Ron Kantowski is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
rkantowski@reviewjournal.com … @ronkantowski on Twitter. 702-383-0352
He won six gold medals of a possible eight at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona — only Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz won more in a single Olympics — and is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. But you wouldn’t know this from visiting the Vitaly Scherbo School of Gymnastics at 3250 N. Bronco St., a mile east of the Cheyenne exit off the 95 freeway.
While on assignment Sunday, I was out in Summerlin. Way out in Summerlin. Near Red Rock Resort, near where the 51s’ new owners propose to build a new ballpark.
Before Sunday’s Life Time Grand Prix Squash Tour Vegas Open, most of what I knew about the ancient sport of squash was that it must have been named when somebody sat on it. And that one should never cancel a squash match after agreeing to one.
It was late Friday night between commercials for Built Tough Ford Trucks and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee sour mash whiskey and those Kawasaki UTV’s with four seats — I think they are called Teryx 4s.
Because of construction at the Thomas & Mack Center, I was forced to take a detour to Jim Livengood’s news conference Wednesday, during which it was revealed he was being forced out as UNLV’s athletic director — er, was quitting to spend more time with his family.
One of the biggest UNLV boosters I’ve known was an old Marine named Bob Snyder. He became a friend. He became a friend of the old baseball manager Dick Williams, too. We’d meet on Thursday for lunch with some other old baseball guys. But then Dick died, and then last September, I guess it was, Bob died, too.
The first car I owned in Las Vegas was a pre-owned 1983 Subaru GL sedan. Its official color was Extra Black. When I signed the cocktail napkin/lease, its unofficial color was Sunbaked Gray. Never buy a car with an Extra Black paint job in the desert.
When we met Saturday, the Turbaned Tornado was wearing a brown sport coat, blue shirt with a paisley pattern, brown paisley tie, brown trousers, brown loafers. A gold wristwatch that the good people of Dubai had given him. And a matching brown turban.
It’s coming up on almost three summers since Destry Abbott, the five-time national American Motorcycle Association off-road champion, was riding trails in the Flagstaff, Ariz., foothills with his 12-year-old son, Cooper, and the sunshine on their shoulders that had been filtering through tall pines turned to storm clouds. Which can happen just about any day in Flagstaff during monsoon season.
I no longer have a telephone at the office. I have a telephone line. I’m like Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra.
Charlie Hans of Middletown, Ohio, was a helluva pool player when he was a young man of 27. One of the better ones in the Cincinnati area, he said with an aw-shucks southwestern Ohio drawl.
Through the years, Jerry Tarkanian has remained steadfast. Unlike Pete Rose, he did not have to apologize. For anything. All that has changed is how the basketball establishment views him.
Carol Sheehan grew up in Florida and has lived in Las Vegas since 1992. She attended Auburn University, she said, because she wanted to go to college up north, “someplace where it snowed.”
On the surface, Matty Cutler and Sean Larimer might seem like an unlikely pair. But the bond the two have shared since high school is strong — one that helped them both overcome challenges through the years.
I remember reading somewhere that the difference between being young and being old is that young people choose a breakfast cereal for the toy, and old people choose it for the fiber content.
