I received an email from a friend that collects Texas illegal chips. He thought he had found a new Texas chip for his collection. Unfortunately things are not always what they seem to be, in the world of illegal club chips.

Email from my friend:
What do you think?

I got the chip because its hot stamp is virtually identical to the graphic on this old matchbook cover:

My email reply: Looks like a match to me, I will try to get the record card.

Enough of that:

Ohio:

OAC

I’ve been looking into the OAC hub and found a few things about Mouse, but nothing definitive about where the chip was used.
Here’s a copy of Loyd Macelory “Nig” Mouse’s obit from 1967:

The obit doesn’t mention Mouse’s association with various gambling enterprises. It does mention the fact that he worked for several rubber companies, which he did from the 1910’s through the early 1930’s—including the time when the chips were ordered in 1932 (insofar as the city directories are accurate).

The 1933 Akron city directory:

This is the last year that I saw any evidence of him as a rubber worker. By the early 1940’s he was associated with a place called Riley’s Tavern which was located at 773 Portage Lakes Dr. and owned by a known gambler: William Riley Jerrel.

Around 1942 Jerrel opened a place in Barberton (just SW of Akron) called the Pennant Sport Shop which had a horse book as well as card and dice games.

An ad from 1946:

1942 is also the year when Mouse moves from Akron to Barberton—and he’s associated with Jerrel again.

From the 1943 Barberton city directory:

The place was robbed in 1947:

It’s possible that Mouse was associated with Jerrel in 1932 when the chips were ordered but I couldn’t find anything to back that up. I looked for a place in Akron in 1932 that might have had the initials OAC or AOC among taverns, billiard halls, newsstands, clubs, associations, etc. but could only find one thing that seemed to fit—Akron Owls Club. Unfortunately I have no idea if Mouse was a member of the Owls (since his obit says he was an Elk and an Eagle, it suggests that he may have been). The Owls were busted for liquor violations in the 20’s and slot machine violations in the 40’s. Maybe something more definitive will show-up.

My note: Lots of info on Mr Mouse but no club name for the chips. AOC was searched because sometimes when the middle initial on a chip is larger than the other 2 initials, it will read first in order when translated to a name, so AOC

Thought I’d include this article—accident occurred 2 months prior to chip order: