July 17, 1971 - Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards (3) - W. Krug

Cliff's recording of "When You Wish Upon a Star" sold 74 million copies and he appeared in more than 100 films in addition to being Jimminy Cricket's voice in Pinnochio. But only W. Krug had the gentle whimsy and the deep, deep memory to make the call.

July 23, 1973 - Eddie Richenbacher (1) - Dr. Death

With his barnstorming solo on the legendary air ace in the Wild Card spot, Dr. Death became the first person to ever hit a Wild Card Solo, the Game's supreme predictive achievement.

June 28, 1975 - Rod Serling (5) - R. Gilbert

Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling was a fixture in the American imagination, but only R. Gilbert tagged him in his final episode. Serling was one of four solos in Gilbert's rookie (and only) season. In an astounding performance, his first four hits were all solos -- artist Thomas Hart Benton, performer Josephine Baker, Serling, and composer Dimitri Shostakovich -- and he capped them with a duet on Saudi Arabia's King Faisal to win the Silver Bobcat and Rookie of the Year. Only one other gamester in Game history has managed four solos as a rookie: D. Perriman Jr.

Feb. 28, 1977 - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (3) - D. Perriman Jr.

Everyone knew and loved "Rochester" from the Jack Benny Show, and from his magnificent turn in Topper Returns, but only D. Perriman Jr. had the taste and style to pay tribute to this legendary performer.

September 3, 1980 - Duncan "Cisco Kid" Renaldo (3) - W. J. Krug

"Oh, Pancho!" "Oh, Cisco!!" Oh ho, W. Krug! Once again, the man dubbed "The Caller" by Doctor Death (for his uncanny ability to call the name, artist and label of any song on the radio) led the way with a perfect pick from the past, a bookend with his November 14, 1974, solo on cowboy Johnny Mack Brown.

March 27, 1982 - Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (2)

The Merry Little Breezes (then playing as a member of Mr. Clete's All Stars) and D. Perry shared two points each on a charlatan of the worst kind, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, who went to her grave accepting credit, honorary degrees and praise for having written the Nancy Drew books, when in reality she had simply handed one-page summaries to spunky journalist Mildred Wirt Benson who wrote them anonymously for $200 each (no royalties), creating the independent Nancy Drew we know and love over the protests of the more traditionally minded Adams, who made millions nonetheless and threatened Benson with ruin if she ever revealed the truth. Burn, Harriet, burn.

December 2, 1982 - Marty Feldman (6) - T. & J. James

Zany actor, writer and director Marty Feldman was known for his roles in Mel Brooks' films, such as Young Frankenstein. But T. & J. James also caught a hint of mortality and were there to collect when Feldman died of a heart attack in Mexico City.

February 25, 1983 - Tennessee Williams (3)

Unusual exits are always stylish, and when this famed playwright choked to death on a bottle cap, kudos when to a stylish threesome: Danse Macabre, G. Reaper and Mr. Dit

March 30, 1983 - Lorraine "Sun-Maid" Petersen (1) - Pontius

As a child, I could never get enough of the girl on the bright red Sun-Maid Raisin box. The big hat, the big basket, the curly locks. But I never knew that the model for the Sun-Maid girl was Lorraine Collett Petersen, an 18-year-old from Fresno who wore the costume and handed out boxes of raisins at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. When asked to pose for new box art, she jumped at the offer because it got her off her feet all morning. (In the afternoons, she went up in an airplane and sprinkled raisins on the crowds.) The modeling job led to a small part in "Trail of the Lonesome Pine," but the Sun-Maid Raisin box was to be her most lasting impression. Pontius knew the story, and was there for a solo when Lorraine shone her last. In a letter to Game Central, he wrote, "I'll never forget getting the postcard from you congratulating me on the Sun-Maid Raisin girl. I always get a thrill on scoring a solo. It does give me a sense of making Game history."

