NHL Quiz: The other day, New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin
Brodeur became the youngest at age 31 to reach 400 wins. Name
the other 7 who have attained this level. [Hint: Any hockey fan
will recognize all the names.] Answer below.
Wild Bill Hickok, Part II
As we resume our story, it’s 1869 and Wild Bill has been named
sheriff of Hays City, Kansas, a town which attracted some of the
worst gunmen of the day. On September 27, Samuel Strawhim
arrived in town with 6 teamsters. The boys stormed John Bitters’
Beer Saloon and wrecked the place. Hickok arrived,
accompanied by his deputy, and they ordered Strawhim to
surrender his guns. Strawhim laughed and drew them instead.
Wild Bill drew his 1851 Navy Colts, blasting Strawhim. It was
ruled justifiable homicide.
July 17, 1870, Hickok was in a saloon and jumped by 7
intoxicated troopers. They held him down while one put a gun to
his head and pulled the trigger…click…misfire. Wild Bill
struggled up, pulled his pistols and shot two while the others
backed off.
With incidents like these, Wild Bill Hickok’s reputation spread
across the west. Abilene, Kansas was the next to call for his
services and he became marshal on April 15, 1871. [Back east,
folks were piling into their local H&R Block office.] Among the
fast draw artists in Abilene was the legendary John Wesley
Hardin. Hickok confronted Hardin one night while Hardin was
shooting up the town and ordered him to turn over his guns.
Thanks to Wild Bill’s reputation, Hardin complied for one of the
few times in his life.
Ben Thompson was another feared gunman in Abilene, but he
was supposedly pistol-whipped by Hickok in a saloon Thompson
was running. Ben never backed away from a fight, but when it
came to Hickok he did. Wild Bill wasn’t necessarily the fastest
gun in the west, but he was deadly accurate. Thompson, pride
hurt, offered Hardin $thousands to take out Hickok but Hardin
said Wild Bill was an honorable man and Thompson better shoot
him himself. Thompson dropped the idea.
Then there is the case of legendary gambler / gunfighter Phil
Coe. It was October 5, 1871 when Coe came into town with
about 50 Texans. Hickok told them to behave but at 9:00 PM, a
shot was fired outside the Alamo Saloon and when Hickok
arrived he was met by a dozen Texans and Coe, all with guns
drawn. Coe said he shot at a wild dog. Hickok drew, Coe fired
twice from 15 feet, both going through Hickok’s coat, and
Hickok nailed Coe in the stomach, prompting Wild Bill to say “I
have fired too low.” [Coe died 3 days later.]
While this was happening, a friend of Hickok’s, Mike Williams,
came to his aid, but in the darkness Hickok thought Williams
was one of the Texans and killed him. Deeply depressed by this
accident, Hickok decided to leave the law enforcement business
and participate in Bill Cody’s Wild West Shows, but Hickok
drank too much and he didn’t enjoy the acting. By 1876 he
found himself in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, where all he did
was drink some more and gamble.
For those of you watching the series “Deadwood,” a sidebar.
Hickok and Calamity Jane were just friends, not lovers, though
later on Calamity Jane made up all kinds of stories on their
relationship. [I think the portrayal of her thus far is terrific.]
Along the way, as you can imagine Wild Bill Hickok had made a
ton of enemies with his days as a lawman. And so it was that he
crossed paths with an ugly dude, one Jack McCall, a common
laborer.
On August 1, 1876, McCall lost $110, everything he possessed,
to Hickok playing poker. Hickok, a reasonable sort, loaned
McCall some money to have breakfast, but McCall had but one
thought on his mind…revenge.
The next day, Hickok was sitting in Saloon Number 10, playing
poker with three others. Wild Bill was uncomfortable that his
back was to two open doors. Hickok asked Charlie Rich if he
could exchange seats with him, Rich’s chair being against a wall,
but Rich kept saying he didn’t want to get shot in the back.
