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Las Vegas Strip will dim lights to honor Jerry Tarkanian

the last dance

Larry Johnson and coach Jerry Tarkanian leave the court headed to the Final Four again. (Photo by Alan Berner/The Seattle Times/JR Partners via Getty Images)

Getty Images

the last dance

Larry Johnson and coach Jerry Tarkanian leave the court headed to the Final Four again. (Photo by Alan Berner/The Seattle Times/JR Partners via Getty Images)

Getty Images

Las Vegas is one of the most unique places on Earth and the city will give a special tribute this Wednesday night for former UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Tarkanian died on Feb. 11 at age 84 and the city will pay tribute to its former college basketball coach by dimming the lights of the Las Vegas Strip at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night after the UNLV home game against Boise State. His family hosted a private funeral service at Our Lady of Las Vegas on Monday.

Most Strip casinos have agreed to dim their non-essential exterior bulbs for a few minutes in a Las Vegas tribute once given to Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy.

Casinos expected to participate in the tribute for Tarkanian include all Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts properties on the Strip, The Cosmopolitan, Stratosphere, Tropicana and The Venetian and The Palazzo, according to the companies and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Off-Strip resorts participating include the Hard Rock Hotel and South Point casino, along with locals-only Station Casinos and the digital canopy above Fremont Street.

The effort for Tarkanian to receive this special Las Vegas send-off was pushed by a pair of UNLV alums in Tony Cordasco and Scott Gulbransen. The duo set up a Twitter account and Facebook page asking for the city’s businesses to honor the former coach of the Runnin’ Rebels.

Also a head coach at Fresno State and Long Beach State, Tarkanian received tributes from both of those schools over the weekend.

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