He's a sports announcing legend here in El Paso, but he's never been asked back to announce a Miner basketball game, even though he did so for over two decades.

Friday night was '80s night for the University of Texas at El Paso basketball team, and it was also opening night for the Miners. The player wore their '80s jerseys and fans enjoyed a halftime tribute to former Miner Mike Richmond.

However, a symbolic '80s icon was noticeably absent.

Paul Strelzin started announcing Miner basketball games in the early '70s and did it for nearly 22 years.

Strelzin, or "The Strelz," had his fair share of original catchphrases.

"I did a lot of wild things, like 'Miner ball,' which I could stretch out for about two minutes."

Strelzin had a pretty large following and a tremendous voice, but he admits that he didn't necessarily always play by the rules.

"By the way, I'm the only professional baseball announcer to be thrown out of a game. I'm the only hockey announcer to be thrown out of a game," Strelzin said. "I was a little wild, but can't you win at home?"

Marina and Ron Rush have been cheering on the Miners since 1972.

"Our boys are 42 and 35 and they remember all the games, basketball, baseball, everywhere that (Strelzin's) been. He's a legend here in El Paso," Rush said.

Rush said that with Strelzin, they had home court advantage because of how he got people involved.

"You felt like you were part of the game," Rush said.

Despite being a local legend and well-known on an even larger scale, Strelzin, has never once been asked to announce at UTEP since his departure almost 20 years ago. He says he would love to come back, but feels like UTEP officials within the athletic department felt like he became bigger than the game itself.

"You definitely couldn't get away with some of the things he did today is the bottom line," said Bob Polhamus, another longtime miner fan who once coached alongside Strezlin."I'm not bigger than Don Haskins ever was," Strelzin said. "He was a friend of mine and a friend I loved. I'm not bigger than Tim Floyd. I'm not bigger than the ball players. What I'm bigger in is getting the crowds into it, and that has never changed."

UTEP's athletic director, Bob Stull, did not want to issue a statement about why Strelzin was never brought back. He did say that someone else was hired for the job and that's the bottom line.

"We'd love to have him back, as soon as possible," said Marina Rush.