Titanic Thompson
| Titanic Thompson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Alvin Clarence Thomas November 30, 1893 Monett, Missouri, USA |
| Died | May 19, 1974 (aged 80) Euless, Texas, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Titanic Thompson |
| Occupation | Hustler, gambler, golfer |
| Spouse(s) | 1) Nora Trushel (divorced) 2) Alice Kane (killed in road accident) 3) Jo Ann Raney (divorced) 4) Maxine Melton (divorced) 5) Jeannette Bennett (divorced) |
| Children | Thomas E. Thomas (by Jo Ann Raney), Robert Thomas (by Maxine Melton), Ty Wayne Thomas (by Jeanette Bennett). |
Alvin Clarence Thomas (November 30, 1893 – May 19, 1974) was an American gambler, golfer and hustler better known as Titanic Thompson. He was a major witness at the 1929 Arnold Rothstein murder trial in New York City.
He traveled the country wagering at cards, dice games, golf, shooting, billiards, horseshoes and proposition bets of his own devising. As an ambidextrous golfer, card player, marksman and pool shark, his skills and reputation were compared to "Merlin himself". Writer Damon Runyon allegedly based the character Sky Masterson, the gambler-hero of "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (on which the musical "Guys and Dolls" is based), on Thompson. In 1928, Thompson was involved in a high-stakes poker game that led to the shooting death of New York City crime boss Arnold "the Brain" Rothstein, then called the "crime of the century". The following year he testified in the trial of George "Hump" McManus, who was charged with Rothstein's murder.
Thomas was born in southwestern Missouri but raised mainly on a farm in the Ozark Mountains a few miles from Rogers, Arkansas, 50 miles further south. His mother remarried (following desertion by his father Lee Thomas, a gambler himself). Thomas began conducting his nomadic, lucrative career of hustling in the rural south-central United States about 1908, leaving home at age 16 with less than a dollar in his pocket. Unable to read or write effectively, he had attended school only sporadically, and felt unwelcome in the home of his stepfather. Thomas spent most of his youth developing skills he would use later, such as shooting and understanding odds at card games through marathon dealing of hands.
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