LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — UNLV football will play their first college football bowl game in nearly a decade on Dec. 26 when the Rebels take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona.
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After years of riding the ups and downs for the Rebel football program, one UNLV superfan is thrilled to witness the historically successful season.
Picture this: It’s September 14, 1968, and there is a new game in town.
The UNLV Rebels — then called the Nevada Southern University Rebels — were playing their first-ever game on Cashman Field against St. Mary’s College of California. Tickets were 50 cents.
UNLV Hall-of-Famer Bill Ireland was the coach, and Henderson resident and UNLV alum Tom Kemp was in the bleachers.
“The bleachers in old Cashman Field were granite,” said Kemp, who is the grandfather of Channel 13’s Kelsey McFarland.
He remembers the Rebels' 1968 season well.
“They won the game, and they won the next seven games. They lost the last game of the season, the very first year in 1968, to Cal Lutheran,” Kemp said.
In fact, Kemp remembers nearly every season since '68, all the way up to the recent Mountain West Conference Championshipgame inside Allegiant Stadium.
“I was excited to be there,” he said.
If it’s a UNLV football home game, Kemp is always there, sometimes with his buddy Len and, more recently, with his grandson Gavin.
There have been exceptions, like when the Rebels played their season at Las Vegas High School in 1970.
“I just didn't want to go to a butcher field. When Sam Boyd [Stadium] opened up, I was right there,” Kemp said.
Kemp also missed a game in later seasons, but only because it was physically impossible.
“I missed one game after that because I got knocked down by a car, and I was in the hospital. Otherwise, I don't think I missed a game,” Kemp said.
After enduring some difficult years as a Rebel football fan, Kemp acknowledges the struggles.
“The quarterback picked a bad day to have a bad day,” he said after the Rebels lost the Mountain West Conference Championship game to the Boise State Broncos.
But Kemp cherishes the good seasons.
“Oh, the Randall Cunningham season and this season. This is one of my favorite seasons," he said. "I’m very optimistic about this program right now."
Now, Kemp says he’s excited to witness more wins in the coming years.
“We're 9-4 this year. I expect us to go 10-2 next year,” Kemp said.
He’s hoping the rest of the Rebel family will hop on board.
“Come to the games. We need you. We need more than 25,000 people at the game,” Kemp said.
