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RIP Mark Eaton 1957-2021


edhunter
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Sad news today. Former Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton died in a bicycle accident near Park City, Utah. He was 7'4", and while never really a star, he was a very visible part of the community in Utah long after his career ended. 10 years ago my band was hired to play a huge private 50th birthday party near Park City. Eaton was there and I found myself chatting with him for a moment. I mentioned to him how beautiful the horse property next door was, and how my 5 year old daughter would love it. He said "That's my house. Bring her by sometime." A few weeks later we had a gig nearby that I brought the family to and I figured I'd take him up on it and just show up, since I never got his number. He was genuinely happy to see us and took us around, telling my daughter about each horse there. He also had a donkey, and when we were leaving, my 4-yr old daughter hugged it and kissed it on the nose. It followed us all the way along the fence back to our car, about a hundred yard walk.

 

Super nice man gone way too soon.

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RIP Mark. No personal connection but I do remember his intimidating presence on the court. :rose:
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A funny story with him I saw Michael Jordan tell in an interview. Jordan dunked over John Stockton, and on the way down the court Jazz owner Larry Miller barked at him from his courtside seats "Pick on someone your own size!". A moment later Jordan then dunked on Eaton and on the way down yells back "He big enough for ya?"
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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:
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I'm sorry, to hear, see, and read this. He will be missed, and remembered. My condolences, to his family, and friends. R.I.P., Mark.
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While I am not a Jazz fan, Mark Eaton was a wonderful person to meet and talk to as Ed's story reveals. I had a friend to used to see him at a local restaurant and he was willing to talk to everyone, just a down to earth guy. He also ran several restaurants of his own and they were wonderful. So sad to hear of his untimely passing, RIP :rose:
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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

Edited by blueschica
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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

Yes, Larry Miller was very stingy but his widow has been very generous to the local community. He always was either loved or disliked, no inbetween. The Jazz were lucky to have some great players who were also very kind people, like Mark Eaton.

Edited by Rhyta
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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

Yes, Larry Miller was very stingy but his widow has been very generous to the local community. He always was either loved or disliked, no inbetween. The Jazz were lucky to have some great players who were also very kind people, like Mark Eaton.

 

That is interesting to hear. I always thought it was just kind of a running family joke when they said it. Its nice to hear about the family and their charity work. When we lived there John Stockton did quite a bit as well.

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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

 

I knew that area very well. It was my delivery area when I worked for Airborne and then also with Terminix when I was doing pest control. Mark Huntsman lived up there, and at the far end of his street was another guy who was also a billionaire. I think his name was Sorenson. Mike Lookingland, who played Bobby Brady also lived fairly close to there but a little more South.

 

I saw Larry Miller once during the Christmas lights at temple square. He looked just like a real life Homer Simpson

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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

 

I knew that area very well. It was my delivery area when I worked for Airborne and then also with Terminix when I was doing pest control. Mark Huntsman lived up there, and at the far end of his street was another guy who was also a billionaire. I think his name was Sorenson. Mike Lookingland, who played Bobby Brady also lived fairly close to there but a little more South.

 

I saw Larry Miller once during the Christmas lights at temple square. He looked just like a real life Homer Simpson

 

Cool! Lol, we were not near Mark Huntsman, more like next to Beacon Heights elementary school.:lol: Our neighbors were very sweet and we really enjoyed being there. There was a burger place, Eataburger or whataburger, kind of like inn and out, down on 3300 that we became huge fans of.

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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

 

I knew that area very well. It was my delivery area when I worked for Airborne and then also with Terminix when I was doing pest control. Mark Huntsman lived up there, and at the far end of his street was another guy who was also a billionaire. I think his name was Sorenson. Mike Lookingland, who played Bobby Brady also lived fairly close to there but a little more South.

 

I saw Larry Miller once during the Christmas lights at temple square. He looked just like a real life Homer Simpson

 

Cool! Lol, we were not near Mark Huntsman, more like next to Beacon Heights elementary school. :lol: Our neighbors were very sweet and we really enjoyed being there. There was a burger place, Eataburger or whataburger, kind of like inn and out, down on 3300 that we became huge fans of.

That that burger place is long gone. One other note on Miller, (love the Homer Simpson reference :D ) he bought up the minor league hockey team Golden Eagles right before he got the Delta Center built. Didn't give a fig about them and then sold them a few years later. I and many other fans made sure we never bought any cars from him. Funny thing, we actually only went a year without a team and when the Avs came to Colorado the Denver Grizzlies came here. We still love the fact that we won 2 Turner Cups in the Delta Center, take that Miller :16ton:

Edited by Rhyta
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Sad news today. Former Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton died in a bicycle accident near Park City, Utah. He was 7'4", and while never really a star, he was a very visible part of the community in Utah long after his career ended. 10 years ago my band was hired to play a huge private 50th birthday party near Park City. Eaton was there and I found myself chatting with him for a moment. I mentioned to him how beautiful the horse property next door was, and how my 5 year old daughter would love it. He said "That's my house. Bring her by sometime." A few weeks later we had a gig nearby that I brought the family to and I figured I'd take him up on it and just show up, since I never got his number. He was genuinely happy to see us and took us around, telling my daughter about each horse there. He also had a donkey, and when we were leaving, my 4-yr old daughter hugged it and kissed it on the nose. It followed us all the way along the fence back to our car, about a hundred yard walk.

 

Super nice man gone way too soon.

 

Great story. RIP, Mark.

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RIP, Mark. We lived In Salt Lake City for awhile in the 90s and I remember him and his height well! I'm sorry to hear it was in an accident - gone too soon. :rose:

 

Where in Salt Lake were you?

 

Up on the East Bench, just off Foothill Drive. Nice neighborhood! We were just renting there for a year while my husband was on a teaching sabbatical, working at the U of Utah. Amusingly, our elderly next door neighbors were cousins of Larry Miller, the Jazz owner at the time. They would often beef that he was stingy with the tickets for relatives, lol.

 

I knew that area very well. It was my delivery area when I worked for Airborne and then also with Terminix when I was doing pest control. Mark Huntsman lived up there, and at the far end of his street was another guy who was also a billionaire. I think his name was Sorenson. Mike Lookingland, who played Bobby Brady also lived fairly close to there but a little more South.

 

I saw Larry Miller once during the Christmas lights at temple square. He looked just like a real life Homer Simpson

 

Cool! Lol, we were not near Mark Huntsman, more like next to Beacon Heights elementary school.:lol: Our neighbors were very sweet and we really enjoyed being there. There was a burger place, Eataburger or whataburger, kind of like inn and out, down on 3300 that we became huge fans of.

 

Using the school as a reference, Huntsman's road (Devonshire Circle) was about 5 minutes away. I don't know if he's still there, but Ty Burrell (from Modern Family) had a house about 6 minutes away, on Michigan Ave just east of East High.

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