Jerry Tarkanian

[shiner]

Jerry Tarkanian

 

Born: Aug. 30, 1930

Basketball

 

4th all-time winningest college coach with .803 win pct.; has amassed over 700 wins in 29 years at Long Beach St., UNLV and Fresno St.; led UNLV to 4 Final Fours and 1 national title (1990); fought 16-year battle with NCAA over purity of UNLV program; quit as coach after going 26-2 in 1991-92; fired after 20 games (9-11) as coach of NBA San Antonio Spurs in 1992; unretired in 1995 to coach his alma mater, Fresno St.

[THOTH]

Fresno State's Tarkanian Expected to Retire

 

From News Services

Friday, March 15, 2002; Page D02

Jerry Tarkanian is expected to retire from coaching, with Fresno State set to announce his decision during a news conference today.

The 71-year-old basketball coach, who would not reveal his plans yesterday, is expected to remain at his alma mater as a consultant, ESPN.com reported.

Fresno State ended its season Wednesday night with an 81-75 loss to Temple in the NIT. The Bulldogs finished 19-15, only the second time in Tarkanian's 31 years in Division I that his team failed to win 20 games.

After the game, Temple Coach John Chaney grabbed a microphone and praised Tarkanian. "I'm saddened to see him leave," Chaney said. "Tark, I love you!"

Tarkanian, whose career has been marred by long battles with the NCAA, refused to discuss his plans yesterday, saying, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet."

Tarkanian is fourth in major college victories with a 778-202 record. Before coming to Fresno State in 1995, he coached at UNLV, where he led the Rebels to the 1990 national championship. He has led programs at Fresno State, Long Beach State and UNLV to the NCAA tournament 17 times.

[baboyan]

i don't think he will be the last armenian coach in any sport at any level.u know that there was an armenian football coach his name is ARA but i can't remember his last name. he coached the fighting irish

[wh00t]

Ara Parseghian.

[Arpa]

Hey Harut!

Did you see this by your neighbor?

http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/shark-byt...e-trip-armenia/

A memorable trip to Armenia

By Jerry Tarkanian · June 25, 2009 · 5:14 PM

BASS LAKE, California – As I sit here, near Yosemite National Park, with 38 other Tarkanians on our annual retreat, I take a lot of pride in family and can’t help thinking about my family’s roots.

By the lake, we’ll eat a variety of grape leaves, some stuffed with rice and meat, which also will make me think about Armenia.

My mother, Haighouhie “Rose,” was born there. Her father and brother were decapitated by the Turkish military, just for being Armenian, during the genocide there between 1915 and 1922.

Her mother sent her and her brother out of the country on horseback, and Rose eventually met George, her husband and my father, in Lebanon. They married and immigrated to Euclid, Ohio, outside Cleveland.

I went to Armenia for the only time in my life four years ago, with a priest from Fresno who took more than two dozen of us. Some of my family went along on the trip.

We went for about 16 days. We had tour guides and buses, and we stayed in a nice Marriott in Yerevan, the capital.

We went to the Armenian Holocaust Museum and saw where my mother was raised. It was very emotional going through that museum. In the genocide, 1.5 million were killed by the Ottoman government in Turkey.

My wife’s parents were killed in the holocaust. There was so much poverty there, in the towns. So many buildings weren’t even completed. It was frightening.

We went to one city that had been hit by an earthquake. Boy, that was really brutal. We went to a lot of school functions. Everyone donated something to them. They didn’t have anything.

It was tough.

They’ve wanted me to go back. They wanted to dedicate an outdoor basketball court to me. That was nice, but I haven’t been able to get away. It’s such a long trip. My legs bother me on airplanes.

Some television and radio stations, and newspaper people, did interviews with me or wrote stories on me.

At the Marriott, a few tourists recognized me. At other places, some people said “Jerry” and “UNLV,” but there were very few.

I was in a health club at the Marriott and a 35-year-old guy, who was with the FBI working in the country of Georgia, next to Armenia, came up to talk to me.

I said, “What are you doing in Europe?” He said he was headquartered in Georgia but his district was Armenia. He said there was a lot of bad crime in Armenia.

“But it’s not real bad here,” the guy told me. “Most of the bad criminals have moved to California.”

I said, where?

“Glendale,” he said. “I’m in constant contact with the FBI in Glendale.”

That FBI agent played football at North Carolina State.

But that was the trip of a lifetime and I could not believe how those people had to live. It was incredible.

A great many of those people were living in nothing more than big shipment boxes. They had so little on the shelves in stores. They’ve had so many years without electricity.

Can you imagine that?

I loved all of the Armenian food. I could eat that every day. I was raised on it. The lamb was great. Fantastic. Every time I’m in Fresno, I eat Armenian food half the time.

Here at the lake, it’s most of the time. This is also where, and when, I am so thankful for my family and everyone else in my life. And I will never forget that trip to Armenia.