Gonzaga suspends Stockton's season tickets over his refusal to wear mask

Gonzaga has frozen the season tickets belonging to Bulldogs legend John Stockton over the Basketball Hall of Famer's refusal to adhere to the school's mask mandate at home games.

"Basically, it came down to, they were asking me to wear a mask to the games and being a public figure, someone a little bit more visible, I stuck out in the crowd a little bit," Stockton confirmed to The Spokane-Review's Theo Lawson.

"And therefore they received complaints and felt like from whatever the higher-ups - those weren't discussed, but from whatever it was higher up - they were going to have to either ask me to wear a mask or they were going to suspend my tickets."

In a letter sent Jan. 11 to all Gonzaga students, school president Thayne M. McCulloh reaffirmed the university's commitment to require all attendees to wear a mask within any indoor spaces on the campus, regardless of vaccination status.

McCulloh and Bulldogs athletic director Chris Standiford declined to comment about Stockton, according to Lawson, referencing a statement from the school that says it "will not speak to specific actions taken with any specific individuals."

Stockton has publicly opposed mask and vaccination mandates amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stockton, who starred for Gonzaga from 1980-84 before a stellar 19-year professional career spent entirely with the Utah Jazz, believes he and his alma mater will soon reach an amicable resolution.

"There's probably a lot of different directions this can go, and I think time will tell on all of that," the 59-year-old said. "My focus is to maintain that relationship, as is theirs. They've made it very clear that we're important to each other and I don't think that's going to change. However, there are some absolute impasses that we're going to figure out.

"I've been around here a long time, so I don't expect things to linger, whatever they may be."