Monson: A year of memories, milestones in Utah sports

One of many things sports, in the collective sense, is good for is that its yearly events mark the paths of our lives like mileposts. A lot of people will remember 2015 not just for their own significant personal moments, but for the moments they shared with other fans here in the state, some of them exciting, some of them disappointing, some of them heartbreaking, some of them ridiculous.

Here, then, are a few of those markers:

Rudy Gobert emerged as a point of hope • In February, the Jazz traded away Enes Kanter, a former No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft, for what amounted to a salary dump, a first-round pick that likely will end up outside the lottery, and the rights to Tibor Pleiss. That seemed like it wasn't enough in return, but, then — zut alors! — Gobert happened. The yet-to-be-unleashed Frenchman in the middle led a defensive charge, helping the Jazz make a strong move after the All-Star break, finishing the season on a 19-10 run that gave all kinds of promise for the 2015-16 season and beyond.

The Jazz were hit with a thousand injuries • Apples started dropping off the Jazz tree over the summer, when Dante Exum blew out a knee in a friendly international game while playing for Australia. Next, Gobert suffered a knee injury about a month ago, and was shelved. Then, Alec Burks fractured his ankle/lower leg, and, like that, three of the Jazz's best five players were watching games dressed out in expensive casual gear, wondering how long it will take them to get back. Those injuries have drastically affected Utah's development project, though general manager Dennis Lindsey is grateful the injuries weren't worse.

The Utes arrived again in the madness of March • It was a compliment to themselves — and a sign of revival and renewed relevance in and to their program — that Utah's basketball players were ticked off that they had made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and lost — to Duke, the eventual national champions.

They didn't seem satisfied, at all.

That game, played in a football stadium in Houston, was an ugly contest, the Utes struggling to shoot straight from distance. But they did what they had done for most of the season — they hustled, they hit the boards hard, and they played tough defense to give themselves a chance to win. They fell short, and were eliminated, but finished with a 26-9 record and won two games in the tournament for which Utah hadn't qualified in six years.

Note: The Utes got a measure of revenge when they beat the Blue Devils in overtime on Dec. 19 at Madison Square Garden. Utah basketball is on the national scene again.

Good-bye Gene, Billy, Hot Rod, Moses, and Stein • In April, Gene Fullmer died. The native Utahn, as fine a gentleman and sportsman as this state has ever raised up, the middleweight who had captivated the boxing world in 1957 by beating World Champion Sugar Ray Robinson in a fight in New York City, returned to Utah afterward and passed 40,000 fans who lined up along the streets from Salt Lake City to his home in West Jordan. In his Hall of Fame career, Fullmer ran up a record of 55-6-3, and lived out his life in Utah because, he said, "I like it here."

"I knew I wasn't the best fighter in the world," he said. "But I knew I did some good things in boxing. And I knew there was always somebody out there somewhere who could beat me. I knew what I could do. And I knew that sometimes I lucked out."

It was Utah that lucked out, to be represented by such a terrific fighter and decent man.

The same could be said for Billy Casper, the golfing great who, along with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, dominated the game for nearly three decades. He was known as a focused competitor, for his smooth putting stroke, and an all-around game that won him 51 PGA Tour titles and three major championships.

Rodney Clark Hundley, the voice of the Jazz, passed away in March. He broadcast 3,051 Jazz games from 1974 to 2009. "His voice was synonymous with Jazz radio," Gail Miller said. The Jazz hung a banner in the rafters and redecorated the pressroom at their arena in Hundley's honor. His signature words: "You gotta love it, baby!"

Moses Malone didn't spend a lot of time in Utah, but he was drafted out of high school by the Utah Stars, and began a Hall of Fame basketball career at the old Salt Palace.

Stein Eriksen, a gold and silver medal winner in skiing at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, came to Utah in the 1960s and made his already famous name synonymous with Park City and Deer Valley. The man who was knighted by the king of Norway died this past week at his home in Park City.

A legend left the building • Greg Marsden, who won 10 national college women's gymnastics championships at Utah, retired. He coached at the school for four decades. At that retirement, he said: "I'm a very lucky man that I got to do a job for 40 years that was my passion, that I couldn't wait to get out of bed to get to. That's all any man could ask for. It's been great."