Around 4:00 PM, McCall entered and ordered a drink at the bar.
Then he slowly walked up behind Hickok and fired an old six-
gun once in his back. Hickok toppled out of his chair, dead. He
was clutching his poker hand, aces and eights, forever after
known as “The Dead Man’s Hand.”
At first, the other players didn’t realize what had just transpired
until they saw McCall’s smoking gun. Bartender Anson Tipple
jumped over the bar and tried to stop McCall who was tearing
out of the place, without success. Immediately, several people
began running through the streets of Deadwood, “Wild Bill has
been shot! Wild Bill is dead!”
The bullet that killed Hickok passed through him and lodged in
William Rodney Massie’s wrist. Massie never had it taken out
and it stayed there until his death in 1910.
McCall was found hiding in a barber shop where he was arrested
and charged with murder. A huge throng attended Wild Bill’s
funeral the next day and McCall was tried right after. McCall
insisted he was blinded by rage; that Wild Bill had killed his
brother in Kansas years earlier. It was all a lie, but the jury
believed him and he was acquitted. [See also O.J. jury.] McCall
then fled to Laramie, but he was arrested again for killing
Hickok. It was ruled the Deadwood trial was illegal and McCall
was ordered to stand trial again in Yankton, Dakota Territory.
This time he was found Guilty and sentenced to death.
McCall actually had the temerity to appeal to President Grant,
but Grant refused to act and finally, on March 1, 1877, Jack
McCall was hanged.
As for Hickok, he still lies in Deadwood, Mount Moriah
cemetery, where the body was moved after the initial burial
ground filled up.
[Source: “Encyclopedia of Western Lawmen & Outlaws,” Jay
Robert Nash]
Jan and Dean
Jan Berry and Dean Torrence were friends at Emerson Junior
High School in Los Angeles. They both played on the football
team and in the late 1950s formed a band, the Barons, with
drummer Sandy Nelson, Bruce Johnston (yes, the same Johnston
who would later join the Beach Boys) and singer Arnie
Ginsburg. In May 1958 (Johnston and Nelson having split), the
boys had a hit, “Jennie Lee,” written by a local stripper,
incidentally, that went to #8 on the charts. The single went out
under ‘Jan & Arnie,’ but Ginsburg went into the service shortly
thereafter and it was now just Jan & Dean.
At this point producers Herb Alpert and Lou Adler became the
managers and Alpert took the garage band sound and overdubbed
for fuller arrangements. “Baby Talk” was the result, a 1959 #10
tune and in October of that year, Jan & Dean appeared on
“American Bandstand” for the first time.
In 1961, Jan & Dean did a version of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Heart
And Soul” which made it to #25 [The Cleftones also did the tune
the same year and their version went to #18…which is confusing
since this is the one I hear most in the New York area.] Herb
Alpert, though, hated the song and decided to leave the team.
And now you know one of the primary reasons why Alpert then
co-founded A&M Records, where he would then develop his
own brand of instrumental music.
In August 1962, Jan & Dean met the Beach Boys for the first
time at a teen hop. Thus began a relationship between the two
groups that lasted a few years as Brian Wilson co-wrote Jan &
Dean’s #1 “Surf City” (6/63) with the Beach Boys on back-up
vocals, while Dean Torrence sang on the Beach Boys’ “Barbara
Ann” (without credit).
“Surf City” was followed by “Honolulu Lula” (#11), “Drag City”
(#10), “Dead Man’s Curve” (#8) and “The Little Old Lady (From
Pasadena)” (#3…alright, be honest, how many to this day still
think of the Beach Boys when they hear ‘Surf City’ and ‘Little
Old Lady…’?). In 1964 Jan & Dean also did the title track to a
Fabian movie, “Ride The Wild Surf” (#16).
Then in August 1965, Jan Berry broke his leg on the first day of
filming “Easy Come, Easy Go,” with Terry Thomas, when a train
rammed a camera car on which he was standing. 17 were hurt.
