Re: Entourage

• From: ehillema <no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com>
• Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 17:33:43 -0000
• Message-ID: <aqe85n+r90h_at_...>

--- In quizbowl_at_y..., "cellinis_ego" <matthew.schneller_at_l...> wrote:
> Yeah, at the VA Open there was definitely no entourage.  However, 
> even without a support staff, he didn't seem to have any problem 
> smushing the team of Joon and myself.

The "entourage" of two female friends from Armstrong State who 
accompanied Tom (sometimes playing, sometimes not) to a number of 
tournaments, usually Tennessee Masters, was indeed not present at that 
VA Open.  But he wasn't completely without "support staff," as he did 
have a playing partner for that one - me!  We went undefeated and were 
both among the tournament's leading scorers, though my guess is he 
could have won that tournament even playing solo.

To Tom Michael's query as to what Tom Waters is doing now, I believe 
(though my first-hand information is about a year old) that he is 
running the golf pro shop in Savannah that used to be his parents'.  I 
am told that he remarried last December, which is nice as she's 
terrific.  (My wife and I visited them in Savannah a couple of years 
ago.)  He did mean it about completely retiring from quizbowl, and has 
cut himself off from all contact with the game so far as I know.

The question has been debated here before about whether Tom has any 
real challengers as the greatest player in quizbowl history.  My take 
on that is that he does not, in the sense of looking at an entire 
career and dominance in an era -- in his case, several eras.  Tom was 
the first to admit that there are players now who are better in an 
absolute sense than he was at the same age, in a different quizbowl 
environment.  It may possibly be that there are one or two players now 
better than he is at present, or better than he was when he last 
played, two or three years ago.  But nobody comes close to his 
achievement of being the apparent best individual player in the game 
for a span of like 24 years.  That's something that's almost 
unprecedented in *any* sport or competitive activity.  Tom was the top 
individual scorer in every single tournament he ever played in, with 
the exception of a Philadelphia Masters -- I think the one he teamed 
with Jim Dendy, no slouch, though Tom had about double Jim's ppg. for 
the tournament -- in which he was outscored in raw stats by Steve Wang 
playing de facto solo (technically, with a kid brother, I believe).  
And then Rob Hentzel once beat him on 24 tosssups in a singles 
tournament, the only one of those he didn't win.  But none of those who 
might be considered in his league as players before he retired -- 
Andrew, Subash, Jeff, or anyone else -- ever outscored him in a 
tournament in which they were both playing.  Being the top scorer in 
virtually every tournament you play in across 24-odd years is, you have 
to admit, pretty fall down on the floor and kowtow impressive, and for 
me that makes him indisputably The Great One in quizbowl history.

Eric Hillemann

By the way, his 47th birthday is next week.