Miller saw softer side of Stockton

In the minutes after John Stockton publicly announced his retirement from basketball on Friday, Larry H. Miller recalled all the attributes so many others did as well.

Amazing durability. A pure love for the game. Never took a play off.

Then the Jazz owner addressed Stockton's public perception as a stoic sort who doesn't always go out of his way to mingle with his adoring fans.

"From time to time," Miller said, "I get comments about John not being willing to meet his public, and sign autographs, and so on."

Miller paused, then began a lengthy anecdote he hoped might dispel some of the bad rap Stockton gained throughout his 19-season career in Utah.

"One day about five years ago, maybe six or seven now — I don't know — I had gotten asked by a person who could get to me if I would accommodate the friend of a cousin of a friend," Miller said.

The intermediary was a general manager of one of Miller's business ventures in Colorado.

"He said, 'Is there any way you could get John Stockton to go up and visit this gal?' "

"This little gal," Miller said, "who was, I think, 13 years old, and weighed 68 pounds. And who was dying."

Miller's response: "I don't know; I hate to put John in that kind of spot."

Rather than shelf the request, however, Miller approached the longtime Jazz point guard.

"I said to (Stockton), 'I've got this situation,' " Miller said. " 'This gal has about 30 to 60 days to live, and she's 13 or 14 years old. Would you mind going up to see her, and just visit with her at her home?' "

Stockton had one question: "Is there going to be any media there?"

One condition as well: "I'll go if you go."

Together, the two made the trek, to a tiny Utah town just west of Hill Air Force Base, not far from the Great Salt Lake.

As they pulled up to the house, the girl's mother stood outside to meet the pair and escort them inside.

"We went into the (bed)room," Miller said. "The doorway was to the left, and the headboard was against the wall, where the door was."

The girl's mother entered first, and made an announcement to her dying daughter.

"I've brought someone special to see you," she said.