Tark the Shark Won 706 Games and 1 National Title in Major College Basketball
The lights on the Las Vegas Strip are going to dim this week to honor a deceased former coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The honor has been bestowed on only a few major figures over the years: Las Vegas icons like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr., as well as political giants like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. While Jerry “Tark the Shark” Tarkanian might not be a national figure of such statute, he was a legend in the city of Las Vegas.
From 1973 until 1992, Jerry Tarkanian was the head coach of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels mens basketball team. During those 20 years, Tark was as much of a rebel as the team mascot. In Las Vegas, he’s a legend, but he was a legend even before he led the Rebels to a National Title in 1990. Jerry Tarkanian built a program from scratch. In a city with no professional teams and no basketball tradition, he made UNLV games the biggest show in town.
Tarkanian Dead at Age 84
Tarkanian died February 11, 2015 at the age of 84. Tark was a laid to rest at a private family ceremony on Monday at Our Lady of Las Vegas. Despite not having coached UNLV for 22+ years, Tarkanian remained a beloved figure in Las Vegas.
Most Vegas Strip casinos will dim their “non-essential exterior bulbs” this week. The period when this happens will be “a few minutes starting at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday“.
MGM and Caesars Casinos to Participate
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says that most casinos will participate, including The Venetian, The Palazzo, The Cosmopolitan, Stratosphere, and the Tropicana. Also, all MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment casinos on the Strip will participate.
About Jerry Tarkanian
Jerry Tarkanian entered Division I NCAA basketball in 1968, when he began coaching Long Beach State. He was an early pioneer in race relations in NCAA basketball, bucking the tradition that at least 3 of 5 starters should be white. Tarkanian also broke custom when he began to recruit junior college players.
Even before he went to UNLV, Tarkanian was considered a renegade coach, due to his recruiting practices. John Wooden, the legendary coach of UCLA, refused to schedule games with the nearby Long Beach State, due to the fact most of Tark’s players were JuCo transfers.
Despite the criticism and shunning, Long Beach State reached four NCAA Tournaments in Tarkanian’s tenure there. They also reached the 1971 West Region Final against Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, who had won 4 straight NCAA titles and won March Madness 6 of the previous 7 years. Long Beach State was ahead by 12 points at halftime, but eventually lost 57-55. UCLA went on to win the title, then did so again the next 2 seasons (and 3 of the next 4).
UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
Unwilling to sit in Wooden’s shadow, Tark accepted the job to coach at UNLV. He renamed the team the “Runnin’ Rebels”, while he installed an up-tempo offense and a stifling defense. His methods worked, as UNLV became a national power, despite recruiting people to the western desert–and often against the NCAA’s hostility.
Over the next 20 years, UNLV had 18 winning seasons and 4 trips to the Final Four. In the first of those trips, UNLV came into the game averaging 109 points per game, despite playing in an era without a shot clock. The Rebels came up against Dean Smith’s North Carolina Tar Heels and Smith’s 4-corners offense, which eliminated the Rebels.
NCAA Controversies
UNLV often had trouble with the NCAA. Investigators came to the UNLV campus 11 times and 10 players were suspended at one time or another. Tark and the NCAA were involved in court cases throughout the 80s.
By 1987, the Runnin’ Rebels were a well-established national power. In that year, Tarkanian’s team faced Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers in the Final Four, and were eliminated again.
1990 National Title
In 1990, Tarkanian finally broke through and won his only national title. The Runnin’ Rebels, featuring players like Larry Johnson, Anderson Hunt, and Stacey Augmon. The team defeated the Duke Blue Devils (led by Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley) by 30 points, which was the biggest blowout in NCAA Title Game history.
In 1991, Tark’s team remained intact and it went 34-0, despite massive hostility from the NCAA. Most people assumed the Rebels would defeat Duke in the title game the next year, but the Blue Devils, with Grant Hill joining Laettner and Hurley this time around, pulled off one of the biggest upsets in March Madness history. People still consider the 1990-1991 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels team one of the greats.
HBO Program on the Shark
After he left UNLV, Jerry Tarkanian coached Fresno State from 1995 to 2002, but his legacy was built in Las Vegas. People interested in hearing about the cultural impact of Jerry Tarkanian and the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on the city of Las Vegas should watch the HBO broadcast “Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV”. It follows the team through Tark’s arrival in town, talks to celebrities who grew up in Vegas in those years, and paints a good picture of why the Las Vegas Strip would dim its lights for a basketball coach.
