Marc Ratner moved to Las Vegas when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. His father became owner of a retail beauty supply business. It also was about the time Marc became a bar mitzvah. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom, as did everyone at the time, and a favorite memory he recalls is of sneaking a glimpse of crooner Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor getting married there. While growing up, Marc showed no particular interest in being a star athlete. He played little baseball and participated in track as a long jumper. Nevertheless, on the day of this oral history interview, Marc is sitting in his office surrounded by sports memorabilia. It is all a testimony, a museum highlighting his decades of officiating and regulating sports events. His stories include newsworthy boxing episodes that ranged from the infamous ?Fan Man? parachutist incident in 1963 during the Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe fight at Caesars and the 1997 ?Bite Fight? when Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield?s ear. v In 2016, Marc was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an extraordinary honor for a nonparticipant. He has long been a fan of the sport and talks about the first fight he ever attended, becoming a ring inspector in 1985 and then starting a new phase of his career in 2006, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. In addition, Marc has dedicated much his life blowing the whistle at high school and college sports: he?s officiated on the football field for several conferences, bowl games and mentors would-be officials. He served as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director for two decades. Among his community involvement is serving on the board of Jewish Family Services Agency. In 1997 he was honored by the National Council of Christians and Jews. Marc Ratner moved to Las Vegas when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. His father became owner of a retail beauty supply business. It also was about the time Marc became a bar mitzvah. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom, as did everyone at the time, and a favorite memory he recalls is of sneaking a glimpse of crooner Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor getting married there. While growing up, Marc showed no particular interest in being a star athlete. He played little baseball and participated in track as a long jumper. Nevertheless, on the day of this oral history interview, Marc is sitting in his office surrounded by sports memorabilia. It is all a testimony, a museum highlighting his decades of officiating and regulating sports events. His stories include newsworthy boxing episodes that ranged from the infamous ?Fan Man? parachutist incident in 1963 during the Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe fight at Caesars and the 1997 ?Bite Fight? when Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield?s ear. v In 2016, Marc was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an extraordinary honor for a nonparticipant. He has long been a fan of the sport and talks about the first fight he ever attended, becoming a ring inspector in 1985 and then starting a new phase of his career in 2006, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. In addition, Marc has dedicated much his life blowing the whistle at high school and college sports: he?s officiated on the football field for several conferences, bowl games and mentors would-be officials. He served as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director for two decades. Among his community involvement is serving on the board of Jewish Family Services Agency. In 1997 he was honored by the National Council of Christians and Jews. Marc Ratner moved to Las Vegas when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. His father became owner of a retail beauty supply business. It also was about the time Marc became a bar mitzvah. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom, as did everyone at the time, and a favorite memory he recalls is of sneaking a glimpse of crooner Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor getting married there. While growing up, Marc showed no particular interest in being a star athlete. He played little baseball and participated in track as a long jumper. Nevertheless, on the day of this oral history interview, Marc is sitting in his office surrounded by sports memorabilia. It is all a testimony, a museum highlighting his decades of officiating and regulating sports events. His stories include newsworthy boxing episodes that ranged from the infamous ?Fan Man? parachutist incident in 1963 during the Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe fight at Caesars and the 1997 ?Bite Fight? when Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield?s ear. v In 2016, Marc was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an extraordinary honor for a nonparticipant. He has long been a fan of the sport and talks about the first fight he ever attended, becoming a ring inspector in 1985 and then starting a new phase of his career in 2006, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. In addition, Marc has dedicated much his life blowing the whistle at high school and college sports: he?s officiated on the football field for several conferences, bowl games and mentors would-be officials. He served as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director for two decades. Among his community involvement is serving on the board of Jewish Family Services Agency. In 1997 he was honored by the National Council of Christians and Jews.
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Oral history interview with Rick Darnold conducted by Claytee D. White October 21, 2024 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Darnold recalls growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, playing little league baseball, soccer, football, and running track and field in high school. Darnold recalls eventually finding accounting, and becoming a CPA and working for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where he worked in money laundering crimes and other finance-related cases. He shares his various experiences working with the IRS, in a private firm, and then with Boyd Group in Las Vegas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Atlantic City, and other locations in the United States. Darnold shares his love of sports as a child growing into an all-over appreciation for sports in Las Vegas. Digital audio and transcript available.
