Off Beat: The Most Interesting Man in the World

Here is a long overdue Off-Beat edition before a crowded weekend with Rieti, Brussels, and a Rudisha WR attempt about to emerge upon us

If you are like me, you adore Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials, which feature Jai Alai, arm-wrestling with Fidel Castro, and the timeless quote "He can speak French.....in Russian". I've always kind of pondered who would be my own real-life Most Interesting Man in the World. Well, the answer for me is easy and not even close- it is poker legend Doyle Brunson.

Two questions are probably popping into your head immediately: 1. This is a track blog, correct? (yes it is) 2. Why did you choose Doyle Brunson? (short answer: basketball, poker, AND track!).

Let me explain with a bio of my hero(adapted from wikipedia), Doyle Brunson:
Doyle was born in a small town in Texas of 100 people. Due to the town's small size and, well, it being a small town in 1930's Texas, young Doyle had to run places to get places. Thus, Doyle ran long distances frequently as a child and developed excellent fitness. The "Tex-Kenyan" became a superb athlete in high school making the All-State Basketball team as a senior. Even though he was more into basketball than track, he competed in track entering the 2A State Championships and winning the mile in 4:38. Today, the time sounds modest, but we must remember this was the early '50s where sub 4 was still a pipe dream. Moreover, the race was likely run in searing Texas heat on a cinder tack.

Doyle's athletic achievements caught the attention of dozens of colleges, but his small-town upbringing won out over the outsiders and he attended Hardin-Simmons University in nearby Abilene, TX. There, he continued his athletic pursuits and accomplished some remarkable things on the hardcourt and the oval. In basketball, he developed his game enough to be selected by the Minneapolis Lakers in the NBA Draft. In track, Doyle ran 4:18 and said the following about his running accomplishments: "I ran 4:18 in college, not very impressive by today’s standards, but I never trained and never had a competent coach; and the world record was 4:01. I know how tough it is to run when you don’t devote a lot of time to it." True that, and it's unlikely that as a collegiate, Doyle ever raced on a fast modern track or had pacemakers. In a Beyond the Glory feature, I can recall Doyle saying never chasing the 4 minute mile was one of his biggest regrets. And it should have been, considering Doyle was undeniably supremely talented in running. In that same feature, he mentioned in more specficity that his training for the mile consisted of playing basketball and running to and from places.

After college, Doyle did what talented athletes in those days did during the basketball off-season. He worked. Not only did he work, he worked in a job of hard manual labor. In a dramatic twist, Doyle's life was changed tragically in a freak leg injury he obtained while unloading some sheetrock. He was in a cast for two years, and his athletic pursuits were for all intents and purposes done. Doyle turned to education earning his BA and a Master's, and accepting a salesman job.

During the time he was injured, Brunson took up 5 card draw poker to help pay for expenses. In those days, poker was a renegade sport run by the mob and frowned upon as a sinful vice, let alone as an occupation. The game came easy to Brunson, and he was immediately proficient at it. After his first day on the job as salesman, he played a game of seven-card-stud and made more money in 3 hours than he was due to receive for his monthly salary. The rest, as they say, is history.

As a poker player, Brunson's career peaked with back to back Main Event Championships at the World Series of Poker (1976-1977) and won 8 other WSOP event titles(bracelets), including one in 2005 at the age of 71. He had countless more cashes and final-table appearances on his sparkling resume. In other ventures, his book, the initially self-published Super System, is the most influential book in poker by a long shot even today. Doyle has also had two no-limit hands named after him(10-2 offsuit most famously).

As far as the "interesting" part of the equation, he lived through and participated in the entire saga of Poker from when it was a game of outlaws (he once witnessed a man killed at the seat next to him, and he traveled the Southwest for a decade looking for illegal high-stakes mob-run games involving characters like Amarillo Slim) to its current status as an accepted television phenomenon (where even in his 70s he is larger-than-life figure who can and will bust you). On this stage, he uttered the great line: "You don't stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing". From his television appearances it's easy to see he is universally beloved by his peers, and remains one of the most humble and gregarious celebrities around.

So, to recap, Doyle Brunson is the real-life Most Interesting Man in the World. He was a stellar runner who probably could have challenged the sub 4 minute mile, and ran a still-respectable 4:18 on minimal training and coaching. In my second favorite sport, basketball, he was good enough to be drafted and play in the NBA. Once his physical gifts were tragically cut down, he became the greatest poker player of his era operating as an outlaw traveling the Southwest for big-money illegal games until settling in Las Vegas. One can only imagine the types of stories he has to tell of his years of wandering the Southwest as the best gambler in all of America. After settling in Vegas, he made his living in cash games and tournaments for some 40 years. He is still going strong into his 70s.

Doyle Brunson. He is the most interesting man in the World.
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