Today, most of the United States is busy celebrating Halloween but in Nevada another celebration is occurring. It is Nevada Day today to celebrate the Battle Born State joining the Union side in the Civil War and gaining statehood in 1864.. As a native Las Vegan, even ten years ago I would have been shocked to learn that Vegas would ever get a pro sports team, let alone multiple. So to celebrate Nevada Day, let’s take a look at Las Vegas’s sports history.
UNLV Basketball
The first professional sports team in Las Vegas wasn’t a professional sports team at all; it was a college basketball powerhouse that was all Vegas had to offer, and Vegas embraced them fully. This was of course the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels Men’s Basketball team under the late great Jerry Tarkanian from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.UNLV was the Gonzaga before Gonzaga except these Rebels could actually win it all. UNLV made the tournament nine straight years with three Final Fours and one national championship to boot. It could have been even greater except the NCAA didn’t like how Tarkanian ran his program as the coach. He was infamous for his run-ins with the NCAA stemming from recruiting practices. Tarkanian was outspoken against them about basically everything from recruiting to big schools vs small schools. Las Vegas adored this the most about Tarkanian. His attitude of sticking it to the man to the NCAA. That’s how Vegan’s viewed themselves. Their basketball team was being singled out just as their city was just because of how they were. How influential was Tarkanian to Las Vegas? The world famous Las Vegas strip has only dimmed its light to honor tragedies like the 2017 Vegas shooting or for fallen legends like Elvis. When Tarkanian passed in 2015 Vegas dimmed their lights to honor their coach.
Minor League Baseball
Las Vegas, thanks in part to the passionate fandom Vegans showed to the Rebels, was able to parlay that into getting a couple minor league teams. First, they got the Las Vegas Stars, a Triple A baseball team in the Pacific Coast League. The Stars were active from 1983-2000 playing at Cashman Field, won two championships in 1986 and 1988 before undergoing a rebrand. From 2001-2018 they became the Las Vegas 51s(they were totally out of this world). The 51s are this author’s favorite iteration of baseball in Vegas. He loved going to Cashman Field right of sandwiched between the 11 and the 15 on Monday nights with his dad for dollar hot dog night. In 2019 they changed their name yet again this time to the Aviators to honor Las Vegas’s rich aviation history with Howard Hughes. The aviator also had significant ties to Vegas and the Thunderbirds, calling Vegas’s own Nellis Air Force base home. The Aviators opened a new ballpark in 2019, Las Vegas Ballpark, in the suburb of Summerlin.
Minor League Hockey
The first minor league hockey team in the Mojave Desert was the Las Vegas Thunder from 1993-1999. This is a team I wish I could have seen play. From the stories I heard, the fights the Thunder had were legendary. Every Thunder game had a fight in it from what I’ve been told and these aren’t modern hockey fights, they were old time hockey fights just laying it all out there on the ice. It’s not a stretch to say the Thunder were the most instrumental team in Las Vegas’s sports history. The fandom shown by Vegas towards a hockey team who played in the middle of a desert paved the way for Vegas to eventually land the Vegas Golden Knights. The Thunder due to leasing issues with an arena ceased operations after the 1998-99 season, but it wouldn’t be long before hockey returned to the desert. The Las Vegas Wranglers played in the ECHL from 2003-2015 with their games being at the Orleans Arena right off Tropicana Avenue. The Wranglers made two Kelly Cup Finals and showed that Vegas still had a strong commitment to hockey.
The Unfathomable
I still find it hard to believe sometimes that Las Vegas has one professional sports team let alone two. All I heard growing up was that, Vegas would never get a pro sports team, it just would never happen due to the gambling ties people viewed the city with. Then the unfathomable happened. On June 22, 2016, it was announced that the NHL had awarded Vegas a franchise . Finally, Vegas had a pro sports team. The team was to be the Vegas Golden Knights and begin play in the 2017-2018 season. Vegas and the Golden Knights have embraced each other both on and off the ice ever since their inception. With Vegas welcoming the so called misfits, who were cast out by their teams in the expansion draft, and in turn, the players loved a community welcoming them with open arms. This is a pattern that Vegas has followed even to this day. Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner who were mistreated by their former teams and citie. Arrived in Vegas and being blown away by the culture in the VGK building but again the undying amount of love and support a people in the middle of a desert show to a hockey team. The VGK have had an unfathomable amount of success in their short time making the playoffs in seven of their eight years including two Stanley Cup Finals appearances already and winning it all 2023.
