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On day two of the tournament
(Tuesday) I finished the lanes at about 8:00a.m. I hadn't seen Mike
since the day before and figured I had better go up to the room
to wake him up. He had to bowl on the 1st squad today and it started
at 9:00a.m. I got to the room and he wasn't there. In fact, there
was no sign that he had even been there, as his bed hadn't been
slept in. I took a shower and went down to watch the morning squad
get started, hoping that he would be at the lanes.
Where was this guy?
After the ritualistic PBA roll-call, the players filed out of the
locker room and headed for their starting lane assignments. I had
checked the sheet to see where Mike would be starting and went to
that pair, 49 & 50. At 8:50a.m., the players started to practice.
Mike wasn't there. He finally showed up at exactly 9:00a.m., just
in time to bowl, but didn't get any practice shots. I went down
and asked him where the heck he had been. He said he played cards
all night at The Fremont and had a little trouble getting a cab
back to The Showboat. He said that he was "up" about 2-grand, so
far, for the week.
He then proceeded to shoot 240 "over" (a 230 average) for the block
of 8-games and by the end of the day he had moved up from 5th to
3rd place.
The next day (Wednesday) was the 3rd day of qualifying. This was:
"cut-day". I didn't see him all day until 6:00p.m., when he was
scheduled to bowl on C-squad. Once again, I asked him where he had
been? He told me that there was a good $5.00 Pan game (again at
The Fremont) with a lot of "action". Again, I asked him how he was
doing so far with his gambling for the week. He said that he was
"down" about 3-grand, but that it was "early". He never even "batted"
an eye.
For the 3rd day in a row, on 3-different squads across the 70-lane
house, he averaged 230. At the end of qualifying that day, he was
the tournament leader.
At 3:00a.m. on Thursday morning, I was on my way down from my room
to do the lanes. As I was about to get on the elevator, he was getting
off. I asked him where he had been and he said that he had been
playing dice with no luck. He said he had better get some sleep.
I just shook my head in disbelief. This guy was too much.
He held his lead on Thursday morning and increased it Thursday night
during match play. After bowling that night, he went back to The
Fremont for some more Pan action. It was a big game with 7-players,
including; Ernie Schlegel, McHugh, Golden and a few locals. I watched
for a while then went back to The Showboat to get a couple of hours
rest. I didn't have to go to work until 5:00a.m. on Friday because
the finals didn't start until 11:00a.m. We always did the lanes
in relation to what time the bowling started. This was to allow
the oil to sit on the lanes the same length of time. This was a
theory that we strictly adhered to.
In my opinion, Fridays (finals day) was always the most exciting
portion of the tournaments. The "Leader-Boards" were always up-to-date,
and everybody always knew exactly where they were. The great players
liked that pressure. Some players would come on strong during match-play,
and others would "squeeze" a little and drop back. The Bowling Centers
were always jam-packed on Friday nights to see who would survive
and "make-the-show".
"Mikey" or "Lemon" (as he was affectionately called), went 17 &
7 in the 24-games of match-play to lead the tournament. He bowled
7-blocks of 8-games each and averaged 230 in each one. He was in
that enviable position of "waiting-in-the-wings" and bowling just
one game on Saturday for the championship.
In Las Vegas, the T.V. Show would start at Noon, so I had to do
the lanes at 9:00a.m. I got a wake-up call for 8:00a.m., and when
the phone rang, I jumped up. As usual, Mike wasn't there. I got
cleaned-up and went down to the lanes. At about 11:00a.m., Mike
came in to the bowling center with his entourage. He came over to
me and asked me if I could take him to the airport after the show.
I said, "OK." I asked him where he was all night, and he told me
about the "great" card game that he had been in at The Fremont.
He said he was "only" down about $3000.00 for the week, but he was
getting a good check in this tournament.
First place in this big event was: $11,111.11, (neat numbers for
this particular Las Vegas tournament). I watched him as he went
over to the practice pair to warm up. I noticed that he was using
a different ball, and I went down and asked him about it. He said
that the guy who let him use the ball that he had used all week
had left town, so he had to borrow somebody else's. He said that
"this" one felt OK.
He never ceased to amaze me.
In the championship match, Mike hit the pocket solidly on every
shot, in every frame. He left a 4-9, two 4-pins and two ringing
10's on the left lane. He struck every time on the right lane and
ended up losing the match. He looked the same on each and every
shot; no grimaces, no smiles, no complaints. (In fact, he was probably
the only guy who never (ever) complained about lanes). He earned:
$7,777.77 for 2nd place (also a neat number).
I asked him what time his flight was, and he said, "3:30p.m." (which
was in about an hour and a half). It was going to be about a half
hour drive to the airport, so I said we better go. He said, "OK,
I have to cash my check and I'll meet you at Valet." I waited at
Valet for about 10-minutes, and then went back in to look for him
in the casino. There he was, playing craps. I said, "Let's go man,
we gotta go." "Just a minute", he said. Well, he proceeded to lose
the entire check that he just earned. No emotion. He then proceeded
to go to the cage and write a check for a $1000.00. I said, "What
about your flight?" He said that he would get a later one.
I remember just shaking my head as I went back outside to move the
car.
When I got back to the casino, he had caught a "roll". He had chips
stacked-up on every number. I had never seen anything like it. ALL
of the people at the crap table were in an absolute frenzy. Everybody
that is, but Mike. He was calm and cool the entire time. When he
finally crapped-out, he had $1200.00 on every number! He had a boat-load
of chips in front of him and he asked the crap dealer for some racks.
When he cashed in at the cage, he had: $11,000.00. I'll never forget
what he said to me when he stuck that big roll of hundred dollar
bills in his pocket. He said, "Now I think I'm even for the week."
Unbelievable.
On the way to the airport, I asked him if he ever slept? He said
that he'd usually catch an hour or so here and there, and that he
didn't need much sleep. He said that sleep was really a "waste-of-
time". Then he asked me if we could forget about the airport for
now, and if I could drop him off at The Fremont, because he heard
that there was a great game going on there.
I wanted to say no, but just couldn't.
I dropped him off and went back to the room to pack-up and get ready
to leave for the next Tour stop. In the corner of the room, I noticed
that there were some dirty clothes lying on the floor. There was:
seven tee shirts, seven pair of socks and seven pairs of underwear.
I knew that hey were his, so I gathered them up, put them in a pillow
case and took them down to The Fremont. I found him sitting at the
Pan game and told him that I had some of his stuff. He smiled and
told me to just throw it all away. He told me that it was just a
waste of time to do laundry; there were more important things to
do.
I just shook my head and left.
What a guy. What a week. What an experience.
He truly was, unbelievable.
(NOTE: Len Nicholson's book: "The Tour Would Be Great "IF" You Didn't
Have To Bowl" is now in CD form. This set of 3-CD's, contains over
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PLEASE SEE: Books / Videos on the left side of the home page to
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