The Supposed Father of Basketball in Las Vegas

With the fast approaching NBA All-Star Game, sports columnist have been churning out stories of Old School Vegas and Jerry Tarkanian. The Tark came to Vegas in 1973, his wife is on the City Council and his son just ran and lost for Secretary of State. In 199o he UNLV killed Duke by 30 points to win the National Title, the next year the boys from Vegas reportedly shaved a few to many points and lost an upset to Duke, who went on to win. The Tark denies that his kids shaved the points. But its hard to believe a man when the NCAA puts sanctions on the team and The Tark retired in semi-disgrace. Members of his team were later caught hot-tubbing with a convicted game fixer, and what comment does the man who says he coached 19 years in Vegas and probably never bought 19 meals say "Every March there are upsets, Bucknell over Kansas, George Mason over Connecticut, but when it occurs no one says Kansas or UConn was throwing the game. Like the mob couldn't get to a player at a school outside of Vegas." Since The Tark's retirement UNLV has not won a NCAA Tournament Game. That might change this year with Lon Kruger's Runnin Rebels.