A long time coming.
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 3:51 pm
Duly Noted: The Tarkanian Way
By Ron Kantowski <kantowsi@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun
What, you mean naming a street after the greatest coach UNLV has ever known wasn't tribute enough?
Actually, it's more like an alley. But chances are unless you drive a cab for a living or are one of the savvy patrons of the Thomas & Mack Center looking to make a quick exit, you may have never traversed (Jerry) Tarkanian Way.
It runs for no more than a couple of hundred yards between Harmon Road and the press tunnel at the T&M. There are no snazzy hotels or restaurants on Tarkanian Way. In fact, about the only thing you'll find on it is steer manure during the National Finals Rodeo.
None of that, of course, matters to Tark, who was never one to blow his own horn. Or a 10-point lead.
Tonight, UNLV will finally get around to honoring the most famous Rebel of all in a more appropriate way, by naming the court at the Thomas & Mack Center after him.
I wouldn't have stopped there. I would have named the building for him, too.
Messers (E. Parry) Thomas and (the late Jermome) Mack may have fronted the money for the arena. But Tark was the one who made it come alive.
So I would have just added an ampersand to the old girl. The Thomas & Mack & Tarkanian Center. Or TMT for short.
Regardless of what the NCAA thinks, it has a nice ring to it.
•••
TV TARK
One of Tark's biggest supporters in the local press was Channel 13's Ron Futrell, who hosted his TV coach's show. The show always came off without a hitch. Or so it appeared to the viewer.
"He would often show up during or even after the intro to the show," Futrell said. "But he was always there. Often we would start the show on a one shot on me, and I knew that sometime during the opening segment, he would be there. He would just walk in, put on a mike and start talking.
"Another time he was so tired that he fell asleep during one of the breaks, and I had to wake him up. There also was the time he was reading an article in the newspaper and we came back on camera and he was still buried in the article. So we spent the next couple of minutes talking about what he was reading.
"I've worked with coaches who were obsessive about their coach's shows. Tark seemed like he was more concerned about perfecting the ameoba defense."
•••
THE AIR UP THERE
I mostly covered the UNLV football team during Tark's latter years at UNLV (that darn short straw) but did follow the team during the postseason. One of the stories I remember is how Tark calmed his players' reservations about playing in the high altitude of Denver during the 1990 Final Four.
"Don't worry about the altitude," Tark told his guys. "That's only outside. We're playing inside."
The Rebels bought it. They ran up and down the McNichols Arena floor against Georgia Tech and Duke as if it were 100 feet below sea level.
•••
REBEL WITH A CLAUSE ...
... From Tark's new book, "Runnin' Rebel" written with Dan Wetzel:
* "I had a 6-foot-9 recruit from Chicago we called Crazy Khruschev ..."
* "It was me, Wayne Newton and a Catholic priest ..."
* "We hatched a plan where we'd stash the recruit at a remote mountain cabin until signing day ... "
* "My philosophy was never to hire an assistant with a set of golf clubs ..."
* "I lost George Gervin for a girlfriend who didn't even last ... "
* "We couldn't have cheated like UCLA even if we wanted to ... "
* "It was like 2:30 p.m., but if Al McGuire wanted to have a drink, I was going to have a drink, too ... "
* "UNLV announced the hiring, scheduled a press conference and brought me up to Vegas. At that point, I realized I hadn't even met the university president yet. UNLV had great boosters. They ran the athletic department ... "
* "If he is driving a Cadillac, he's going to Kentucky ... "
* "Well, today's your lucky day. My son wants to go to UNLV, and for about $25,000, you got him ... "
* "Sinatra loved our program but we could never get him to come to a game ... "
•••
509-105
Tark's record in 19 seasons at UNLV coach.
•••
4
Number of UNLV teams Tark has coached to the Final Four.
•••
0
Number of rounds of golf Tark has played since retiring from coaching.
•••
Coaching legend Bob Knight:
"As I watched his teams I developed a great respect for him as a coach. As I got to know Jerry Tarkanian as a person, I enjoyed him very much as a friend."
in the foreward to "Runnin' Rebel," Tark's new book written with Dan Wetzel.
•••
Tark still holding court
By Rob Miech <rob.miech@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun
Jerry Tarkanian led UNLV to the NCAA national basketball championship in 1990 and forged a sterling 509-105 record in 19 seasons as Rebels coach.
