Roberta “Bobbie” Kane (1932 - ) is the first known Jewish child born in Las Vegas. Her parents, Sallie and Mike Gordon, owned liquor stores and are among the founders of the first Jewish congregation in Las Vegas.
Bobbie is a 1950 graduate of Las Vegas High School and briefly attended Southern California. When she returned several years later, she pursued a career with the Desert Inn group of hotels and helped open the Stardust in 1957.
The Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Collection (1970-2011) consists of reports and impact studies collected by Clark County's Nuclear Waste Division library for documenting Yucca Mountain's potential health and safety risks to Southern Nevada. The reports contain documents pertaining to potential environmental, health, financial, and safety risks from the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, which is located in Nye County, Nevada. The collection contains scientific and social studies in support of and opposition to the site. The bulk of the collection includes licensing reports, site selection studies, and impact studies from transporting, storing, and handling radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
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.
Archival Collection
Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: OH-03922 Collection Name: Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews Box/Folder: Digital File 00
Oral history interview with John Saccenti conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on September 20, 2024 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Saccenti recalls his childhood in New York and attending Runnin' Rebels basketball games at the Thomas & Mack Center while visiting family in the city. He enrolled at UNLV in 1993 as a Communications major, and was recruited to work for the Las Vegas Thunder indoor hockey team. Saccenti shares that after graduating from UNLV, he worked in marketing and sponsorships for the Thunder and the Las Vegas Stars minor league baseball team, owned by Ken Stickney and operated by Don Logan. When the hockey league folded in 1999, Logan encouraged him to be Vice President of Business for Vince McMahon's new XFL football league. Saccenti recalls that while the XFL League lasted only one year, he then was hired as the ESPN sports network employee representing UNLV, a position that grew to the Assistant Executive Director for Murphy and ESPN Events. In 2014, he became the Executive Director of the Las Vegas Bowl. He talks of Marc Badain, Don Logan, Rossi Ralenkotter, Dana White, and Marc Ratner and of the Las Vegas Bowl breaking Allegiant Stadium's attendance record. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Archival Collection
Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: OH-03922 Collection Name: Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews Box/Folder: Digital File 00
Oral history interview with Angela Kilton conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on November 4, 2024 for the UNLV Remembers: an Oral History of the 6 December 2023 Shootings project. In this interview, Kilton, a UNLV Business Management major and Accounting minor reflects on the events of December 6, 2023.
She describes being in a classroom on the first floor of Lee Business School in Beam Hall, listening to class presentations. A student ran inside, they heard gunshots, so the class got on the floor and remained silent while the professor turned off the lights. The classroom had an emergency exit, and the professor ushered the students out of the room and to safety. Kilton recalls walking to the Gateway parking lot on Maryland Parkway, where someone in her group had parked. They waited for someone's sister, who drove people to safety at a nearby Denny's where Kilton was picked up by her sister's girlfriend, and was eventually reunited with her sister. Angelina's dad brought her to campus three days later to retrieve her car from the N Lot behind Lied Library. The event made her more aware of her surroundings and more sensitive to loud noises. She shares that she is more resilient and stronger than she had thought, but this event put her and her loved ones through a lot. Digital audio and transcript available.
Archival Collection
UNLV Remembers: an Oral History of the 6 December 2023 Shooting interviews
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: OH-03923 Collection Name: UNLV Remembers: an Oral History of the 6 December 2023 Shooting interviews Box/Folder: Digital File 00 (Restrictions apply)
Oral history interview with Michael Newcomb conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on July 12, 2024 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Michael Newcomb recalls his childhood in Connecticut and watching the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels games on television. In 1990, Newcomb moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend UNLV. He worked as an usher at outdoor athletic events at Caesars Palace and The Mirage, and eventually became supervisor and then personnel director of the company. Newcomb talks about starting work at the Thomas & Mack Center in 1996 managing the parking lot and the events. He recalls the experiences and people who have shaped his nearly 30 years at the Center, as he became Executive Director in 2011. Newcomb discusses events at Sam Boyd Stadium and its eventual closure. He describes the community-wide effort required to host such major events as the National Finals Rodeo and Cowboy Christmas, the Super Bowl, the NBA AllStars Weekend in 2007, NBA Summer League since 2004, Team USA Basketball in 2006, and plans to host the Final Four in 2028. He closes the interview recalling how the T&M was a reunification center after the 1 October shooting in 2017 and again on December 6, 2023, as other buildings on the UNLV campus were evacuated. Digital audio available.
Archival Collection
Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: OH-03922 Collection Name: Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews Box/Folder: Digital File 00
Oral history interview with Daniel “D. J.” Allen conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on June 21, 2024 for Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, D. J. Allen describes growing up in Henderson, Nevada and playing baseball and basketball as a young person. He recalls listening to radio stations and learning to love the Los Angeles Dodgers and UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. He volunteered to write about Little League for the Henderson Home News and was hired as the full-time sports journalist. He parlayed his "Crazy Dance Man" persona into an internship in media relations with the Las Vegas Thunder hockey team, and from there, at 21, became Director of Media Relations for the Las Vegas Stars, all while he was still an undergraduate UNLV student. In this wide-ranging interview, he talks about working with Jim Livengood to help erase Las Vegas's "gambling" stigma with the NCAA and professional sports, get the NCAA athletic directors to begin talking about Las Vegas as a sports city, and about how Cisco Aguilar and Andre Agassi helped make these conversations happen. Among other topics, he talks about the Vegas Golden Knights, the Raiders, the Thunder, and the Stars and using sports as a platform to do good in the community. Digital audio available.
Archival Collection
Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: OH-03922 Collection Name: Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports Interviews Box/Folder: Digital File 00