk of the century at Frank's funeral. He just he just he caught his whole life just beautifully as only a son could.
It was I was I was sitting with the other Paul bears, as you know, and all of us were we're grabbing for Kleenex because Scott brought him right right to life, so he recapped his life so beautifully.
I'll ask you the same question to start that I've asked all of our guests, that included, of course Smitty and Scott. We had Phil Johnson on earlier. We're going to bring in Ron McBride coming up in the five o'clock hour. But your thoughts on the life and legacy of Frank Layton. What did Frank Layton mean to you?
Well, he met everything to me. When I joined the Jazz in nineteen eighty three, twenty seven years old, I had never run a lemonade stand, and Sam Battistone, on the recommendation of David Stern, brought me in and handed the reins to me and said, you know, David told me you'd you'd be able to save this franchise and keep it here. And David told me to give everything to you. And I really.
Did not know.
All of the steps that we'd have to take to turn into a franchise that wasn't rumored to move, wasn't going to leave Salt Lake, wasn't going to go into bankruptcy, he wasn't going to merge with the Denver Nuggets. Just you can't imagine the time that it was. But the first guy I reached out to was the coach and general manager, Frank Layden. And I'll never forget how he He came to the Salt Palace to meet with me on my second day of work, and he came in.
He was he was driving a car that the franchise had given to him to drive. And you know, here he is like the head guy, coach, head coach, general manager. He's driving this to Yoda wagon that that looked like it had been tracked that the dealership of choice had given him. But you know what, his his great humility, his great dignity, his I came away. I remember coming home, Dohn and saying to your mom, this guy is incredible. He knows everything about the game, he knows everything about
his job. He's just never been given the support and tools here that he needs to really build something special. And that's my job. Give him the money, give him the freedom, give him the ability instead of drafting, you know, drafting players and having to sell them as they as the Jazz had to do famously. You know, I wanted to give Frank Layden everything he needed to hire the best people, best coaches, to draft the best players, and
we were going to be about winning. And when I said that to him, he said, that is music to my ears. But you know, he had never said that publicly. He always defended Sam and Sam's willingness to bring the team to Salt Lake. But that became my goal and we became great partners. In spite of the fact that he'd grown up in New York, I grew up in Utah. In spite of the fact that that I had I had no experience in the NBA and he had all
this experience. All he showed me my whole life, my whole life was nothing but loyalty and dignity.
He's he's one of.
The best people I've ever met, by far. I mean he he had a character about him that that was full of goodness. And could he be tough, Yes, he could be tough. And he and I, he and I only had one run in the whole time we worked together, and it was over something stupid that had been said during a game time promotion, and he just let me have it. And I went right back at him, and I said, Frank book. I know I made a mistake, but we have always we've treated each other with great dignity.
And you know what, he.
Apologized like immediately, he just said, I'm so sorry that there were other things on.
His mind and all of the rest of the time to the most difficult moments, especially Adrian Danley holding out on him and not reporting the camp and David Falk his agents just disrespecting the team, the franchise and us. Frank and I were just arm in arm. We were in.
Lockstep, lockstep, and I really believe, you know, he turned it around because we got into tools he needed to do it. But in terms of what he meant to me, I can't even I can't even say, I can't even say he was He was the most valuable friend and mentor I could ever imagine, in not just in basketball, but in life, because we talked about life a lot. We talked about raising kids, we talked about how to treat your wife, we talked about character. He loved people
of character, and he taught me so very much. And one of the other this is the last thing I'll say. I don't think there's any way I didn't have a choice when when Larry and I decided that we could not we could no longer work together. I didn't have a choice. I had to leave.
But I loved the NBA and I got my dream job because the Knicks were the team of my childhood and Spencer you know this, I never could have gone to New York and she sheeted without having first been prepared by the all time New Yorker Frank Laden. He got me ready for what was a really tough job back there. But he just he taught me so many principles about winning and championship, culture and character, and I
took it all in. I was just a sponge with him, and it allowed me, I think, for you know, to have a decade of success with the Knicks and Madison Square Garden.
You know, Dave, we were we were talking about some of those qualities of Coach Layden's UH in earlier segment with Coach Johnson, and I made the UH the analogy that to me, it was a little bit like the recent documentary that came out about Yogi Berra and his granddaughter who did this film and researched all the information and said that that her her grandfather was known, you know as the quote the quote master, and the storyteller and all that kind of stuff, But nobody really gave
him his due for for who he really was as a baseball player, you know, game in and game out, and his numbers over the years and all of that kind of stuff, and when you look at him, you know, his numbers far surpassed almost everybody else, uh in baseball during that time. And and also as as a catcher in the game. And we were saying, how how that somehow, you know, sometimes uh uh came over into how Frank was viewed by the public because he was a funny guy and told stories and did the stuff he did
in a public facing a way. But behind the scenes, a lot of people don't know what kind of X and O's tactician he was as a coach, you know, how he was in the front office, how he managed people, and all the things he did actually run the franchise in the early days when it was teetering, and all the things he had to do to keep all those, if you will, all those plates spinning on top of the on top of the sticks in order none of
them fall off. And what great skill he had in doing all of that kind of stuff.
He was amazing and not only skilled and smart, but
so caring and so committed. And I'm not sure he ever I mean, even though he had those nice accolades Coach of the Year, Executive of the Year in eighty four when we won the Midwest Division title my first year with the team, So I got spoiled quickly because that just started a run of when we just made the playoffs every year that we were together, Frank and I. And it's because of the job that he did not exs, not just excess and oose, but his leadership, his support
is mentoring. I thought of a funny story, Spencer that I'll never forget. I was, of course negotiating player contracts and trying to get players signed as quickly as I could, to always get guys into camp and make sure we had the best players on the floor. And I was right in the middle of the Dantley holdout, and I'm
just so angry about all of that. But there was a time later on Frank was still coaching where we were almost done with a contract extension for Mark Eaton, and he Mark Eaton's agent, Keith Glass, just wouldn't give up on this one. Stupid incentive he wanted in Mark's contract. He wanted an incentive that if Mark led the team in rebounding that he got an extra twenty five thousand dollars. And I went to coach Laden and I said, okay, Frank,
this is the last thing we need to do. If we do this, he'll sign this new five year extension, we'll be done with him and we can carry on. And he said, what is it. And I said, he wants a twenty five thousand dollars bonus if he leads the team in rebounding. And he said, no, no, I'm not doing that. We're not doing that because you know, that's exactly what we need, is him trying to take rebounds away from whoever's on the other side of the free throw lane so he can add to his numbers.
We're just not going to do that. And I said, Frank, it's like twenty five thousand dollars in a contract that was paying eating probably something like four or five hundred thousand dollars at the time. And I said, this is all we need to get this done. This thing will be behind us. We'll have him for five years. And Frank said, Dave, you know what, this is your deal. You do what you want. But I say, no, I'm
against and so I went back. I negotiated for so long in this contract that I went back to Keith Glass and I said, Keith, if you tell me this is the very last deal, I'm doing this against my coaches wishes, I'll do it just just just to have it behind us. And Keith said, that's the last thing.
We have a deal.
So we signed the contract and it was a full two years later. It was two years after we signed that contract that we're playing in a very tight game at home. I think it was against the Mavericks, and we're at home and on a certain free throw I don't remember. I think it was Rolando Blackman shooting a free throw out. It's I can remember the moment like
it was yesterday. And he makes the first free throw and misses the second, and Eaton goes up to grab the rebound, just as Malone does as well, and neither one of them yielded to the other, and they tipped the ball in went in the basket. And Scotty remember where I used to sit on the second road, just down from Press Road, and I see Frank marching toward me.
We're in the middle of the game and I'm sitting with my I'm sitting with my family, and he comes over and stands right in front of me and he says, so, Dave, what do you think about your I'll leave out the word, what do you think about your incentive?
Now?
He inserted a little admitt what do you think about your blank?
You're blank? He's blanking incentive now.
What do you think about it now?
And he stands there like I'm just answering, and I just am shrugging my shoulders like I'm so sorry.
Scott and Dad, I want to get you inside in this too. You know, Frank did something that really nobody does, and he would joke in later years that if he knew coaches were going to be paid four or five six million dollars a year, maybe he would have stuck around. But he retires in nineteen eighty eight, and as the legend goes, he had just been ejected from a game by Earl Strom after getting into a shouting match with
Darryl Walker. But he also talked Scott about his desire to spend time with Barbara, with your mother and with the family, and you know, just kind of live his life a little bit, and you know, Jerry of course takes over and the rest is history.
