Tarkanian to have spinal surgery Tuesday in Calif.

By Rob Miech

Published Monday, July 13, 2009 | 8 p.m.

Updated Monday, July 13, 2009 | 8:28 p.m.

Former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian will undergo spinal surgery Tuesday morning at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif.

Danny Tarkanian said his father will have a bone spur, which is compressing on the spinal cord, removed in a 90-minute procedure scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m.

“He’s groggy, but he’s in good spirits,” said Danny Tarkanian, a former Rebels guard who played for his father. “He’s relieved that, if everything goes well, he’ll be able to walk without pain.”

Jerry Tarkanian, who turns 79 next month, has had difficulty walking for several years.

At the NBA Summer League on Monday night, Palms owner George Maloof, who played football at UNLV and whose family owns the Sacramento Kings, wished Tarkanian well.

“I love the man, it’s that simple,” Maloof said. “He is basketball in Las Vegas. Period. He and his family have my best wishes. He’s the best.”

It’s been an especially trying week for Tarkanian, who broke two ribs in a Jacuzzi accident last Monday at his summer home in Pacific Beach, near San Diego. Late last week, he broke a shoulder in another fall.

At UNLV, Tarkanian had a record of 509-105 from 1973-92. He guided the Rebels to the NCAA championship, with a 103-73 victory over Duke, in 1990.

The floor at the Thomas & Mack Center was dedicated to Tarkanian, as Tarkanian Court, on Nov. 26, 2005.