Happy memories run through Jerry
Koloskie’s mind
The Albany Times-Union ran an
interesting article about Jerry Koloskie, Class of 1975, who is deputy athletic
director at the University of Albany in New York.
It
mainly concerns Jerry’s memories of his days with Jerry Tarkanian’s Running
Rebels of the University of Nevada-Los Vegas.
Jerry's father is John Koloskie, Jr., Class
of 1944, widower of Julia Monell Koloskie, also Class of 1944. Junior
Koloskie is still kicking around and he’s 6 years older than me. That’s quite a
feat.
Julia’s brother is the late Raymond “Soak” Monell, whose widow
is Elaine Hewitt Monell, Class of 1949, of the Dayton, Ohio suburb of
Riverside.
Jerry played baseball for two years at Marietta (Ohio) College
before graduating with a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University in
1980.
He and his wife, portrait artist Annette, have three children:
sons John and Jim, and a daughter, Megan, as well as a granddaughter, Kayden. Megan
Koloskie is a teacher at Somerset Academy Okey-Las Vegas.
Jerry
and Annette met at Iowa State when Jerry was getting his master’s degree.
You can contact Jerry at the
University of Albany in New York Athletic Department at (518) 591-8566 or email
him at gkoloskie@albany.edu
The
newspaper article about Jerry:
UAlbany deputy athletic director recalls UNLV run
Jerry Koloskie was part of famed
Runnin' Rebels program
By Jason Franchuk
Back to Gallery
Jerry Koloskie doesn't tell a lot of old stories around the
University at Albany. Some may not even know what the Great Danes' deputy
athletic director was once a part of.
The former UNLV staffer, however,
certainly enjoys thinking about those Runnin' Rebels days this time of year.
Trinkets from a transcendent era are
in his office, in a safe and of course stowed just as tightly in his heart.
Among all the hectic-but-priceless days he had at UNLV, the three Final Four
appearances as the team's athletic trainer from 1982 to 1997 offer some of the
greatest stories.
Among them: his second son (1987),
oxygen masks (1990) and football legend Walter Payton (1991).
"I've got a lot of great
memories," Koloskie said. "And this time of year, it's really, really
cool. It's almost surreal. You kind of blow through it at the time because
you're working. But it was phenomenal."
Koloskie brushed with greatness far
before he graduated from West Virginia and Iowa State (graduate school),
married an Iowan and eventually ended up at UNLV because of a friend's job
offer.
He grew up in the West Virginia
coal-mining town of Monongah. A kid a few years older would go onto sports
greatness, too: Nick Saban.
Koloskie was part of an
often-polarizing era run by Jerry Tarkanian, who trusted Koloskie about how to handle
injuries — and over time, much more. Koloskie's reward was an unusual journey.
In 1987, Koloskie and his wife agreed
to induce labor so Koloskie could attend the Final Four with the Rebels. James
was born on a Tuesday, and Dad left for the airport at 2 a.m. for a flight to
New Orleans. UNLV wound up losing to eventual national champion Indiana, which
ousted Syracuse in the finals.
Later, at the 1992 Final Four, the
drama involved the thin air of the host city, Denver. Koloskie notes UNLV was
the only team not to have oxygen tanks and masks courtside.
Tarkanian forwarded a slew of
interview requests about the issue to Koloskie, who counseled the coach that
the Rebels shouldn't be afforded a chance to "use that as a crutch."
UNLV won the championship against
Duke by a 30-point margin (103-73) that still stands as the biggest final-game
blowout. The year also included Koloskie and his staff managing a broken jaw
suffered by star point guard Greg Anthony early in the season.
The next year, NFL star Walter Payton
grew attached to the charismatic, blustery Rebels. He even delivered the
pregame speech before the 1990 title game.
But in 1991, Payton found himself
gutted by the team not repeating — losing a rematch to Duke by 20 points in the
semifinals.
"He just couldn't believe
it," Koloskie said. "I think Walter needed as much comforting as any
of the players."
Koloskie moved to an administrative
role at UNLV in 1997. At one point, in 2009, he was briefly in charge of the
department. He oversaw the 20th anniversary of the championship team, telling a
large crowd at a Las Vegas gala about his pride in a championship ring and
snippet of the net.
"No one can ever take those
things away from me," he said then, and would repeat now.
At UAlbany, Koloskie oversees the
daily operations of men's basketball (along with women's hoops and football).
Head coach Will Brown says he's not sure he can share some of the UNLV stories
Koloskie has told him.
"A lot of it's just more
intrigue from my end," Brown said. "How they went about business and
me asking Jerry about his experiences working with those guys."
Koloskie witnessed Rebels coaches
from Tarkanian to the considerably tame (by Tark's standard) Lon Kruger and
Rollie Massimino, who also had current Villanova head coach Jay Wright on his
staff.
"Often to learn, sometimes just
to laugh," Brown says of the tales.
UAlbany athletic director Mark
Benson, who befriended Koloskie about a decade ago during a reference call for
someone else, marvels at the names Koloskie knows well.
Larry Johnson, who became
"Grandmama." Stacey Augmon, the "Plastic Man." And many
more Rebels that aren't as famous so far off The Strip.
"But it's more than that,"
said Benson, who hired Koloskie in January of 2015 — a year after he left UNLV.
"Because he keeps in touch with everybody from those days, too."