But Scott will start with you, then Dad will go to you on this.
Can you shed some insight onto into exactly what that was like for him to walk away from a team that he had built it was ready to win at a very high level.
I think I think the probably, I mean, this may be an oversimplification, but I think I think it was a selfless act at the time. And you know, while while I think he had, you know, enjoyed coaching, I think he I think he felt good about coaching, he felt good about the team, but I also think he understood where there was a little bit of a tipping point that if we waited too long, we could lose you know, a great coach and coach Sloan and his
selflessness I think allowed him to step away. And the other thing is, and and Dave knows this well because they were really close, is that he had other, you know, other interests. It did like he wasn't he wasn't beholden to just basketball. He had so many other things that he wanted to do, and he wanted to do with my mom and my brother and sister. So it wasn't like he needed, you know that that's all he could do.
He was more of a renaissance man than not. And he also loved being out in the community and and and travel and and so I think he I think he was comfortable with where he was and what he had done. And now you know, it was it was Jerry's time. And no one was more supportive of Jerry Sloane than my dad because if you look at coach Johnson and you look at Coach Sloan as as when they were assistants, they were.
Both capable of being head coaches for sure, but both of them were so fiercely loyal and I'll tell you it was a great quality.
It was a great lesson for me. They were both fiercely loyal to my dad and that's what made those relationships work. So when it came time, I think it was easy for my dad to say, you know what this is, this is Garry's time, so yeah, we'll.
Go over to you. I wonder, you know, when Frank it came to you with that decision, what that was like, and how eventually it went from Frank to Jerry.
It happened over quite a long period of time. Right after training camp that season, he started to make noise like that. When I would talk to him, he'd say, Dave Man, I don't know if I can do this. And we had had keep in mind that I think our coming out party was nineteen at the end of the the seventy or the seventh let's see eighty seven eighty eight season, when we played the Lakers in a
seven game series. They would go on to win the championship, but we played them in a very tough seven game series, and actually when we came home for Game six, we blew them out like one oh six to eighty on our floor and set up a big Game seven, which we in LA. But I was surprised because he started making noise right after training camp about I hate getting on airplanes, I hate all the travel, I hate the hotel rooms. All of a sudden, he said, it's just
it's just gotten old for me. And I said, but Frank, we finally have a team. We finally have a team that can do something really special. I mean really special. You saw what we did with the World Champs last year. This year could be better. We should be better, and don't you want to stick around to enjoy it? But he said he would keep saying I just don't have it. I just don't.
I just don't feel it. But all these.
Years later, I have concluded that there was something else to play with him. And you know, he'll never He'll never confirm this. He would never acknowledge it, even though I pushed him over the years to say, I know what.
Was up with you then, And what was up was he did not want he did not want if he stepped down. He wanted Larry and me to have no choice. He wanted it to be Jerry Sloan. And the best way to do that would be the resign mid season, because I mean, we're not going to conduct a search then and select somebody else. I wouldn't have anyway, But Larry always talked about, you know, if Frank ever steps down, we're going to have to do a search.
And I knew. I think we all knew that Jerry, even though he'd been fired in Chicago, we knew he was a great, great coach and a person of great character. I think Frank did that totally to force our hand.
I've never said this publicly but I think he did it totally to force our hand, to make sure that this guy who had been so loyal to him and was so ready for the job, got the job.
And as I remember that, Dave, if I'm my memory show as we correct, I think we had a game in the in the Salt Palace on a Wednesday night, came in Thursday morning, announced to the team that that he was stepping down immediately as the head coach, and Jerry was running practice that morning, and Jerry ran ran the practice, and then the team got on a flight that afternoon. I think it was to go to Dallas for a game Friday night, and it was just you know, just as you say, it was just like, we don't
have any time to do anything else. This is what we have to do. We have to do this thing. And because we got a game with.
One night, yeah, and we had, I mean all of us had agreed the night before that that's what we would do. And Larry came in too. Larry Miller walked into the dressing room well, and we let Frank announce that he was stepping aside and that Jerry was was going to take over. And then Larry said, I want to just say one thing. And he looked at the mailman. I remember him giving the mailman at Death's there, and he gave him this look and he said, this was
Frank's decision and only Frank. He was nobody else had anything to do with this. This is totally his decision. Because he thought Larry thought the players would would think that he had he had pushed Frank out. He wanted he wanted the.
