Sinatra hit sour note trying to recruit for Tark
Jerry Tarkanian had scored a recruiting coup, he thought, when Frank Sinatra made an offer Tarkanian couldn’t refuse.
Yahoo! sports columnist Dan Wetzel told the story Wednesday in a radio interview on ESPN 1100’s “Cofield & Company.”
Wetzel, who collaborated with the legendary UNLV coach on the 2005 book “Runnin’ Rebel: Shark Tales of Extra Benefits, Frank Sinatra, and Winning It All,” said Tarkanian jumped at Sinatra’s offer to help.
“Tark says, ‘You know, Frank, we’re actually recruiting a couple kids back in New York, and they both have Italian mothers.’
“ ‘And what I’d love to do, if you’re willing, is set up a home visit, and they think I’m coming in to visit with ’em, and instead you show up, knock on the door, surprise ’em, sing a couple songs, tell ’em to send their boys out to your friend, Jerry, in Las Vegas.’ ”
Well, said Wetzel, Sinatra agreed to do it.
But, Wetzel said, Sinatra “goes 0-for-two in recruiting. Tark’s plan fails. And one of ’em … is Michael O’Koren, is from Jersey City and Sinatra is from Hoboken, right next door. And he could not believe Sinatra blew it with the Jersey City kids.”
“Sure enough, they get to the (1977) Final Four, and who do they run into in the semifinals but North Carolina, and who scores like 27 points on ’em but Michael O’Koren.”
That was too much for Tark, Wetzel said.
“According to some of his assistants, late in the game Tark turns around and kicks his chair, and in the best and in far more colorful language than this basically says, ‘Blank, blanking Frank Sinatra. He really sings, but he can’t recruit worth blank.’ ”
TOASTING TARK
Toasts to Tarkanian will be raised on Monday at one of his favorite haunts, Piero’s Italian Cuisine.
Freddie Glusman, longtime owner of Piero’s and one of Tarkanian’s closest friends, said the drinks “will be on Tark.”
The coach died Wednesday — on Glusman’s 78th birthday — at Valley Hospital Medical Center. Tarkanian was 84.
A private funeral will be Monday. A public memorial service will be held March 1 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
A special drink at Piero’s will be named the Tarkplug. Patrons will be allowed to view the Tark Room, which Glusman built about 20 years ago.
One of Tarkanian’s staunchest supporters over the years, Glusman said he should have renamed Piero’s “Tark’s Place because he made the place. He created the atmosphere.”
Glusman visited his friend on Feb. 4 and again on Tuesday, the day before Tarkanian died.
When the maid answered the door at Tarkanian’s home last week, she announced, “Freddie’s here!”
Tarkanian, who was too weak to talk in his final days, responded with, “Glusman!”
“That was the only thing he said. All he did was smile, like he was down deep reliving our past,” Glusman said.
The restaurateur was with Tarkanian during good times and bad.
“We cried together after the Duke loss,” said Glusman, referring to the semifinals loss in the 1991 Final Four that ended UNLV’s bid for back-to-back titles and an unbeaten season.
Afterwards, back at the team hotel, “we cried in a hidden stairwell. Just sat there and cried.”
Glusman said Tarkanian “has been my guest for 20-30 years. The players ate there, too. Legally. Tark never paid for a meal. He made it famous.
“All the coaches came in because of Tark. They loved him, no matter what the NCAA tried to do to him.”
If efforts are successful to have the marquees on the Strip dimmed on Monday, Glusman said he will do the same.
“He was a winner.”
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Poker star Daniel Negreanu likes the idea of naming the prospective NHL team in Las Vegas after an iconic group that put the city on the map. During an interview Thursday with Matt Youmans and Dave Cokin on ESPN 1100, Negreanu said he would love to see the team named the Las Vegas Rat Pack.
SIGHTINGS
The High Roller observatory wheel was Rebel red on Wednesday, in honor of Tarkanian. Marquees at all nine Station Casinos properties featured an image of Tarkanian with the words: “Remembering a Las Vegas legend. Jerry Tarkanian 1930-2015.”
THE PUNCH LINE
“A new report says that last year Colorado collected $44 million in marijuana taxes. Unfortunately, they can’t remember where they put it.” — Conan O’Brien
Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or email him at norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
