On Pioneer Day, let’s also remember the great prank that Utah legend Frank Layden pulled on Karl Malone on this date in 1985. Karl’s birthday is July 24th. He had just been drafted by the Jazz, so Frank told him the state was planning a huge celebration and parade on Karl’s birthday to celebrate his draft pick and his birthday. Frank made Karl ride on the front of the Jazz float thinking the whole parade was in his honor. Well done Frank Layden…well done!
Frank Layden is great. Coach Mac asked Frank to give a pregame pep talk to the team before playing Stanford. He went on and on about how great of an academic institution Stanford is. Then he ended, “But we are not here today to f*&^ing debate them, we are here to play football…”