Players to know and this was true. It was totally Frank.
We're chatting with Scott Laden live in Vegas, Dave Checkets live in New York.
Richard Smith live in Salt Lake City.
I don't both of you have to go, so we'll end with this and Scott will start with you, and then Dad, we'll go to you. I wonder whether it's pearls of wisdom, pieces of advice, funny saints, and I know there's a lot there if you could share any of the great lessons you learned from Frank.
Before I said both of you lose. Scott will start with you.
Oh, there were many I haten to do this, but I said this the other night or the other day at the during the eulogy, he had all these things, and they were coming at us constantly. Words of advice. Whenever you go in a restaurant, immediately go into bathroom, because whoever cleans the bathroom cleans the kitchen. Always leave a place better than you found it. Now, clearly Utah, Salt Lake City, the jazz were better than he found it when he left. Never refuse a breath mint that
sound advice. And then my favorite, and this is where I'm nervous, but I'm gonna say anyway, never trust a man with two first names. So I said, I said, Dad, what I don't understand what what do you mean by that? He said, we'll think about it.
Son, Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham, Paul Ryan, Oh my god, my daughter is my speech writer.
So he said, he said, you know, I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat. And today's day and age. In today's day and age, it's like it's so poignant. But during the last several months, I can't tell you how many nerves came into his room. And I said, coach, thank you so much. You're the only room in the hospital that has Rachel Maddow an MSNBC. I'll leave it there. I'm sorry.
No, I'll tell you.
I got to tell you something because I worked with Smitty, I worked with Spencer when he was a young man. I can't. I just can't get over that Internet that worked for me is now this radio. I don't know. You're like, you're a dynamo. I just can't get over with you. Know. It's so You're like, no, I can't
believe you're the same person. And then I'm telling you I loved and I told him the other night, I loved working for Dave check Its because every day was competitive, it was intense, and we were focused on winning it all. And that's I. I appreciate the opportunity that have worked with you guys, and obviously worked with my dad. So thank you, thank.
You for those words, Scott, Dad will win with you.
Oh Scottie, the opposite is true. You were just a joy always to work with and you know, to shure you work with your dad everything from the lucky ties, you know, to all everything we did to try and win. My favorite thoughts from Frank I'll just offer up too. I know he said never trust a man with two names, but he had those other thing, Scott. He said, never trust a man with a beard and he's hiding something, and he meant it, absolutely meant it. Never trust the
man with the beard. But this was one of his favorite sayings. And this is why I think he ran out of gas with the Jazz. I think this had something to do with it, and he resigned too early. But he always said, it's better to surprise than disappoint, and that was one of his favorite sayings. And you know what, the Jazz is under Frank had started surprising people in that eighty three eighty four season. And in that eighty eight season, we had played the Lakers to
a stancill. I mean they had to dig deep. We were the best team they played that year, and they went all the way to winning a title. And Frank knew that that young team had come of age and he just didn't love being in a situation where there was only downside. He loved being in a situation where there was only upside because he he knew he could
surprise people. He knew his team could surprise people. And suddenly, instead of the underdog, the lovable underdog, the Jazz had become a real force in the NBA.
Well Daved and Scott.
Good I was just.
Gonna I love I love him, I'll miss him and love the whole Laden family.
You know, I was just going to add just a little anecdote David Scott. You know, I remember Frank Scott when when Scott first got to New York and got situated and brought Frank in, and and Frank came home from the first visit in New York, and and.
I'm visiting with him.
We're out to dinner, and he said, hey, look at this, and he takes out his key ring and he shows you and and I said, what is that, coach. He goes, see this key right here. I go, yeah, He goes, that's the key from Adison Square garden. And I said for the garden. He goes, yeah, they gave me the key to their garden. This opens every door in the garden. And and he just had this twinkle in his eye like I've gotten right to the top, right at the right, now I'm at the pinnacle. This is it. I got
a key to the garden. I can't get in any door I want. And this was he was so proud of that and was so so excited to show me that he had the key.
It was funny, Scottie, Dad will set you loose. Uh, you can't thank you enough. I know you both have things to do. So this has been awesome. Travel safe and we'll chat soon.
Okay, thank you, sir, all right.
Thanks guys, Scott Lane so much.
Scott by Dad.
Scott Laden live in Vegas, Dave Checkets live in New York, Richard Smith live in Salt Lake. We still have more to do, even though it feels like we've done a lot. The former head coach of the Utah football team, Ron McBride, uh via Smitty, requested to come on today. And when Ron McBride hasked to come on a radio show, you come on a radio show. He's in Hawaii conducting a football camp, but he and Frank were very close, so we'll bring him on.
We have done something a little unique today.
Back to kind of our regular schedule programming for the rest of the week. I was out Thursday of Friday last week, so I was not able to be on air. After the passing of frank Leyden last week at the age of ninety three, so we are honoring his life in legacy. Phil Johnson joined us. Scott Layden live in Vegas, Dave Checkets live in New York. Richard Smith is good enough to join us in studio live in Salt Lake.
Now we go across the ocean to the rock where the Great Ron McBride is good enough to give us some time on a Monday afternoon. Coach Mack, how are you, sir?
Good?
How you guys do We're good?
We're good.
I'll just ask you the same question I've asked all my guests. What was it like to be frank Leyden's friend?
Oh man, he was special and a number of things that in favors he did for me over the last thirty years or or just unbelievable because whenever you call him for something, he always said, no problem, I got you. And even when he started goal out, he still showed up. And I think in the last ten years we had twenty three events and he showed up for twenty one of them, and the only ones he did show up was this year because he, unfortunately was on a huge declaim.
The coach, It's really nice for me to take a few minutes to visit with us about about frank today. Tell us, tell us about the unique relationship that you two had, because I've been fortunate to be around you guys in some public settings and also private get togethers, and you guys always just seemed to have a unique speciald that goes beyond sports, but was was more of just a personal thing involving you just how you felt about.
Each other about it was a personal thing. And and we we did a lot together. You know, he had dinners together, events together, Uh, games together. You know, I can't I can't tell you how many times he spoke to to my football teams. And it was an awesome pre pregame speaker. And it's funny, you know, and and uh, you know, just he he had a way of of reaching every every situation. Then, you know, he had a way of just okay, what what what's what do you got to get get across there? What do you need
to say? And then I'd say, Frank, if you cover this and this and this, and then you whom ideas and then he would just take it from there. You know. He was he was funny, he was he was passionate, He he was you know, he was everything you could ask in a person. You know, he just was uh, and we had you know, we had a great relationship probably from day one. You know, I come over the first time when they when the jazz came here, and and I said, who's the guy who makes all the decisions?
They who are getting Frank Layton? I said, well, I need to get hold myself. I need to see if I can we can buy some tickets for some recruits we have coming in and to see whether so I called. I said, so, I called him, and he got on the phone. They were talking and yucking it up, and I said, look, I said, I got these, I got a few guys. He said, okay, how many tickets do you need? I said, well, you know, we could use around.
Thirty And he says, what time can you be here? I said, And from that time on, you know, I mean we became became great friends. And and that spans alone, you.
Know, a long time. And and he always you know, it doesn't matter what the community asked him for, he always did. It didn't matter what you know, he was. He was great with the with the team, great with the players, and he was great with my players. You know,
you couldn't ask for a better person. And and him passing leaves a huge boy in my life because I was very dependent on seeing him and and uh, you know just uh he was just he's just one of those unique people you know that you that you come across in your life done well.
I know, coach, Uh you, you and Vicky were some of the last people to be able to visit with him. And and uh, I know you guys had such a such a close, uh close bond, you know, with the Leaden family and uh and it's just so heartwarming to see that how you guys always uh interacted with each other.
I mean, please, so I had I forget what you have been in the night he passed away. I had been doing something pretty much all day and when I when I got home, I said, I said to Vicky Kelly, I said, you know, we need to go over to see Frank because I don't think he's I don't think he's doing well. I don't think I don't know what.
So we.
My daughter Kelly said, Okay, you guys, get in the car. I'll drive you up. And I could tell that that you know that you know he was he was not going to make it, you know he was. It was just heartbreaking because he fought this for.
A long time.
And what you can tell you you know, he was, he was satisfied with with with what he did in this life.
Coach. I've been asking people this question all day, and of course most people know Frank is a great coach and a very funny personality. But upon his passing, he and Barbara were married sixty eight years. I wonder what sort of insight you have as far as your friendship with them as a couple and Frank as a husband.
