Before there was Jerry Sloan the Hall of Fame coach in Utah, there was Jerry Sloan the Bulls legendary hard-nosed forward.
The retired No. 4 hanging in the rafters of the United Center has always been a reminder of that.
On Friday, it was announced that Sloan died at the age of 78 from complications from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
“Jerry Sloan was ‘The Original Bull’ whose tenacious defense and nightly hustle on the court represented the franchise and epitomized the city of Chicago,’’ board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “Jerry was the face of the Bulls organization from its inception through the mid-1970s, and very appropriately, his uniform No.