Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Lois Tarkanian, who devoted her life to promoting public education in Las Vegas and supporting the players on her husband’s college basketball teams, died peacefully Sunday. She was 90.
Many know Tarkanian as the wife of Jerry, who in 19 seasons as UNLV’s basketball coach led the program to a national championship and four appearances in the Final Four.
If it weren’t for Lois Tarkanian mentoring the players behind the scenes, none of the success would have been possible, said Eldridge Hudson, a player on UNLV’s 1987 Final Four team who after his playing days remained close with Lois Takanian.
“That’s a special lady. I hope God blesses me to be 90,” Hudson said, fighting back tears. “She was the backbone to everything — him, us, everything. She just did it.
“She was a stickler for education and always checking to make sure we were going to class. She was a beautiful woman on a beautiful mission to mentor young people.”
Lois Tarkanian was considered a powerhouse in education locally and throughout Nevada, working as an educator and later serving on the Clark County School Board. She additionally spent 14 years on the Las Vegas City Council and was a member of the Nevada Board of Regents at the time of her death.
She was so respected in education circles that the Clark County School District named a school after the family. Lois and Jerry Tarkanian Middle School opened in 2006 in Southern Highlands.
“We are all in mourning as we have lost an icon of Las Vegas in Lois Tarkanian,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a statement. “Lois has given so much to our community over the decades from being a pillar for education, to her time on the city council. …. A beloved person, Lois is an integral part of what has made Las Vegas so special. We will miss her dearly for her wise counsel, caring nature, and for always being a neighborhood champion. Our thoughts are with her family during this difficult time.”
Jerry Tarkanian in 2013 was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, saying it was a family accomplishment because of Lois’ work raising their four children and being present for the players, many of whom were living away from home for the first time.
“No matter what, she had our backs,” Hudson said. “She gave us unconditional love.”
Lois Tarkanian was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college, meeting Jerry when they were students at Fresno State in the 1950s. They married in 1955; he died in 2015.
In a 2009 column for the Sun, Lois wrote: “My life with Jerry? It’s been like a roller coaster, with a lot of sweetness in there, too.”
She detailed growing up poor and how her family placed a value on education to achieve a better life. “Financially, we did things we never thought we could and we met people we never thought we would,” she wrote of their marriage.
“As a young girl on a farm, my family had no TV. Nothing. I would get teenage movie magazines, and I’d read about Elizabeth Taylor. Well, I got to meet Elizabeth Taylor, at a New Year’s Eve dinner, just because of Jerry.
“And we met Frank Sinatra. My goodness. Those are people you never thought you’d meet. I wasn’t one to be overwhelmed with stars, but it was part of my life.”
Lois Tarkanian often called her young children “Tarkanian’s Army” in the earlier stages of Jerry’s coaching career. They’d attend practices to spend time with their father, playfully racing up and down the bleachers and later having the best seats in the house for the UNLV dynasty.
Danny Tarkanian wound up being the UNLV point guard on a team coached by his dad.
“My dad always said she was the toughest woman he had ever met,” Danny Tarkanian said. “They had a personal interest in the private lives of the players and the education of the players. She was their tutor and stayed in touch with them (after they finished playing).”
Danny Tarkanian shared messages with the Sun that former players sent when hearing of her passing.
Reggie Theus, one of the top players in program history and a part of the 1977 team that became the first UNLV to make it to the Final Four, wrote that she “touched so many people and made their lives better.”
Anderson Hunt, part of the 1990 national championship team, said he wouldn’t have been eligible if it weren’t for Lois tutoring him to take the ACT exam.
In addition to Danny, other survivors include children George, Pamela and Jodie, 11 grandchildren, and countless UNLV basketball players who still adore her.
“She lived a full life, a great life, man,” Hudson said. “She gave her all to the world.”