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HALL OF FAME BASKETBALL COACH JERRY TARKANIAN DIES IN VEGAS
Associated Press Online
February 12, 2015 Thursday 12:41 PM GMT
By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - He couldn't stop fighting the NCAA any more than
he could give up chewing towels courtside. Jerry Tarkanian built a
basketball dynasty in the desert, but it was his decades-long battle
with the NCAA that defined him far more than the wins and losses.
The coach who won a national title at UNLV and made the school
synonymous with basketball died Wednesday after several years of
health issues. He was 84.
Tarkanian put the run in the Runnin' Rebels, taking them to four
Final Fours and winning a national championship in 1990 with one of
the most dominant college teams ever. His teams were as flamboyant as
the city, with light shows and fireworks for pregame introductions
and celebrities jockeying for position on the so-called Gucci Row
courtside.
He ended up beating the NCAA, too, collecting a $2.5 million settlement
after suing the organization for trying to run him out of college
basketball. But he was bitter to the end about the way the NCAA
treated him while coaching.
"They've been my tormentors my whole life," Tarkanian said at his
retirement news conference in 2002. "It will never stop."
The night before he died, fans attending UNLV's game against Fresno
State draped towels over the statue of Tarkanian outside the campus
arena that depicts Tarkanian chewing on one of his famous towels.
Tarkanian's wife, Lois, said her husband - hospitalized Monday with
an infection and breathing difficulties - fought health problems for
the last six years with the same "courage and tenacity" he showed
throughout his life. His death came just days after the death of
another Hall of Fame coach, North Carolina's Dean Smith.
"Our hearts are broken but filled with incredible memories," Lois
Tarkanian said in a family statement. "You will be missed Tark."
Tarkanian was an innovator who preached defense yet loved to watch
his teams run. And run they did, beginning with his first Final Four
team in 1976-77, which scored more than 100 points in 23 games in an
era before both the shot clock and the 3-point shot.
He was a winner in a city built on losers, putting a small commuter
school on the national sporting map and making UNLV sweatshirts a hot
item around the country. His teams helped revolutionize the way the
college game was played, with relentless defense forcing turnovers
that were quickly converted into baskets at the other end.
He recruited players other coaches often wouldn't touch, building teams
with junior college transfers and kids from checkered backgrounds. His
teams at UNLV were national powerhouses almost every year, yet
Tarkanian never seemed to get his due when the discussion turned to
the all-time coaching greats.
That changed in 2013 when the man popularly referred to as Tark the
Shark was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, an honor his
fellow coaches argued for years was long overdue. Though hospitalized
in the summer for heart problems and weakened by a variety of ills,
he went on stage with a walker at the induction ceremony.
"I knew right from day one I wanted to be a coach," Tarkanian said.
"Coaching has been my entire life."
Tarkanian's career spanned 31 years with three Division I schools,
beginning at Long Beach State and ending at Fresno State, where
Tarkanian himself played in 1954 and 1955. Only twice did his teams
fail to win at least 20 games in a season.
But it was at UNLV where his reputation was made, both as a coach
of teams that often scored in the triple digits and as an outlaw
not afraid to stand up to the powerful NCAA. He went 509-105 in 19
seasons with the Runnin' Rebels before finally being forced out
by the university after a picture was published in the Las Vegas
Review-Journal showing some of his players in a hot tub with a
convicted game fixer.
UNLV was already on probation at the time, just two years after
winning the national title and a year after the Runnin' Rebels - led
by Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony - went undefeated
into the Final Four before being upset in the semifinals by the same
Duke team they beat by 30 points for the championship the year before.
Even after losing four of his starters off that team and being on
probation, Tarkanian went 26-2 in his final year at UNLV.
His overall record is listed several different ways because the NCAA
took away wins from some of his teams, but the family preferred to
go with his on court record of 784-202.
The sad-eyed Tarkanian was born to Armenian immigrants Aug. 8, 1930,
in Euclid, Ohio, and attended Pasadena City College before transferring
to Fresno State, where he graduated in 1955. He coached high school
basketball in Southern California before being hired at Riverside
City College, where he spent five years before moving on to Pasadena
City College.
He was hired at Long Beach State in 1968 and went 23-3 in his first
year, then led the school to four straight NCAA tournament appearances,
including the 1971 West Regional final, where Long Beach led UCLA
by 12 points at halftime only to lose by two. While at Long Beach he
got into his first dispute with the NCAA, writing a newspaper column
that questioned why the organization investigated Western Kentucky
and not a powerful university like Kentucky.
Never shy about challenging the NCAA, Tarkanian once famously said:
"The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it's going to give Cleveland State
two more years' probation."
By the time he moved to Las Vegas in 1973, Tarkanian was considered
one of the rising coaching stars in the country. He quickly built a
name for what was then a small school and by his fourth season at UNLV
he had the Runnin' Rebels in the Final Four, where they lost 84-83
to North Carolina. It would be another decade before UNLV made the
Final Four again, and the Runnin' Rebels were in three in five years,
including the national championship season of 1990.
In the final that year, UNLV used its pressure defense to blow out
Duke 103-73 in one of the most dominant performances in championship
game history.
It all happened with Tarkanian on his chair courtside, chewing on a
moist towel that was always left carefully folded underneath his seat.
The towel chewing, Tarkanian would later say, was something he
started doing during long practices when he could not stop to go to
a drinking fountain.