Well, we we did a lot of things with them as as uh, you know, we got to eat kind of and Vicky would have once with Barbara and a group of ladies. They usually me, you know, once or twice a month, and they Kid and Barbara were real close.
And and then of course we had the old timers lunch, you know that that that he done, that put together, and that was and I, you know, I'd always show up a little bit late, and I would always stay afterwards, and that's when we that's when we'd have our real conversations. After once was over and kind of everybody was gone, and then Smitty would stay, Frank would be there, I would be there, and then we get down to serious, serious business of what was going on.
You know.
He left to talk baseball. Oh you know he's he's a baseball fanatic. Love to talk about his hometown and uh, and his his love for Barbara was just uh unique, you know, they know, such a great relationship and and uh and how much he depended on on on her and uh, it just was you know, it's just you know, I don't know what to say, except I know that
that at least a huge void. And he was a huge supporter of my foundation for kids and he was always always great with that any just anything anything you want, you know, And and uh, a very intelligent man, you know, just just as far as you know anything about you talk anything about sports and uh and politics you know, he was he was he was fun to talk to
about politics. Here and my wife were on the same wavelength, you know, and and on politics, so so that that was always an interesting conversation between Vicky and Frank about you know, the today's today's world, about what was going on and uh and uh he had opinions and she had opinions. But uh, it was uh, I mean, what what can you say? I mean, this guy thought was ever day one since since the jazz came here. When I got to know him, we were instant. You know,
we had an instant connection. And uh, if I could ever do anything for him or he needed me for something, always always glad to do it. But but his his favorite saying all the time was you know, in closing a phone call or or or when you're getting ready of leaving, or what can I do for you?
You know? That was his.
He said, well, just let me know what I can do for you. And I said, you don't need to do anything for me. Well make sure you if you need something, just tell me and I'll do it. And I can remember Schmittie would bring him to two events and he'd say, wow, I don't know how long I can stay, but I'll stay until until you say I can go. You know, I said, hey, you you go wherever you want to go. But he'd hang and he
hang and hang, and he'd be there just talk. He'd greet everybody when they came in, and you know, he just uh he gave up his time and uh, he
loved it talk to people. He was a great, great communicator. Uh, you know, had a great belief in the in the in the jazz, you know, and obviously they they drafted some great players during this time, and and they were able to develop these guys and and uh, you know, make it a make make us a great, a great product, and uh you know, and with the event of John and Carl and Jeff and that group and you know that was a special group of players.
Here coach UH shifting gears for just second, we need to publicly uh congratulate you on your selection to be uh inducted into the Utah Ring of Honor at the University of Utah.
Congratulations. Tell tell us a little bit about.
That, about your uh, how you got the phone call, how you found out about that.
We were we were at a event, you know for and I think it was our you know, our golf our golf tournament. Then we had a deal on Funday night. So the Mark Crowt had called uh Vicky and said, make sure the coach is on time. And I'm thinking, why is the athletic director that you don't worried about it from out time to the event. And then I get on he says, we have to be on time to this event. I said, why, said, I have no idea.
I thought, well, maybe they're going to take my tickets away, I know, you know, so so then UH Mark Mark said, Hey, I like to make an announcement, you know, on the home. I got what's what's this going to be? And he says that, you know, coach Max went into the ring of honor them and you and the job was just so you know this this uh excited about it and
and appreciate it. And uh uh I appreciate it to the particularly to the to the players that played for me, and and the and the and the families that that that built you know, what's theirted day and the players and you know, and so we had a we had a vision a long time ago of what this place could be and uh and and the vision is still right there, you know. And and and Kyle obviously has has done a great job and and to take it
to the next step. And he's hired the right people and you got you know, a great you know, most of the defensive staff that played at Utah and.
Then any desire the.
New offensive coordinator when running back coach Jake Kukus. And you know, so they got a lot of people that I know quite well that are working for him in their home.
They're all happy and they don't want to go anywhace else. And they're committed to.
What Kyle's vision is at the University of Utah.
Well, coach Mac, thank you so much for your time on this very special day. We will set you loose, enjoy Hawaii and safe travel, sir.
Okay, okay.
