So I've got this particular room in my house where I find myself seated periodically and I started stashing some of my old Club magazines nearby for quick reads. I'm really surprised by what I find in these past issues since I've gotten some pretty good chipping years under my belt. Guess it was the first official one I received that had me listed in "New Members". Not exactly my actual R-# matched up for me but pretty close. Jim Steffner was the Membership Officer then and was also running for Club President. Luckily we managed to snag Jim for the real toughie, Convention Co-Chair! Fun checking off the other freshman members in those old issues. Satisfying also when you can flesh out stories-behind-the-stories with knowlege gained, spot the ironic events in club history before they became important and just generally puzzle along the I-wonder-whatever-happened route.

Case in point, the Winter Issue (Jan., Feb., Mar. 2001). The cover proclaims "Gaming History of Lake Tahoe" with an article about south Tahoe by Steve McClendon. Later on, I'll be looking through a glass at those great magazine pics Steve always has at some of my favorite joints I didn't know I'd be collecting back then. Ralph Pollack had a couple of articles and contributions came from David Moore, Charles Kaplan, "Belgium Bob" Hermanns, Jill Bitner, and others. Just noticed Robt. Pardue's review of the Man Who Invented Las Vegas so I'll compare that to my own reading of the book that's sitting on my bookshelf. Missing from the magazine however, are the registration forms for the 2001 convention and the Early Bird Banquet. Cut 'em out, I did. Man, did I have a blast there at my first convention and learned the lesson...Never Miss The Convention Banquet! That was the one Bob Stupak spoke at wasn't it? One of Steve's pic captions is "Inside the Nevada Club", cool!

Howdy's Dig. What the heck was that and boy I wish I had a time machine. Howdy's Dig was a chip show Nov. 4 2000 at Sharkey's in Gardnerville. 9 dealers, 40 attendees and on Saturday, Sharkey his ownself showed up! John Yee's article states that Sharkey "...spent nearly an hour entertaining us with long forgotten tales from forty years ago when he and Bill Harrah were buddies." Here's the story behind the story I've learned since I first read this back in the day. Thank Dwayne Kling's oral history from Milos "Sharkey" Begovich included in Every light Was On. Bill Harrah didn't know he was Sharkey's buddy sometimes. Sharkey was night casino manager for Bills lake club and he'd sometimes wander across the road and have some pretty big crap sessions at Harvey Gross's tables. Sharkey would stake himself from the vault over there at Harrah's. Do I have to tell you how that scheme played out? In real life, Bill Harrah's actions saved Sharkey and hooked me as an all-time BH fan! A really amazing story and one I'm glad I learned while I was in this hobby.

Did I say irony earlier? Oh man, guess who wrote this, "...this classic chip will no longer be made for Nevada casinos and how my addiction to collecting brass cores began too many years ago." Mel Jung's article details the history of brass core chips. Up until that time. Oh geez. As we all know, there were more chapters to be written but the phrase "will no longer be made" sure clangs like a brass gong doesn't it?

Big buzz in two articles was the news about the largest denomination chip purchased at face from any casino for a personal collection. It was kinda ugly so I would have passed on it myself. I'll reveal the chip at a later time...if I don't forget.

An page entitled "Auction Results" contains prices realized from an undated unnamed affair and is remarkable because it is unremarkable. No images but the text idicates that chips brought the same prices then as now. Of course, there's no indication of the value of the fun we have collecting these critters. Find your first CCTN's and give them a read.