Titanic Thompson
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (December 2010) |
Alvin Clarence Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1892 |
| Died | 1974 (aged 82) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Other names | Titanic Thompson |
| Occupation(s) | hustler, gambler, golfer |
| Known for | gambler, golfer, hustler |
| Spouse | Jeannette |
| Children | Thomas E. Thomas, and Ty Wayne Thomas |
Alvin Clarence Thomas (1892–1974) was a gambler, golfer and hustler known to a few people as Titanic Thompson. He traveled the country wagering at cards, dice games, golf, horseshoes and "proposition bets" of his own devising.[1] As an ambidextrous golfer, card player, marksman and pool shark, his skills and reputation were compared to “Merlin himself.”[2] Writer Damon Runyon based the character Sky Masterson, the gambler-hero of the musical “Guys and Dolls,” on Thompson.[3] In 1928, Thompson was involved in a high-stakes poker game that led to the shooting death of New York crime boss Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein, then called the “crime of the century.”[4] The following year he testified in the trial of George McManus, who was charged with Rothstein’s murder.
Damon Runyon asked Alvin Thomas to let me write his life story, but Mr. Thomas refused. Instead, he waited until just before his death to tell his true story to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, and it was published in October, 1972. However, in his last great enterprise, he allowed SI only, "North American Serial Rights," which meant after that one-time publication, all rights reverted to him, and later his estate and living heirs, who sold all rights, including SPORTS ILLUSTRATED story rights, to Sunbelt Productions, Inc., a Texas corporation, which furnished the excerpt printed below.
Life of a hustler
Thomas, raised in Rogers, Arkansas, began conducting his nomadic, lucrative career of hustling in the rural United States in the early 1900s. Later, when he had honed his skills, he became a “road gambler,” a traveling hustler who became an underground legend by winning at all manner of propositions.[5] His partners in “the hustling game” included pool player Minnesota Fats, who considered Titanic a genius, “the greatest action man of all time.”[6]
Blessed with extraordinary eyesight and hand-eye coordination, he was a skilled athlete, crack shot and a self-taught golfer good enough to turn professional.[7] In an era when the top pro golfers would be fortunate to make $30,000 a year, Thomas (who after a misprint in a New York newspaper conveniently let people think his name was Thompson) could make that much in a week hustling rich country club players who thought they knew how to play golf. Asked if he would ever turn professional, he replied, “I could not afford the cut in pay.”[8] Hall of Fame golfer Ben Hogan called Titanic the best shotmaker he ever saw.[9] “He can play right- or left-handed, you can’t beat him,” said Hogan.[10] One hustle of his was to beat a golfer playing right-handed, and then offer double or nothing to play the course again left-handed as an apparent concession. One thing his opponent usually did not know was that Thomas was, in fact, naturally left-handed.[11]Thomas's genius was in figuring out the odds on almost any proposition and heavily betting that way. He also had to perform under pressure — and most often did.
Origins of the Nickname
In his own story, published in Sports Illustrated in 1972, Alvin Thomas said:
In the spring of 1912 I went to Joplin, Missouri, just about the time the [Titanic] liner hit an iceberg and sank with more than 1,500 people on board. I was in a pool room there [in Joplin] and beat a fellow named Snow Clark out of $500. To give him a chance to get even, I bet $500 I could jump across his pool table without touching it. If you think that’s easy, try it. But I could jump farther than a herd of bullfrogs in those days. I put down an old mattress on the other side of the table. Then I took a run and dived headfirst across the pool table. While I was counting my money, somebody asked Clark what my name was.
'It must be Titanic,' said Clark. 'He sinks everybody'.
So I was Titanic from then on."
Note: Excerpt is re-printed with the permission of the legal owner of the story, Sunbelt Productions, Inc., a Texas corporation.
Notes
- ^ Sports Illustrated, October 9, 1972
- ^ Peter Debereiner, editor, The Golfers, The Inside Story, William Collins & Sons, 1982
- ^ Breslin, Jimmy, Damon Runyon, Ticknor & Fields, 1991
- ^ Golf Digest, May 1996
- ^ Bradshaw, John, Fast Company, High Stakes Publishing, 1975
- ^ Minnesota Fats, with Tom Fox, The Bank Shot and Other Great Robberies, The Lyons Press, 2006
- ^ Americanheritage.com: The 18-Hole Hustle
- ^ Americanheritage.com: The 18-Hole Hustle
- ^ Golf Magazine, January, 2011
- ^ Penick, Harvey, The Wisdom of Harvey Penick, Simon & Schuster 1997
- ^ Kaplan, Michael (2002). "All Bets Are On". Cigar Aficionado.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Sports Illustrated, October 9, 1972