I would like to say then closing that how much I love Frank and how much I'm missing And he was a real guy, you know, and smid what you did for him in the last twelve years, thirteen years of taking care of and being his sidekick, being there all the time. I can't tell you how much all of us appreciate what what what you did for what you did for him, especially through the tough times. And that's what tells you a lot about people, is what you do when somebody can't do something for you and
it's gonna thank you. Thank you for giving up for yourself and caring about front.
Very kind of your coach. Thank you.
Okay, have a good have a good day you guys. Yeah that I love.
What's more.
Way, Yes, I.
I you know I've been off mold than I could too, but through it all and that was out. I ended up and spit it out. The record shows I took the blows. But did it?
Bravo, Yeah, we're on air.
We're on there now.
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
Good night, everybody.
Is the check in the mail, that's just one though.
The check is in the mail.
Last time you told me you was sending a watch, you couldn't even come in the.
Time of day, you know, I uh, I wasn't sure if we're going to be able to find that. And I don't know whether to laugh or cry, to be honest with this, Minty.
That was Porter.
When was that two years ago?
Maybe?
Yeah, I think the spring of twenty twenty three.
Yeah, So that, of course was the great frank Leyden, who was a consistent guest on this program throughout the course of this program and others throughout the course of my career. Has been so good to me, not just in my career, but in my life. And so I am sad to say goodbye. I am grateful that he is not suffering anymore. And I have so many wonderful memories ever since I was just little kids. Smitty, I can't imagine what's going through your head right now. So
as we wrap it up, Penny for your thoughts. As you hear frank sing a little Frank Sinatra to wrap up the show today.
Oh that was that was so apropos. And I'll tell you what. He wouldn't want you to be shedding a tear at all. He'd want you to be laughing or you know, make some kind of comment like really are you are you really trying to sing on the public airwaves and whatever, and you know, but he's uh, he was truly, as I've said to many people over the last several days, he's truly from my perspective, in my opinion, one of a kind. But he was one of a kind in the best type of way.
You know.
It's you know hard to you know, everybody says, oh, there'll be another, never be another one like that, and you know in any sport or something thing or whatever. But you know, you'll hope that there's many more, uh Frank Layton's around somewhere because that just makes makes life
better for everybody who's who's around people like that. And I know that would be a sentiment he would want to share, is that, Uh, everybody celebrate and everybody, Uh, everybody have fun and enjoy the people around you and and and take care of them the best way that you can.
Well, thank you so much. This show today would not have happened without you. And as coach Max said earlier, you were omnipresence in Frank's life over the past decade plus, helping a lot Smidi so a lot of people around him.
Are you a lot?
No, just just just trying to be a friend, trying to uh, you know, repay whatever you can. Never you know, any any anything you do in those kinds of situations, I suspense. I I truly believe that you always end up getting more than the than you give, you know. And Frank gave me so much and and I was honored, uh and privileged and humbled to uh to uh be
able to call him a friend of mine. And uh and we'll we'll we sure surely will miss him and and uh but we'll try to celebrate him all the time whenever we.
Can, in honor of Frank Laydon. Coming up on the other side is the Major League Baseball Home run Derby, which Frank would probably want to follow the show porter, great job today. Way to put a cherry on top of that Sunday with that final bump before we saycond night, What comes our way to Tuesday?
Edition of the show.
Yeah, man on a on a Tuesday show, a little more remembering one frank Leydon Grant Harrison will stop by the show. Tim McMahon stops by the show, Bill Riley, Dave Fox a loaded Tuesday show, and yeah, just to echo your guys sentiments, all of you worked with Frank in like a professional setting. You knew him for decades and decades, so that feeling is is is very present and forward.
For me.
I cleaned Frank's golf clubs everyone in a while as a he came up to Park City golf courses with all his friends, all their New York accents, and they all they all gave me, gave me crap all the time. They you know, that was that was how they approached life. But Frank specifically made me feel like I had been his friend for a long time and I never met him, and I know that that's how he made like everyone
he ever met feel. So h just a little more perspective that I know, like a thousand fans also shared with one Frankly.
Well said, and we will say good Night's special thank you. Phil Johnson, Scott Layden, Dave Checketts, Ron McBride, The incomparable Richard Smith. My name is Spence Checkett, saying good night. I loved Frank Laydon and I will miss him. Enjoy your Monday evening home run Derby's next. We're talking out a Tuesday drive as well as you can catch it right here on ESPN seven hundred