Cunningham passes by other stars to win praise as top UNLV athlete

Top 10 UNLV All-time Athletes

By Joe Hawk
Review-Journal
     Forget any apples-to-oranges comparison.
     If you really want to drive yourself crazy, try comparing footballs to basketballs. Or baseballs to soccer balls, golf balls to tennis balls. Or Speedos to speedsters.
     Those were the conundrums facing nine Las Vegans with longtime ties to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who were given the task of ranking the school's top 10 all-time athletes. Their choices were to be based solely upon the athletes' UNLV careers.
     "I couldn't believe how tough this was until I sat down to do it," said Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission who has been the Rebels' clock operator at men's basketball games for the past 12 years. "There have been so many good athletes."
     Yes, and when all the ballots were tabulated, the winner wasn't whom you might have expected.
     Larry Johnson, the celebrated power forward who helped direct the Rebels to an NCAA championship in men's basketball in 1990, finished only third - and, incredibly, was left off two of the nine ballots. (Those two balloters shall remain nameless.)
     Rather, it was Randall Cunningham, the two-time all-American punter and none-too-shabby quarterback, who finished atop the controversial heap. School home-run king Matt Williams placed second, followed by Johnson, women's basketball player Misty Thomas and football running back Mike Thomas rounding out the top five.
     Sheila Tarr, UNLV's first NCAA champion with a victory in the heptathlon in 1984, led the second five. She was followed by 1991 NCAA golf champion Warren Schutte and three men's basketball players: Sidney Green and Reggie Theus, tying for eighth, and Stacey Augmon, a teammate of Johnson's on the school's 1990 title team, placing 10th.
     Although Cunningham was chosen No. 1 on only one ballot - that of current UNLV sports information director Jim Gemma - he was mentioned on all nine, and that proved the statistical difference.
     "He was a versatile athlete, playing both as a punter and a quarterback, and he put up some incredible numbers," Gemma said of Cunningham.
     While Cunningham earned national acclaim for his punting ability - he averaged 58.0 yards as a junior - he also was the school's best-ever passer, throwing for 8,020 yards over three seasons (1982-84). No other UNLV quarterback has thrown for more than 5,400 yards - over as many as four seasons.
     "What else can one say," added former UNLV sports information director Dominic Clark, "except he was the finest athlete ever to play UNLV football."
     Williams, who ranked second on three ballots, came within one point of tying Cunningham for first. He hit 58 homers over three seasons (1984-86), and had a career batting average of .327 with 217 RBI.
     "He was an outstanding collegiate player, who took UNLV baseball to a higher level," Ratner said.
     Although Johnson played just two seasons (1989-91) for UNLV, after transferring from Odessa (Texas) Junior College, his impact on the Rebel basketball program was staggering. He not only averaged 21.6 points - fourth-highest in school history - he directed the Rebels to a two-year mark of 69-6. Two of the losses were by two points - including a 79-77 decision to Duke in the semifinals of the 1991 Final Four - and one was by one point.
     "He simply was the best basketball player ever to play at UNLV," said former athletics director Brad Rothermel, currently an instructor in the school's physical education department. "In a long history of recognizable UNLV basketball players, he's easily still the most recognizable.
     Misty Thomas (1982-86), the two-time All-American who holds Lady Rebel records for scoring (1,892) and assists (658), earned the praise of longtime Rebel broadcaster Bob Blum.
     "She was a complete player, a complete person," said Blum, currently the Lady Rebels' play-by-play announcer and formerly the school's football and basketball radio voice. "She was to UNLV women's basketball what Larry Johnson was to the men's team."
     Mike Thomas, the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,149 yards over two seasons (1973-74), merited recognition on eight of nine ballots. He was a two-time all-American as selected by the American Football Coaches Association.
     Tarr, who distinguished herself as a freshman by capturing track and field's grueling heptathlon, and Schutte, who became the school's first individual male champion by winning the NCAA golf championship as a junior, figured prominently on Tina Kunzer-Murphy's ballot. The former UNLV women's athletics administrator now works as director of football and basketball championships for the Western Athletic Conference.
     "Anyone who won an NCAA title deserves to be on that list," she said.
     Unfortunately, fellow balloters did not agree, and three other UNLV national champions - trackster Trevaia Williams and men's tennis players Luke Smith and Tim Blenkiron - didn't make the list.
      Schutte, however, also earned praise from 15-year Rebel fan Charles Parrott, a real estate appraiser.
     "To appreciate his level of dedication and achievement," Parrott said of Schutte, "we should recognize that the greatest basketball player of all time - Michael Jordan - truly has never conquered the game of golf."
     The top 10 was completed by three men's basketball players. Green (1979-83) ranks No. 2 in all-time scoring, while Augmon (1987-91), despite being a defensive standout, sits at No. 3. Meanwhile, Theus (1975-78), while 19th in career scoring, was the charismatic leader of UNLV's first Final Four team in 1977.
     Balloter Dick Calvert, the school's public address announcer who may have seen more Rebel athletic events than anyone, was simple in his description of the three, whose names he called many times on the court: "They're three icons of Runnin' Rebel basketball."