Brian Hilderbrand

Reporter/ Sports

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Story Archive

The Elevator: Saturday, July 5, 2008; Who’s headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene — and who’s getting the shaft.
Las Vegas 51s a way station for big league talent: Thursday, July 3, 2008; A report compiled by Las Vegas 51s media relations director Jim Gemma revealed 55 players in the major leagues last season played in Las Vegas at one time, including a few Dodgers.
The Elevator: Saturday, June 28, 2008; Who’s headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene — and who’s getting the shaft.
Take Five: Brendan Gaughan: Thursday, June 26, 2008; For the first time in more than eight years, Brendan Gaughan is racing for a team owner other than his father, casino mogul Michael Gaughan.
Runway Rebels: Panel likes their poses, but finds new ‘outfits’ lacking; Tuesday, June 24, 2008; It wasn’t exactly the runways of Paris or Milan, but UNLV unveiled its fall line at an invitation-only event last week. But still, here's a “Project Runway”-style evaluation featuring members of the Sun staff.
The Elevator: Saturday, June 21, 2008; Who’s headed to the penthouse on the local sports scene — and who’s getting the shaft.
Beer brings cheer: Thirsty fans fill stands at Cashman Field for Las Vegas 51s’ $1 brewski promotion — two at a time per customer, please; Tuesday, June 17, 2008; Blu Sandford takes his position behind the bar on the concourse behind home plate Thursday at Cashman Field and braces himself for his sixth Dollar Beer Night of the season.
The Elevator: Saturday, June 14, 2008; Who’s headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene — and who’s getting the shaft.
UNLV sports coping with cuts: Saturday, June 7, 2008; Thanks to the UNLV basketball team and the Wisconsin football team, UNLV’s athletic teams haven’t suffered as a result of the recent state-mandated budget cuts.
Women score team’s best-ever NCAA finish: Saturday, May 31, 2008; UNLV’s men’s golf team may have failed in its quest to reach the NCAA finals this month, but the women’s team picked up the postseason slack.
The Elevator: Nevada Sports Hall of Fame edition: Saturday, May 31, 2008; A special Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame edition of the Elevator, in honor of the five inductees in the diverse class of 2008.
Rebels have to wait till next year: Despite a hot streak, golfers fail to qualify for NCAA championships; Saturday, May 31, 2008; Dwaine Knight spent five years on the PGA Tour in the 1970s as a player and just concluded his 31st season as a head collegiate golf coach.
Track manager: Smith mum on second Cup race: Friday, May 30, 2008; If Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith is close to bringing a second annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he isn’t talking — not even to the track’s president and general manager, Chris Powell.
The Elevator: Saturday, May 24, 2008; Who’s going to the penthouse in local sports and beyond and who’s getting the shaft:
Track suffers when big boys are on TV: Head to head, Bullring races losing out to the Sprint Cup Series; Wednesday, May 21, 2008; Mike McKearn faced a decision Saturday night: Sit at home and watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ all-star race on TV or head out to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and catch the local short-track racing card.
The Elevator: UNLV edition: Saturday, May 17, 2008; Who’s going to the penthouse in local sports and beyond and who’s getting the shaft in a special UNLV edition.
Seven-time driver at Indy will see it on TV this year: Saturday, May 17, 2008; The first week of on-track activity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had just concluded and Richie Hearn found himself in an unusual situation.
They have overcome: Athletes with disabilities from the Clark County School District have earned the right to compete with the best of their peers nationwide and — in Beijing — worldwide; Tuesday, May 6, 2008; Three local teenagers will represent Nevada on national and international stages this summer with an assist from a first-year Clark County School District after-school program for physically challenged students.
Take Five: UNLV golf: Thursday, April 24, 2008; It is safe to say the UNLV men’s golf team has been the school’s most successful athletics program during the past two decades.