Paramount canceled the film. It was an ominous event,
foretelling things to come.
By 1966, it was clear Jan & Dean had come to the end of the
road. The friendship was strained and a breakup was imminent.
Jan Berry was also stressed out by having received his draft
notice, plus he was preparing for a medical school exam. [Not
exactly like today’s pampered stars, eh?]
So on April 12, 1966, Jan had other things on his mind when he
plowed his Corvette, doing 65 mph, into a parked truck on L.A.’s
Whittier Boulevard. 3 were killed (a fact 95% of the articles on
this accident ignore), while Jan had to be cut out, barely alive.
He sustained severe brain damage and it wasn’t until 1973 that
he was more or less back to normal.
In 1978, the biopic “Dead Man’s Curve” was an ABC movie and
helped rekindle interest in Jan & Dean. The two went on a
reunion tour for a spell. Jan Berry, who died a few days ago,
would have turned 63 this coming Saturday.
And here’s a useless tidbit for you that maybe your significant
other will still find compelling.
In April 1963, Jan & Dean had a #28 tune, “Linda,” which was a
revival of a 1944 Jack Lawrence song written about his lawyer’s
daughter, Linda Eastman……….yup, the future Mrs. Paul
McCartney. And now you know……………the rest of the story.
Stuff
–March 26, 1979…Michigan State plays Indiana State for the
men’s national basketball championship. The much-hyped
match-up between Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird was
kind of a bust and the Spartans cruised 75-64 in a crummy game,
but to date it is still the highest rated basketball telecast in history
and, more importantly, it foretold the best era ever for the NBA.
As Dick Enberg said the other day (Enberg broadcasted the
contest with Al Maguire and Billy Packer), “These two guys
graduating into the NBA at a time when the pros really needed
that kind of human lift (ended up being the real impact).” [Mike
Palmer/ L.A. Times]
But for the record, Indiana State entered the game at 33-0, the
last time a school from a smaller conference made it through to
the finals, by the way, as well as the last time an undefeated team
made it to the championship game. ISU beat DePaul in the
semis, while the Spartans destroyed Penn, 101-67. In the title
game, Larry Bird was only 7 of 21 from the field, scoring 19
points while grabbing 13 rebounds. Magic scored 24 on 8 of 15
shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. But
Michigan State’s Greg Kelser, a real star during his years there,
had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists, while Terry Donnelly hit
5 of 5 from the field to help out. [Michigan State also had Jay
Vincent, who along with Magic and Kelser ended up in the
NBA.]
For his part, Bird was playing with a broken thumb suffered
when he shook the hand of an overzealous fan following ISU’s
regional final win over Arkansas. As for Michigan State, early in
the year they were ranked #1 in the country, but then they started
out 4-4 in the Big Ten before righting the ship.
For the record, it’s kind of fun looking at the final AP poll
entering the NCAA tournament in 1979.
1. Indiana State 2. UCLA 3. Michigan State 4. Notre Dame 5.
Arkansas 6. DePaul 7. Louisiana State 8. Syracuse 9. North
Carolina 10. Marquette 11. Duke 12. San Francisco 13.
Louisville 14. Penn 15. Purdue 16. Oklahoma 17. St. John’s 18.
Rutgers! 19. Toledo! 20. Iowa
And who were the consensus All-Americans that year?
First Team: Larry Bird, Mike Gminski (Duke), David
Greenwood (UCLA), Magic Johnson, Sidney Moncrief
(Arkansas)
Second Team: Bill Cartwright (San Francisco), Calvin Natt (NE
Louisiana), Kelly Tripucka (Notre Dame), Mike O’Koren (North
Carolina), Jim Spanarkel (Duke), Jim Paxson (Dayton), Sly
Williams (Rhode Island)…did I ever tell you about the time I had
mega brews with Sly? Was that with you, Phil W.? Good guy,
that Sly, before he went bad……….
