Columnist Dean Juipe: Hey Rudy, we already did our part

Dean Juipe

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 10:04 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

As I watched and listened to Rudy Giuliani giving an impassioned farewell address as New York City mayor Thursday, a particular portion of his message hit home.

He touched on a number of topics, from the city's recovering from Sept. 11 to its 57-percent decline in crime to the possibility of not one but two new baseball stadiums that just popped up on the drawing board.

But the man who has been acclaimed "Person of the Year" for his leadership in the aftermath of the terrorist attack also spent a few minutes discussing a homeless problem that stretches across America.

"If you see a homeless person lying on a sidewalk, you should picture him with a sign that says 'Help Me,' " Giuliani said as part of his remarks. "As easy as it may be to ignore him, you should think of a way to help."

I all but gushed with pride as I realized that we in Las Vegas, and particularly those at UNLV, had already successfully tackled the homeless problem ...

... of Charlie Cavagnaro.

While others in similar or even more trying circumstances may yet be without the guidance, funding and assistance it takes to lift one's self out of homelessness, UNLV has come to Cavagnaro's aid not once but twice in the past seven years. It gave him a job in August of 1995 when it could have found a more qualified -- or at least more personable -- athletic director, and it is allowing him to stay on at the university in a loosely defined role through June of 2002 even though he has long since abdicated his A.D. responsibilities.

Without such benevolence, it's arguable that Cavagnaro might have found a comfortable sidewalk, been a drain on society, and failed to trim those two or three strokes off his golf game that he was able to do as UNLV's titled but distant A.D.

Gray suit and all, he's the poster boy for what a community can do for a man who might otherwise have slipped through the cracks.

That he remains marginally aloof, seemingly unappreciative and refuses to comment on the series of events that led to his losing the keys to his Thomas & Mack Center office is irrelevant. What's more important is that he was given a job, was compensated magnificently and is gliding toward a retirement that many will see as a mere extension of his recent past.

During his reign the university got around to completing two or three facility tasks and added a couple of women's teams. That the majority of the school's sports programs win fewer games than they did a decade or so ago doesn't need to be considered part of Cavagnaro's legacy for the simple reason that he was indifferent to those annoyances anyhow.

Did you ever see him at a UNLV sporting event, beyond the occasional high-profile basketball or football game? Of course not ... he knew that glad-handing was time consuming, tedious and not part of his job description, and he had the good sense not to be bothered by it.

We can only hope having most of December off as still another paid vacation did him some good, and that his successor -- football coach John Robinson -- has learned from this reserved man's example.

Yes, Rudy Giuliani would be proud of our little achievement. In our own small way, we have made the world -- at least Cavagnaro's world -- a better place in which to live.