With UNLV this weekend saying goodbye to Sam Boyd Stadium after five decades, we offer a first-hand account of some of the memories made by a Las Vegan who grew up cheering there.

By W.G. Ramirez, Special to UNLVRebels.com

Mini-footballs and the hill. Jordache jeans. Robert Smith.

They're vivid memories for me when thinking of the Silver Bowl.

Yes, I still call Sam Boyd Stadium the Silver Bowl.

I grew up in Las Vegas, after coming here in 1972. Quite a town, all few square miles of it back in the day.

Flamingo Road ended at Interstate 15, and you had no choice but to get on the freeway. I-15 ran parallel with the Dunes Golf Course, from Flamingo to Tropicana Road.

Bally's was called the MGM Grand. The Cromwell was the Barbary Coast. An impersonator kept Elvis' memory alive at the Dunes. Names like Paul Anka, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra were among those whose two-week runs at Caesars Palace included gourmet dinners.

It was the good ol' days in the Entertainment Capital. But at the far other end of town, just southeast of Flamingo Road, old school memories were being made at the Silver Bowl.

If it was a Saturday night during football season -- and I wasn't headed to Playland Central in the Commercial Center to roller skate under a disco globe with girls wearing Jordache jeans -- it meant I was donning my football jersey and headed to the stadium in the desert because UNLV football was playing a home game.

Besides, there were plenty of Jordache jeans there, too.

Cal State Fullerton still had a football team, and the only Cunningham local fans knew about yet was a linebacker named Hugh. And while Michael Morton and Henry Vereen were the stars on the field, Pop Warner players from across the valley were the stars off of it.

Back then, we didn't make a move until these white mini, hard-plastic footballs with red stripes were fired into the stands. We always snared one - or four, or six, or eight - and eventually gravitated to the northwest end of the stadium, to a grassy hill-turned-football field.

Bravado was always brewing, with Pop Warner team bragging rights at stake. While the Rebels were in the locker room at halftime, a second game of football was being played on the hill. And on many occasions, someone was leaving in tears because the hits were brutal – and we all loved it.

My elementary school friend of more than 40 years, Scot Roper, remembered those times well.

"We would have some really good tackle football teams and we would have a great time," Roper said. "And when we did get an opportunity to play at halftime on the stadium (field), it was unbelievable. It was big for us as kids. Those were special times."

They sure were, especially after those impromptu games, when it was mobs of Pop Warner jerseys and Jordache jeans walking the concourse. Just holding hands while strolling past the concession stands was a big deal, let alone the anticipation of a first kiss.

Yeah, the good ol' days.

But my all-time memory is shared with former Runnin' Rebel and good friend Robert Smith.

And as my longtime friend battles back after suffering a major stroke, I don't mind sharing my No. 1 moment from the Silver Bowl.

Before I even owned a Pop Warner jersey, or even thought about how Jordache was stitched on the back pockets of those jeans, I was attending games as a young fan. One night, while at the stadium with my mother, I was bouncing everywhere. And the man in front of me must have been getting a kick out of the spectacle -- or was easily entertained. He chatted with my mom and I, and the Runnin' Rebels came up in conversation. I was a big fan of UNLV hoops and loved going to the other venue in town: The Rotunda, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

When the man told my mother to bring me by UNLV's North Gym, where the Runnin' Rebels were practicing and I'd get the chance to meet Sweet Lou Brown, Eddie Owens, Reggie Theus and the rest of the Hardway Eight, she did that the very next week.

Sure enough, I met the town's most beloved athletes. I had no basketball skills whatsoever - and still don't - but being on the floor with the most exciting show on a college basketball court was enough. Off the court, Jerry Tarkanian barked orders. On the court, the floor general was the team's point guard, Robert Smith - the nice man who invited me there in the first place and promised my mom I would be more than welcome.

It would be a little less than 20 years later I saw Robert at the original Bishop Gorman High School on Maryland Parkway, where he was an assistant and I reminded him of our introduction. He didn't remember, of course, but that was okay. Several years later we became colleagues -- he as a color commentator for UNLV basketball and me as a reporter covering the Runnin' Rebels.

Allegiant Stadium will no doubt create many memories for a new era of Las Vegas kids. But whether it's the mini-footballs with a flood of Pop Warner jerseys on the hill, those Jordache jeans, or having a casual encounter with one of UNLV's greatest point guards turn into a meet-and-greet with the famous Runnin' Rebels, the memories some of us cherish from Sam Boyd Stadium - ahem, the Silver Bowl - are embedded in our hearts forever.