–The NIT tournament, while maligned at times, can be a huge
stepping stone for some programs and thus it is this year for
Rutgers, which made it to the finals vs. Michigan. The Scarlet
Knights will build on this positive experience.
–Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson is out for the rest of the regular
season with cartilage damage in his knee. Yes! Undoubtedly,
unless the Sixers make the playoffs, this primo dirtball has
played his last game in Philly. It will be interesting to see who
takes him next, knowing that you also acquire his posse as part of
the purchase price.
–My Philly spy, Mark R., tells me that Donovan McNabb has
already ballooned to 275 pounds, or thereabouts. Like we said,
the first pass that hits Terrell Owens in the ankle could spell
trouble on the field.
–Johnny Mac told me of the golf tournament that took place
between the members of two exclusive clubs in Florida, Lake
Nona and Isleworth. In another sign of extreme excess, golfers
such as Mark O’Meara, Stuart Appleby, Darren Clarke, Ernie
Els, Nick Faldo, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen, played a two-
day event on Monday and Tuesday with a purse of $2.5 million!
Only a very selected few were allowed to watch it, though to be
fair $500,000 is raised for charity. You know I love the sport,
and the ‘official’ PGA Tour, but when you read of something
like this, a few of us can be excused for thinking 1920s?!
1990s?! Do we ever learn? It also makes you wonder if
someone like Els had his mind on other things during his last
round of the TPC. Just my opinion…almost time for a beer.
–Edward J. Piszek, the founder of Mrs. Paul’s Kitchens, died at
age 87. Born in 1916, Piszek never made more than a $1 an hour
until 1946 when he and a partner, bread salesman John Paul,
came up with their idea. Douglas Martin describes what
happened in the New York Times.
Piszek was on strike from his job at a General Electric plant in
Philadelphia.
“He and (John Paul) took over the food concession in a local
taproom, and his deviled crabs became the house favorite.
“ ‘One Friday I prepared 172 and we only sold 50,’ he said in a
1978 interview. ‘There was a freezer in back of the tap, so we
threw ‘em in there. It was either that or the garbage can.’
“When the crabs were retrieved a week later, the customers said
they tasted fine. Before long, Mr. Piszek (and Paul) each came
up with $350 and went into the frozen food business.”
Piszek bought out Paul in the 1950s and in 1982 he sold the
business to Campbell Soup for $70 million. Just another great
American story.
–We also note the passing of Alistair Cooke, 95. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair summed it up succinctly, Cooke was “one of
the greatest broadcasters of all time.” He was responsible for
“Letter from America,” a series that ran on the BBC for 58 years,
though to Americans he will always be known for his role on
PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre” from 1971-92.
–So here’s the deal with the meter lady in the town where my
office is. I park in the same spot each morning, put in my card,
and take my receipt. So once a month, it seems, I get a ticket
even though there is no apparent reason for one. Normally, I just
send in a letter with the receipt (on official StocksandNews.com
letterhead, boys and girls) and the court dismisses the ticket.
Sometimes, though, I just fume and pay it, depending on time
constraints. But when I got one the other day I had had it and
marched down to City Hall. Producing the evidence, I said “Can
I take the meter lady to court?” Bottom line, it’s another waste
of time…….sorry, shouldn’t have mentioned this last chat.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/3/76: #1 “Disco Lady” (Johnnie
Taylor) #2 “Dream Weaver” (Gary Wright) #3 “Lonely Night
(Angle Face)” (Captain & Tennille)
NHL Quiz Answer: Goalies with 400 wins…
Patrick Roy, 551; Terry Sawchuk, 447; Jacques Plante, 435; Ed
Belfour, 433 (still active); Tony Esposito, 423; Glenn Hall, 407;
Grant Fuhr, 403.
Stay in the game…read Bar Chat. Next one, Tuesday…Opening
Day!
