Pat Riley
Patrick James Riley is an American professional basketball executive, a former coach and player in the National Basketball Association. He has been the team president of head coach in two separate tenures. Regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has served as the head coach of five championship teams, he won four with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s, one with the Heat in 2006. He was named NBA Coach of the Year three times, he was head coach of an NBA All-Star Game team nine times: eight times with the Western Conference team and once with the Eastern team. He is the first North American sports figure to win a championship as a player, assistant coach, head coach, as an executive. In 1996, he was named one of the 10 Greatest Coaches in NBA history; as a player, he played for the Lakers' championship team in 1972. Riley most won the 2012 and 2013 NBA championships with the Heat as their team president, he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the NBA Coaches Association on June 20, 2012.
Riley was raised in Schenectady, New York. His father, Leon Riley, played twenty-two seasons of minor league baseball as an outfielder and first baseman, appeared in four games for the 1944 Philadelphia Phillies. Riley played basketball for Linton High School in Schenectady, New York under head coach Walt Przybylo and his assistants Bill Rapavy and Ed Catino. Linton High School's 74–68 victory over New York City's Power Memorial on December 29, 1961, is remembered for its two stars: Power Memorial's Lew Alcindor. In 1991, Riley called it, "One of the greatest games in the history of Schenectady basketball." Riley was a versatile athlete in college, participating in both football. As a junior on the 1965–66 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team he was named First Team All-SEC, All-NCAA Tournament Team, NCAA Regional Player of the Year, SEC Player of the Year and AP Third Team All-American, leading the Wildcats to the 1966 NCAA title game. Coached by Adolph Rupp, UK lost to Texas Western, a game, reenacted in the movie Glory Road.
In his senior year Riley made First Team All-SEC, one of the only players in storied Kentucky Basketball history to make two or more First Team All-SEC teams. He was selected by the San Diego Rockets in the 1st round of the 1967 NBA draft, was drafted as a wide receiver by the Dallas Cowboys in the 11th round of the 1967 NFL Draft, he joined the Rockets and was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1970 NBA expansion draft, but was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, which he helped toward the 1972 NBA Championship both by coming off the bench in games and by guarding friend and Laker guard Jerry West in practice. He retired after the 1975–76 NBA season as a member of the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns. Riley finished his NBA playing career with a 7.4 points per game scoring average and a field-goal percentage of 41.4%. Riley returned to the NBA in 1977 as a broadcaster for the Lakers. During the 1979–80 season, when the team's head coach, Jack McKinney, was injured during a near fatal bicycle accident, assistant coach Paul Westhead took over the team's head coaching duties.
Riley moved from the broadcast booth to the bench as one of Westhead's assistant coaches. With rookie guard Magic Johnson and longtime star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers won the 1980 NBA Finals, defeating Philadelphia in six games, giving Westhead and Riley championship rings in their first year coaching the team. However, the team lost in the playoffs the next year to the Moses Malone-led Houston Rockets. Six games into the 1981–82 season, Magic Johnson said he wished to be traded because he was unhappy playing for Westhead. Shortly afterward, Lakers' owner Jerry Buss fired Westhead. At an ensuing press conference, with Jerry West at his side, Buss named West head coach. West, however and Buss awkwardly tried to name West as "offensive captain" and named West and Riley as co-coaches. West made it clear during the press conference that he would only assist Riley, that Riley was the head coach. Thereafter, Riley was the interim head coach. Riley ushered in the Lakers' "Showtime" era, along with superstar players Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar with their running game.