The Raiders announced their move to Vegas in March of 2017 and moved into “The Death Star” in 2020. Leading Vegas to again do something unfathomable and hosted Super Bowl LVIII in 2024. The main difference between the Golden Knights and Raiders fandom in Vegas is quite simple. Vegas wants their own team to support, not an already existing one relocating. This author can testify to that as a diehard Vegas Golden Knights fan, and lives and dies with every puck movement in the playoffs , but he isn’t a Raiders fan. While the Raiders play in Vegas , they aren’t Vegas born like the VGK and that’s something very important to the Vegans. A team needs to start in Vegas and they will do anything and everything to support the team but not if they move in from another city.
Best Teams
1989-1990 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
One of the greatest teams in college basketball was Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels 1989-1990 squad. The Runnin’ Rebs 103-73 victory over Duke in the national title game is still the largest win in title game history. UNLV’s 571 points over the six games played is the most by a single team in any one year of March Madness. The Rebels had three first round NBA picks in Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, and Greg Anthony that year. This UNLV team remains the last team from a non-major conference to win March Madness.
2017-2018 Vegas Golden Knights
I doubt we’ll ever see something like this again. The Golden Knights in their first season as an expansion team didn’t just make the playoffs, they made it the Stanley Cup Final. This team would have been on the list regardless, due to it being the inaugural team for professional sports in Vegas. The Knights’ playoff run to the cup only cemented their place. Some of Vegas’s most important players were on this team were wingers William Karlsson “Wild Bill”, Reilly Smith,and Jonathan Marchessault. With defenseman Shea Theodore were part of this original misfit bunch and would contribute heavily to this next team.
2022-2023 Vegas Golden Knights
Making deals for players like winger Mark Stone in 2019, one of the best two ways players in hockey. Stone has gone on to become the heart and soul of the VGK, being named the team’s first and so far only captain, a prestigious honor in hockey. The biggest move they made was trading for all world talent Jack Eichel in 2021. Despite all these moves, Vegas had yet to hoist Lord Stanley’s cup, even missing the playoffs in 2021-2022. That all changed in 2022-2023. I can remember just having a feeling and knowing this team was special early on that season. That feeling was right as Vegas steamrolled through the regular season, finishing with the best record in the West. The playoffs ,while intense, Vegas mostly cruised through despite facing goalie adversity. Every championship team needs an unlikely hero. For the VGK, it was Adin Hill, the third-string goalie that was thrust into the starting role in the second round. He forever cemented himself in Vegas lore with his clutch performances again and again. Plus, who could forget his otherworldly save in game one of the Stanley Cup Final. The Golden Knights clinched their championship in Vegas with fashion, making a show in front of their own fans at “The Fortress” routing the Florida Panthers 9-3. The captain Mark Stone added a hat trick to seal it the game for the Golden Knights. Just like that Vegas had their first championship as a city since 1990. This author could go on and on about this VGK team but let’s look ahead towards what is ahead.
Future of Las Vegas Sports
The future of Las Vegas sports is bright. The city is getting the Athletics in the MLB. Even if they shouldn’t be moving to Vegas in the first place, and Vegas should get an expansion team instead, the As are moving anyway. First playing their games at Las Vegas Ballpark, before their new stadium opens on the site of the old Tropicana Hotel. Vegas will also be hosting the Men’s Basketball Final Four in 2028 with the CFP National Championship Game in 2027. Las Vegas is currently in talks to host the Super Bowl again in 2029 and even if it isn’t then exactly, it will undoubtedly host one again. On the ice, the Vegas Golden Knights look every bit the part of a perennial contender with a strong start to open the 2025-2026 NHL season , and having the VGK squarely setting their eyes on cup number two. It has been truly incredible to see what has happened to Las Vegas sports over the last decade and the history of Vegas sports is only just beginning. #VegasBorn.
