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DICK HARMON: LIVES OF JERRY TARKANIAN AND FORMER UTAH AND BYU COACH LYNN ARCHIBALD INTERSECTED IN LIFE AND DEATH
Deseret News
Feb 12 2015
By Dick Harmon, Deseret News
Two weeks ago in Jerry Tarkanian's giant master bedroom, the
larger-than-life basketball coach was enjoying one of his more lucid
moments as his life entered its final days.
In the room was his wife Lois, his daughter Pam, and Anne Archibald,
the wife of former University of Utah head coach and BYU director of
basketball operations Lynn Archibald. There was laughter in the air,
valuable fragments of joy that will long be cherished as Jerry used
the short respite as a rallying point in his fading mortality.
"There was a lot of stimulation in that room for him that day,"
said Anne.
"We got him outside and he liked it. He was eating and getting stronger
and then that all went downhill. I talked to his son Danny Tuesday
night and he said Jerry was just minutes away from passing but he was
fighting hard. I told Danny some people have a hard time leaving this
world and your father has put up a great fight. You know it's time."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Danny.
Tarkanian, 84, died Wednesday after a long battle with health issues.
The Hall of Famer won 729 games in a career earmarked by teams that
featured lightning-fast offense and smothering, relentless press
defense. He was known as a recruiter, a collector of remarkable
talent. His coaching career at UNLV and Fresno State also included
controversy and legal battles with the NCAA, which ultimately came
to overshadow his winning record.
But for Anne, Jerry Tarkanian will always be remembered as a man with
the gift of levity and humor, a man with a sparkling personality,
a warm friend and a coach who gave her late husband, Lynn, and son
Damon their first jobs as college coaches.
Lynn went on to be the head coach at Utah and Idaho State before going
to BYU with head coach Roger Reid in the mid-'90s. He died May 1997
at age 52. His son Damon has coached at New Mexico State, Iowa State,
USC, Pepperdine and Fresno State.
Lynn was an assistant to Tarkanian at Long Beach State. When Lynn got
a job at nearby San Luis Obispo, Tarkanian received an offer to coach
at UNLV. Tarkanian called Lynn and asked the assistant if he would
join him there if he accepted the offer. When Lynn asked his boss,
Ernie Wheeler, Wheeler moved Archibald's desk out of his office and
into the hallway, citing disloyalty, and told him he would not have
a job at the end of the year.
Tarkanian moved to Las Vegas after the season and Archibald followed.
"He was always so charming and funny," said Anne. Most times when
he saw her, he'd greet her with the question, "Who are you giving
hell now?"
She remembers Tarkanian saying he flew on the same flight as a UNLV
recruit who was returning home to Long Beach, California, after a
campus visit. "I knew we were in trouble when he never turned the
page of the comic book he was reading."
One time an ex-UNLV player was giving Damon a bad time and it got
ugly. Said Tarkanian of that player: "He's going to be the sorriest
person in the world because now he's got the Catholics and the Mormons
praying against him."
One day UNLV players were concerned about going to play at Wyoming,
which boasts an elevation of over 7,000 feet above sea level.
Remembers Anne, "Jerry said, 'What are you guys worrying about? We
aren't playing outside.'"
Affectionately nicknamed Tark the Shark, Tarkanian was the son of
Armenian immigrants, born in Euclid, Ohio. His mother, Rose, was
a refugee of the Armenian genocide that happened during World War
I. His father died when he was 13.
In the winter of 1997 after a game at Fresno State, Fresno City
College coach Steve Cleveland -- soon to be BYU's next coach -- was
talking to Tarkanian and asked if he'd heard that Lynn Archibald was
dying of prostate cancer. He did not know.
A somber blanket engulfed Tarkanian and he began to sob like a little
child. He joined his players on the team bus and continued to grieve.
Things grew silent and you could hear a pin drop.
Two days out from knee replacement surgery, Anne, who now lives in St.
George, said when I spoke to her Wednesday that she absolutely will
be at Tarkanian's funeral services in Las Vegas this week alongside
Lois, who has served as a Las Vegas councilwoman and is a pillar in
the desert community.
"I wouldn't miss it," she said.
The lives of two women once known as Lois Huter and Anne Machock
intersected because of basketball and they will mourn not a legend
of the game, but a husband, father, grandfather and friend.
