Columnist Ron Kantowski: Why Tark is missing from Hall of Fame

Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005 | 8:23 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Now that he has an alley (Tarkanian Way) and a slab of hardwood (Jerry Tarkanian Court) with his name on it, perhaps it's time to put former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian's monicker on something even more monumental.

Literally monumental.

I'm thinking of a bust at the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

And I'm not the only one thinking it.

In conjunction with UNLV's Tarkanian Court dedication on Saturday, the FoxSports.com Web site conducted a poll on whether the Rebels' towel-chomping legend should be allowed into the peach basket museum.

A whopping 81 percent of the 7,028 respondents at the time of this writing voted "yes." The other 19 percent need to loosen those arm bands with the NCAA swastika -- er, logo -- on them.

Tark has a lot of friends in high places who are politicking for him, such as Bob Knight and Pete Newell. He also has some proponents in lower ones, such as noted basketball writer Ian O'Connor, who beat the drum for Tark in a column.

In summarizing Tark's chances for hall-of-fame inclusion, O'Connor sounded about as cheerful as Utah State's Kohn Smith breaking down the amoeba defense.

O'Connor wrote that Tarkanian is the Pete Rose of college basketball. "Tark isn't on any official ineligible list, but it's right there in black and white."

Like in the NCAA record book. O'Connor pointed out that Tarkanian won 778 games as a Division I coach. That's 544 more than Newell, 253 more than Pete Carril, 252 more than Lou Carnesecca and 182 more than John Thompson. Yet, all four of those guys have their name cast in bronze while Tark's is preceded by a scarlet letter.

But none of those guys has taken the NCAA to court -- that would be the Supreme Court (and I'm not talking about the practice facilities at North Carolina) -- and taken home $2.5 million of its hardly earned dollars.

Forget Chaminade over Virginia or N.C. State over Houston. The NCAA having been found guilty of violating Tark's constitutional rights might very well be the biggest upset in college basketball history.

When it comes to his legacy, his 778-202 record, .794 winning percentage, 29 20-win seasons and his 1990 national championship pale by comparison.

Tark has said many times that his greatest contribution to the game might be the way he battled the NCAA. He might be right.

As O'Connor and others have pointed out, there's precedent for Tark's inclusion in Springfield. Lawrence Taylor remains in the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite confessing on "60 Minutes" that he played higher than Keith Richards' kite on most Sundays. And what about racists such as Ty Cobb, whom Cooperstown continues to honor?

In investigating Tark, the NCAA hired a team of gumshoes that would make David Caruso and the CSI crew look like the Keystone Cops. But all they could come up with was the college basketball equivalent of a few parking tickets. And that infamous hot tub photo.

Yet, Jerry Tarkanian will always be considered a pariah by those who take their marching orders from NCAA headquarters.

Then there's that other 81 percent who voted in the FoxSports poll.

Based on those results, the court of public opinion may soon bear his name, too.