Business hall of famers call for a better Nevada

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

A night that honored three of Las Vegas' most successful business leaders was punctuated with a challenge.

Philanthropist Jim Rogers, who on Thursday was inducted into the Nevada Business Hall of Fame with developer J.A. Tiberti and the late casino legend William F. Harrah, took the opportunity to call on a room full of executives to give back to the community.

In 2000, Rogers was named one of the nation's top 12 philanthropists by Time magazine for donating more than $200 million to non-profit organizations, much of it to higher education.

"I've come to understand the need for education," he said at the event hosted by the UNLV College of Business. Rogers went on to point out however that "no state Legislature has ever built a great college or university."

He listed a series of prestigious private institutions and went on to note that the top public institutions, Rogers said, receive less than 20 percent of their funding from the state.

"There are a lot of people in this town a hell of a lot better off than I am," Rogers said, adding that greater public support was necessary to advance UNLV. In order to spark a capital campaign at the university, he has agreed to contribute $25 million "if certain people match the contribution."

He has previously given $29 million to UNLV, and he said the need for additional funding at UNLV is obvious. The school has an annual operating budget of $300 million while the University of Arizona, with just 10,000 more students, enjoys an annual budget of more than $1 billion.

Other community leaders, he said, will need to fill in that gap.

"You are the ones that have done well by this community," Rogers said. "Now is the time for you to do well for this community."

Before gaining prominence for his charitable work, Rogers enjoyed a successful career as a local attorney. He acquired KVBC Channel 3, an NBC network affiliate, in 1978. Now he serves as head of Sunbelt Communications, which operates 16 television stations in five states.

He also founded Community Bank of Nevada, only to leave in 1998 to form Nevada First Bank, where he remains chairman.

In accepting his award, Tiberti also pointed to the importance of UNLV.

"The university has been a big place for me, and I enjoyed nearly from the very beginning," he said. "This great city of ours has been good to me."

Tiberti moved to Las Vegas in the 1940s as a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working on Nellis Air Force Base during World War II.

In 1950, he opened J.A. Tiberti Construction Co. and went on to build many of the city's major public buildings, including 10 structures on the UNLV campus. Other projects include schools, hotels, banks and reservoirs.

Some of the landmarks Tiberti has had a hand in include the Las Vegas Convention Center, McCarran International Airport and Sunset Station hotel-casino.

He also played a role in designing the valley's future during 25 years as a member of the Las Vegas Planning Commission. Additionally, he has been a member of the Nevada Power Co. board of directors for 36 years.

Similarly, William F. Harrah, who died in 1978, was honored for seeing a future for Nevada that few others could when he opened his first bingo parlor in Reno in 1937.

While that first operation failed because of a poor location, he had his next venture running less than a year later, laying the foundation for one of the state's most prominent companies.

"It takes those with a vision to create the future, and Bill Harrah was loaded with vision," said Phil Satre, chairman of Harrah's Entertainment Inc., who accepted the award on behalf of the late executive.

Harrah also was credited with being an influential force in the creation of the Nevada Gaming Control Board in 1955. He also changed the financial landscape of the gaming industry when, in 1971, Harrah's became the first publicly traded gaming company in history.

Company executives also said Harrah sparked a culture of customer service that can now be seen throughout the gaming industry. It began simply enough when Harrah installed a heating system to keep customers comfortable during cold winter months at his Northern Nevada properties.

Previous Hall of Fame inductees include Steve Wynn, E. Parry Thomas, William "Si" Redd, Claudine Williams, Howard Hughes and Irwin Molasky.