Monday, Dec. 18, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.
Points Opp. Date
Player Season Avg.
Player Seasons Avg.
Player Season FTs
Player Season FGs
1. Armon Gilliam 1986-87 359
2. Larry Johnson 1990-91 308
3. Elburt Miller 1966-67 307
Eddie Owens 1975-76 307
Elburt Miller answered his cell phone and was surprised to hear someone ask him about forging the most torrid scoring stretch in UNLV basketball history, which began 40 years ago this week.
Then he laughed.
"That was a long time ago," he said. "I've forgotten about it."
Miller, 61, pleasantly agreed to an interview, to talk about his glory days at what was then called Nevada Southern University and how life has treated him since he scorched the nets for the Rebels.
Then the connection became hazy and inaudible. Thirty minutes and half a dozen calls later, when contact was restored, Miller was curt.
Not interested in doing an interview about owning six of the program's top 15 scoring performances. Not interested in talking about being the only player in UNLV history to bust the 50-point barrier in a game.
Still the reluctant Rebel.
'Top Cat'
When Miller attended Nevada Southern, first-class postage stamps were raised from 5 cents to 6. KLAS-TV Channel 8 boasted of showing "Daktari" and "The Jackie Gleason Show" in color! Sammy Davis Jr. played the Copa Room at the Sands. "The Graduate," starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, started a "record-smashing" run of its own.
At any given time, those might be some of the topics that Curtis Watson and other Rebels from Miller's era reminisce about when they attend UNLV games at the Thomas & Mack Center. Watson, Cliff Findlay, Ed Plawski, Bruce Chapman and others sit together and revel in being looked upon as legends of the program.
"We just have a good time," said Watson, who owns and runs a State Farm insurance agency in town. "We talk about the old times. It's good for us and the community of which we're a part."
Watson can't remember Miller ever attending a game or the last time he's seen the sharpshooter whose San Diego City College nickname - "Top Cat" - followed him to Las Vegas. Findlay said he last spoke with Miller 15 or 20 years ago.
Miller was an inaugural member of the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.
He was always dependable on the court, in practice and games, Watson said, and teammates often marveled at watching Miller weave his magic.
The crown jewel of his career was a 55-point outburst in an 85-74 victory at the University of Portland on Feb. 12, 1967.
"Nobody could hold him," Watson said. "There were nights when he was on that we just gave him the ball, and he went to work. Elburt was one of the toughest players who ever played for UNLV."
Miller's scoring average of 31.9 points in 1966-67 is the best single-season average in Rebels history.
Marc Ratner, a longtime Las Vegas sports fan and current vice president of regulatory affairs for Ultimate Fighting Championship, attended many Nevada Southern games during Miller's junior and senior seasons.
"He scored at will, and without a 3-point line," Ratner said. "He could drive, pull up and he had the propensity to get fouled. I have fond memories of him. He was one of my favorite players."
In 1966-67, as Miller kept scoring and the Rebels kept winning, attendance records kept breaking. By the time Houston center Elvin Hayes and the third-ranked Cougars came to town Jan. 31, 1967, the Convention Center burst at capacity of 7,500. Another 2,000 fans were turned away.
"Is he as good as they say he is?" said Houston coach Guy Lewis.
Hayes went for 42 in the Cougars' 103-83 victory. Miller had 38, including a 35-foot jumper, with three defenders on him, that just beat the halftime buzzer.
"Of all the players I've seen throughout the year, Elburt was the only one who I thought could play with the 1989-90 and 1990-91 teams," Ratner said of UNLV teams that, respectively, won an NCAA title and lost in a national semifinal.
Recruiting save
Off the court, Miller hung out with teammates Clyde Dawson or Jerry Chandler. But Miller spent most of his time with his wife, Ella, and their two young daughters, Dawnetta and Laurett.
Miller was very quiet, at times even standoffish, Watson said. But he also called Miller a "great" teammate.
"He's been away from all of us. No one keeps in contact with him, as far as I know," Watson said. "That's a tough situation; a great player, and nobody sees or hears from him. Isn't that something?"
During Miller's two seasons with the Rebels, he was only quoted in one Sun story. After he earned United Press International second-team All-America honors as a junior, he said, "No kiddin', that's just great."
He said he was pleased how it would bring publicity to the school and likely help Nevada Southern coach Roland Todd recruit, and he said it was as much a tribute to his teammates.
A one-page "salute" to him ran in early March 1967. Seven photographs - one shows him playing with his two children beside his wife; in another he answers a telephone in the Nevada Southern basketball office - accompany a sketch of Miller and a story.
Only Ella is quoted, and the fact that Miller was publicity-shy was prominently mentioned.
Ella said Todd called the couple in San Diego the summer before they were to arrive in Las Vegas. She told Todd that the Rebels had fallen out of favor with Miller. Five hours later, Ella heard a knock on the door. It was Todd, who had bolted to San Diego to woo Miller.
"That decided it," Ella told the Sun. "If (Todd) was that concerned about (Elburt) "
In that piece, it was also learned that Miller suffered from a hole in an eardrum, which was treated with medication. That might help explain his reluctance to talk.
Nevada Southern beat UC Davis in the 1967 small-schools regional tournament, then lost to San Diego State to finish 21-6. It officially became UNLV in January 1969.
Lost pillar
In 1967-68, Miller had games in which he scored 38 and 37 points, and he went for 35 three times. Nevada Southern reached sixth on the UPI poll, its highest ranking during Miller's tenure.
But the team had an inconsistent season. The Rebels upended eighth-ranked Oklahoma City and famed coach Abe Lemons, called the biggest Rebels victory in their 10-year history. A week later, they were defeated by Northern Arizona.
Miller's senior campaign ended without ceremony in the quarterfinals of the small-schools national tournament in Evansville, Ind., with a defeat to Indiana State.
Nevada Southern battled through inclement weather for 17 hours to get to Evansville. Miller only hit one of his five shots, finishing with eight points and fouling out with six minutes left of a 94-75 loss to the Sycamores. The Rebels ended the season at 22-7.
Todd blasted his star player after the game, saying Miller's disappearance was the biggest problem.
"He had a miserable game," Todd said. "When your best boy has a game like that, it really hurts the rest of the team. They seemed to be standing around, waiting for him to do something. And it never happened."
Miller was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the eighth round of the 1968 NBA draft, but there are no records of him playing a minute of professional basketball.
"He's doing pretty good," said Kathy Miller, who confirmed she's Elburt's wife, when reached on her cell phone. When pressed for details about Elburt, she gave his cell number and said, "You'll have to get that information from him."
When reached again, when told that former teammates, friends and fans are very interested in seeing him or talking with him, Miller was cordial but stern.
"I'm involved in something right now that I don't want to get into," he said. "I can't do anything."
Others are plenty curious about a man who should be celebrated as a pillar of UNLV basketball.
"We don't see all the history of the program," Watson said. "Elburt should be a part of that. He was a big part of the history, to get us to where we are today."
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