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Dorothy Bell Scans UNLV-Public Lands Institute. Labeled on back: Film Stars Enjoy the Winter Sports at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Left to right, left seat: Clara Bow, the famous "It" girl of the screen and Mrs. Knoph. Left to right seat: - Mrs. Goulding and Vilma Banky, the film star, off for a sleigh ride. S. & G. 11-1-33. Copyright stamp on back: Sport & General Press Agency, Limited. London. Copyright
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Oral history interview with Nancy Lough conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on September 16 and October 14, 2024 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Lough talks about women in sports, her personal athletic journey, her Sport Management Program and research at UNLV, and the impact of sports on the city of Las Vegas. She recalls her early life in Colorado, where she played many sports and eventually ran cross country for Adams State College in the 1980s. In 1988, she moved to Texas to work as a graduate assistant for Peggy V. Hill had the opportunity to coach the cross country team at the very beginning of their season. After that experience, Lough went on to coach various other teams and enjoyed tremendous success, but later shifted her focus and came to UNLV to start their Sports Management Program, which is still a successful program to this day. Digital audio and transcript available.
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Oral history interview with Mason Gordon conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on September 4, 2024 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Gordon recalls his childhood and early years in California playing basketball, later earning a B.A. in Philosophy and History from Claremont McKenna University. After graduation, he began writing for Tollin/Robbins Productions, co-founded by Mike Tollin, as the company's weekend basketball commentator. Tollin then co-founded Mandalay Sports Media, which became Mike Tollin Productions, a sports-focused media company. At Mandalay Sports Media, Gordon served as producer, executive producer, and eventually, president. Gordon describes later approaching Tollin about creating a new sport: SlamBall. The partners built a court in a warehouse in East Los Angeles, became certified to train, developed new equipment, and recruited athletes for their new sport. In 2023, Gordon moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in the hopes of riding the “new sports wave” in the city. To that end, Derek Stevens (Circa) is a founding partner in the first SlamBall league. Besides relaunching SlamBall at Cox Pavilion in 2023, Gordon also wants to help write a curriculum for sports business. Digital audio and photographs available; no transcript available.
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Oral history interview with Lisa Kelleher conducted by Stefani Evans, Claytee D. White, and Bethany Dayton on August 22, 2025 for Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Kelleher recalls growing up in Ohio, where her father owned the local sports store that she helped run from an early age. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in education in 1979, she got a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Arizona in 1980. This led her to her first athletics job at Oregon State University. Kelleher moved to the University of Central Florida where she met one of her future mentors, Jim Weaver. Meeting Weaver led her to eventually come to UNLV, where she worked with the athletic department to expand women's sports including women's volleyball, soccer, and golf. Kelleher also recalls watching Title IX pass nationwide, and the transition from gender-separate sports administrations to those that were more equitable. It was a difficult time that came with a lot of resistance, and she recalls witnessing segregated sports programs all the way until the 1990s. Eventually, Kelleher was let go from her athletics position at UNLV but came back as a part-time instructor, moving her way up to associate visiting professor, she now teaches first and second-year seminar classes for the college of education. She is looking forward to seeing how sports progress locally, and at a nationwide university level. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
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Oral history interview with Daniel Rush conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on October 28, 2024 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Rush recalls a childhood in Chicago, Illinois and Woodland Hills, California. He recalls visiting Las Vegas, Nevada while attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN). After graduating with a B.A. in Communications, the future Vice President of Global Sports and Events Sales for MGM Resorts International headed to UNLV, where he earned his B.S. in Hospitality Management in 1994. He then was hired into the hospitality industry, working as a travel sales manager, leisure sales, and eventually into sports-related sales. He discusses hosting the Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Club in 2013, the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2016 expansion franchise, MGM Resorts International building T-Mobile Arena, and the National Football League (NFL) allowing the Oakland Raiders to come to Las Vegas. He talks of the Supreme Court's 2018 overturning of PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992), which then allowed states to determine whether they would allow sports betting. He addresses the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Oakland Athletics future relocation to Las Vegas, and shares his goal to bring international sports federations to Las Vegas. Digital audio and photograph available; no transcript available.
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