"Mad" Marty Wilson

[Big Andy]

Just reading an article on him in "Inside Edge" about how he got his "Mad" monicker.

The occasion was a football match between his team, Wolves, and local rivals WBA. On the morning of the game, young Marty was chased in Dudley Zoo by a group of WBA supporters. Cornered, he jumped over the nearest fence and found himself in the polar bear enclosure. Threatend by the bears, he hopped over the next barrier, into the llamas den where he was arrested for a breach of the peace. The headline in the the Express and Star read, "Mad Marty Defies Polar Bear". The case was dropped but the name stuck

I`ve been to the Zoo a few times but never before a Baggies v Wolves match.

Another example of his shrewdness and cunning happened in a Las Vegas tourney 7 years ago. He said, "I got a bit pissed and managed to lose all my $1000 stake. To clear my head I took a walk in Martin Luther King Park, where there were a lot of fallen acorns. I picked one up and put it in my pocket, felt a bit better and went back to Binnions Horseshoe and tapped a mate up to stake me in a cash game for a 50/50 cut. At the table, I took out my acorn and put it on my pocket cards. A woman playing at the table asked if it was my lucky acorn. I couldnt resist saying I never play without it because it came from Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood lived. When I saw how impressed she was, I told her it came from the very tree in which Robin hid from the Sheriff on Nottingham, and that I had never lost when playing with it in front of me. "Is it for sale she pleaded ?" My mind was clicking away like a taxi meter by now and told her I couldnt sell her that one but I`d bought a bag of the lucky acorns from Robins tree with me. "ould you get me one please ?" she asked. So in the break I popped back to the park and filled a bag with acorns. Soon the word got out that this English guy had a bag of lucky acorns from Sherwood Forest. Everybody wanted one. Within a couple of hours I had sold 320 acorns at a $5 each, and got back my $1000 plus $600 extra

He`s a bit of a "card" that one. I`ll get my coat

[GETT1NLOTS]

Great story.