"He's a great guy," he says of his father. "It was great to be with him. He was always a great role model. He is a great father, most definitely. We talk on the phone a lot." Told that his father would probably enjoy reading that quote, Michael says, "I hope so."

You're going to feel older just reading this: The little boys who used to run around the locker room after Jazz games are grown up (and John is 45). Houston is a redshirt freshman safety on the University of Montana football team.

All the Stocktons were three-sport prep athletes who grew up playing fierce pickup games with or against their cousins and the older generation — John and his brother, Steve. The Stocktons battled every Sunday after church at the Warehouse, a local gym in Spokane where his father still goes up against collegians.

"He still looks as good as ever," says Michael. "It's tough when you're not on his team. He and Steve are kind of the alpha dogs. It gets heated." He says he has tried to learn some of his father's tricks. "When we'd play, I'd say, 'How'd you do that?' He'd show us, but it was harder to do than he made it look."

Michael, who trained all summer with his father to prepare for the college game, is now trying to make his own way, back where it all began. He speaks glowingly of his teammates — "Great guys and very straightforward. If they have a question, they ask" —- and says he chose the school partly because "it was a place I could challenge myself."

That sounds like something the old man would say.

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesdays. Please e-mail drob@desnews.com