The praise of their peers

Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

Once, they were neighbors on the Strip.

Claudine Williams and her late husband, Shelby, built the Holiday Casino in the 1970s between properties owned by Howard Hughes and Irwin Molasky. She recalled how she negotiated with Molasky and Hughes executive John Goolsby for land for more parking space for the property that eventually became Harrah's Las Vegas.

Thursday night, the three were reunited again, this time on a stage before 750 business people paying tribute to the newest inductees to the Nevada Business Hall of Fame.

Williams, credited as the person who paved the way for women in the gaming industry; Molasky, the developer who built Nevada's first private hospital, its first master-planned community and downtown Las Vegas' first high-rise building; and Goolsby, the former president and chief executive officer of Hughes' company, accepted the awards presented by the College of Business of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Hughes, Williams and Molasky comprised the second class of Hall of Fame inductees and they were honored at a dinner at the MGM Grand Conference Center. Last year the UNLV College of Business saluted slot machine pioneer William "Si" Redd, banker E. Parry Thomas and casino resort developer Steve Wynn.

"To be mentioned in the same breath with Howard Hughes is mind-boggling," said Molasky, who built Sunrise Hospital and opened its doors with 58 beds and seven doctors.

Molasky's Paradise Development Co. also built the Paradise Palms master-planned community and the Bank of America Plaza downtown as well as the state's first indoor shopping mall, The Boulevard, and the Park Towers luxury condominiums.

The 52-year resident of Las Vegas said it was difficult for him to pinpoint one highlight in his development career and he encouraged future generations of builders to "think like an entrepreneur and take advantage" of opportunities as they come along.

Williams, who paid tribute to her husband who died in 1977, used her business acumen to find and hold leadership roles on several boards. She was the first woman to chair the board of directors of a local bank, taking the role at the Nevada Commerce Bank. She also serves as a commissioner for the Nevada Commission on Tourism and the government affairs committee of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

But she said her proudest achievements are her accomplishments in the gaming industry.

"They say I've blazed a trail for women in the gaming industry," Williams said before the induction ceremony. "But I have to say that the men around me always accepted me, even in a time when it wasn't always acceptable for a woman to be around a casino."

Williams thanked the leadership of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. "for allowing me to keep doing what I enjoy doing" at the Strip property, which the company acquired in 1983.

Prior to Thursday's honor, Williams was the first woman inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame.

Goolsby, who led Summa Corp., the predecessor of the Howard Hughes Corp. at a time of explosive growth, said he never got a chance to meet the enigmatic Hughes, who died in 1976.

Goolsby paid tribute to Hughes' entrepreneurial spirit in film-making, aviation, telecommunications and real estate.

"With all the accomplishments he had in his life and the breakthroughs he was a part of in so many areas, many people tend to overlook the contributions to medical research that occur at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (in Bethesda, Md.)," Goolsby said. "He (Hughes) was a part of so many things that touch our lives everyday, from the communications satellite to the development of Summerlin."

At the time of his death, Hughes owned 49,000 acres in Southern Nevada and nearly half of that has been developed as Summerlin, which was named for his grandmother, Jean Amelia Summerlin.

Hughes also owned eight hotels in Las Vegas and Reno, including the Desert Inn. He is credited with helping pull Las Vegas out of an economic slump in the mid-'60s and with pioneering the era of corporate ownership of casinos and hotels.