For his achievements, the Thomas & Mack Center court will be dedicated to Tarkanian on Saturday night when UNLV hosts UNR.
Will "Jerry Tarkanian Court" be stenciled on both ends of the court where his Rebels ran and pressed into the nation's consciousness?
Not even Tark knows for sure.
"I imagine it will be something like that, (but) I don't know," he said. "(The administration) has been good about it, they really have. There will be something (tonight) and a reception or something Saturday. It'll make it a very, very nice event."
He retired from coaching in 2002 while at Fresno State, his alma mater. But his extended family, autograph tour for his recent book, three radio shows and a devotion to college football have kept the 75-year-old Tarkanian busy.
He has attended football games at Notre Dame, Texas, California and Fresno State, and he's gone to several NFL games in San Diego and one in Oakland.
Tarkanian talked to the Sun about Saturday's honor, the UNLV program, the city he still calls home, his contentious relationship with the NCAA and his own administration, and his legacy.
•••
Q. What were your thoughts when you first heard about the court dedication?
I had been hearing for years that they'd do it. People kept saying it, but you just go on with your life. I never gave it much thought. But it's very nice, particularly because I have my whole family here in town, four kids and 10 grandchildren. That's a legacy for them.
Q: Will it help mitigate how your UNLV career ended?
I've gotten over all that stuff. When Charlie Spoonhour came here, I went to the games and totally supported Spoon. I love the university. Everywhere I go, that's what I'm attached to. In New York last week for a book signing, cab drivers and hotel people -- everyone -- said, "Hey, there's the UNLV coach." Nobody ever says anything about Fresno State.
Q: Who's the best player you ever coached?
The most valuable, because of the type of person he was, was Larry Johnson. He united everyone, always hugging everyone, praising everyone. Jeff Van Gundy called me when he was with the Knicks and said, "Tark, Larry is the ultimate team player in the NBA."
Q: Who's the best player you ever saw?
Bill Walton. When I was at Long Beach State, I watched all of his games. He just made a team. Whatever team he was on would be great.
Q: And the best team you coached against?
Maybe the greatest game any of our teams played was when we killed San Francisco in '77. It was 120-90 (actually 121-95), something incredible. They were top-ranked in the country, with Bill Cartwright ... they weren't in shape, like our guys. We pressed 'em and ran, and they couldn't run with us.
Q: What about UNLV's future with Lon Kruger?
Lonnie's a super guy, and (athletic director) Mike (Hamrick) and Brad Rothermel (special advisor to Hamrick), they're doing everything they can, I think, to build the program. They all tell me that Dr. Carol Harter (UNLV president) is totally supportive of what they're trying to do. When you have the president and A.D. supporting you and you have a good coach, I think the future is bright.
Q: And what about UNLV fans? Do you think they are as supportive?
Fans want to come out and support them, like when I was here. You couldn't get a ticket. We could have put 30,000 or 40,000 in the arena. At the (NCAA) tournament, hotel people always said they hoped they'd get us. Vegas people party in bars and in the lobby, and they tip so well.
Q: You spent the summer at your condo in San Diego?
Pacific Beach. You can't beat that. It's really fun down there. At Del Mar racetrack every Tuesday morning, we'd have a retired coaches' breakfast, but they weren't all retired. Bob Boyd, Pete Newell, Bobby Dye and Larry Eustachy attended, even Bill Frieder.
Q: What would you say is your greatest contribution to the game?
It hurt me more than anything -- my battle with the NCAA. It made them reform. Their rules and methods were unheard of. You couldn't believe that that could exist in America. But they've made a lot of changes, and most are for the better. But, also, no one played harder, or practiced harder, than we did. That's what made us popular around the country.
Q: Who will win it all this season?
Texas. Duke has all those great players and Mike (Krzyzewski) is a great coach. They'll be really good. But I really like Texas. That's my pick.
Q: When did you last pay for a meal in Las Vegas?
(Laughing.) I pay for meals all the time. But times have changed, you know?
It took them long enough but finally tonight they are going to honor the man who made UNLV. Tark was and still is a god here in Vegas and it will be a great night tonight. All you old schoolers remember the fast paced run and gun 100 point games UNLV had. Was he a cheater? Sure,but so is every other major program. Its all about how you hide it.
