Wasn't Tark the one who coined the phrase "we got vanned" - meaning when he got beat for a player he offered a car and someone else offered a van?
RIP JERRY T
- Thread starter jtaconutz
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I believe it was Tark who said "All a verbal commitment does is tell me who got to beat."
The HBO documentary they did about UNLV had some great stories from Tark:
After Tark got to UNLV, Frank Sinatra was a huge UNLV fan and told him if there anything he could do, let him know. So Tark told him he was recruiting a player from New Jersey and asked if he would call him. So the next Saturday night, Sinatra calls the guy's house & his mother answers. Sinatra says "Hello this Frank Sinatra" & asks to speak the guy. His mother says "Sinatra. Yeah right and I'm Ella Fitzgerald" and hangs up. Sinatra calls again, says he's really Frank Sinatra and he is calling on behalf of Jerry Tarkanian & UNLV, and goes into his spiel. The player eventually decides to play at South Carolina. For years later, Tark would say "Frank Sinatra. Great singer, lousy recruiter."
Another from Jimmy Kimmel. He & a bunch of his friends got a van & drove to Los Angeles where UNLV's conference tournament was taking place. They all see Tark driving with his wife, and they are honking & waving at him. Tarkanian motions for them to pull over, Kimmel & his buddies all get out & shake hands with him. Tark then asks them if they could take his wife back to their hotel.
R.I.P. Tark
The HBO documentary they did about UNLV had some great stories from Tark:
After Tark got to UNLV, Frank Sinatra was a huge UNLV fan and told him if there anything he could do, let him know. So Tark told him he was recruiting a player from New Jersey and asked if he would call him. So the next Saturday night, Sinatra calls the guy's house & his mother answers. Sinatra says "Hello this Frank Sinatra" & asks to speak the guy. His mother says "Sinatra. Yeah right and I'm Ella Fitzgerald" and hangs up. Sinatra calls again, says he's really Frank Sinatra and he is calling on behalf of Jerry Tarkanian & UNLV, and goes into his spiel. The player eventually decides to play at South Carolina. For years later, Tark would say "Frank Sinatra. Great singer, lousy recruiter."
Another from Jimmy Kimmel. He & a bunch of his friends got a van & drove to Los Angeles where UNLV's conference tournament was taking place. They all see Tark driving with his wife, and they are honking & waving at him. Tarkanian motions for them to pull over, Kimmel & his buddies all get out & shake hands with him. Tark then asks them if they could take his wife back to their hotel.
R.I.P. Tark
Younger guyss may not remember this, towel in the mouth was the coaching equivalent of Jordan hanging his tongue out before the world got used to that weird habit.
I highly doubt Tark's teams bent the rules any more than UNLV obviously is now, just he could coach as well. NCAA won't even bother looking at UNLV's current racket until they can at least be a bubble team of future NBA players.
Tarkanian, Orr , Norm Stewart, Billy Tubbs and I'm sure there are others made interesting times and quotes back then. People could say stuff and the PC police didn't jump all over them. People actually took things in context and allowed for differing opinions.
