W
hen you see him court and soaring through the air in a graceful slam dunk, or walking down the street signing autographs whenever he's asked, or donating time and money to charity, you realize he is a special man with dreams for sale.
He's called a lot of things, but the people who know him best call him "The Mailman" because he delivers. Karl Malone has stopped every NBA basketball franchise for the past 12 years. At six-foot-nine, 260 pounds, Malone delivers almost 30 points a game for the Utal Jazz. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player for the 1996-97 season and critics call him the greatest power forward ever to play the game.
He’s not the kind of guy you would call an angel by any means - at least not in basketball. But Malone deliversin other ways.
He has become a guiding spirit to one 13-year-old boy living in Salt Lake City. The two met in 1995 when the Utah Jazz made their annual visit to the Primary Children’s Medical Center. As Malone puts it, “The kids were all great, but when I met Danny, it was just different. It did something to me personally.”
Danny has terminal leukemia so Malone decided to make the dying boy’s last few weeks extra special.
“The second I met him I knew he was a Jazz fan, a Karl Malone fan. Those eyes lit up. As sick as he was he never had any complaints. Danny’s best day is being tired, being sore and being sick. His story is so courageous that more people should know about it.”
“Karl’s my angel,” says little Danny to his mother, when Malone visits him in the hospital. “He’s been a good friend. He’s helped brighten my days.”
After game six of the 1996 NBA Western Finals, Karl Malone gave little Danny the famous number-32 jersey he had worn during the game. Danny Ewing knew immediately what he wanted to do with the jersey. He asked his mother to bury him in it. She did, and Karl Malone was a pallbearer at the funeral.
In 1996 Karl was honored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation as their National Celebrity of the Year. In Utah, year after year, he is everybody’s Man of the Year. Thanks for every delivery. For young and old, male and female, sports fan and not, you truly have dreams for sale. We love you and need you Mr. Malone!