The not-so-friendly conﬁnes: Cashman Field, built in 1983, is the third-oldest Triple-A park, and lacks player amenities and adequate ticket booths; Tuesday, April 22, 2008; For years, Las Vegas 51s President Don Logan has been telling anyone who will listen that the local Triple-A baseball team is in need of a new stadium, one with player amenities and more ticket booths.
UNLV Spring Game: Friday, April 18, 2008; Spring games can be big business in college football. At Nebraska, ticket brokers are getting $95 for Saturday’s sold-out Red-White spring game at 81,000-seat Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. That’s for a general-admission ticket with a face value of $8.
Rod Fuller on the Strip: Friday, April 11, 2008; Rod Fuller loves racing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — and not just because it’s the site of his most recent NHRA Top Fuel victory.
Racing through heartache: NHRA driver mourns the deaths of his two sons as he pursues a championship dedicated to them; Wednesday, April 9, 2008; Tragedy, or the threat of it, has been a part of Doug Herbert’s life for the past two decades. But nothing could prepare Herbert for the tragedy that struck his family on the morning of Jan. 26, when his two sons died instantly in a car accident.
Going with the passing flow: Receivers might prefer to work with one QB, but three vying to be starter; Saturday, April 5, 2008; Ryan Wolfe has caught passes from four starting quarterbacks in his two years at UNLV and says he would love to know what it’s like to develop a working relationship with one quarterback.
Year’s worth of ’Toons will delight Smith fans: Saturday, April 5, 2008; From the time he strapped himself into a NASCAR-style stock car at the Richard Petty Driving Experience and took a few laps around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval, Sun editorial cartoonist Mike Smith knew he was born to race.
Desert race’s resurrection deemed by all a success: Amateur group stages trouble-free Mint 400; Wednesday, April 2, 2008; Despite almost four decades of experience putting on desert races and over a year of planning by Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts, there were some in the desert racing ranks who doubted the all-volunteer group could pull off a resurrection of the Mint 400.
With the right promotion, everyone wins: Monday, March 31, 2008; Fireworks displays and bobblehead doll giveaways will come and go, but the Great Easter Egg Hunt of 1993 will go down in the annals of memorable local sports promotions.
The Las Vegas 51s owner and his lifelong love for baseball: Saturday, March 29, 2008; Despite stories to the contrary, Derek Stevens did not buy a ticket to a Las Vegas 51s game last season, watch a few innings at Cashman Field and then — on the spur of the moment — decide to buy the team.
Take Five: The Bullring: Friday, March 28, 2008; Attending races at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway used to be about as pleasant as a trip to the dentist. Not anymore.
Freshly minted desert race: Organizers hope to restore luster to a classic of yesteryear, the Mint 400 off-road race; Tuesday, March 25, 2008; With apologies to the Baja 1000, now considered the granddaddy of off-road races, the Mint 400 quite possibly is the most famous desert race in the world. At least it was, during its run from 1968 to 1988.
Baseball rival is also model for UNLV team: Thursday, March 20, 2008; Buddy Gouldsmith makes no bones about the fact that he would like to mold his UNLV baseball program after one established 33 years ago at a little state university carved out of a Southern California orange grove.
His make-or-break season: UNLV football coach Mike Sanford finally has his own team — and one last chance; Friday, March 14, 2008; OK, no more excuses.
After inheriting a team with little talent and charged with rebuilding a moribund football program virtually from the ground up for the past three years, Mike Sanford enters his fourth season as UNLV’s head coach knowing his job is on the line.
Comeback trail beckons: Despite having less support than men’s team, women’s golf coach is optimistic; Saturday, March 8, 2008; For all the success UNLV women’s golf has enjoyed since Missy Ringler took over as head coach, it is sometimes easy to forget that the program still is in its infancy.
Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship: Friday, March 7, 2008; If you can’t make it to Indiana in May to see the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, make sure you check out the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship this weekend at Southern Highlands Golf Club.
