If you’re a UNLV Rebel, despising the “school up north” comes as naturally as breathing. And, to be fair, the feeling is mutual for those who have ties to the state’s second largest university.

Such regional rivalries have been woven into the fabric of American collegiate culture for more than a century.

Few of these rivalries, however, have an origin story as unique as the one shared by UNLV and UNR. And even fewer can trace that origin story to one man and one (seemingly trivial) vote.

Before Herb Derfelt became a professor in UNLV’s College of Education (and likely its first full-time faculty member)  — and long before his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and multiple in-laws would go on to earn nearly a dozen UNLV education degrees — Derfelt was a professor at the state’s only university in Reno. 

Soon after arriving at UNR in the mid-1950s, Derfelt was asked to move south to lead the new Off-Campus and Evening Division programs at UNR’s satellite location in Las Vegas, then known as Nevada Southern.

Administrators in Reno were mindful of ensuring that Nevada Southern remained a feeder school rather than attain degree-granting status as an institution in its own right. That began to change, though, when Nevada Southern’s dean, William Carlson, sought to launch a two-year radiology program at the behest of local radiologists who were dealing with a technician shortage and a growing population to serve.

Rather than go through the usual protocol of seeking approval of UNR’s administration, the dean exploited a loophole in the university’s bylaws — bylaws that required a vote of “all faculty concerned” before any academic program could be added.

Enter Derfelt, who Carlson concluded at the time constituted the entirety of Nevada Southern’s faculty. So when the dean put the new radiology program up for a vote, there was no need to go before any faculty in Reno. The decision — yay or nay — was Derfelt’s alone to make. 

One thumb’s up later, Nevada Southern had its radiology program. More importantly (at least in a historical context), Derfelt’s vote tipped over the first domino that eventually led to independence from UNR and paved the way for a full-fledged university for Southern Nevada’s growing population.

And, yes, eventually, a full-fledged in-state rivalry.

As much as Derfelt played a key role in UNLV’s history — including starting the first graduate degree program for teachers — it’s just as important to note that he was a dogged champion of education. And, in particular, teachers.

One example: Shortly after arriving in Las Vegas, Derfelt recognized that the service and blue-collar industries were the primary drivers of the local economy. As a result, he knew the growing region would struggle to recruit and develop qualified primary and secondary school teachers.

In fact, by the 1960s, Southern Nevada already was dealing with a significant teacher shortage. And it was difficult for educators — especially those stationed at Nellis Air Force base and in rural parts of the Las Vegas Valley — to add to their professional development or pursue higher education opportunities.

To address the issue, Derfelt helped launch an ahead-of-its-time program — one that leveraged television broadcasts to provide educational courses remotely.

The target audience for these distance-learning courses: aspiring and current teachers throughout Southern Nevada — including Clark County School District educators interested in additional training and certification — as well as officers stationed at Nellis Air Force Base who were looking to transition to education careers after fulfilling their military obligations.

According to Pate Thomas — Derfelt’s great-grandson and one of the family’s numerous UNLV education graduates — both UNLV professors and experienced CCSD educators served as the instructors for the remote classes. (The former dealt with higher-level subject matter, while the latter handled practical classroom instruction techniques.)

How did the remote aspect of the program work at a time when the words “internet” and “WiFi” were still decades from being part of society’s vernacular? By accessing television airwaves.

With a UNLV-affiliated television studio serving as home base, instructors would teach courses at specific times of the day and participants would follow along with printed materials or assignments. They would either tune in for live instruction or access a recorded version of lessons at a later time.

In the end, Derfelt’s highly innovative initiative achieved its intended goal of expanding the pool of public school teachers in Clark County and helping existing teachers enhance their skills.

“We’ve always had a teacher shortage problem, which was one of the things [Derfelt] focused on,” says Thomas, ’12, BA Secondary Education. “In reading his doctorate it was clear he was always about, ‘How do we get more [quality] teachers into the profession?’”

Ironically, it’s a question that Thomas is now committed to answering himself.

A lifelong Las Vegan, Thomas has worked as a teacher and administrator in the Clark County School District for more than a decade, currently serving as principal of the soon-to-open South Career Technical Academy in Henderson. Throughout his career, he has made it his mission to upsell the UNLV College of Education to local students whenever the opportunity arises. 

Thomas does this by sharing his personal Rebel experiences — both in and outside the classroom.

“How do we get more of our local high school kids motivated to enroll in the College of Education? One way I do that is telling students my UNLV story,” he says.

Thomas’ ultimate objective? It’s no different than the one that inspired his great-grandfather to begin teaching in a one-room Kansas schoolhouse in 1925; to become a county school superintendent; and to instruct college students in Colorado, Arkansas, Kansas, Reno, and, finally, Las Vegas.

That is: Spread the word about the power of education and the immense positive impact that enthusiastic educators can have on future generations.

Educators like Herb Derfelt and his wife, Olive (who worked for the Clark County School District). And like Levatta Starlin (the Derfelt’s daughter); Robin and Patrick Thomas (Pate Thomas’ mother and father); and Lisa Starlin (Pate’s aunt) — all received education degrees from UNLV.

So, too, did Roxane Thomas (Pate’s wife); Starlyn Thomas (his sister); and Lily Garcia (his sister-in-law).

Combined, the entire clan has devoted more than 150 years to the education profession and earned a total of eight undergraduate and three graduate degrees from UNLV.

None of it happens, of course, if not for Herb Derfelt’s historic vote nearly three-quarters of a century ago.

It is fitting, then, that Derfelt was named professor emeritus upon his retirement from UNLV in 1972. It’s equally fitting that his commitment to and intense passion for education were honored nearly two decades later when Herbert A. Derfelt Elementary School opened in northwest Las Vegas.

“He wasn’t someone who cared about recognition,” Thomas says with confidence of the great-grandfather he never got a chance to meet. “He was someone who simply believed in the work and the importance of educating young people.”

Read more about UNLV’s founding in The University of Nevada, Las Vegas: A History, by Eugene P. Moehring.