Riley became a celebrity in his own right, a fashion icon for his Armani suits and slicked-back hair which complemented the team's Hollywood image. Riley led the Lakers to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances, his first title came against the Philadelphia 76ers. Both teams returned to the Finals the next year, this time Riley's Lakers were swept by the 76ers; the Lakers lost in the Finals to the Boston Celtics in seven games. The Lakers earned Riley his second NBA title in 1985 in a rematch of the previous year, as the Lakers beat the Celtics in six games; the Lakers' four-year Western Conference streak was broken the following year by the Houston Rockets. In 1987, Riley coached a Lakers team, considered one of the best teams of all-time. With future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, plus Michael Cooper, Byron Scott, A. C. Green, Mychal Thompson, Kurt Rambis, the Lakers finished 65–17 in the regular season, third-best in team history, they met with similar success in the playoffs, dispatching th
Jerry Tarkanian
Jerry Tarkanian was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools, he spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, leading them four times to the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, winning the national championship in 1990. Tarkanian revolutionized the college game at UNLV, utilizing a pressing defense to fuel its fast-paced offense. Overall, he won over 700 games in his career, only twice failed to win 20 games in a season. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Tarkanian went to college at Pasadena City College and Fresno State, earning a bachelor's degree while playing basketball, he was a head coach at the high school level before becoming a successful junior college coach, returned to Pasadena City College and led them to a state championship. In 1968, he moved to a four-year college at Long Beach State College. Tarkanian established a successful program built on former junior college players, who were considered second-rate by other four-year programs.
He was the rare coach that dared to start a predominantly black lineup. He compiled a 122–20 record over five years at Long Beach before moving to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he transformed the small program into a national powerhouse while granting his players the freedom to express themselves. Known for his colorful behavior and affectionately referred to as "Tark the Shark", Tarkanian became a celebrity in Las Vegas, he left the Runnin' Rebels for a brief stint coaching professionally with the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association before finishing his career at his alma mater, Fresno State. Throughout his career, he battled accusations of rules violations from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, with each of his three universities suffering penalties. Tarkanian responded by challenging the organization to investigate larger and more powerful universities; the NCAA ordered UNLV to suspend him in 1977, but he sued the NCAA and continued coaching while the case was pending.
The Supreme Court ruled against him in 1988, but he remained UNLV's coach after a settlement with the NCAA. Tarkanian sued them again in 1992, the case was settled when he received $2.5 million in 1998. Tarkanian, the son of Armenian immigrants, was born in Euclid, Ohio in 1930, his mother, was a refugee of World War I. Tarkanian's maternal grandfather, was an Ottoman government official, beheaded by Turkish authorities. Mickael's son was decapitated by the same authorities. Fearing for their lives and the rest of her siblings escaped the Ottoman Empire and settled in Lebanon where Rose met George Tarkanian; the couple moved to the United States. However, Jerry's father died when he was 13. By this time, Jerry showed his interest in sports, but his stepfather disapproved of his involvement with sports, while his mother encouraged him to pursue it. A graduate of Pasadena High School, he attended Pasadena City College in California and played basketball at the college in the 1950–51 season. Tarkanian transferred to Fresno State College, where he played basketball for the Bulldogs in the 1954–55 season as a backup guard.
After graduating from Fresno State College in 1955, he earned a master's degree in educational management from the University of Redlands. He began his coaching career with five years of California high school basketball, starting with San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, he moved to Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster and Redlands High School. He moved on to the junior college level at Riverside City College from 1961 to 1966 and Pasadena City College from 1966 to 1968, he coached teams to a record four straight California junior college championships — three at Riverside, one at Pasadena. Tarkanian moved to Division I basketball as coach at Long Beach State from 1968 to 1973, where he was among the first coaches to shun an unwritten rule that at least three of the five starting players had to be white, he pioneered the use of junior college athletes. University of Nevada, Reno history professor Richard O. Davies wrote in his book, The Maverick Spirit, that Tarkanian's recruiting practice drew complaints that he was running a "'renegade' program built upon less than stellar students."
When the 49ers made the 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, Tarkanian boasted that his team consisted entirely of junior college transfers. Long Beach State reached four straight NCAA tournaments, established itself as a regional power. Though the schools were separated by just 30 miles, John Wooden of UCLA refused to schedule a regular season game with them. At the peak of Wooden's dynasty, the schools met in the 1971 West Regional final. Long Beach led at the half by 12, but UCLA prevailed 57–55 en route to their fifth straight national championship. Wary of continuing in UCLA's shadow, Tarkanian accepted an offer to coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1973. Prior to his arrival, UNLV was dubbed "Tumbleweed Tech" by locals, their basketball program had no winning track record and minimal fan support. However, he achieved much success there, coaching the Runnin' Rebels from 1973 to 1992. In fact, it was Tarkanian's idea to call the team the "Runnin' Rebels." His teams were known for an up-tempo style, stifling defense, going on long runs that turned close games into blowouts.
