More Rebels due in rafters

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 1997 | 12:25 p.m.

Two of UNLV's greatest basketball players, Reggie Theus and Glen Gondrezick, will have their numbers retired Saturday at halftime of the Rebels' game with UCLA at the Thomas & Mack Center. It turns out fans can expect to see more of these ceremonies in the future as the school, pushed by head coach Bill Bayno, honors selected members of its tradition-rich program.

Next up, perhaps a year from now, is apt to be Armon Gilliam, the bruising power forward who helped the 1983-87 teams compile a wonderful 98-11 record.

Good cases can be made for several other ex-Rebels, including Robert Smith, Ricky Sobers, Eddie Owens, Freddie Banks and Greg Anthony.

"It's a nice problem to have," said UNLV Sports Information Director Jim Gemma, a member of the school's Hall of Fame Committee. "We have a lot of players who deserve to have their numbers retired and I think, little by little, we'll get around to them."

Smith merits consideration for deftly running the team during three productive seasons (1974-77), including the 1977 Final Four squad. He also is the Rebels' all-time leader in free-throw percentage, having made 216 of 246.

Sobers, 1973-75, was a standout as UNLV began making inroads nationally and he was also the first Rebel to be named first-team All America. His teams were 20-6 and 24-5.

Owens, 1973-77, remains the Rebels' all-time leading scorer.

Banks, 1983-87, is No. 4 in career scoring and played on teams that went a cumulative 127-17.

Anthony, 1988-91, ran the offense for the Rebels' 1990 national championship team and is first in career assists.

There's still plenty of room up there in the T&M rafters for banners honoring not only these players but, perhaps, several others who contributed to UNLV's basketball lore. With a plan in place to acknowledge those players, it can be said things are looking up.

One ex-Rebel who already has had his number retired, Larry Johnson, has his work cut out for him now that New York Knicks teammate Patrick Ewing is out for the season. Johnson's low-post game has been in hiatus since he joined the Knicks but he's going to have to go to it again now that Ewing is history. ... The Knicks would like to acquire a center but the one they want -- Miami's Ike Austin -- is unavailable simply because Miami coach Pat Riley refuses to deal with his former team. ... Austin could end up being traded to Chicago for disgruntled forward Scottie Pippen. ... Austin is available because Miami's primary center, Alonzo Mourning, is back from an injury to his left knee. The Heat went 15-7 during his absence, which speaks well for this team's chance of going all the way.

Brian Williams, who played at Bishop Gorman High School as a junior, finally looks like a quality NBA player now that he's pushing himself to excel with Detroit. ... Monday night's NFL game between Miami and New England may have been the swan song for ABC broadcaster Frank Gifford. If so, hopefully the network will hire someone other than Fox blabbermouth John Madden, who has surfaced as a possible replacement. ... Odd NFL rule: Except for the final two minutes of a game, a teammate can recover a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. ... You can't begrudge a man for moving up the ladder, but maybe Charlie Stubbs should have stayed at UNLV rather than take a football assistant's position with Alabama, as he did last week. Here, Stubbs could have continued working with quarterback Jon Denton. There, well, if the Tide continues its slide Stubbs and the rest of the coaches will be unemployed a year from now. ... Nevada has 223,745 registered fishermen and it's said they spent 1,975,947 collective days fishing this year.

Cecil Fielder took what must have been a record pay cut for an athlete -- more than $7 million -- when he signed with the California Angels for $2 million for 1998 after earning $9,237,500 last season with the New York Yankees. ... UNLV tried to make amends for forcing its basketball season-ticket holders to purchase separate, single-game tickets for the recent NIT game with Eastern Michigan by allowing each downstairs donor two free tickets in the upper deck for last Wednesday's game with Chicago State. Few were impressed. ... For the second year in a row, the AFC won the season series against the NFC. The final tally was 31-26-1 for the AFC, which has lost 13 consecutive Super Bowl games. ... Life continues to be something of a struggle for former UNLV running back Ickey Woods, who went on to brief but aborted fame with the Cincinnati Bengals. Woods, 31, lives in Cincy and has been selling meat on a door-to-door basis for the past two years. Despite gaining 1,006 yards and leading the Bengals to the Super Bowl in 1988 -- and creating an end-zone dance, the Ickey Shuffle -- Woods left the sport with an injured knee and little if anything in his bank account.

Sports Illustrated has named former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith its Man of the Year despite the fact Smith unexpectedly quit the Tar Heels just as the season was about to begin. Two thoughts: S.I. could have done better; and Smith, while obviously one of the sport's best-ever coaches, seems to have received this award on the strength of his career accomplishments and not anything he did in 1997. ... Mike Morgan must be living right. How else to explain the Minnesota Twins' rationale for giving the former Las Vegan $1.45 million to pitch for them in 1998? He's 38, has played for 10 teams in 17 seasons and looked washed up last summer with the Cincinnati Reds. ... It's still cool to see hockey fans litter the ice with hats after a player scores three goals in a game. ... On this date in 1972: Buoyed by the "Immaculate Reception" by Franco Harris on a pass intended for teammate Frenchy Fuqua but tipped by an Oakland defender (Jack Tatum), the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Raiders 13-7 in a first-round AFC playoff game.