Freddie Banks

Banks connected Valley High School directly to the Runnin’ Rebels. In his senior college season he averaged 19.5 points as UNLV reached the 1987 Final Four. In the semifinal loss to Indiana, he made ten three-pointers, giving that night a lasting place in the university’s history even though the Rebels did not advance.

His later work included coaching at Valley and Canyon Springs. UNLV retired his jersey at Thomas & Mack in November 2021. Banks’s story is especially local: schoolboy development, a nationally prominent university career and a return to teaching the game in the Valley.