They hit their peak after joining the Pacific Coast Athletic Association in 1982, winning or sharing 10 straight regular season titles and winning seven tournament titles. He took his UNLV teams to four Final Fours. In the first, in
Mike Fratello
Michael Robert Fratello is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is an analyst for NBA TV and for nationally televised games on TNT, he coached the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association, served as NBC's lead analyst, served as YES Network's color commentator/studio analyst for the Brooklyn Nets and was the head coach of the Ukraine national basketball team. Fratello is among the winningest head coaches in NBA history, ranking 18th and 19th in all-time regular season wins and games coached. Fratello was born in Hackensack, New Jersey to his parents and Marie, he graduated from Hackensack High School, where he was captain of the basketball, baseball and field hockey teams. He was named to the Bergen "All County" Football team as a center in his senior year, he went on to Montclair State College in Montclair, New Jersey to play football. Upon graduation he returned to Hackensack High School as an assistant for both the basketball and football teams.
Fratello went on to the University of Rhode Island as a graduate assistant assigned to head coach Tom Carmody coaching the University of Rhode Island freshman basketball team. He had been a college basketball assistant at James Madison University under Lou Campanelli and served as an assistant for Rollie Massimino at Villanova before going to the NBA as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks during Hubie Brown's tenure, he is of Italian descent. Fratello was head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies from December 2004 to December 2006. In his first season, he inherited a 5–11 team that he turned around to win 40 games and advance to the playoffs. Fratello built on that record the following year to win 49 games and return to the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Before departing in December 2006, his record was 6–24 taking his overall record with Memphis to 95–83. Prior to working with the Grizzlies, Fratello had coached the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks. In his six seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers his record was 212 losses.
Fratello took the Cavaliers to the playoffs four times. Fratello coached the Hawks for seven seasons and posted a 324–250 record, making the post-season playoffs five times and winning the Central Division in 1987 with 57 wins. Fratello was named Coach of the Year for the 1985–86 NBA season, his NBA career stats are 667 548 losses for a. 549 average. His teams have qualified for the playoffs in eleven of his 16 seasons as a head coach. One of the most respected basketball minds despite having never won an NBA championship as a head coach, Fratello ranks 19th on the NBA's all-time win list and 21st in games coached. On February 24, 2011, Fratello was announced as the Ukraine national basketball team head coach and on March 3, 2011, he was introduced to the Ukrainian media at a press conference in Kiev. After the successes he provided for Ukraine, including their first FIBA World Cup appearance, it was announced that Fratello would not coach for Ukraine for EuroBasket 2015, he would be replaced by Yevgin Murzin as the nation's Team Ukraine basketball team.
Fratello started as the color analyst for the Los Angeles Clippers from 1990-92. Fratello has been a television commentator for NBC Sports and is a main color commentator of TNT, working once again with longtime play-by-play announcer Marv Albert, who first paired up with Fratello in the 1990–91 NBA season as the main announcing team for the NBA on NBC. Starting with the 2008–09 NBA season Fratello began working with Marv Albert doing New Jersey Nets games on the YES Network. During his stint as a color commentator, Marv Albert dubbed him "The Czar of the Telestrator" for his masterful way of diagramming basketball plays on screen. For the 2007–08 season, TNT rehired Fratello as a full-time commentator, allowing him to work once again with Marv Albert at NBA on TNT. Reggie Miller, who had split time between TNT's studio and the booth the past two years became a full-time game analyst, joining Albert and Fratello on the sidelines. Prior to Kerr's departure in the summer of 2014 to become the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, he was part of a three-man booth with his YES counterpart Marv Albert and Steve Kerr.