It’s safety first at speedway: A couple of close calls, a record number of cautions, but no one’s hurt; Monday, March 3, 2008; Owner Bruton Smith spent about $10 million increasing the banking in the corners and repaving his 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His money would have been better spent adding even more padding to the inside retaining walls. Just ask Jeff Gordon. Carl Edwards held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
A hero's value: Dale Earnhardt Jr., rock star of racing, means big bucks for speedway; Friday, Feb. 29, 2008; When the green flag dropped to start the Daytona 500 two weeks ago, nobody was cheering harder for Dale Earnhardt Jr. than May, the vice president of marketing and sales at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup series race: Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008; See that driver sitting on the pole for Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race? Forget him, he probably won’t win; no pole sitter ever has won the Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Transporter carries the team’s dreams: Schedule, weather conspire to give Jeff Gordon’s race team an especially heavy burden on the interstate; Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008; The most valuable members of Jeff Gordon’s race team this weekend might not be the ones who service his No. 24 Chevrolet Impala during the UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but the ones who deliver his race cars to the track.
Would two NASCAR races be twice as good for Vegas?: Many would like speedway owner to move another event here; Monday, Feb. 25, 2008; On a sweltering August day in 1997, a host of dignitaries from NASCAR and Las Vegas gathered on Fremont Street to announce that stock-car racing’s top series — then known as the Winston Cup Series — would race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway beginning the following March.
Pro beach volleyball: Friday, Feb. 22, 2008; Ignore the weekend forecast — the weather is going to be perfect for the AVP Hot Winter Nights finale Saturday at the Orleans.
Squeezed season to test Rebels: With lots of midweek games, college schedule will feel more like pros’; Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008; There isn’t a player on UNLV’s baseball team who hasn’t fantasized about what it would be like to play professional ball. This season, they’re going to get a feel for what it’s like.
Hope pinned on celebrities to help revive PGA stop: Friday, Feb. 15, 2008; Prior to the start of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last month, Southern California columnists were pondering whether the celebrity pro-am was a dying breed on the PGA Tour.
Trucks will be out for NASCAR weekend — recycling trucks: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008; Each day during the annual NASCAR weekend, a veritable army of garbage trucks descends on Las Vegas Motor Speedway and hauls countless tons of trash to the nearby Apex landfill.
Steroids trickling down? Not on his watch: Friday, Feb. 8, 2008; Although UNLV baseball coach Buddy Gouldsmith had no personal stake in Chuck Knoblauch’s private testimony Feb. 1 — or in next week’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s public hearing on the issue — the subject of steroids isn’t ever very far from Gouldsmith’s mind.
Rebels coach pits reality against perception on recruiting trail: Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008; Depending on which “expert” you listen to, UNLV’s latest recruiting class ranks either a respectable fourth in the Mountain West Conference or a woeful 110th in the nation.
Same attitude, whole new team: Friday, Feb. 1, 2008; Kyle Busch has been called — by friends and detractors alike — one of the most talented drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage.
Bandits, booby traps in Baja: More hazards along the famed off-road route concern drivers but won’t keep them away; Monday, Jan. 28, 2008; Racing on a 6-mile, man-made course near the banks of the Colorado River may seem to be a much less hazardous proposition than taking on the unforgiving natural terrain of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, but Rob MacCachren would beg to differ.
MacCachren, a longtime off-road racer from Las Vegas, saw his and co-driver Mark Post’s chances of victory in the Trophy Truck division of the season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge go up in smoke when their Ford F-150 broke down after six of eight laps Saturday afternoon.
He could go pro, but is staying put: UNLV’s Han decides he wants to be ‘ready’; Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008; Han, a 21-year-old junior, is special — not only because of his talent at working a ball around a golf course, but for his ability to tackle one of the biggest decisions of his young life.
SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge roars to life this weekend: Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008; After a two-month hiatus, the local racing scene will roar to life this weekend when the high-tech off-road race vehicles of the SCORE Desert Series invade the Colorado River resort town of Laughlin for the 14th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.
Secret’s out about field we can’t talk about: Monday, Jan. 21, 2008; Area 51, the top-secret military installation tucked away in a remote part of the Southern Nevada desert, apparently wasn’t always so top-secret.