Wink Adams, thanks to memorable Sweet 16 run, picked for UNLV hall of fame

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, April 8, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Wink Adams thought someone at his alma mater was playing a joke.

Adams was contacted last week by UNLV athletic department officials with news that was so unexpected it left him in complete shock: Adams, the star of the Sweet 16 basketball team in 2007, was pegged for induction into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame.

“I was like, ‘Who me?’ It was so unexpected that it caught me off guard,” said Adams, who is the program’s lone four-time all-conference honoree in the post-Jerry Tarkanian era.

“UNLV basketball is all about legacy. It’s a family, man. Larry Johnson, Robert Smith and all of those guys from the 1970s until now. It’s a great feeling to be alongside them and considered one of the greats.”

Adams highlights the university’s first Hall of Fame class in five years, joining the likes of Ryan Wolfe (the football team’s all-time leading receiver), swimming coach Jim Reitz (14 conference titles in 35 seasons) and Therese Koelbaek, the best women’s golfer in school history and a three-time All-American.

The induction is May 21 at the Strip View Pavilion at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“We revived our Hall of Fame ceremonies this year in order to properly honor the best of the best from UNLV’s rich history of competition, and the executive board selected a group that is as well-rounded as it is accomplished,” Erick Harper, UNLV athletic director, said in a statement.

The Hall of Fame launched in 1987 and has 135 members. One of the requirements for enshrinement is that former student-athletes must have completed their eligibility 10 years before consideration. It’s five years for coaches and department officials.

UNLV basketball, with its 1990 national championship and four Final Four teams, fittingly has the most representation — from Tarkanian, to legends like Johnson, Smith and many others. That list will now include Anderson Hunt, the Most Valuable Player of the 1990 Final Four and the Rebels’ all-time leader in career 3-pointers at 283.

Having Hunt, a notable player from the back-to-back Final Four teams, and Adams up for induction in the same night is cause for celebration, basketball coach Kevin Kruger said.

“I think it’s awesome. I think it’s great,” said Kruger, who was Adams’ teammate on UNLV’s Sweet 16 team. “Two of the great players in UNLV history, obviously Anderson with the Final Four MVP and Wink with the conference tournament championships and NCAA Tournament wins. I couldn’t be happier for both of them.”

Adams indirectly came to UNLV because of what Tarkanian had built. Adams grew up in Houston, and as a child, idolized one of UNLV’s all-time greats in Johnson. When Adams became a standout on the AAU circuit, he had his coach reach out to UNLV about a scholarship.

And now, more than 20 years later, Adams is mentioned in the same breath as Johnson. The 37-year-old admits that’s pretty cool.

“When I was 5-years-old, my first hat was UNLV because of Larry Johnson. LJ was a big thing coming out of Texas, and I wanted to be one of those guys,” Adams said

Adams ranks sixth in program history in scoring with 1,875 points, third in steals with 213 and third in 3-pointers at 208. He helped UNLV win the 2007 and 2008 Mountain West tournament and was named tournament MVP in 2008.

It was a glorious two years in program history — first the Sweet 16 run in 2007 and a return NCAA Tournament trip the following season. Adams remembers arriving back on campus in 2007 hours after UNLV defeated Wisconsin in the round of 32 to earn a spot in the next weekend of the tournament, and the excitement of the hometown faithful.

It was UNLV’s first tournament wins since the 1991 Final Four run.

“It was unbelievable. We got back to the Thomas & Mack and there were people everyone,” Adams said. “When you turned the radio on, they were talking about us on every station. The whole city was buzzing because of us.”

Adams has remained in Las Vegas and still lives and dies with each UNLV game, especially now with his close friend Kruger at the helm of the program. Adams this past season was invited to practice to speak with players.

“The second I walked into the coaches’ office, you started thinking about the memories and all of those things,” he said. “Time flies. I remember when Larry and Moses Scurry (part of the 1990 championship team) spoke to us when I was a player.”

And just like Johnson, Adams soon won’t be forgotten.

“Wink was great. He just loved to compete,” Kruger said. “He was strong and aggressive and an unbelievable defender. It was nice to be out there with him because you knew he was going to score and guard and he loved to win. I think that’s one of the reasons he ended up as one of the all-time great Rebels, and it showed when he played.”

Each of the honorees undoubtedly made an impact at UNLV. Simon Keith, who played soccer at UNLV for two years in the late 1980s, went on to become the first professional athlete to compete after receiving a heart transplant. He’ll receive the Silver Rebel Award, which honors “former members of the school’s athletics family, such as student-athletes, coaches or staff members, whose primary accomplishments took place after leaving campus but have brought positive recognition to the university.”

Tickets for the open-to-the-public ceremony are $125. Contact Mike Ketcham at [email protected] for details.