Sam Boyd Stadium has been home to the Runnin Rebels for the past 39 seasons and if Neal Smatresk, President of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and California based billionaire Ed Roski have their way, the Rebels will be a memory.
Sam Boyd is at least two furlongs away from Las Vegas and the UNLV Campus. Built in 1971 with a seating capacity of 15,000, it actually resides in the unincorporated town of Whitney, Nevada. Even though its mailing address is Las Vegas.
I was there in 1976 when Vegas played host to my Boise State Broncos. What a trip it was driving in a caravan of cars from Boise down to Las Vegas. I wont go into details, but lets say over half of the drivers today would have gotten DWI's, self included.
It was the last time these two teams would meet until this upcoming 2011 season. Both teams were division II powerhouses and this was the 6th meeting. Neither team had a win in the other teams house.
In 1974 and 1976 this clash had such drawing power in Nevada each game set a new sports attendance record for the state of Nevada. We were billed as the Boise State Aerial Circus.
What made this game unique was each team had a new head coach. The Runnin Rebels had the wiley veteran head coach Tony Knapp, also known as the river boat gambler and Boise State had Jim Criner. Jim Criner had replaced Tony Knapp as the Boise State coach in 1976 as Knapp had moved onto UNLV.
What I most remember is how long it took to get out to the stadium, it really was out in the sticks. It was a state of the art stadium only 5 years old and like in the pros they sold beer in the stadium.
Today Sam Boyd Stadium plays host to many events and can currently seat 36,800 fans. The stadium has hosted the Las Vegas Bowl since 1992 and in 2005 when nationally ranked Brigham Young came to play in the bowl game, adding additional seats in the open end north end zone, the set a new attendance record of 44,615 the largest crowd in state history to ever see a team sport contest.
Now it appears all that might come to an end. UNLV President Smatresk and Ca. business man Ed Roski want to form a public-private partnership and build a new domed stadium close to The Strip and the UNLV campus. Tomorrow, Tuesday Feb 1st it is expected they will hold a press conference announcing the plans. What they purpose is a new domed stadium and entertainment center that will be state of the art.
What will become of Sam Boyd Stadium is not clear other than it will no longer be home to Runnin Rebels of UNLV.
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