___
Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter contributed to this report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Associated Press Online
February 12, 2015 Thursday 12:41 PM GMT
By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - He couldn't stop fighting the NCAA any more than
he could give up chewing towels courtside. Jerry Tarkanian built a
basketball dynasty in the desert, but it was his decades-long battle
with the NCAA that defined him far more than the wins and losses.
The coach who won a national title at UNLV and made the school
synonymous with basketball died Wednesday after several years of
health issues. He was 84.
Tarkanian put the run in the Runnin' Rebels, taking them to four
Final Fours and winning a national championship in 1990 with one of
the most dominant college teams ever. His teams were as flamboyant as
the city, with light shows and fireworks for pregame introductions
and celebrities jockeying for position on the so-called Gucci Row
courtside.
He ended up beating the NCAA, too, collecting a $2.5 million settlement
after suing the organization for trying to run him out of college
basketball. But he was bitter to the end about the way the NCAA
treated him while coaching.
"They've been my tormentors my whole life," Tarkanian said at his
retirement news conference in 2002. "It will never stop."
The night before he died, fans attending UNLV's game against Fresno
State draped towels over the statue of Tarkanian outside the campus
arena that depicts Tarkanian chewing on one of his famous towels.
Tarkanian's wife, Lois, said her husband - hospitalized Monday with
an infection and breathing difficulties - fought health problems for
the last six years with the same "courage and tenacity" he showed
throughout his life. His death came just days after the death of
another Hall of Fame coach, North Carolina's Dean Smith.
"Our hearts are broken but filled with incredible memories," Lois
Tarkanian said in a family statement. "You will be missed Tark."
Tarkanian was an innovator who preached defense yet loved to watch
his teams run. And run they did, beginning with his first Final Four
team in 1976-77, which scored more than 100 points in 23 games in an
era before both the shot clock and the 3-point shot.
He was a winner in a city built on losers, putting a small commuter
school on the national sporting map and making UNLV sweatshirts a hot
item around the country. His teams helped revolutionize the way the
college game was played, with relentless defense forcing turnovers
that were quickly converted into baskets at the other end.
He recruited players other coaches often wouldn't touch, building teams
with junior college transfers and kids from checkered backgrounds. His
teams at UNLV were national powerhouses almost every year, yet
Tarkanian never seemed to get his due when the discussion turned to
the all-time coaching greats.
That changed in 2013 when the man popularly referred to as Tark the
Shark was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, an honor his
fellow coaches argued for years was long overdue. Though hospitalized
in the summer for heart problems and weakened by a variety of ills,
he went on stage with a walker at the induction ceremony.
"I knew right from day one I wanted to be a coach," Tarkanian said.
"Coaching has been my entire life."
Tarkanian's career spanned 31 years with three Division I schools,
beginning at Long Beach State and ending at Fresno State, where
Tarkanian himself played in 1954 and 1955. Only twice did his teams
fail to win at least 20 games in a season.
But it was at UNLV where his reputation was made, both as a coach
of teams that often scored in the triple digits and as an outlaw
not afraid to stand up to the powerful NCAA. He went 509-105 in 19
seasons with the Runnin' Rebels before finally being forced out
by the university after a picture was published in the Las Vegas
Review-Journal showing some of his players in a hot tub with a
convicted game fixer.
UNLV was already on probation at the time, just two years after
winning the national title and a year after the Runnin' Rebels - led
by Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony - went undefeated
into the Final Four before being upset in the semifinals by the same
Duke team they beat by 30 points for the championship the year before.
Even after losing four of his starters off that team and being on
probation, Tarkanian went 26-2 in his final year at UNLV.
His overall record is listed several different ways because the NCAA
took away wins from some of his teams, but the family preferred to
go with his on court record of 784-202.
The sad-eyed Tarkanian was born to Armenian immigrants Aug. 8, 1930,
in Euclid, Ohio, and attended Pasadena City College before transferring
to Fresno State, where he graduated in 1955. He coached high school
basketball in Southern California before being hired at Riverside
City College, where he spent five years before moving on to Pasadena
City College.
He was hired at Long Beach State in 1968 and went 23-3 in his first
year, then led the school to four straight NCAA tournament appearances,
including the 1971 West Regional final, where Long Beach led UCLA
by 12 points at halftime only to lose by two. While at Long Beach he
got into his first dispute with the NCAA, writing a newspaper column
that questioned why the organization investigated Western Kentucky
and not a powerful university like Kentucky.
Never shy about challenging the NCAA, Tarkanian once famously said:
"The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it's going to give Cleveland State
two more years' probation."
By the time he moved to Las Vegas in 1973, Tarkanian was considered
one of the rising coaching stars in the country. He quickly built a
name for what was then a small school and by his fourth season at UNLV
he had the Runnin' Rebels in the Final Four, where they lost 84-83
to North Carolina. It would be another decade before UNLV made the
Final Four again, and the Runnin' Rebels were in three in five years,
including the national championship season of 1990.
In the final that year, UNLV used its pressure defense to blow out
Duke 103-73 in one of the most dominant performances in championship
game history.
It all happened with Tarkanian on his chair courtside, chewing on a
moist towel that was always left carefully folded underneath his seat.
The towel chewing, Tarkanian would later say, was something he
started doing during long practices when he could not stop to go to
a drinking fountain.
___
Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter contributed to this report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress