It was the year Jerry Tarkanian finally won it all and when Duke was still a lovable underdog trying to get to the winner’s circle for the first time. It was a time that Nolan Richardson was on the rise and Georgia Tech drew its inspiration from a popular movie franchise. It was the 1990 […]
Jerry Tarkanian, head basketball coach at UNLV, was a character seemingly straight out of Damon Runyon, right down to his “Tark The Shark” nickname. Tark had been chasing college basketball nirvana for a long time. He’d brought favored teams to the Final Four in 1977 and 1987, but come up short. The 1990 UNLV basketball was one that had the horses to go the distance and Tark proved to be an able jockey.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of sports history articles aimed at preserving the best moments of the modern sports era, from 1976 to the present. The focus is team sports—college & pro basketball and football, major league baseball and hockey.
This article offers a snapshot of 1990 sports, a year that saw a big upsets in the key NFL playoff games and complete college football chaos break out.