Blood before basketball

When football season ended last fall, Gonzaga Prep players Houston and Michael Stockton were given the Bullpups decals from their helmets. They stuck them on the back window of their Grandpa Jack’s truck.

Jack Stockton roots openly for G-Prep, mindful he has other grandsons who are Ferris Saxons. A few days later, a Ferris decal showed up in the middle of them.

“I knew where it came from – Shawn – but he never says a word,” Jack said.

Such is the fierce but fun competition between the Stockton cousins, children of John and Nada Stockton and his older brother Steve and sister-in-law Mary Ann.

The games the close-knit clan doesn’t particularly look forward to come on Greater Spokane League nights when the two opposing high schools square off.

“It’s not a comfortable day when they play each other,” John Stockton said. “By the nature of it, you’re forced to root against a member of your family. It’s just hard. It’s the most uncomfortable game of the year.”

His comment echoed that of any family in the same situation. Except being a Stockton isn’t typical. Great-grandfather Houston was a Gonzaga University football star who played in the National Football League. John is one of the top 50 NBA basketball players of all time.

The youngsters seem unfazed by it all.

“I don’t know what life is any other way,” said Michael, a Bullpups junior. “The only way I can explain it is it’s normal to me.”

His sophomore cousin, Shawn, agrees.

“People kind of expect you to be better,” the Ferris athlete said, “but it really doesn’t bother me. You take a lot of pride trying to do the best you can.”

When all is said and done, a total of nine Stockton cousins will be playing with and against each other in the GSL for seven consecutive years – at least.

The only thing unusual about the relationship is that they are playing against each other at all.

Jack, co-owner of Jack and Dan’s Tavern on North Hamilton, and his four children are all Bullpups. But when Steve Stockton, Jr., the oldest of Steve and Mary Ann’s three sons, became the first non-Gonzaga Prep Stockton by enrolling at Ferris, things changed.

“Dad always said I had a choice and I wanted to go where my friends went, basically,” said Steve Jr., who graduated last year and is a two-sport athlete at Whitworth.

Then John ended his record-setting NBA career with the Utah Jazz and they decided in a family meeting to move home full time three years ago.

“It was a very hard decision for us,” he said. “We had lived 19 years most of the year in Utah and were very comfortable there.”

But roots are roots and true to them, following the move, the Stockton children enrolled at G-Prep.

John and Nada did their best, he said, to balance his career and family, which includes six children.

“We tried to provide options and keep balance for them. If they so chose we’d be going to concerts instead of games,” he said.

But gravitating toward sports and adhering to the family work ethic was natural. The current generation of GSL Stocktons is having an impact and their competitiveness has made for fun times with the family.

Shawn, already 6-foot, 180 pounds, is considered the most gifted. He started in football, his favorite sport, as a freshman and is a basketball starter this year.

Ferris coach Don Van Lierop said that mentally and physically his skills are beyond that of a typical sophomore.

“The only thing that says sophomore is his eligibility,” Van Lierop said.

John’s sons are smaller. They were late developers physically. Point guards like dad, Houston starts for G-Prep, Michael is his backup. Both are left-handed.

Houston, who looks like his dad, is reserved and businesslike and has improved vastly over last year.

“He surprises me,” John Stockton said. “I’m pleased with what he’s been willing to do to get ready.”

Michael, the family raconteur, is outgoing and fun-loving.

“I’m kind of different from all of them,” he said. “My grandpa (Nada’s father) is a lawyer, so I inherited the noise part and don’t-agree-with-anyone part from him. I’m kind of my own breed, I guess.”

Their coach, Mike Haugen, said that Houston is stronger and better defensively. Michael shoots better and plays with more finesse.

“Both are extremely competitive,” he said. “You don’t want them guarding each other very much in practice.”

Being a Stockton has had its advantages. The cousins went to NBA All-Star and playoff games growing up. Sundays at The Warehouse they play pick-up with various ex-college players and John, getting a taste of his storied intensity.

Competitiveness is a family trait. The cousins have grown up best of friends, spending summers together at Priest Lake. They’ll split up into three-on-three teams – Steve, Houston and his freshman brother David – against Michael, Shawn and his seventh-grade brother Riley.

“I side with Shawn most of the time because he’s the biggest – I’m just kidding,” quipped Michael. “It’s because he’s closest to my age.”

Their battles can get spirited as sibling games are wont to do. In basketball there are no fouls. Fights have broken out, Houston said.

“Every single time they play in the front yard or at the lake, there’re always a million arguments,” Steve Sr. said. “Someone’s always getting the shaft. But they love it. They’re such good friends.”

G-Prep has had the upper hand of late, which is nice for Jack Stockton, who bleeds Bullpups Blue. The only concession he’ll make to wearing red is now that Steve Jr. is at Whitworth.

But Jack knows he has the best of two worlds.

“It’s a can’t-lose situation for me,” Jack said. “I want them all to do well.”