Former UNLV greats show up for Centennial athletics
Anderson Hunt showed up at halftime wearing jean shorts, a collard shirt and carrying a shoe box.
He sat down, took a pair of hightops from the box and looked at Curtis Livreri.
“Coach,” Hunt said, “do you have a uniform for me?”
Livreri, a lifelong fan of Hunt, quickly obliged and one of the greatest UNLV basketball players in history didn’t disappoint.
Hunt scored 16 second-half points on Friday night at the first annual Jerry Tarkanian alumni charity basketball game to benefit Centennial High athletics.
Centennial football coach Leon Evans organized that game that included such former UNLV players as Hunt, Patrick Savoy, Reggie Manuel, Dedan Thomas, Wink Adams, Warren Rosegreen and Chancellor Davis.
Casey Flair, Phillip Payne and Hunkie Cooper, all former UNLV football players, also played.
Former basketball great Freddie Banks was in attendance.
The UNLV alums beat the Centennial varsity, led by rising sophomore-to-be Troy Brown, 91-81.
Adams scored a game-high 22.
“It was an unbelievable night,” said Livreri, who coaches softball at Centennial with his brother and the school’s athletic director, Mike Livreri. “I was like a kid in the candy store and at Disneyland all at once. I grew up watching those guys, wanting to be like them.
“The former UNLV guys were so competitive, which made me the happiest. You think they’re out there playing a pickup game for charity, but they’re all in the huddle saying, ‘We are not losing this game. No way we are losing to these young guys.’
“It explains why they were so successful at such a high level.”
Evans hopes to make the game an annual occasion.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.
