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Remembering Tark The Shark


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When I uprooted myself in 1972 and moved all the way out to Southern California in search of a better life, I remember being in awe of all the entertainment options available compared with the heartland. I recall attending world premiers of blockbuster movies at Grauman's Chinese Theater on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the California 500 for Indy Cars at Ontario Motor Speedway. Who needed to go to Disneyland when you were living in the middle of Disneyland no matter which way you looked?

And then there were sports. I was there when the short-lived World Football League played in Anaheim Stadium. And my love for basketball took me to many ABA games in Los Angeles and San Diego because I always appreciated the finesse of the ABA to the physical hammering of the NBA. But my first love has always been college basketball, and what a selection I had for my adopted team. UCLA in 1972 completed their first of two back-to-back 30-0 seasons under legendary Coach John Wooden. And for those who preferred underdogs there was always USC.

But me being me, I went with the big underdog. I adopted Long Beach State with its upstart coach, Jerry Tarkanian. The year I arrived in SoCal, Tark took the huge underdog 49ers all the way to the Elite 8 before losing by just 2 points, 57-55, to undefeated UCLA. The next season when I was there to watch every game, Tark again took the 49ers to the Elite 8 only to be ousted again by Coach Wooden's UCLA. I went to every Long Beach State home game. What a thrill it was to watch future NBA players like Easy Ed Ratleff (who led Columbus East high school to the Ohio State Championship in 1968), Glenn McDonald, Cliffton Pondexter, Leonard Gray, Eric McWilliams, Chuck Terry and Bob Gross. Amazingly, all of them played for Long Beach State in the two years I followed them before Tark left for UNLV and a future NCAA championship.

Tark the Shark was aptly named. He pushed the envelope like no other college basketball coach. He was the hotshot amateur attorney who knew every loophole in the NCAA book of law. Looking back on it I see it was like being a fan of the Can't teams of a few years ago where more players had police records than degrees. But just watching the brand of basketball was mesmerizing. I can still see him standing on the sideline chewing on that towel with his future NBA players steamrolling any team that dared set foot in the Long Beach Arena. Great memories of an era gone by. RIP Coach Tarkanian.

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Sorry for the late response: I had a dream job in Southern California but the company went belly up. As I was looking for a new job, I got a call from Akron and ended up moving back here because the job offer was better than what I'd been able to find in Southern California. As a child of the midwest (Illinois), I was OK with the four seasons. Best move I ever made. Met and married a wonderful Akron girl who's been the love of my life for the last 32 years and counting.

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