good talk

Jerry Tarkanian passed away a week ago at "84."  Jerry began his coaching career in 1955 and in 46 years at high school, J.C., and Division 1, he was always the Head Coach never an Assistant.  Known for his 19 years at UNLV, Jerry was 25-5 every year, the expectations became huge and he fulfilled them.  The son of Armenian Immigrants who fled the Turkish Genocide (murdered a million), his mother fled a burning village on horseback after seeing her father's and brother's heads cut off (it would make one want to leave, I guess that's not funny), the sad-eyed Coach always came across as a survivor.  At UNLV he recruited mostly Black Players from a bad background, who due to his interest in their well-being and loyalty to them, played ferociously for him.  None of them got into trouble while at UNLV and many obtained good jobs in the Gaming Industry afterwards.  The NCAA persecuted Jerry and UNLV over the type of players he recruited and Tark battled the NCAA for years, eventually winning his lawsuit.  Jerry was the Rebel Coach with the Rebel Players in the Rebel City, playing an uptempo game, UNLV averaged 107 points a game in the 1976-1977 Season, and this before the Shot Clock and the 3-point Goal, Las Vegas became known for something other than Sin, a fast-paced highly successful College Basketball Team, the Runnin' Rebels.  Jerry was a great Las Vegan and is very missed