In final, fitting farewell, Tarkanian’s ‘true legacy was love’

How ironic, and absolutely fitting, that on the day family and friends and fans and former players gathered to say a final goodbye to Jerry Tarkanian, it was a person with no UNLV ties that offered the most poignant and memorable tribute.

Tarkanian, you see, influenced lives well beyond those lights on the Strip that were recently dimmed in his honor.

“I am not and never will be a Runnin’ Rebel,” Chris Herren said. “I am not a national champion. My career can’t match the legends that played here. But I can say this with pride: That we all share one common bond in that we played for the greatest coach to ever coach this game.

“The name ‘Tark the Shark,’ will live on forever. But the Tark I knew was gentle, humble, hard-working. He taught me about forgiveness and empathy. He wore his heart on his sleeve and would give you the shirt off his back. He was an amazing dad, a really cool grandpa, and he will always be the most loyal, best friend anyone could have in life.

“Coach, I love you. I know my Mom is waiting in the long line in heaven to say, ‘Thank you.’ God Bless.”

Tarkanian was many things to many people, and Herren’s words aptly defined a wonderful public memorial at the Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday, where UNLV honored its Hall of Fame coach and his family in a heartwarming service that brought together a countless number of those touched by Tarkanian throughout his career.

Tarkanian died Feb. 11 at age 84 and since then, Las Vegas and other dots on the national map have mourned his passing and offered remembrances about the man who led the Rebels to four Final Fours, including a national championship in 1990.

Herren played for Tarkanian at Fresno State, the last stop on a coaching career that spanned 43 years and concluded in 2002. Former players from Riverside City College and Pasadena City College and Long Beach State and UNLV also spoke Sunday. There were as many laughs as tears, stories that fittingly described the character that was Tarkanian.

But a few things stood out as common themes: Tarkanian pushed his players to work harder than they believed was possible and his compassionate spirit and sense of devotion toward them was unmatched in many of their lives.

“His true legacy was love,” said ESPN personality and former UNLV quarterback Kenny Mayne, who served as master of ceremonies. “The love he had for the game and his players manifests itself here today. You talk to those players and it was like they all had a second father figure. They could count on him so many ways. There was a deep affection and admiration for Coach Tarkanian. He touched so many people and not just in basketball. He loved people and he loved life. It showed all the way until his final days.”

On a rainy afternoon that began with a small gospel choir singing, “Oh, Happy Day,” one side of the Thomas and Mack’s lower bowl was full and others filled rows of the upper level, all in attendance to pay their respects and honor a man who not only created for Las Vegas an incredible sense of athletic pride, but as much as anyone was responsible for enhancing the city’s brand on a national level.

On a rainy afternoon, the home for UNLV basketball once again became the “Shark Tank.”

Video tributes included those from coaches John Calipari of Kentucky and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Bob Huggins of West Virginia and Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls, along with several emotional moments from those inside the arena.

One came when former Pasadena City College and Long Beach State player Sam Robinson tearfully spoke about how six years after his final college game, his mother passed away and it was Tarkanian who paid for the funeral.

UNLV president Len Jessup even quoted Teddy Roosevelt’s famous speech, “The Man in the Arena,” in describing what he believed Tarkanian meant to Las Vegas.

But more than anyone, Herren stirred those listening live or watching at home. The former McDonald’s All-American who lost his scholarship at Boston College in 1994 for drug use spoke about how just when he believed all was lost and his dreams had been shattered, the telephone rang in his Massachusetts home.

It was Tarkanian.

“I don’t remember much of the call because I was in shock and awe,” Herren said. “I just wanted to listen to his voice. He said, ‘I want you to play at Fresno State.’ My heart dropped at that moment. I hung up and said, ‘Mom, I’m going to Fresno State. Where is Fresno State?’

“The first time I met him, my heart was racing and my hands were sweating. I was about to meet a living legend, a larger-than-life character. But he was just sitting behind his desk with an amazing smile and his soft handshake and said, ‘Welcome to Fresno.’

“I had no idea I would spend the next four years of my life in a defensive stance. He coached us with respect and love. He wanted us to be great players, but also wanted us to be great men. In one of my darkest moments, announcing at a press conference that substance abuse had again gotten the best of me in front of all the television cameras, he sat down next to me and cried with me.

“He never looked down on me, never talked behind my back. No one ever believed in me like Coach Tarkanian.”

The quote from Roosevelt is about the man whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who knows great enthusiasms and great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause and knows that if he fails, he does so while daring greatly.

Whose place will never be with those who neither know victory nor defeat.

No one stood taller and delivered more success in the basketball arena of Las Vegas history than Tarkanian.

“Long live Tark,” Mayne said as the service concluded following a fabulous rendition of “I Did It My Way” by Frank Sinatra impressionist Bob Anderson.

On Sunday, we learned yet again that way meant so much more to so many people than merely a game.

And now, the end is near;

And so I face the final curtain.

My friend, I’ll say it clear,

I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.

Be certain of this: Jerry Tarkanian will never be forgotten.

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 100.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.