Sports betting by the book

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999 | 9:53 a.m.

Running on a platform of peace in Southeast Asia and legal gambling throughout the U.S., Joe Rubino was a decided underdog in the 1972 presidential election.

Rubino also was a betting man.

He paid a visit to every major bookmaker in Las Vegas and went for a big score, placing wagers on himself to win the election at odds of about 750-1 to 1,000-1. When Nixon won, Rubino was out some $40,000.

Another bettor of the same era was known only as Cryin' Kenny. One day at the old Del Mar sports book in North Las Vegas, Kenny drank a fifth of vodka, took a bad beat on a game, pulled a gun from his pocket and fired a shot at the book's TV set.

"A lot of these guys would probably be asked to leave the modern sports book," said Peter Ruchman, manager of the Gambler's Book Shop on South 11th Street, in a mild understatement. "They would not be tolerated."

Ruchman is sitting in his office in the back of the shop recounting a few classic gambling stories included in his upcoming book "After the Gold Rush: The Rise and Fall of Sports Betting's Glory in Las Vegas."

The working subtitle of the book is "From Bugsy to Boardroom," which hints at Ruchman's ambivalence toward the vast changes Las Vegas sports books have undergone.

Guys with names such as "Injun" and "The Midget" and "The Greek" have been replaced by MBAs in suits -- and Ruchman's not so sure that's a good thing.

"The characters, I think, really helped define this place," Ruchman said. "These were people who were fun, alive, vital.

"As we've changed from a small town to a city going on two million people, there is something that's been gained, sure -- top-notch restaurants and entertainment -- but there is also something that has been lost."

It was a deep respect for the history of this city and the colorful characters of its past that inspired Ruchman to begin work on his book -- actually a sprawling three-volume set that's an odds-on favorite to become the definitive history of sports gambling in Las Vegas and in America.

"The premise of the book is that there was a golden age of sports betting here, and it lasted from about 1975 to 1985," Ruchman said. "And that golden age was here for a special reason. Like other golden ages -- let's say the Renaissance in Europe or the 1920s in Paris when all those great writers and musicians were coming together -- it did not happen overnight. Rather, it was a culmination of everything that had happened up to that point."

Volume 1 of "After the Gold Rush" covers the events leading up to the 1970s, Ruchman said. Volume 2 starts in the mid-70s and goes through the late '80s, and Volume 3 covers the 1990s and projections into the future of sports betting.

Ruchman said he already has written about 1,400 pages, and has another 2,000 or so pages to go. Ruchman has conducted more than 60 interviews for the book, most 1-2 hours long and nearly all done in person. He still has some 20 interviews remaining.

"The story has three different components," said Ruchman, whose target date for publication is sometime next year.

"First, the actual history. If you're a history buff, I think I'm going to make you very happy. Second is the handicapping. This is a great handicapping book filled with how-to information. I'm talking to world-class bookmakers, world-class bettors, the men who ran the casinos, and they're telling me how they did it.

"And third is the series of great gambling stories. It's one character after another, talking about the staggering losses and the glorious wins. I try to take these three threads and weave them together in a tapestry."

Ruchman, 47, a self-professed "old Deadhead" who looks the part with gray ponytail and beard, reaches for a large box jammed with cassette tapes. Written on the sides of the cases, though, instead of "Drums-Space," are names of fabled figures from the realm of sports betting.

The tapes contain extensive interviews with everyone from pioneers Bob Martin, Sonny Reizner and Lefty Rosenthal to modern-day executives Jackie Gaughan, Art Manteris and Roxy Roxborough.

Baseball history buffs may have read about Carl Hubbell's extraordinary string of strikeouts in the 1934 All-Star game. But Ruchman interviewed an 89-year-old Las Vegas resident who actually bet the National League in that game.

In fact, a comparison can be drawn between this project and the landmark baseball history book "The Glory of Their Times," according to Ruchman.

"And the people I'm talking with are the Ty Cobbs of their field," he said.

Ruchman got started on the project a year ago after two attorneys called the store seeking information on the history of the betting line for gambling-related court cases they were working on.

"From that germ of an idea, it's taken on a life of its own," said Ruchman, a Brooklyn native and Oberlin College grad.

"In doing my research, I came to realize that to write about the history of the line, you have to write about the history of sports betting. To write about the history of sports betting, you have to write about the history of casinos, the history of Las Vegas and the history of gambling, which is part of the cultural fabric of a large segment of America.

"This is the 'War and Peace' of Las Vegas. It's an epic, it really is."