A Winning Pair

This story starts a few years ago when Eldon Brown began working at Hollywood Park Casino. One of the regular poker players there was a man by the name of Henry Zitelli. Eldon and Henry hit it off well from the start and became good friends. They had common interests, mostly poker, and they went to the track on occasion. Besides sharing some common interests, they just enjoyed each other's company. Over the last few years, they spent many hours together taking about and doing what people in poker do.

It was the kind of friendship that only people in the poker world would understand. Yes, they shared the common interest of playing poker, but other than that, they would seem to outsiders to be the most unlikely of friends. Henry is a 65-year-old white man with children and grandchildren. Eldon, on the other hand, is an energetic, handsome, 30-year-old single black man.

A few months ago Henry became sick. He had developed some major health problems and the prognosis was not good. Henry is not the kind of guy to feel sorry for himself. He didn't burden anyone with his troubles, and was upbeat. He decided that he wanted to go back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to be close to his son and grandchildren.

Henry was told that he should not fly, and since he wanted to get his car back to Pennsylvania, he had a small problem. So, he explained to Eldon that he needed help driving such a long distance, and asked Eldon if would like to take a trip with him back to Pittsburgh. He told Eldon he would pay the expenses and fly him home after they reached Pittsburgh. He suggested that they could make one of those once-in-a-lifetime trips. They could stop at casinos all along the route. They could take their time, play some poker, and maybe even do a little light partying and just hang out. Eldon agreed, and got permission to take some time off work so that he could accompany his friend on the trip.

Both men, coincidentally, are pretty darn good poker players. In fact, Eldon recently won the opening event at Hollywood Park's Poker Derby, and in 2001, Henry won a tournament at The Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas.

Their first stop was in Arizona at Fort McDowell Casino, where Henry hit a jackpot for a few thousand dollars. Then it was on to San Antonio, Texas, followed by Harrah's in New Orleans. In New Orleans, Eldon, celebrating the fact that both of them were winning at the poker tables, decided to introduce Henry to a little nightlife. They headed for Bourbon Street and had a ball. Next, it was Gulfport, then Biloxi, and finally Tunica. Tunica was their last stop before making the long leg of the trip to Pittsburgh. It turns out that both Henry and Eldon made money on the trip, and what is more important is that the trip left both men with some very happy memories.

When they arrived in Pittsburgh, Henry introduced Eldon to his children and grandchildren. Henry encouraged Eldon to stay awhile, but Eldon explained that they had spent a couple of weeks on the road and he didn't want to jeopardize his job, so he had to leave. Henry tried to buy Eldon's airline ticket back home, but Eldon wouldn't let him. The trip had been a great experience and money didn't have anything to do with Eldon's reasons for making it.

I asked Eldon how Henry is doing, and he told me that he still stays in touch with Henry. He calls him every week or so to shoot the breeze, and they reminisce about lots of things, but mostly about their trip of a lifetime.

This story is a perfect example of what real friendship is all about. Perhaps someday all of us will learn to be more like Eldon and Henry.

For what it's worth …