I see they're putting Jerry Sloan and John Stockton in the basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., Friday. I wonder how they talked them into it.

Federal court subpoena? Kidnapped one of their kids? Promised their wives a shopping spree?

Talk about two guys not into this sort of thing. If it were up to Sloan and Stockton, there wouldn't be a Hall of Fame. They crave pomp and ceremony and individual attention about as much as CIA agents and Internet hackers.

This is not mere hearsay. Back in the day when I wrote sports columns, I spent a lot of time around Jerry Sloan and John Stockton. They kept taking the Utah Jazz to new heights, and I was part of the media posse that followed — all the way to the NBA Finals, as it turned out.

They were passionate about basketball and about winning, that much was very clear, but as for the fame that came with it, they could take it or leave it. Mostly leave it.

They thought the spotlight was something to be avoided, like Dick Bavetta.

Stockton loved media interviews like he loved losing to the Lakers. His favorite quote was, "Are we through?" He used to hide out in the trainer's room until the reporters finally left the locker room — and that was after nights when he'd delivered 20 assists, scored 20 points and hit the 3-pointer that won the game.

I was reminiscing about this this week with former Jazz center Mark Eaton, who used to watch Stockton's disappearing act from the inside.

"I'd rather talk to you guys and go home," said Eaton — "you guys" meaning the media — "but he'd rather wait it out. It was always kind of a game with him. John never wanted any press after the games, and he could stay in the trainer's room for an extraordinary amount of time. He just didn't want to get into that (attention) thing. He was a very private guy, and he was really about team. He didn't want to do anything to take away from that."

According to NBA edict, Sloan, as head coach, had to talk to the media. He had no trainer's room to hide in.

But in two decades of watching him, I never saw him walk out of the locker room to chat with the media and look like he was happy to be there.

At the end of the season, both of them routinely high-tailed it back to where they came from, Stockton to Spokane, Wash., and Sloan to his Illinois farm.

Finally, a little peace and quiet.

Neither one ever met an endorsement deal he couldn't turn down. They never wrote a book. Never did a movie. Never wore shades. Never had an entourage. Certainly never bragged.

And yet, away from the limelight — around teammates, coaches and peers — they were as charismatic as George Clooney.