RACK Tark the shark and go Rebels!!
By Ron Kantowski <kantowsi@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun
What, you mean naming a street after the greatest coach UNLV has ever known wasn't tribute enough?
Actually, it's more like an alley. But chances are unless you drive a cab for a living or are one of the savvy patrons of the Thomas & Mack Center looking to make a quick exit, you may have never traversed (Jerry) Tarkanian Way.
It runs for no more than a couple of hundred yards between Harmon Road and the press tunnel at the T&M. There are no snazzy hotels or restaurants on Tarkanian Way. In fact, about the only thing you'll find on it is steer manure during the National Finals Rodeo.
None of that, of course, matters to Tark, who was never one to blow his own horn. Or a 10-point lead.
Tonight, UNLV will finally get around to honoring the most famous Rebel of all in a more appropriate way, by naming the court at the Thomas & Mack Center after him.
I wouldn't have stopped there. I would have named the building for him, too.
Messers (E. Parry) Thomas and (the late Jermome) Mack may have fronted the money for the arena. But Tark was the one who made it come alive.
So I would have just added an ampersand to the old girl. The Thomas & Mack & Tarkanian Center. Or TMT for short.
Regardless of what the NCAA thinks, it has a nice ring to it.
•••
TV TARK
One of Tark's biggest supporters in the local press was Channel 13's Ron Futrell, who hosted his TV coach's show. The show always came off without a hitch. Or so it appeared to the viewer.
"He would often show up during or even after the intro to the show," Futrell said. "But he was always there. Often we would start the show on a one shot on me, and I knew that sometime during the opening segment, he would be there. He would just walk in, put on a mike and start talking.
"Another time he was so tired that he fell asleep during one of the breaks, and I had to wake him up. There also was the time he was reading an article in the newspaper and we came back on camera and he was still buried in the article. So we spent the next couple of minutes talking about what he was reading.
"I've worked with coaches who were obsessive about their coach's shows. Tark seemed like he was more concerned about perfecting the ameoba defense."
•••
THE AIR UP THERE
I mostly covered the UNLV football team during Tark's latter years at UNLV (that darn short straw) but did follow the team during the postseason. One of the stories I remember is how Tark calmed his players' reservations about playing in the high altitude of Denver during the 1990 Final Four.
"Don't worry about the altitude," Tark told his guys. "That's only outside. We're playing inside."
The Rebels bought it. They ran up and down the McNichols Arena floor against Georgia Tech and Duke as if it were 100 feet below sea level.
•••
REBEL WITH A CLAUSE ...
... From Tark's new book, "Runnin' Rebel" written with Dan Wetzel:
* "I had a 6-foot-9 recruit from Chicago we called Crazy Khruschev ..."
* "It was me, Wayne Newton and a Catholic priest ..."
* "We hatched a plan where we'd stash the recruit at a remote mountain cabin until signing day ... "
* "My philosophy was never to hire an assistant with a set of golf clubs ..."
* "I lost George Gervin for a girlfriend who didn't even last ... "
* "We couldn't have cheated like UCLA even if we wanted to ... "
* "It was like 2:30 p.m., but if Al McGuire wanted to have a drink, I was going to have a drink, too ... "
* "UNLV announced the hiring, scheduled a press conference and brought me up to Vegas. At that point, I realized I hadn't even met the university president yet. UNLV had great boosters. They ran the athletic department ... "
* "If he is driving a Cadillac, he's going to Kentucky ... "
* "Well, today's your lucky day. My son wants to go to UNLV, and for about $25,000, you got him ... "
* "Sinatra loved our program but we could never get him to come to a game ... "
•••
509-105
Tark's record in 19 seasons at UNLV coach.
•••
4
Number of UNLV teams Tark has coached to the Final Four.
•••
0
Number of rounds of golf Tark has played since retiring from coaching.
•••
Coaching legend Bob Knight:
"As I watched his teams I developed a great respect for him as a coach. As I got to know Jerry Tarkanian as a person, I enjoyed him very much as a friend."
in the foreward to "Runnin' Rebel," Tark's new book written with Dan Wetzel.
•••
Tark still holding court
By Rob Miech <rob.miech@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun
Jerry Tarkanian led UNLV to the NCAA national basketball championship in 1990 and forged a sterling 509-105 record in 19 seasons as Rebels coach.