A forgettable idea at the ballpark • In June, it became known — and it became national news — that the Orem Owlz had scheduled something called Caucasian Heritage Night, a night at the ballpark to celebrate all the whiteness in and around the club and its fan base. When the thing blew up on social media and on sports pages around America, erupting in a large amount of disapproval, Owlz management decided to cancel the event.

BYU and the Hail Marys • Early in the season, Cougar football brought national attention to its program when it won back-to-back games against prominent opponents on Hail Mary passes by Tanner Mangum. Mangum, who just a couple of months earlier had returned to Provo from teaching people on the streets of Chile during an LDS Church mission, entered the game at Nebraska after a season-ending injury to Taysom Hill and won it with a last-second bomb to Mitch Matthews. Replays of the remarkable pass were beamed on highlight shows all over the country. Mangum then pulled off a similar stunt against Boise State, dropping a long ball to Mitch Juergens for another improbable comeback.

Utes rose up and fell down, but hung in • Utah football had its best showing ever in the Pac-12, finishing with a 6-3 league record that might have been much better had the Utes finished strong. Midway through the fall, Utah had climbed to a No. 3 national ranking, having beaten Michigan at Rice-Eccles Stadium and destroyed Oregon at Autzen, winning there 62-20 and looking like a team of destiny. As it turned out, the Fates threw a pie in the Utes face when they dropped games at USC and Arizona, and then lost at home to UCLA.

When Devontae Booker was injured against the Wildcats, it seemed to sheer the wheels off the Utes' offense, causing that side of the ball to bump and skid through to the end of the year. Still, Utah finished with 10 wins and a strange, highly-fueled season-ending matchup.

Utah-BYU, Vegas style • That matchup between the century-long rivals was the first in a bowl game, and the contest was one of the strangest college games anyone could remember. Utah scored 35 points off five straight turnovers in the first quarter, and then didn't score again. BYU fired back, but fell short in the closing minutes, 35-28, succumbing for the fifth-consecutive time to the Utes.

BYU and Mizzou • BYU football, through no doing of its own, got tangled up in an uproar at Missouri when Tiger football players, among other students, called for the resignation of that school's president, Tim Wolfe, who had been seen as unresponsive to certain claims of racial discrimination at Missouri. A block of 30 players threatened to refuse to participate in meetings or practices in the run-up to the Tigers-Cougars game, putting that game in jeopardy. As it turned out, Wolfe did resign and the game went on as scheduled, a Missouri win.

Don't buy and sell our patriotism • Early in November, a joint oversight report compiled by two Arizona senators revealed that a long list of professional teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and MLS were paid by the Department of Defense to put on exhibitions of patriotism at games, in some cases, the kinds of displays that included honoring service men and women of the U.S. military. The New York Jets were paid $20,000 to recognize two New Jersey National Guard soldiers as "hometown heroes." The Atlanta Falcons were paid to honor 80 guard members who rolled out a giant American flag across the field, as fans cheered.

Real Salt Lake was on that list, too, but RSL and the Utah National Guard said the payments were for signage and the like, not for ceremonies — an important distinction. Still, most American sports fans would just as soon their patriotism not be bought and sold.

RSL dropped out • For the first time in eight seasons, RSL did not qualify for the MLS playoffs. After watching coach Jason Kreis, general manager Garth Lagerwey and team president Bill Manning consecutively walk away, the club couldn't gather enough positive play to do what it used to do. New general manager Craig Waibel says he has a plan to bring RSL back, and maybe he will. But the team's fan base, which had grown into a sizable group, is eagerly waiting for what comes next, desperately hoping it's not a gradual decline.

Bronco came, conquered (sort of) and left; Kalani arrived • Bronco Mendenhall surprised a lot of people when he announced in early December that he had taken the coaching job at Virginia, that he would leave BYU football in his rearview and move on to a new challenge. It also became known that the former Cougar coach would make $3.25 million a year in Charlottesville. It became known, too, that he would take most of his coaching staff with him.

The Cougars responded by hiring Kalani Sitake, the first-ever Tongan Division I college head coach, a former BYU running back who had worked for years as Utah's defensive coordinator. "I've come home," he said. He brought other former Cougar players home with him, including new offensive coordinator Ty Detmer and assistant head coach Ed Lamb, stirring all kinds of optimism — too much? — in a program that needed something new.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.