This is the 3rd "Illegal Of The Day" post about chips that were confiscated in raids in St Joseph, MO. There were 8 different chips and we put "Club" names and or corrected old ID's for 5 of them. At this post time it does not look like we are going to get much on the 6th chip. Still working on the 7th chip. This post is about the 8th chip. It was delivered to San Antonio, TX and somehow migrated to ST Joseph, MO. I don't doubt the migration as it was not unusual for gamblers to move around. BUT, we can't prove it. At this point it is a Texas chip with a lot of history including the best known poker player in the world, a 2nd and 3rd WSOP Champion, and basketball game fixing. We did not get a "Club" name for this one.
I also have a 9th chip from this lot on the way to me. Only 1 found.

Once again: "Our Friend of the Hobby.'

A 55 year old son of Meador lives in Lamesa if you want to see if he knows anything: Ron Meador.
My note: I left 2 messages for the son with no call back.

MD
A.J. Meador
General Delivery
San Antonio, TX
1936
Andrew Jackson “Jack” Meador was born and raised in far West Texas, northwest of Midland/Odessa near the New Mexico border. Jack’s father was a wealthy rancher. In 1922, when Jack was 11, his 17 year old brother along with his father killed a man who worked on the Meador ranch. They beat the man severely and the son shot him with a Winchester.

The Meador’s claimed this was done in self defense. The dead man’s wife, who was present at the scene, had a different story. She testified that her husband had been hogtied, beaten to death with a metal tool and then shot when the son pleaded “papa, tell me to shoot him.”

Over the next five years in the courts both Meador’s were convicted on murder charges, had those verdicts reversed, were re-tried, found guilty again, had those verdicts appealed, upheld and were on their way to the penitentiary when they were pardoned by the Governor.

My note: Sounds like they had the proverbial "Friends in High Places."

Apparently all this was more than Jack’s parents marriage could handle and they were divorced. Jack’s mom took the kids and moved 400 miles southwest to San Antonio, Texas. Within a few years of their arrival a couple of the Meador boys were busted for burglarizing several residences and sent to the pen (one was charged with gaming in 1935, shortly after getting out). In 1936 the 26 year old Jack Meador received delivery of the MD hubs. That same year Jack shows-up on a list of 12 men fined for vagrancy in San Antonio:

December 16th 1936:

Gamblers were often fined for vagrancy and most (if not all) of the guys on the list above are known to have had gambling associations.

Not sure whether all the guys were at the same place when hit with the vagrancy charge. M. Block, the first guy on the list, is probably Morris Block who operated a cigar store in downtown San Antonio (in previous years he had operated a billiard hall and domino parlor).

Many of the guys on the list had gambling violations in their past; one was an associate of a big San Antonio bookmaker; another’s wife worked at the Express Jockey Club, which was the subject of an earlier IOTD.
http://www.marlowcasinochips.com/links/genetrimble/illegaloftheday/ExpressJockeyClubTX.pdf

About a year or two after ordering the MD hubs Jack leaves San Antonio for Lamesa in far West Texas, near where he grew-up. Over the next several decades in Lamesa he was involved with all types of gambling activities including operating card games, dice games, policy and bookmaking (he also owned race horses which ran in New Mexico at Sunland Park, just outside of El Paso, TX).

In 1962 Texas Department of Public Safety agents simultaneously raided several West Texas bookmaking operations in San Angelo, Lubbock and Lamesa, including Jack Meador’s. Some of the materials confiscated during the raids sparked an investigation which later turned into a scandal involving game fixing by basketball referees of the Southwest Conference (the forerunner of the Big 12 Conference).

One of the bookmaking operations which was raided in San Angelo was run by 1975 WSOP champion and Poker Hall of Fame member Bryan “Sailor” Roberts (this was during the time that Roberts was in a gambling partnership with Amarillo Slim Preston and Doyle Brunson; Brunson, who was living with Roberts in San Angelo around this time, appears to have been taken to jail by the raiders).

Both Meador and Roberts were subpoenaed to appear before a Texas House General Investigating Committee looking into SWC basketball game fixing.

Preston and Johnson mentioned below were two SWC referees who conspired with bookmakers to fix games; Meador and Roberts were not the bookmakers making the fix:

My note: Crooked dice and marked cards. Hard to believe.

Meador died at Lamesa in 1986, age 75.

One more thing....since mention was made of college basketball and "Texas Dolly" Doyle Brunson......
Here’s the man himself showing off his legs in 1953 when a stand-out player for the Hardin-Simmons University Cowboys in Abilene, Texas:

My note: Best known poker face in the world.

My notes: OK. I've known Doyle for over 30 years and consider him a friend. I can just not wrap my head around that being him making that jump shot.

It is always disappointing to not get a "Club name," but sometimes it just isn't out there to be had. Illegal operators moved around and when chips were taken by cops, sometimes they found their way to other operators in other states. I have several research projects that are good stories but no "Club" name turned up. Will post them on slow weeks.