I remember being a "young pup" and having local Las Vegas radio host Seat Williams taking me under his wing. I was new to radio...yet Seat asked me to co-host his Saturday night Stardust Line radio show (early 1990s). The show was already a must-listen for me. The Stardust Line (under a different name) was first hosted by Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal years earlier, carried on by the late great Lee Pete and former Cleveland Brown's RB Jim Brown.
I was brought on the show, (as you can imagine), to talk about games from a betting perspective. After a couple of shows in 1991 (I believe it was) Seat asked me to become permanent co-host and we shared the mic, along with another Vegas legend Dave Cokin, for the next 5-6 years....Saturday night's 10 PM to Midnight, live from the Stardust Race & Sports Book, smack-dab in the middle of the Las Vegas strip.
Seat was silky smooth and the consummate pro, but our look was about as opposite as it gets. Seat sported a James Brown hair-do (yes...of Papa's Got a Brand New Bag fame), and then there I was....raw as hell. Long hair, halfway down my back...5 o'clock shadow...sometimes had been out for 2-3 nights in a row enjoying the strip for all it's worth - then stopping by the book to do the show.
We had so many great guests...Dan Pastorini (who told me he'd only do the show if I did a few Tequila shots with him before going on air); Joe Frazier (who almost took Seat's head off on-air...LOL); Iran Barkley, Bruce Bochy, Don King & Carl King...yet NO ONE had the room focused on every word like Coach Tark. We had him a couple of times and he was the kindest, most down-to-earth "star" you could ever meet. Such a gentleman. Charisma like you've never experienced - and with a sense of humor second to none. I felt like I was sitting next to Sinatra or Deano when I sat next to Tark. Gonna miss him. Vegas will never be the same. When I heard Tark passed this morning...it meant more to me than the loss of a basketball coach. It truly felt like a piece of Vegas passed with him. I'm sure there are 10's of thousands in Las Vegas who share the same sentiment. God Bless the Tarkanian family!