April 23, 1983 - Buster Crabbe (3) - C. Stanley

As an Olympic swimmer, Buster brought home the Gold from Los Angeles. As Flash Gordon, he saved the universe from Ming the Merciless. As Tarzan, he swung to the rescue. And as a hit, he added further luster to the stylish canon of our own legend, C. Stanley. Asked how he reacts to such a great hit, Stanley responded, "With a moment of respectful silence, followed swiftly by a loud victory whoop."

March 7, 1985 - Robert Winship Woodruff (1) - C. Stanley

Who hasn't had a bottle of Coke? Yet only C. Stanley was there to score, a Wild Card Solo at that, on the Chairman of the Board of Coca-Cola. Why? "Woodruff appeared indistinguishable from the statue the Coke people had trotted him out to dedicate." Stanley, however, wasn't drinking Coke when he learned of the hit. "Most hits are registered over morning coffee, a practice abhorred by Mrs. C. Stanley."

May 11, 1985 - Chester Gould (2) - C. Stanley

There's no keeping him down. Only C. Stanley scored on the creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip that put a two-way wrist radio on every boy's wish list, and brought Warren Beatty and Madonna together.

January 28, 1986 - L. Ron Hubbard (3) - El Chileno

A genuinely creepy call on the sci-fi novelist and founder of Scientology, who, in an unguarded moment told an audience at a sci-fi convention, "If you ever want to get rich, start a religion." Two years later, he did, and he did. "Ron Hubbard was interesting," commented El Chileno, "crazy, incredibly dishonest, but interesting."

March 29, 1988 - Ted Kluszewski (4) - Pontius

A Cincinnati Reds' stalwart at first base and at bat, Big Klu played in sleeveless jerseys, all the better to intimidate pitchers with his muscular upper arms. Four times he hit 40 home runs or more in a season. A major league original, he was another of the muscular Pontius' many nostalgic selections.

October 11, 1988 - Wayland Flowers (6) - C. Stanley

Wayland Flowers and Madam (his dummy) were one of the great teams of ventriloquism. C. Stanley noted, "Like the Pope's commission to the Vatican, a box on Hollywood Squares seemed like one of those positions held for life. When Mr. Flowers stopped appearing, trouble seemed imminent."

October 4, 1989 - Secretariat (1) - Pontius

I am not alone in thinking Secretariat's Belmont was the greatest, most exciting and uplifting moment in sports. In honoring the great Triple Crown thoroughbred with a solo, Pontius added further luster to his own shining career.

January 7, 1990 - Bronco Nagurski (2) - Mortis the Cat

"He was an old football hero with an interesting name," notes the chairperson of Mortis the Cat. "Our team is made up of four couples. Two of the men are serious sports types. At our yearly meeting, Bronco was suggested and added to our list. He remained on the list for a couple of years and happened to be at eye-level where it sits on the refrigerator door. At least twice a year, I would look at the list and say, 'Who's Bronco Nagurski?' It became the first question at every yearly meeting. By the time he died, I knew who he was."

October 21, 1990 - Tom Carvel (2) - SLY, C. Stanley

Tom was the Colonel Sanders of ice-cream, an original who insisted on doing his own commercials. "When Tom Carvel's crusty voice was replaced on radio, it seemed probable that something was amiss," noted C. Stanley, who can read the tea leaves with the best of them.

January 18, 1991 - Nita Krebs (2) - Pontius

Nita Krebs was the star of the cult classic "The Terror of Tiny Town," the seminal midget western, and the oldest surviving member of the Munchkins from "The Wizard of Oz." Of course, Pontius was there to pay homage.

March 8, 1992 - Christian K. Nelson (1) - Pontius

If he knew who the girl on the Sun-Maid raisin box was, it stands to reason he'd know who invented the Eskimo Pie. Once more, Pontius displayed an awe-inspiring knowledge of our childhood totems.

May 19, 1994 - Jacqueline Onassis (4) - The Poker Club

A true Front Page Solo, a woman known all over the world, passing suddenly, but not without a tribute from The Poker Club, a team of a dozen women, all related and living in Kansas.

Sept. 7 & 28, 1994 - Terence Young (3), Harry Saltzman (3) - Mac

In one month, rookie Mac soloed first on Terence Young, director of the early James Bond films, and then on Harry Saltzman, co-producer of the early James Bond films. It was a move as suave as the secret agent himself. In 1996, Mac tallied Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, and in 1999, he was one of 10 gamesters to score on actor Desmond Llewelyn, who played 'Q,' when he died in a head-on car crash.

January 12, 1995 - George Price (1) - Death Wish Two, Gomez

A cartoonist for The New Yorker, George Price inadvertently penned the Official Game Cartoon sometime in the early 1940's. He was satirizing an obsession with war news, but hit another era's gamesters squarely on the head. Death Wish Two and Gomez had the good taste to honor this extraordinary talent, whose work also graced Mary Lasswell's legendary 'Suds in Your Eye' books.

February 3, 1997 - Bohumil Hrabal (2) - Yule Iggy

What a beauty. The grand old man of Czech literature, whose story became the film classic "Closely Watched Trains," died in a fall from a fifth floor window while trying to feed birds. Yule Iggy was there, holding up a "10".

Jan. 29, 1999 - Lili St. Cyr (2) - Motel Styx

Motel Styx thrilled a rapt audience of gamesters with her spectacular solo on legendary stripper Lili St. Cyr, a blonde bombshell whose beauty, haughtiness and on-stage bubble baths (not to mention the "Jungle Goddess" routine with the luckiest parrot in the world) raised slow-motion undraping to an art form. It was Motel Styx's first career solo, and a stylish coup.

May 3, 2002 - Barbara Castle (1) - National Health

When the National Health soloed on Barbara Castle - former legislator, Cabinet minister, pioneer for women in British politics, and a heroine of the Labor movement - it was his fiftieth career solo, the Game's first Golden Solo, and marked yet another milestone in his extraordinary career. Although many of his solos have come from his native England, others have sprung from the farflung climes of Africa, India, Poland and Russia. His winning picks have included entertainers, world leaders, musicians, sport stars and distinguished characters. His acuity has borne fruit with five political assassinations and a rock star suicide, and two picks for Wild Card Solos. Such is the National Health's dedication to style, that he actually removes picks from his list when he learns they have fallen ill. We doff our caps.

May 28, 2002 - Mildred Wirt Benson (1)

Eleven gamesters led by Our American Cousin paid tribute to one of the most extraordinary writers of our time, Mildred Wirt Benson, who brought a young sleuth named Nancy Drew to life as the original author of the mystery series.

Benson wrote 23 of the 30 original Nancy Drew stories under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. She was bound by an agreement with the publisher not to publicly reveal her identity as the series author, but it became known in 1980 when she testified in a court case involving Nancy Drew's publisher.

Until that time, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, the daughter of the founder of the chain and long-time publisher, had taken credit for the authorship, even accepting honorary degrees from universities for her pioneering "feminism," although when the books were being written, she constantly urged Benson to make Nancy more obedient and tame.

At the 1980 trial, it was reported that Adams saw Mildred Benson in the hallway, paled, and said, "I thought you were dead." Benson lived to see the truth prevail.

One gamester, the Merry Little Breezes, bookended the hit, tallying Adams in 1982 and Benson in 2002.

Dec. 20, 2002 - Bernard King (4) - Lillies Down Under

In Australia, Lillies Down Under soloed for four on celebrity chef Bernard King, "the King of the Kitchen," who died at home after a fall from his herb garden into a garden a level below. With this solo, Lillies Down Under became the first gamester in history to score on a pick who died in a fall from an herb garden.

Jan. 3, 2003 - Douglas Herrick (2) - Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd bounded into the Top Ten with a stylish two-point solo on taxidermist Douglas Herrick, who is credited with screwing the horns of an antelope onto a stuffed jack rabbit and creating the legend of the Jackalope.