Coach what’s-his-name, Rebels always welcome guests up here

EN ROUTE TO AN OFF-CAMPUS LOCATION

I have a feeling this isn't the sort of Alamo that Davy Crockett might die for, but he could get some fancy legal advice from the Whipple's, a family firm that apparently can defend you against criminal charges as well as they handle those pesky estate hearings.

At least that's what the billboard says.

Alamo is one of those small towns without a stoplight, which is to say most every small town between Las Vegas and Ely, the small town where UNLV's football team again has arrived for fall camp.

The NCAA still has that silly rule about preseason activities at a site not normally used by an institution not being publicized, meaning school officials who report from camp do so with a dateline of Camp Rebel. It's one of those ridiculous statutes the NCAA enforces to keep its mind off Miami players receiving cars, cash and prostitutes from slimy boosters.

But those who live and work on what are minute dots of a Nevada map know of the Rebels and their annual journey to the place located near the south rim of the Great Basin.

They just don't seem to know the head coach, is all.

Jennifer will be a junior at UNLV in the fall and on Thursday was working at Sunset View Inn, a motel in Alamo that proudly states it offers cable TV and horse pens because, well, what reputable establishment doesn't?

"The football team stops up the street at the Sinclair gas station every year on its way to Ely to eat and every year on its way out," said Jennifer, whose parents run the motel and manage the Sinclair.

Has she ever heard of Bobby Hauck?

"No."

It's about to become a popular theme of the drive.

The Sinclair does indeed wrap up busloads of sandwiches for the Rebels, and the cashier even can tell you UNLV's roster includes a lad from the neighborhood eight-man team at Pahranagat Valley High.

"Billy Vea plays for them," she says proudly of the redshirt freshman linebacker.

Bobby Hauck?

"No idea."

(Here's a backseat conversation that took place in our car upon leaving the Sinclair:)

Thirteen-year-old son: "That lady didn't know who Bobby Hauck is?"

Me: "Apparently not."

Short pause.

Ten-year-old daughter: "Who is he?"

Thirteen-year-old son: "The guy Dad writes about who fishes in Montana. Don't you know anything?"

(Man, I have to raise these kids better.)

I blinked a short time later, meaning we passed through the town of Hiko. It's normal to have 50 to 100 miles of open road between small towns in Nevada. Hiko didn't seem 50 to 100 feet long.

I love towns with street names like Old Sharp Lane and Buckhorn Ranch Road, where signs that read "White River Valley" should really say, by the look of things, "Brown Brush Canyon."

I love towns such as Lund, the place known to offer some of the best Class 1A prep basketball around and defined by a concrete square outside an old elementary school, where hoop dreams are played out by local teens past midnight daily and the posted speed limit is 25 mph.

The only store in town, the one with the only gas pump in town, still makes the best burgers in town, perhaps because they're the only burgers in town.

"My little brother went to UNLV's football camp this summer," a young lady working the grill said. "A lot of people here support them."

Has she heard of Bobby Hauck?

"No."

"I know the name," one customer and an Ely resident says. "Yeah. Sure. You bet. Who is that? We sure like having the team up in Ely, though. You bet. It doesn't hurt a thing. Yeah. You bet. They bring a lot of people. Sure thing."

Not a half-hour after speaking with Jerry Lundegaard from "Fargo," we rolled along U.S. Highway 6 and into the town that welcomes you to the home of the Nevada Northern Railway and promises 18 holes of golf with no tee time needed.

Ely has been good to UNLV football the past six years, and the Rebels, in turn, to the copper mining town's troubled economy. Hotel rooms are filled when UNLV sets up camp and 102 football players and staff need to eat three squares a day.

Things aren't so bad in Ely. The transmission line progressing through White Pine County has boosted things a bit, and if UNLV ever sets up a scrimmage with Miami here, I'm guessing the town brothel will report record sales.

"It brings our town a sense of pride to have (UNLV) here," Ely Mayor Jon Hickman said. "They have never caused us one problem. They are always nice and quiet and polite. You wouldn't even know they were here most days. Just a wonderful group.

"It means a lot for them to come up here to our small little island 300 miles from their home. They will always be welcome. They always come over to a little luncheon we have and bring the coach and some people from the team."

Bobby Hauck?

"Sounds right."

Small towns are the best.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.