Tyson nabs No. 1 billing

Friday, Dec. 27, 2002 | 10:02 a.m.

If there was an adjective that best described the year in local sports it would be "unpredictable."

After all, a year that began with the baddest man on the planet being kicked out of town and ended with the prettiest player in college football getting her kicks in the Las Vegas Bowl certainly lived up to that distinction.

But in between the Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis fight being exiled to Tennessee and New Mexico's spunky Katie Hnida becoming the first female in history to play in a Division I football game, there were the usual complement of big stories that ran the gamut from auspicious debut to fantastic finish.

It was a year in which Jerry Tarkanian retired as a college basketball coach, local sports booster Tom Wiesner sadly passed away, Jason Thomas' checkered UNLV football career came to an end, the Rebel football team stunned Mountain West Conference champion Colorado State and upset Brigham Young, UNLV was targeted as being Title IX non-compliant, the Community College of Southern Nevada added men's and women's basketball programs, All-American Linda Frohlich capped her sensational Lady Rebels basketball career, Las Vegas was awarded minor league hockey and football teams and the lights went out on the sold-out Wisconsin-UNLV football game at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Hard to believe those stories had to settle for honorable mention status in 2002.

Here is a look back at the most noteworthy sports stories of the year in Southern Nevada, as voted on by the Las Vegas Sun staff: