1981 Play-by-Play

January

January 3rd, action opened with four gamesters scoring an ace on Princess Alice of England, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria; stepping into the lead were D. Perriman Sr., Pontius, D. Perry and the team of Rainey/Tremper... Jan. 6th, D. Perriman Sr. scored a two-point solo on author A. J. Cronin and took sole possession of the lead at 3 & 2... Jan. 11th, Perriman Sr. was back for four points on actor Richard Boone, taking the lead at 7 & 3; also scoring four: Pontius, The Register and D. Perriman Jr. ... Jan. 12th, the great, great Morbo Chucks and stylist J. Batterson scored one each on actress Beulah Bondi... Jan. 15th, D. Perriman Sr. was back with another solo (!), this one an ace on Rep. Emmanuel Cellar, moving the lead to 8 & 4, and tying Dr. Death's career solo record of 12... Jan. 25th, J. Corrigan, the Icemen, Mr. Smooth and Winter/Stambach scored four on the Philadelphia Eagle's Joe Kuharich.

February '81

February 1st, D. Perriman Sr. soloed again, his third solo of the year, his thirteenth career solo (breaking Dr. Death's career record), for five points on actress Wanda Hendrix (who he'd once met in Mexico). He now led at 13 & 5, had his QPA, and had set a Silver Bobcat record that would stand for 15 years!... On the same day, Game Gazette founder Ghostwriter handed the editorial reins over to Pontius, who noted, "There was no formal oath of office so the new editor simply did some swearing and considered himself inaugurated."... Feb. 5th, D. Perriman Sr. moved to 17 & 6 as he led 63 gamesters in scoring four points on Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso. Hobgoblin, Owen Cash, T. Curran and SLY all Wild Carded... Feb. 9th, P. Grise soloed for five points on rock & roll pioneer Bill Haley of "Rock Around the Clock" fame... Feb. 18th, B. Dodge scored a solo two on aviation pioneer John K. Northrup... Feb. 19th, P. & E. Hepner scored a six-point solo on newsman Tom Streithorst... Feb. 22nd, Mr. Smooth soloed for one point on vaudeville's Joseph Smith... Feb. 26th, J. Batterson and Mullen's Revenge scored two each on composer Howard Hanson.

March '81

Historical note: This month, Pontius took over the Game Gazette editorial reins from its founder, Ghostwriter.

March 5th, J. Batterson returned with D. Perry, T. Curran, Morpheus and S. Greenstein all scoring two as composer E. Y. "Yip" Harburg went somewhere over the rainbow in an L.A. auto accident... Mar. 11th, Montressor scored a very nice four-point solo on Sir Maurice Oldfield, said to be the model for John LeCarre's George Smiley and M. in the James Bond novels... Mar. 15th, two solos: Dupont Fluvius scored two on French film director René Clair, and Pearl E. Gates scoring five in a thumping mobster whack of City of Brotherly Love bad boy Phillip "Chicken Man" Testa... Mar. 17th, The Hepners, Morpheus, Captain Cadaver, Mr. Goodvibes and Owen Cash scored four on baseball's Paul "Daffy" Dean... Mar. 29th, Montressor and Owen Cash tallied three on mobster Frank "Funzi" Tieri when he proved he wasn't faking illness to stay out of court... Mar. 30th, Mullen's Revenge scored a Wild Card Solo, the third of her career, on "Reader's Digest" founder DeWitt Wallace.

April '81

April 8th, 30 gamesters snapped to attention for two points on General Omar Bradley, and seven more, including D. Perriman Jr., went Wild for five points... Apr. 12th, 55 stars, including both Perrimans, were inside the ropes for four points on boxing great Joe Louis. D. Perriman Sr. now led at 21 & 7... Apr. 28th, D. Perriman Sr. moved to 24 & 8 as he showed 'em his one-two punch with three more points on boxing's "Toy Bulldog," Mickey Walker. Also landing a punch, L. Smith.

May '81

May 6th, a surly dozen, including both Perrimans, scored three on Teamsters President Frank Fitzsimmons. D. Perriman Sr. now moved to 27 & 9... May 11th, P. Grise led 10 in a rockin' smokin' seven-point hit on Bob Marley... May 19th, D. Perriman Jr. inched towards the lead with a three-point solo on actor Arthur O'Connell... Same day, Hobgoblin soloed for three on writer William Saroyan, who told the AP just five days before his death, "Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case."... May 24th, a big crowd applauded comic George Jessel for two points, including D. Perriman Jr. moving into second place... Same day, J. Batterson and M. Stark scored two each on opera's Rosa Ponselle... May 28th, D. Beach and M. Stark scored two on Poland's Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski... May 31st, Pontius scored the first solo of his career with four points on British economist/author Barbara Ward.

June '81

June 1st, Rep. Carl Vinson rewarded five voters with one point and slipped a patronage Wild Card five to R. & M. Ostwald. Among those with the ace, D. Perriman Sr., moving to 28 & 10... June 9th, gameshow host Allen Ludden awarded 17 gamesters with four points and the buzzer sounded for D. Perriman Jr. as he took the lead at 29 & 8... June 18th, the Ithaca Psychics soloed for three on economist George Katona... June 24th, P. Grise and Pontius scored on famed CEO Ed Ball (who numbered among his employees the father of Dr. Death and Pearl E. Gates) of the St. Joe Paper Company. Grise took the ace and Pontius went Wild for five points... June 28th, a dozen runners ran away with eight points on Canadian hero Terry Fox. Wearing #1 was Pontius steaming past both Perrimans and into the lead at 32 & 8, followed closely by the Hepners at 30 & 6... Same day, Dr. Doornail and the Okree Boys scored five on Iran's Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, when he was blown up at his party's headquarters.

July '81

July 11th, Dr. Doux soloed for five on actor Keefe Brasselle... July 18th, Binky Brown soloed on Teamster leader William Presser for three... July 27th, leader Pontius moved to 38 & 9 with a six on Louis Peters, millionaire Cadillac dealer who was the star witness in a Joe Bonnano trial. Ponty was joined by J. Corrigan, the Krypt Kickers and the great, great Morbo Chucks... July 27th, J. Batterson and W. Dockum scored two on movie director William Wyler... July 29th, J. Corrigan and Los Morbidos went Wild with New York's master of public works Robert Moses; six more gamesters settled for one point.

August '81

August 4th, actor Melvyn Douglas provided a two-point curtain ringer for six gamesters... Aug. 10th, Morpheus collected 10 points for Earthquake/Iran... Aug. 14th, conductor Karl Boehm provided two points for J. Batterson, the Catalan Caller and Dupont Fluvius... Aug. 18th, J. Batterson, M. Hamilton, the Icemen and M. Stark scored one on author and screenwriter Anita Loos... Aug. 26th, Owen Cash and Grim Spectre scored one each on the ACLU's founder father, Roger Baldwin... Aug. 30th, 15 gamesters collected two points as author and radio personality Lowell Thomas signed off.

September '81

September 1st, seven gamesters scored three on Albert Speer, an architect with friends in high places... Sept. 8th, eight gamesters scored two on civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, who had turned 80 one week earlier. D. Perriman Jr., the great, great Morbo Chucks and the Krypt Kickers all moved into the 30's... Sept. 13th, four scored three on staunchly Conservative newspaper publisher William Loeb... Sept. 15th, D. Trageser soloed for two on jazzman Walter "Furry" Lewis... Sept. 22rd, D. Perry soloed for two on Hollywood composer Harry Warren... Sept. 24th, SLY soloed for two on Chief Dan George, who first came to prominence as the Indian who adopts Dustin Hoffman in Arthur Penn's "Little Big Man" (1970)... Same day, D. Perriman Jr. soloed for three on film actress Patsy Kelly, moving to second place at 34 & 10, within four points of the leader, Pontius... Sept. 29th, The National Health scored a solo four on soccer coach Bill Shankly, who once noted, "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

October '81

October 6th, 22 gamesters gasped but took the four points anyway as Egypt's Anwar Sadat was assassinated... Oct. 16th, 12 scored four on Israeli war hero Moshe Dayan... Oct. 20th, the Catalan Caller soloed for two on author Albert Cohen... Oct. 22nd, the Catalan Caller was back with another solo, this one for two on psychologist Jacques Lacan... Oct. 25th, the Winter/Stambach team soloed for two on historian Ariel Durant.

November '81

November 8th, historian Will Durant followed his wife, Ariel; Dupont Fluvius, R. & M. Ostwald and D. Perriman Sr. (with hit #12) scored one each... Nov. 15th, L. Smith and Deathbed scored eight points on Chicago Cubs shortstop Steve Macko... Nov. 16th, seven led by D. Perriman Jr. scored four on actor William Holden. Perriman Jr. moved to 38 & 11, tying Pontius for the lead! L. Smith just missed a Daily Double, but scored 12 points in two days nonetheless... Nov. 21st, L. Lantz and Morpheus had a stylish three-point duet on radio star Harry Von Zell, of Burns & Allen fame... Nov. 25th, a contingent of 12 scored on actor Jack Albertson. It was hit #13 for D. Perriman Sr., and it moved the leaders -- Perriman Jr. and Pontius -- up to 41 points in lockstep... Nov. 27th, J. Batterson soloed for two on actress Lottie Lenya, the 12th solo of his career.

December '81

December 6th, Silver Tapps soloed for three on psychologist Harry Harlow... Dec. 21st, M. Hamilton soloed for one point on Hollywood pioneer Alan Dwan... Dec. 27th, the Coach and W. Dockum scored two each on piano man Hogey Carmichael.

And so it ended, with D. Perriman Jr. and Pontius tied for the Gran Prix, D. Perriman Sr. taking the Silver Bobcat and Perriman Pennant, D. Perry taking Clete's Cub with a flat 2.0, Dead Reckoners taking the Reaper Ribbon with a 4.85, Doc's Diploma for Class List going to the Hepners, and Rookie of the Year to the Winter/Stambach duo.

Let's look at the Top Ten for 1981.

Take me on to 1982.

Take me back to Play-by-Play.