They will relate to one another more deeply than ever before in a
way they never thought they would.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865621709/Lives-of-Jerry-Tarkanian-and-former-Utah-and-BYU-coach-Lynn-Archibald-intersected-in-life-and-death.html?pg=all
Deseret News
Feb 12 2015
By Dick Harmon, Deseret News
Two weeks ago in Jerry Tarkanian's giant master bedroom, the
larger-than-life basketball coach was enjoying one of his more lucid
moments as his life entered its final days.
In the room was his wife Lois, his daughter Pam, and Anne Archibald,
the wife of former University of Utah head coach and BYU director of
basketball operations Lynn Archibald. There was laughter in the air,
valuable fragments of joy that will long be cherished as Jerry used
the short respite as a rallying point in his fading mortality.
"There was a lot of stimulation in that room for him that day,"
said Anne.
"We got him outside and he liked it. He was eating and getting stronger
and then that all went downhill. I talked to his son Danny Tuesday
night and he said Jerry was just minutes away from passing but he was
fighting hard. I told Danny some people have a hard time leaving this
world and your father has put up a great fight. You know it's time."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Danny.
Tarkanian, 84, died Wednesday after a long battle with health issues.
The Hall of Famer won 729 games in a career earmarked by teams that
featured lightning-fast offense and smothering, relentless press
defense. He was known as a recruiter, a collector of remarkable
talent. His coaching career at UNLV and Fresno State also included
controversy and legal battles with the NCAA, which ultimately came
to overshadow his winning record.
But for Anne, Jerry Tarkanian will always be remembered as a man with
the gift of levity and humor, a man with a sparkling personality,
a warm friend and a coach who gave her late husband, Lynn, and son
Damon their first jobs as college coaches.
Lynn went on to be the head coach at Utah and Idaho State before going
to BYU with head coach Roger Reid in the mid-'90s. He died May 1997
at age 52. His son Damon has coached at New Mexico State, Iowa State,
USC, Pepperdine and Fresno State.
Lynn was an assistant to Tarkanian at Long Beach State. When Lynn got
a job at nearby San Luis Obispo, Tarkanian received an offer to coach
at UNLV. Tarkanian called Lynn and asked the assistant if he would
join him there if he accepted the offer. When Lynn asked his boss,
Ernie Wheeler, Wheeler moved Archibald's desk out of his office and
into the hallway, citing disloyalty, and told him he would not have
a job at the end of the year.
Tarkanian moved to Las Vegas after the season and Archibald followed.
"He was always so charming and funny," said Anne. Most times when
he saw her, he'd greet her with the question, "Who are you giving
hell now?"
She remembers Tarkanian saying he flew on the same flight as a UNLV
recruit who was returning home to Long Beach, California, after a
campus visit. "I knew we were in trouble when he never turned the
page of the comic book he was reading."
One time an ex-UNLV player was giving Damon a bad time and it got
ugly. Said Tarkanian of that player: "He's going to be the sorriest
person in the world because now he's got the Catholics and the Mormons
praying against him."
One day UNLV players were concerned about going to play at Wyoming,
which boasts an elevation of over 7,000 feet above sea level.
Remembers Anne, "Jerry said, 'What are you guys worrying about? We
aren't playing outside.'"
Affectionately nicknamed Tark the Shark, Tarkanian was the son of
Armenian immigrants, born in Euclid, Ohio. His mother, Rose, was
a refugee of the Armenian genocide that happened during World War
I. His father died when he was 13.
In the winter of 1997 after a game at Fresno State, Fresno City
College coach Steve Cleveland -- soon to be BYU's next coach -- was
talking to Tarkanian and asked if he'd heard that Lynn Archibald was
dying of prostate cancer. He did not know.
A somber blanket engulfed Tarkanian and he began to sob like a little
child. He joined his players on the team bus and continued to grieve.
Things grew silent and you could hear a pin drop.
Two days out from knee replacement surgery, Anne, who now lives in St.
George, said when I spoke to her Wednesday that she absolutely will
be at Tarkanian's funeral services in Las Vegas this week alongside
Lois, who has served as a Las Vegas councilwoman and is a pillar in
the desert community.
"I wouldn't miss it," she said.
The lives of two women once known as Lois Huter and Anne Machock
intersected because of basketball and they will mourn not a legend
of the game, but a husband, father, grandfather and friend.
They will relate to one another more deeply than ever before in a
way they never thought they would.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865621709/Lives-of-Jerry-Tarkanian-and-former-Utah-and-BYU-coach-Lynn-Archibald-intersected-in-life-and-death.html?pg=all