Since the 2008–09 season, Fratello had worked with Marv Albert and Ian Eagle on New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network. Fratello was hired after the unexpected resignation of former color analyst Mark Jackson from the network. For the 2017-18 season, he served as a studio analyst. At the end of that season, he left the network to join the team at NBA TV on a full-time basis. Former Net Richard Jefferson was named as his successor. Fratello is married to his wife Susan with two kids, a son named a daughter named Kristi. Mike Fratello blog
NBA on ESPN
The NBA on ESPN refers to the presentation of National Basketball Association games on the ESPN family of networks. The ESPN cable network first televised NBA games from 1983 to 1984, has been airing games since the 2002–03 NBA season. ESPN2 began airing a limited schedule of NBA games in 2002. ESPN on ABC began televising NBA games in 2006. On October 6, 2014, ESPN and the NBA renewed their agreement through 2025. ESPN on ABC is the broadcast home of the NBA. ABC airs games on Christmas Day and under the title of NBA Saturday Primetime, airs on Saturday nights, NBA Sunday Showcase, airs on Sunday afternoons from January through the end of the season, continuing to air games throughout the early rounds of the NBA Playoffs, culminating with exclusive coverage of the NBA Finals. ESPN airs NBA games on Wednesdays and Sundays. Most NBA games on the ESPN cable network air on Fridays at 8:00 p.m ET and 7:30 p.m PT as part of "Coast to Coast" doubleheaders. Games on Wednesdays are single games, televised at 9:00 p.m ET.
In addition to games on ABC, several Sundays throughout the season feature ESPN televised games during the evening, though on most nights ESPN defers to NBA TV for Sunday night national broadcasts. ESPN's presentation of games is referred to as NBA; the telecast was known as ESPNBA. ESPN used to brand a few other games under the NBA Special Edition brand, but dropped the name in favor of the NBA format in the 2013–14 season and beyond. Unless specified, ESPN's NBA broadcasts are not exclusive, in which local sports networks may still air the game in their home market; the first round playoff coverage is not exclusive. As part of the NBA's cable-heavy TV deal, ESPN airs one Conference final per year. Most conference final games are televised on ESPN itself, with Game 4 and Game 7 set aside for ABC. Outside of the Conference Finals, ESPN airs playoff games only on Thursdays and Saturdays. ESPN airs the NBA Draft each season, as well as the NBA Draft Lottery; the game between the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat on December 17, 2010, was the first NBA game aired on 3D, courtesy of ESPN 3D.
The network aired 14 NBA regular season games, as well as select playoff games, in 3D that season. Starting with 2006–07 NBA season, ESPN used ABC's theme music from two years prior, making it the second time the network had used its corporate sibling's NBA theme. Since ABC had undergone the transition from the former ABC Sports to merge with ESPN, forming ESPN on ABC, ESPN's music and overall presentation have been used for all of their telecasts on the network. Following the branding merge, ESPN began to use variations of the graphics used on ESPN Monday Night Football for their NBA broadcasts. With an updated graphics package debuting on Monday Night Football during the 2008–09 season, the same graphics were introduced in the April 8, 2009 telecast of NBA on ESPN. On March 14, 2010, the graphics were refreshed and used in the NBA on ABC "Sunday Showcase". ESPN used the refreshed graphics for their NBA telecasts the following day. Starting with the 2010–11 season, timeout indicators were added to the score banner, adopting the feature from ESPN's college football broadcasts.
Beginning with the 2011 NBA Playoffs, an updated composition of ESPN's theme "Fast Break" was introduced for the postseason, along with new in-game presentations. The score banner and other graphics retained their design, the original composition of "Fast Break" remained as the theme song for the regular season. During the 2013 Western Conference Finals, a new graphics package debuted for ESPN's NBA telecasts; the graphics featured 3-dimensional renderings of the team logos, along with the use of specific themes and backgrounds to accompany each of them. During the 2015 NBA Finals, the graphics were updated to reflect the new design used in ESPN's NBA Countdown broadcasts. However, during 2015-16 NBA season, the graphics were reverted to the previous package used since 2013. On May 17, 2016, the graphics, which were first seen during the previous year's championship, were used again for the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals. For the 2016–17 NBA season, ESPN introduced a revamped on-air presentation and branding for its NBA coverage, developed with the creative agency Big Block, as well as a new logo.
