George Jansco's Land of Opportunity

Hubert "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes, left, and Minnesota Fats were key members of the Evansville gambling fraternity with Jansco.

Describing the Relax Bar, she said, "it was a cover-up - that's what it was. There was gambling on horses. It looked like a betting parlor, where guys would sit behind a counter and take your bets." Ryan, the owner, later had the misfortune of becoming quite dead: allegedly the victim of a mob hit. His car was booby-trapped; he was blown sky high as he left a health club. A few other members of that famous Evansville gambling fraternity (most of whom are probably already familiar to readers of this magazine) would last a bit longer and then make appearances at Jansco's Johnston City tournaments. They include:

• The gun-toting Hubert "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes. He always possessed great wads of cash - mostly from the fortune he made in the oil patch. These wads would grow through artful runs on the pool table. At Georgie's invitation, he was on-hand for the very first Johnston City event in 1961. In the late 1960s, he would befriend a young Nick Varner, who worked as a golf pro in the Evansville area.
• Titantic Thompson, the famous card cheat. He found easy pickings in Evansville, where he probably made his first million. Thompson also claims to have had a hand in at least five honest-to-God killings. Of the 1963 Johnston City event, Thompson said: "There ain't a fine, worthwhile hustler in the world who ain't here."
• Rudolf Wanderone - then known as "New York Fats" or "Double Smart" or even "Triple Smart Fats." He was then still young, imposing, and already foolish. He lived like a leech on the action, coming to play cards and one pocket. (Titanic Thompson acknowledged once losing $10,000 to Fats during an ill-advised pool game in which Fats played pool one-handed!)
• Fox, then a sports writer for the Evansville Courier and Press. When Fox first got word of the Johnston City event and wrote his first dispatches for Sports Illustrated, he was living in Evansville. He came out because he had heard word of Daddy Warbuck's appearance, but then ended up making Fats famous.

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