The city of Las Vegas honored the late UNLV Rebels men's basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian with an honor only granted eight times before.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the famed Vegas Strip dimmed its lights in accordance with a pregame ceremony for the coach Wednesday night before UNLV's home game against Boise State. After the Rebels lost to the Broncos, the strip's properties and other area buildings in downtown Vegas dimmed their lights for three minutes.

The first time the Vegas Strip dimmed its lights for a public figure was in 1963 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Tarkanian, who died at the age of 84 last week, became just the ninth person to receive the honor, the other seven are:

Sammy Davis Jr. in 1990, Dean Martin in 1995, George Burns in 1996, Frank Sinatra in 1998, for the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, President Ronald Reagan in 2004 and in cooperation with "Earth Hour" in 2009.

UNLV posted a list of all the buildings that dimmed their lights for coach Tarkanian on their official men's basketball website.

Tony Cordasco and Scott Gulbransen, UNLV alums, told the Review-Journal they thought dimming the Vegas Strip's lights was the best way to honor Tarkanian.

"We thought it was the best way to pay our respects to Coach Tark," Cordasco said. "But we didn't know if it was a no-brainer because there's so much involved and so many different people have to make a decision on it."

"The response has been amazing, but I'm not surprised," Gulbransen said. "It's absolutely the right thing to do."

Tarkanian led the Rebels to four Final Four appearances and one NCAA National Championship in 1990, but he made the team must-watch television when they were at their best. Tarkanian also made a name for himself battling the NCAA, eventually being awarded a multi-million-dollar settlement in the end.