The new design was inspired by "premium" consumer brands, places a heavier focus on team logos and colors as the basis of its design, as opposed to visual environments and settings. When introduced during the pre-season, the new package used a noticeably large scorebar, although it has since been reduced in size. Greg Gumbel and John Andariese were some of the voices of the original telecasts of The NBA on ESPN, which lasted only two seasons. Tom Mees was among the studio hosts. During a commercial break of a game at Madison Square Garden, the announcers danced to the song "Little Darling", played on the public address system of the arena; that blooper reel is still played when ESPN celebrates a milestone. Other announcers during this period included: Irv Brown (g
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division; the team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, play at the Fiserv Forum. Former U. S. Senator Herb Kohl was the long-time owner of the team, but on April 16, 2014, a group led by billionaire hedge fund managers Wes Edens and Marc Lasry agreed to purchase a majority interest in the team from Kohl, a sale, approved by the owners of the NBA and its Board of Governors one month on May 16; the team is managed by Jon Horst, the team's former director of basketball operations, who took over for John Hammond in May 2017. The Bucks have won one league title, two conference titles, 14 division titles, they have featured such notable players as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Moncrief, Oscar Robertson, Bob Dandridge, Bob Lanier, Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Junior Bridgeman, Michael Redd, Terry Cummings, Vin Baker, Jon McGlocklin, Marques Johnson, Brian Winters.
On January 22, 1968, the NBA awarded a franchise to Milwaukee Professional Sports and Services, Inc. a group headed by Wesley Pavalon and Marvin Fishman. A fan contest was held to name the new team, with over 40,000 fans participating. While the most-voted fan entry was the Robins, named for Wisconsin's state bird, the contest judges went with the second-most popular choice, the Bucks, a reference to Wisconsin's official wild animal, the white-tailed deer. One fan, R. D. Trebilcox, was awarded a new car for his part in reasoning why the Bucks was a good nickname, saying that bucks were "spirited, good jumpers and agile." The Bucks marked a return of the NBA to Milwaukee after 13 years. In October, the Bucks played their first NBA regular-season game against the Chicago Bulls before a Milwaukee Arena crowd of 8,467; as is typical with expansion teams, the Bucks' first season was a struggle. Their first victory came in their sixth game as the Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons 134–118; the Bucks' record that year earned them a coin flip against their expansion cousins, the Phoenix Suns, to see who would get the first pick in the upcoming draft.
It was considered a foregone conclusion that the first pick in the draft would be Lew Alcindor of UCLA. The Bucks won the coin flip, but had to win a bidding war with the upstart American Basketball Association to secure him. Despite the Bucks' stroke of fortune in landing Alcindor, no one expected what happened in 1969–70, they finished with a 56–26 record – a nearly exact reversal of the previous year and good enough for the second-best record in the league, behind the New York Knicks. The 29-game improvement was the best in league history – a record which would stand for 10 years until the Boston Celtics jumped from 29 wins in 1978–79 to 61 in 1979–80; the Bucks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in five games in the Eastern semifinals, only to be dispatched in five by the Knicks in the Eastern finals. Alcindor was a runaway selection for NBA Rookie of the Year; the following season, the Bucks got an unexpected gift when they acquired Oscar Robertson, known as the "Big O", in a trade with the Cincinnati Royals.
Subsequently, in only their third season, the Bucks finished 66–16 – the second-most wins in NBA history at the time, still the most in franchise history. During the regular season, the Bucks recorded, they steamrolled through the playoffs with a dominating 12–2 record, winning the NBA Championship on April 30, 1971, by sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in four games. By winning it all in only their third season, the Bucks became the fastest expansion team in the history of North American sports to win a championship; as of 2018, it remains the only title in team history. The Bucks remained a powerhouse for the first half of the 1970s. In 1972, they recorded their third consecutive 60-win season. During the year, Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Milwaukee beat the Warriors in the playoffs 4–1, but lost the conference finals to Los Angeles 4–2. Injuries resulted in an early 1973 playoff exit, but the Bucks were back in the 1974 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. In game six of the series, Abdul-Jabbar made his famous "sky hook" shot to end a classic double-overtime victory for the Bucks.
