A one-night tour of Rebel athletics

Monday, Nov. 12, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

Eric Jackson, the former Rebels running back, talks about the concrete walkway between the football practice field and the baseball.

That's where he'd first met UNLV volleyball player Jada Walker three years ago. She initially doubted she had enough time for him. Eventually, they started dating. He asked her to meet him on the walkway Wednesday -- her 21st birthday.

Jackson got down on one knee.

"Will you marry me?" Jackson asked. "Of course," Walker said, and they celebrated for their July wedding over late-night pizza. She had barbecue chicken; he had pepperoni.

For drama or just plain sentimentality, Jackson's story took the prize as I ventured out to cover the Rebels Quadruple -- four sporting events taking place Friday night on the UNLV campus Friday.

Now a teacher and running backs coach at his alma mater, Paraclete High in Lancaster, Calif., Jackson describes his proposal as his fiancee and her teammates win their ninth consecutive match on the floor of Cox Pavilion.

Yes, he was nervous. It was all mapped out in his head. He froze, then he gathered himself.

"It sprang from the heart," he says. "It just kind of flowed."

Jackson looked out at the Cox Pavilion court, where the Rebels, ranked nationally for the first time, swept New Mexico.

He says most people don't know that Walker is rated among the top 10 liberos (back row defensive specialists) in the nation. He also says he knew she was "wifey" material the moment they met on that walkway.

"But I was a little immature," Jackson says. "I've grown up a lot."

My Rebels Quadruple begins at the Thomas & Mack Center, where Khoria Newman, 14, and Tae'lor Monroe, 12, are first-year ball girls.

When Khoria and Tae'lor grow up, they want to represent their hometown on the UNLV women's basketball team, just like senior guard Sequoia Holmes.

Now, the teammates on the Lady Knix YMCA club team sit along a baseline and wipe the sweat off the.

Tae'lor likes feeding the players basketballs as they jog from their halftime chalk talk, and Khoria enjoys the front-row seats.

They're wide-eyed as Holmes leads everyone with 28 points in UNLV's season-opening 73-57 victory against Long Beach State.

"It would feel good to wear that uniform," Tae'lor says.

"It would be great," Khoria says, "because I love basketball."

So does UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick, who joins me in moving from the

Mack to Cox Pavilion to watch coach Allison Keeley's volleyballers.

He'll goes back to the Mack to watch the UNLV men's basketball team open its season, but he won't finish the Quadruple at the men's soccer match.

"I've worked all day today," Hamrick says with a smile. "C'mon."

Keeley, 39, had steered the long-dormant volleyball program into the national spotlight with a No. 25 ranking in a coaches poll earlier in the week.

Star outside hitter Maria Aladjova even has a 75-second highlight video on YouTube, set to rapper Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got,".

Hamrick says he knew Keeley could do the same. She had done a lot with a little at Villanova and impressed the athletic director during an interview four years ago.

"She is focused, very focused," Hamrick says. "She knew what she wanted to do. She had done it."

After UNLV takes the first game from New Mexico, Hamrick beats me out the door to watch the men's basketball team at the Mack.

In Section 106, as coach Lon Kruger's hoops team forges a 23-8 lead over

Montana State, Ken Korach cheering and clapping seem to challenge Ken Koarch.

Korach spent a dozen years calling UNLV games on the radio but quit in 2004 to concentrate on his longtime gig as an Oakland A's broadcaster. The Rebels' run to the Sweet 16 last season helped him recall how to be a fan.

"They made it fun to come to games," says Korach, who has season tickets. "It's too early to tell about this team, but Kruger has done a great job."

The standing ovation Korach received at halftime of his last UNLV assignment, a home game against Brigham Young, still gives him chills.

"Amazing," he says. "It was so heart-warming."

At Peter Johann Memorial Field, freshman Jaime Calvo flutters the hearts of his 14 relatives in the stands when he tries a 30-yard shot in the final minute against San Jose State.

It slices wide, though, and the Spartans punch in another goal with 12 seconds left for a 3-1 victory.

Charlie Calvo, 47, savors watching his son play.

A 28-year utility man for Southern California Edison, he is the first to respond when utility poles go are hit by vehicles in the Fresno area. He assesses damage and advises on repairs. He has seen plenty of death.

"I'm not proud of that," Calvo says.

His pride wears No. 15 on the UNLV soccer team, and he couldn't be happier that Jaime plays for coach Mario Sanchez.

At a barbecue the previous weekend, Sanchez addressed his players' parents.

"He said, 'You might raise them, but I'll turn them into men,'" the elder Calvo says. "They all respect others and are polite. That impresses me."

As the lights dim around the pitch, I catch the end of the men's basketball team 76-65 victory on the car radio.

The Rebels Quadruple is done.

On the left, I catch a glimpse of the walkway between the football practice field and the baseball stadium.

That's the spot Jackson and Walker will remember for the rest of their lives.

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