For his achievements, the Thomas & Mack Center court will be dedicated to Tarkanian on Saturday night when UNLV hosts UNR.
Will "Jerry Tarkanian Court" be stenciled on both ends of the court where his Rebels ran and pressed into the nation's consciousness?
Not even Tark knows for sure.
"I imagine it will be something like that, (but) I don't know," he said. "(The administration) has been good about it, they really have. There will be something (tonight) and a reception or something Saturday. It'll make it a very, very nice event."
He retired from coaching in 2002 while at Fresno State, his alma mater. But his extended family, autograph tour for his recent book, three radio shows and a devotion to college football have kept the 75-year-old Tarkanian busy.
He has attended football games at Notre Dame, Texas, California and Fresno State, and he's gone to several NFL games in San Diego and one in Oakland.
Tarkanian talked to the Sun about Saturday's honor, the UNLV program, the city he still calls home, his contentious relationship with the NCAA and his own administration, and his legacy.
•••
Q. What were your thoughts when you first heard about the court dedication?
I had been hearing for years that they'd do it. People kept saying it, but you just go on with your life. I never gave it much thought. But it's very nice, particularly because I have my whole family here in town, four kids and 10 grandchildren. That's a legacy for them.
Q: Will it help mitigate how your UNLV career ended?
I've gotten over all that stuff. When Charlie Spoonhour came here, I went to the games and totally supported Spoon. I love the university. Everywhere I go, that's what I'm attached to. In New York last week for a book signing, cab drivers and hotel people -- everyone -- said, "Hey, there's the UNLV coach." Nobody ever says anything about Fresno State.
Q: Who's the best player you ever coached?
The most valuable, because of the type of person he was, was Larry Johnson. He united everyone, always hugging everyone, praising everyone. Jeff Van Gundy called me when he was with the Knicks and said, "Tark, Larry is the ultimate team player in the NBA."
Q: Who's the best player you ever saw?
Bill Walton. When I was at Long Beach State, I watched all of his games. He just made a team. Whatever team he was on would be great.
Q: And the best team you coached against?
Maybe the greatest game any of our teams played was when we killed San Francisco in '77. It was 120-90 (actually 121-95), something incredible. They were top-ranked in the country, with Bill Cartwright ... they weren't in shape, like our guys. We pressed 'em and ran, and they couldn't run with us.
Q: What about UNLV's future with Lon Kruger?
Lonnie's a super guy, and (athletic director) Mike (Hamrick) and Brad Rothermel (special advisor to Hamrick), they're doing everything they can, I think, to build the program. They all tell me that Dr. Carol Harter (UNLV president) is totally supportive of what they're trying to do. When you have the president and A.D. supporting you and you have a good coach, I think the future is bright.
Q: And what about UNLV fans? Do you think they are as supportive?
Fans want to come out and support them, like when I was here. You couldn't get a ticket. We could have put 30,000 or 40,000 in the arena. At the (NCAA) tournament, hotel people always said they hoped they'd get us. Vegas people party in bars and in the lobby, and they tip so well.
Q: You spent the summer at your condo in San Diego?
Pacific Beach. You can't beat that. It's really fun down there. At Del Mar racetrack every Tuesday morning, we'd have a retired coaches' breakfast, but they weren't all retired. Bob Boyd, Pete Newell, Bobby Dye and Larry Eustachy attended, even Bill Frieder.
Q: What would you say is your greatest contribution to the game?
It hurt me more than anything -- my battle with the NCAA. It made them reform. Their rules and methods were unheard of. You couldn't believe that that could exist in America. But they've made a lot of changes, and most are for the better. But, also, no one played harder, or practiced harder, than we did. That's what made us popular around the country.
Q: Who will win it all this season?
Texas. Duke has all those great players and Mike (Krzyzewski) is a great coach. They'll be really good. But I really like Texas. That's my pick.
Q: When did you last pay for a meal in Las Vegas?
(Laughing.) I pay for meals all the time. But times have changed, you know?
It took them long enough but finally tonight they are going to honor the man who made UNLV. Tark was and still is a god here in Vegas and it will be a great night tonight. All you old schoolers remember the fast paced run and gun 100 point games UNLV had. Was he a cheater? Sure,but so is every other major program. Its all about how you hide it.
RACK Tark the shark and go Rebels!!
