As a child I remember my Uncle Sid always touting Los Angeles as the best place to live because of the weather, weather and the weather. His argument would also talk about the opportunities in a large city. I was sold, so after graduating college in the mid-70’s, I packed up my car and made the road trip to LA from cold Long Island, NY. When I arrived in LA I went straight to my Uncle Sid’s house where he made his home mine until I could find an apartment a couple of weeks later. Soon thereafter, I found a job for an accounting firm running their Long Beach Naval Station accountant and tax office. After discovering I was working on at the Naval Station my Uncle proudly told me the stories of him being on the USS Midway. Back then, my uncle was the maître d at both the Santa Anita & Hollywood Park racetracks (when one track closed the other would open). From his position at those racetracks, he cultivated close friendships with many well-known patrons such as George Steinbrenner (NY Yankees owner), General Bradley, Hollywood celebrities, and many Las Vegas casino “big wigs.” Those Las Vegas friends would treat my uncle like royalty when he came to their town. Sid would fly out to Vegas every Monday with his gambling buddies. They sure knew how to gamble and eat. Sid and his friends never risked too much but played for the love of the game and the royal treatment they were given. My Uncle is a craps player. To this day, he loves the dice.

When Uncle Sid found out I was off Monday’s, he invited me to join him on a Las Vegas trip. We shared some great rolls of the dice that day. My Uncle and I both won, and I was hooked. My Aunt Scotty (Sid’s wife) jokingly said, “you corrupted your nephew.” I would join Sid often on those trips until I moved back to NY. Since those days my Uncle Sid and I always spoke on a regular basis. When Sid would visit

NY, I would set up a trip for us to fly to Atlantic City and we would always talk about our old days in Vegas. Years later I moved to Florida and Sid and Scotty came and visited me and my family at our home. Six years ago, Sid and I planned a trip where we met in Las Vegas with our families for a few days. At the time Sid was 93, able to drive to Vegas, and took charge, running around the casinos better than someone half his age. Then we all went back to Los Angeles and visited with them a few more days before returning home to Florida.

My Uncle Sid, who is 99, has plenty of life ahead of him now, but that’s not what the doctors told him last year. His heart specialists told him he had a bad heart valve. They told Sid he would be a bad candidate for the valve replacement and would only survive another six months. This was not an acceptable prognosis for my Uncle, so Sid went to the VA hospital for a consultation. They agreed to do the surgery and after a rough recovery, Sid is now back to his old self.

In late October, on one of our regular phone calls, Sid asked me if I would like to come and visit him, telling me there was something he wanted to do with me. He wanted to go to Vegas for a few days. How could my 99-year-old uncle who just had heart surgery, go to Vegas, play craps, and enjoy himself? I called my Aunt Sondra, (Sid’s baby sister) for her opinion. Sondra’s thoughts were after you fly out decide when you see him.

Within moments of seeing Sid walking on his own and talking as well as anyone I know, I knew our road trip to Vegas was on. Upon arrival in the Rio Las Vegas Hotel we immediately hit the crap tables after putting our luggage in our individual suites. Sid still knows the game as well as the dealers at the tables, making the proper place bets to get the best odds and pressing up his bets in the same way he did over 40 years ago. His enthusiasm for the game was contagious with the other players at the crap table and intensified as he called out for the point number at the roll of the dice. Sid is just a fun person to have at the crap table! My Uncle’s gambling attire always included his Midway hat and Midway reunion t-shirt. Every table we played at someone would ask about the Midway and Sid would enthusiastically explain the history of the ship. I’m proud to say many people thanked Sid for his service. When we got to a new table, occasionally I would get people to try to guess Sid’s age. The numbers thrown at us were generally in the low to mid 80’s. Because of Sid’s sharpness there were no guess in the 90’s. When I told people Sid was 99, they weren’t satisfied with just what vitamins Sid was taking, they wanted to know specifically how many milligrams of each one he took. That night for dinner Sid had a nice Lobster tail with his dinner. (See photo leading off this story.) We went back to the tables after we ate and by 11PM, my East Coast time zone caught up with me. I mentioned to Sid we should go up to our rooms. Sid told me that he wasn’t tired and wanted to play on. I knew by his tone that there was no way I was going to persuade him differently, so I went up to my room after giving my phone number to the pit bosses, believing Sid would be close behind me.

The next morning at breakfast Sid told me he finished up at 2:30 AM. We spent that day casino hopping on the strip and finished the night back at the Rio casino. By 11:30 PM, I again was tired. When I was making my exit without Sid to my room, the pit boss yelled to me, “what’s the matter you can’t keep up?” We all laughed. Sid stayed up until 5:30 AM.

On the final day, we had a great time at the casino. Then at night, Sid again outlasted me. In the morning Sid showed me a card he had received from someone at the Rio. He had made friends with the Casino Manager.

For several reasons, Sid had been away from the casinos for about four years so his connections to get everything “comped” (for free) was over. Early in the morning, in a quest to see if I could get a break on our room & food charges, I spoke to a casino host. I was able to get my room and all our food that I had charged to my room comped. The host could not take care of Sid’s room unless Sid came to the office.

When I took Sid to the Host’s office, they looked up Sid’s play. He had gambled 26 hours (three times my time at the tables). The host immediately comped Sid’s room then winked at me and said, “next time you could put the food on his room too.”

SID STILL HAS IT! I am looking forward to accompanying my Uncle to the Midway reunion this year and on the way back to Los Angeles we will be hitting the Casinos. You can bet on that!