The Bucks lost the series to the Celtics. As the 1974–1975 season began, Abdul-Jabbar suffered a hand injury and the team got off to a 3–13 start. After his return, other injuries befell Milwaukee, sending them to the bottom of their division with 38 wins and 44 losses; when the season ended, Abdul-Jabbar made the stunning announcement that he no longer wished to play for the Bucks, stating that he needed the big city, requesting a trade to either Los Angeles or New York City. The front office was unable to convince him otherwise and on June 16, 1975, the Bucks pulled a mega-trade by sending Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters and David Meyers; the trade triggered a series of events. The Bucks' largest stockholder, cable television executive Jim Fitzgerald, opposed the trade and wanted to sell his stock. Although Fitzgerald was the largest stockholder, he did not own enough stock to control the team. After the deal, the Bucks
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a public research university in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. The 332-acre campus is about 1.6 mi east of the Las Vegas Strip. The university includes the Shadow Lane Campus, just east of the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, which houses the School of Dental Medicine— the only dental school in Nevada. In addition, UNLV's law school, the William S. Boyd School of Law, is the only law school in the state. UNLV is a land-grant university and classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities - Very high research activity" by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education framework; the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration is annually ranked among the top hospitality programs in the United States due to the university's proximity to the Las Vegas Strip, its Thomas & Mack Center hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game and lectures by Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev as part of various UNLV-affiliated lecture series. The first college classes, which became the classes of UNLV, were offered as the southern regional extension division of the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1959 in a classroom at Las Vegas High School.
In 1955, State Senator Mahlon Brown "sponsored the legislation to provide $200,000 to construct the campus's first building" - Frazier Hall. Groundbreaking on the original 60-acre site was in April 1956, the university purchased a 640-acre site in North Las Vegas for future expansion. UNLV was founded by the Nevada Board of Regents as the Southern Division of the University of Nevada on September 10, 1957; the first classes were held on the current campus in the post and beam Mid Century Modern Maude Frazier Hall designed by the local architectural firm, Zick & Sharp. Twenty-nine students graduated in the first commencement ceremonies in 1964. In 1965, the Nevada Legislature named the school Nevada Southern University, the Board of Regents hired the campus's first president, Donald C. Moyer. who died in 2008 at the age of 88. In 1968, Nevada Southern was given equal status with its parent institution in Reno, the present name was approved by the regents in January 1969, during a winter session and without input by representatives from the University of Nevada, Reno.
During this time, Nevada Southern University adopted the southern "Rebel" athletics moniker and a mascot dressed in a southern Confederate uniform named Beauregard. The popular reasoning behind such a controversial moniker and mascot is that they did it to oppose the northern Union traditions and symbols of their northern rival, the University of Nevada. Soon, protests from NSU/UNLV students forced a slight change to their Confederate mascot, but the "Rebels" moniker remains to this day. Since its founding, the university has grown expanding both its academic programs and campus facilities. In 1969, the board of regents approved the new name of University of Nevada at Las Vegas and the abbreviation UNLV. In 1973, Jerry Tarkanian was hired as the men's basketball coach by UNLV's second president, Roman Zorn; the Center for Business and Economic Research was established in 1975 for research projects that assist in the development of the Nevada economy and assist state and local agencies and private-sector enterprises in the collection and analysis of economic and market data.
In 1981, Claes Oldenburg's Flashlight sculpture was installed on the plaza between Artemus Ham Hall and Judy Bayley Theatre. The Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies was established in 1989. In 2001, The School of Dental Medicine opened to train students; the Lied Library on campus opened. In 2003, the Institute for Security Studies was established to address homeland security concerns; the Lynn Bennett Childhood Development Center opened. In 2004, UNLV opened its first regional campus near the University Medical Center; the School of Dental Medicine is located on the Shadow Lane Campus. The School of Public Health was established in the Division of Health Sciences to address new and emerging public-health issues. In 2005, construction began on the $113 million science and engineering building, which has 200,000 square feet of teaching space and high-tech conference rooms; the building, completed in 2008, was designed to support interdisciplinary research. UNLV launched its first comprehensive campaign, Invent the Future, with the goal of raising $500 million by December 2008.
