Word: alai
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Come on, Lucky Pierre," shouted the chap in the stands at a Miami jai alai fronton. "I can't miss with you." It was Jerry Wurf, Washington-based boss of the State, County and Municipal Workers, the nation's largest public employees union (750,000 members), cheering on a lanky player on the court. But when unlucky Pierre swung his curved basket at the speeding white jai alai ball and missed, Wurf, who had not won a bet all night, resignedly tore up his losing $2 ticket. "If we don't win the next one," he told...
...sweeping the nation over the past decade. In the early 1960s, outside of Nevada, state-countenanced gambling was almost entirely confined to track betting. Today, 44 states have some form of legalized gambling and the kinds are growing. Legislation to permit new and expanded types of wagering?from jai alai to bingo, dog racing and card rooms ?is pending in 37 states. A few states have even invaded the fertile field of numbers betting, long the exclusive and profitable province of organized crime. Two states, Delaware and Montana, have joined Nevada in providing legal betting on sports events like...
...combination of high-speed action and the potential for a big payoff has led to a jai alai craze in Connecticut. Bridgeport and Hartford have overflowing frontons six nights a week. Afternoon matches have been added; these, too, play to capacity crowds. On the night of Hurricane Belle, 1,000 patrons showed up for jai alai in Hartford although the management had deferred to the storm and canceled the program...
...York City, the crowd is a mix of short-sleeved factory workers and highrollers from New York. Sedate Hartford, a city that retires so early that players can find only two restaurants open when they leave the fronton, seems to have found a long-needed outlet in jai alai. An ovation greets the players each time they march out; the fronton's two "pits"-two standing-room areas closest to the court-are filled with jai alai groupies squealing for their favorites...
...alai's future would seem to be secure if the enthusiasm of Mirmina's eleven-year-old son Michael is an indication. Using his mother's breadbasket for a cesta, he practices throwing rubber balls at the garage. Says Michael: "I wish they had a midget jai alai league here. It's better than midget football...