Gilliam honored to be part of Rebels’ history

Twenty years after his last game with the Rebels, the former power forward would rather the attention not be on him.

Even as his No. 35 jersey is retired and raised to the Thomas & Mack Center rafters tonight, “The Hammer” says it’s a time to remember everyone who contributed to UNLV’s proud past.

“That’s what this is all about, it’s a celebration of Coach Tarkanian and the good years he had and the players he had. It’s about an era of basketball,” Gilliam said. “It’s not about me.”

Last year, the No. 50 jersey of Greg Anthony, point guard for the Rebels’ 1990 national championship team, was retired.

Gilliam will be the eighth player so honored, joining Anthony, Larry Johnson (4), Sidney Green (21), Reggie Theus (23), Glen Gondrezick (25), Stacey Augmon (32) and Ricky Sobers (40).

Tarkanian spent last week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to get his painful right leg examined. He will be at courtside tonight to show his affection for Gilliam.

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything. I just love Armon,” Tarkanian said. “It’s about time they’re retiring his jersey. He’s one of the greatest Rebels of all time.”

The ceremony for Gilliam will take place at halftime of UNLV’s exhibition game against Washburn, which starts at 7:30 p.m. Gilliam plans to play in an alumni game that tips at 6 p.m.

Gilliam is sixth on the Rebels’ career scoring list, pouring in 1,855 points from 1984-87. He set the school single-season scoring record with 903 points in 1986-87, when UNLV finished 37-2 and reached the Final Four.

During his senior year — on a team that included Freddie Banks, Jarvis Basnight, Gerald Paddio and Mark Wade — Gilliam averaged 23.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game as the Rebels ran up more than 100 points in 12 games.

“We were a lot like the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. It was a run-and-gun style of play, knocking down 3-point shots and dunking the basketball,” Gilliam said. “It was one sensational play after another. There were not many teams at the college level doing that.”

In Gilliam’s three seasons, UNLV had a record of 98-11.

Before he put his name all over the Rebels’ record book and went on to a 13-year NBA career, the 6-foot-9-inch Gilliam was an unlikely candidate to be a basketball star. Growing up in Pittsburgh, he was better known as a football talent who played defensive end and tight end.

“I was criticized a lot for giving up football,” he said. “But basketball was something I loved and I just followed my heart.”

Gilliam went to Independence (Kan.) Junior College, where he came off the bench as a freshman. One of Tarkanian’s assistants was scouting a player on an opposing team when he spotted Gilliam.

“He had a great body, was strong as an ox and he was a great kid,” Tarkanian said. “Nobody recruited him except us.”

After getting an offer from UNLV, Gilliam started hearing from Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Maryland coach Lefty Driesell.

“Lefty was a friend of mine and I called him and said, ‘Lefty, what the hell are you doing? He’s committed to us. You haven’t even seen him play,’ ” Tarkanian said. “And Lefty said, ‘If you’re recruiting him, he must be a good player.’ “

In the 1984-85 season opener, Gilliam sat on the bench in a loss to UNR. He played a big role in the second game, a victory at Colorado State, and the rest was history.

“We never took him out of the lineup the rest of his career,” Tarkanian said. “Our plan was to bring him in and sit him out a year. I thought he was too raw. But he just got better every day and he was a hard worker.”

Gilliam, the No. 2 overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 1987 NBA Draft, graduated from UNLV with a degree in communications. He is in the real estate business in Pittsburgh and working on writing a book.

Gilliam and Tarkanian said Banks, a shooting star on the team that finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in 1987, should be the next former Rebel to see his jersey retired.

“Freddie definitely should be honored in that way,” Gilliam said. “It’s finally happening for me, so I’m excited about it.”

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2907.