This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The phone call surprised the manager of the pharmacy in Grand Rapids, Mich., almost as much as it pleased him.
Thirty five years ago, Ben Poquette suited up for the Utah Jazz for the team's first game ever in Salt Lake City. But decades after his NBA career had ended, there weren't many reminders left of his playing days until a Jazz employee last summer typed his name into Google, looked up a phone number and cold called the store where Poquette has worked since his career ended in the late '80s.
"I hate to admit it, but it's been a long time since I played," said the 6-foot-8 Poquette, who also played for Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago in his career. "It was nice to hear from them. … It's the first team that's really contacted me."
The Jazz have always honored their legends — with banners, statues and ceremonies — but in recent years the franchise has made a concerted effort to reconnect with every player who has ever worn the team's colors, forming an alumni program to remind players "once a Jazzman, always a Jazzman."
"We have just felt it's important to us that Jazz players remain connected to the franchise as part of our extended family," said Frank Zang, senior vice president of communications for Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment. "As we've reached out it's been very apparent how much they've appreciated the gesture and wished to remain involved with the team."
The Jazz alumni program was borne, at least in part, out of conversations between recently retired team president Randy Rigby and former Jazz forward Thurl Bailey.
"I just thought the Jazz needed to do more," Bailey, who now works as an analyst for the team, said. "There's the great history with John Stockton and Karl Malone and then there were times when that's kind of where it stopped. There wasn't a lot of history before that that had been represented in events and keeping guys connected with the team."
Bailey knows the importance of keeping in touch with the past. Currently, he is the board chairman of the National Retired Players Association. Just last week, he helped secure a coveted reunion for his college team: a trip to the White House where President Barack Obama finally honored Bailey and the North Carolina State Wolfpack for winning the 1983 national championship.
While colleges have long maintained relationships with their alumni, Bailey believes the transient nature of playing in the NBA makes pro alumni associations more important.
"It's a vital thing," he said. "It's easy sometimes to stay caught up in the moment; there's a lot of responsibility to win games now. But you can't forget your past. Those players were all part of the stepping stone."
Over the years, however, that has sometimes been a difficult task. Team officials say there are 181 ex-Utah Jazz players (a tally that does not include players still on active rosters). The team has contact info for 110 of them.
To fill the gaps in their database, Jazz director of communications and player relations Derek Garduño spends chunks of the team's offseason tracking down former players by combing through social media, news articles and other resources.
"Sometimes one player leads to another," Zang said.
Jazz officials believe that work and better record keeping moving forward will make it easier to ensure the team's past always remains part of its future.
The Jazz have brought former center Mehmet Okur on as a team ambassador who makes regular appearances for fans, season-ticket holders and sponsors alike. Two years ago, the team recognized several players from the 1983-84 Jazz, the first in franchise history to make the postseason.
"It's something I think is important," said Darrell Griffith, a shooting guard on the team from 1980-91 who is now a top official at the University of Louisville. "You develop friendships. You develop an organization's footprint for the future and it's always good to come back and see how things have evolved from what you helped start."
Last summer, when the team brought Antoine "Big Dawg" Carr to Utah for summer league, lines of fans waited on the concourse of the team's arena for his autograph.
"It's fueled us to see the response of fans," Zang said. "The 7-year-old may not really know who Antoine Carr was, but his dad standing next to him remembers how much he meant. It's nice to connect it through the generations that way."
In the coming seasons, the Jazz will likely do something to honor the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals teams.
It's important for the franchise to honor its legends (Stockton and Malone) and its successful alums (former point guard John Crotty has built a thriving real estate business in retirement). But, for Bailey, it's just as important the team keep in touch with more forgotten players, such as former guard John Drew, whose career was cut short because of substance abuse, but is now reportedly sober and working as a cab driver in Houston.
"These players, they need that," Bailey said. "The organization needs that. They need to have their team to connect themselves to."
The Jazz try to do that by keeping in regular touch with their ex-players now. They send out laminated schedules at the start of the season, offer tickets to them when the Jazz play near their homes, and mail them cards on their birthdays. They also send out an annual yearbook updating players on the whereabouts of their fellow alums.
"It's always good to see where everybody is," Griffith said. "You get to reconnect with players you shared a locker room and shared a lot of time with. We go our separate ways and retire from the game. Some guys you don't stay in touch with. You want to see them, see how they're doing and hope they're doing well."
Twitter: @tribjazz —
Where are they now?
The Jazz have started an alumni outreach program to keep former Utah players connected to the franchise. A selected look at what some of these retired players are up to today:
Curtis Borchardt • Doctor of physical therapy student at Pacific University, Stockton, Calif.
Bobby Hansen • Radio analyst for Iowa Hawkeyes basketball
Jarron Collins • Assistant coach, Golden State Warriors
John Crotty • Radio analyst for Miami Heat & "Principle" real estate broker at Avison Young
Adam Keefe • Client advisor, SunTrust Private Wealth Management, Los Angeles
Quincy Lewis • Associate development officer, University of Minnesota
Danny Manning • Head men's basketball coach, Wake Forest
Scott Padgett • Head men's basketball coach, Samford University
Fred Roberts • Sixth grade teacher, Lincoln Academy, Pleasant Grove
Dell Curry • TV Analyst, ambassador and special projects advisor, Charlotte Hornets
Walter Bond • Motivational speaker, author, Wayzata, Minn.
Delaney Rudd • President, NC Basketball Academy
Billy Paultz • New car sales, Gay Buick GMC, Dickinson, Texas
Tom Chambers • TV pregame, halftime and postgame show host, Phoenix Suns
Source: Utah Jazz