Mark Eaton, who has spoken at national Prayer Breakfast observances at Hill AFB before, is currently involved in several ventures. He is a partner in two Salt Lake-area restaurants: Emilia, located in Sandy, and Tuscany, located at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Eaton is also the CO-host of “Jazz Tonight” on KJZZ-TV as well as color analyst for University of Utah Men’s Basketball.

    He recently completed a three-year run as host of the internationally syndicated radio show, “Sports Health Today,” which was heard daily in 95 markets. He is chairman of the board of the Mark Eaton Standing Tall for Youth Foundation. Activities sponsored by this organization include the Mark Eaton Life Enhancement Basketball Camp and Outdoor Camps. Eaton is still actively involved in making public appearances, doing local and national endorsements, and working with numerous charitable organizations.

    During Eaton’s 12 year NBA career with the Utah Jazz, he was named NBA Defensive Player-of-the-Year twice and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team five times. Eaton set an NBA record for blocked shots in a single season with 456, averaging 5.56 per game during the 1984-85 season. Eaton led the NBA in blocked shots four times during his career. He was the first player to total 1,000 blocked shots in just three seasons. Eaton swatted a total of 3,064 blocked shots in his career, which was 125 short of the all-time record held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He had 18 career games of double-figures in blocked shots, six triple-double games and five games of plus-20 rebounds.

    In 1989 Eaton was selected to play in the NBA All-star game. Eaton holds the Utah Jazz record for the most rebounds in a game — 25 — which he accomplished on two occasions, and also retired as the Jazz leader in games played with 875 regular season games. Eaton was a member of three division-winning title teams and also played in 74 play-off games during his career. Eaton was drafted in the fourth round (72nd overall) in the 1982 draft and was also drafted in the fifth round by the Phoenix Suns in the 1979 draft. His number “53” was retired by the Jazz on March 1, 1996.

    Eaton and his wife, Marcie, have two sons, and attend the Park City Presbyterian Church (PCA).