This is an interesting discussion, and I'm flattered to see my name thrown out there in the discussion. I'd rate myself somewhat lower -- think of the caliber of baseball player who makes it to Cooperstown but only on his last year on the ballot, or only via the Veterans Committee. As someone who's bounced in and out of the game since 1977, I have a different opinion than most that I've seen so far. It's hard to do a comparison between what I'd call the dead ball era of quizbowl -- pre-ACF, pre-NAQT, pre-trash, fewer tournaments, less consistent editing, and almost nothing that would let you compare performances from one region to another -- and the current era. In the modern incarnation I have to agree that with the possible exception of Jeff Johnson, I haven't seen anyone who could dominate a tournament as consistently and Andrew Yaphe. But for the olden days, I cast my vote for Don Windham. (For those who think this is because of my ties to Don and Carol, I hasten to add that much of what I'm about to say is based on what I saw before I knew them well.) Don and Tom Waters were clearly the giants of the era -- think DiMaggio and Williams. (Or for you basketball types, maybe Chamberlain and Russell.) Both are clearly first ballot Hall of Famers, and a case can be made for either as being superior. Williams' stats look better on paper, but DiMaggio somehow always seemed to get better results. Best all-time is not just a matter of tossups per game, or even that plus bonus conversion. Remember, folks, this is a four-player team game. Tom's stats will always be better because he played one-on-four. He seemingly preferred to play solo -- and when he did have teammates, he often intimidated them into silence. I remember at least one Masters where he in effect fired his teammates and played solo the rest of the way. Playing one-on-four held him back from a lot of championships he might otherwise have gotten. Teams I was on beat him two or three times, each time just barely -- give him one or two tossups from a teammate, and he wins. I think Tom came to realize this too, and at the Tennessee Masters in (?)'97, he assembled a strong team, maintained detente, and finally won the tournament after seven or eight tries. Don, on the other hand, was every bit the tossup monster Tom was *and* worked and played well with others, actually getting teammates to elevate their play even while gobbling up tossups himself. I was only lucky enough to experience this once as his teammate, but trust me, I was on the receiving end of it enough to vouch for it. It is no accident that Don was consistently on the winning end of masters play no matter who his teammates were. And if you really want to include trash in the mix, remember that before 1993 there were no trash tournaments. But I must note that Don used to encourage the notion that he was vulnerable to pop culture questions. He was, in fact, the only player I ever feared on pop culture questions in my heyday. -- Charlie
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