The Air Force ROTC program was established on campus. In 2006, The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents raised the minimum GPA to 3.0 for admittance to UNLV. UNLV opened its first international campus in Singapore, where the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration offered its bachelor's-degree program in hospitality management. UNLV planned to end its partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology by 2015, due to economic issues such as rising tuition in Las Vegas and the falling value of the U. S. dollar in Singapore. In 2007, an expanded student union and a new student recreation center opened in the fall. Both these facilities reflected UNLV's goal of becoming more student-centered; the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs broke ground for the $94 million Greenspun Hall, which showcased the latest environmental and technological advancements and served as an anchor for "Midtown UNLV."In 2011, UNLV's business college was formally renamed after a $15 million don
Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1969)
Lawrence Demetric Johnson is an American retired basketball player who spent his professional career in the National Basketball Association with the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks. At an listed height of 6'7" tall, he played at the power forward position, due to his strength. In his senior year of high school Johnson was a member of the 1987 McDonald's High School All-American Team that included future NCAA and NBA stars like Marcus Liberty, Elliot Perry, Mark Macon, Rodney Monroe, Dennis Scott, Elmore Spencer, Chris Corchiani, fellow Texas prep star LaBradford Smith. Johnson made a verbal commitment to Southern Methodist University, but began his collegiate career at Odessa College in Texas, he played in the 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons where he averaged 22.3 points per game as a freshman and over 29 points per game his sophomore year, became the first—and to this day, only—player to win the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 Player of the Year award both years he played.
There were some basketball analysts who believed Johnson could have been a first round selection in the 1989 NBA draft if he had declared for early entry. Johnson transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to play under head coach Jerry Tarkanian. Alongside future NBA players Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony, Johnson faced the Duke Blue Devils in the title game of the 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. UNLV went on to win the contest by a score of 103–73, with Johnson contributing 22 points and 11 rebounds; the Runnin' Rebels set simultaneous NCAA records for the largest margin of victory and highest score in an NCAA Tournament championship game. In a post-season mired by charges of recruiting violations and misconduct by UNLV, an agreement was reached between the university and the NCAA to allow for the defense of their title for the 1990–91 season, which would be followed by a suspension from post-season play the following season. Johnson and the Runnin' Rebels responded with a perfect regular season record of 27–0, with an average scoring margin of 26.7 points per game.
In the 1991 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, UNLV won the West Regional Tournament only to be upset by eventual champion Duke in the Final Four. Johnson was named a First Team All-American twice, won the Big West Conference Player of the Year and tournament Most Valuable Player awards in 1990 and 1991, he won the prestigious John R. Wooden Award and was named Naismith College Player of the Year in 1991. To this day, Johnson is ranked 12th in career scoring and 7th in rebounding at UNLV despite playing only two seasons, he holds the record for single-season and career field goal percentage. In 2002, Johnson and teammates Augmon and Anthony were inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame along with the 1990–91 UNLV men's basketball team. To date they are the only UNLV team to make back-to-back Final Four appearances. Johnson was selected first overall in the 1991 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets, won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in his first season, he competed in the 1992 Slam Dunk Contest at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Orlando, finishing second to Cedric Ceballos of the Phoenix Suns.
In 1993, Johnson was voted to start in that year's All-Star Game, making him the first Hornet in franchise history to receive that honor. Along with Alonzo Mourning, Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, Johnson played with the Hornets at the height of their popularity in the early to mid-1990s. During this time, who went by his initialism "LJ" and the nickname "Grandmama", was featured on the cover of the premiere issue of SLAM. In October 1993, Johnson signed what was at the time the most lucrative contract in NBA history, a 12-year, $84 million deal with the Hornets. However, he missed 31 games after spraining his back on December 27, 1993 in a game against the Detroit Pistons. During the summer he played for the U. S. national team in the 1994 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal. Johnson had entered the league as an explosive power forward, averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. However, after the injury to his back, Johnson was forced to develop an all-around game with an improved outside shot.
In the 1994–95 season, he made 81 three-pointers, nearly 60 more than in his first three years combined, was selected to the 1995 NBA All-Star Game. Friction between Johnson and Mourning forced the organization to make a change, the resulting moves made by the Hornets left both players on other teams. Prior to the 1995 -- 96 season, Mourning was traded to the Miami Heat for Matt Geiger. Following that season Johnson was dealt to the New York Knicks for Brad Lohaus. Johnson averaged 12.8 points, a career-low, in his first season as a Knick, although he would never return to his former All-Star form, he was a key member of the Knicks' 1999 Eastern Conference championship team. During Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, he was involved in a critical play in which he was fouled by Antonio Davis of the Indiana Pacers. Standing outside the three-point line with 11.9 seconds left, Johnson held the ball, began to dribble. He leaned into defender Davis before jumping up; the referee called the foul about a half-second before Johnson released the ball, b
