Winning Isn't Everything

Eddie Rack, a professional golfer who was a friend of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and some of the other legends of golf, died just a few days short of his 100th birthday.

Son of a coal miner, Eddie grew up poor, but he refused to stay that way. He was born in a small community that didn't even have a name just outside of McKeesport, PA., a few miles from my hometown

He caddied at the Youghiogheny Country Club where my two younger brothers and I also caddied. Thanks to the generosity of the country club set who let him borrow their clubs every Monday -- that was Caddies Day and the kids could play for free if they had a set of clubs -- Eddie turned into a pro golfer who once beat Palmer in a tournament.

Rack was a gentleman who always remembered his roots. He became a tax collector in Alleghtny County, earned the trust of the people, and earned his first million when a member of the country club sold him some land that he turned into the Seven Springs Golf Course on Route 51 about three miles from my family home

My late father mined coal at Warden Mine, the largest coal mine in Pennsylvania and perhaps the largest in the world, before going to work at US. Steel Corp When Dad retired from the Irvin Works after more than 30 years, Eddie gave him a job at the course. Dad amazed our family and his friends by learning to play golf after the age of 60. While he never broke par, he became a pretty good golfer and always appreciated Rack's generosity in giving him that position.

Besides taking his pretty wife, Ginny, to the Friday night dances in Pigeon Hollow and some of the other local dance clubs, Eddie loved to gamble. He played poker, shot dice, played gin and even bet on the horses. I knew about his habits because he hired me to write his autobiography, 'Just Call Me Lucky: The Eddie Rack Story.' The book was published just after his 91st birthday and sold 2,000 copies to family, friends and golfers in Western Pennsylvania who knew the Rack family and respected Eddie's work ethics and generosity.

One of Eddie's best friends was a man named Lou who owned a Cadillac dealership along Route 30. Like Eddie, Lou was a gambler and the two of them would fly to Atlantic City or Las Vegas to gamble when they weren't involved in more serious enterprises like buying a country club (the Rack family expanded their holdings and pulled a country club in Ft Lauderdale, FL. out of bankruptcy, turning it into a profitable operation).

Eddie asked me to interview Lou for one of the chapters in the book, which I was happy to do. Over coffee at the restaurant at Seven Springs Golf Course, Lou told me about their excursions to Las Vegas, including a memorable evening when they had ringside tickets at the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier championship boxing match.

'That was a fabulous night,' Lou remembered. 'We had the best seats in the house and after the fight was over, we went gambling. I won that night but Eddie lost. In fact, he lost quite a bit of money. As we were walking through the casino back to our hotel room, Eddie passed a shoeshine stand. We were tired and wanted to get some sleep, so Eddie turned down the guy's offer to shine his shoes. Instead he flipped him a $25 chip.

'I couldn't believe it. After we got back to the room, I said, 'Eddie, you've just lost quite a chunk of money, yet you're giving a perfect stranger a green chip for doing nothing. What's that all about?

'He just looked at me. 'Lou, you're almost as old as I am. We're still walking around at our ages. You own a Cadillac dealership and I own two golf courses. That $25 chip won't hurt me, but it could make a difference to that shoeshine man. Winning isn't everything.'

The other night I was playing poker at Wild Horse Pass near Chandler, AZ. The cards had been good to me and I was about ready to call it an eveningg when I got pulled into a pot. The dealer dealt me pocket nines. A Hispanic man in his 60s called the bet and turned over pocket jacks. The dealer flopped ace, seven -- nine.

'I'm all in,' the Mexican gentleman said apologetically. 'im busted, Amigo.'

I hadn't showed my trips. I just watched as the dealer turned over a deuce and three. There was about $25 on the table. I remembered Lou's quote from Eddie, 'Winning isn't everything,' and mucked my cards.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter. If you have a unique gambling story to share with him, you may qualify for a cash award. Send your story with all the details to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).