Ocala Jai Alai 50 Year Anniversary Posted on June 11, 2023 at 07:41:58 PM by 40yrfan
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Ocala Jai Alai’s opening performance on June 11, 1973. It became the 8th fronton to open in Florida which had a monopoly on the sport. At the time no other state allowed wagering on it.
If any one person could be credited for the growth of jai alai it would have been
L. Stanley “Buddy” Berenson. Berenson, who in 1971 was the president of the Miami and Tampa frontons, was the ultimate innovating force in the industry. On Miami’s opening night in 1968, for example, he introduced the “Spectacular Seven” scoring system under which the first round of play would be for one point.
At the conclusion of player 8’s first time up points then doubled. In prior years, and at all other Florida fronton’s, there was no uniform scoring system. Games could be won with 5, 6, or 7 points. Some games had less than 8 post positions. I have read that, at one time, there was a method of elimination in which the remaining teams played off. Eventually all of the frontons would go to 8 team 7 point games. Superfectas would be introduced in the next decade.
Another Berenson innovation, which evolved in part from the shorter game times that “Spectacular Seven” scoring brought about, was to increase of the number of games in a performance to 12. That helped the fronton increase the mutuel handle which, in turn, increased the house take.
In November 1969 Berenson/Miami Jai Alai purchased controlling interest of Tampa Jai Alai. After renovations increased seating and a new restaurant was
built, Tampa’s mutuel handle nearly doubled within 3 years. This was astounding considering the player’s “sickout” that had taken place during that fronton’s 1965-66 season (about which I wrote an essay for chalktalk a while back). Although only 1 pelotori was not re-signed to play, tensions remained.
As the sport began an ascent into its “Golden Age” with sellout crowds and greater mutuel handles, expansion was the next step. Berenson announced in July 1971 that he had applied to operate a summer jai alai fronton in the Ocala, Florida area. The Florida Board of Business Regulation (FBBR), who handled pari-mutuel applications, gave their approval within a month. Because most of Florida’s population lived in the peninsula, the state was running out of room for new pari-mutuel establishments. As I pointed out in an essay about “Panhandle Jai Alai” Florida’s archaic laws at that time prohibited building new frontons or race tracks within a proscribed distance from an one. The (1970 census) combined population for Marion County (Ocala) and Alachua County (Gainesville) totaled 183,000 which was far lower than Dade County (Miami) which had a population of 1.267 million or even Hillsborough (Tampa) which had a population of 490,000. Whether a fronton could succeed in a large land area with a smaller population would be a challenge.
Within a month after the (FBBR) gave its approval Berenson purchased a 38 acre tract of land on Marion County Road 318, approximately 4.5 miles from I-75. The last remaining obstacle was getting approval from a majority of voters. Although
the area was known for raising and training of thoroughbred horses, there were no legalized forms of wagering in the county. There was a strong religious presence and many felt that if there was a large turnout of the county’s 30,000
registered voters then the referendum would fail. The Ocala Jaycees sponsored an open forum on the jai alai referendum one day prior to the vote. Those opposed were led by Reverend Robert Bledsoe and they argued that a fronton would “bring dope, prostitution, corruption” and harm “the economic and moral climate of the community.” There would be more traffic and more people. Even the Governor, Rueben Askew, announced his disapproval. Berenson told the attendees that the fronton would provide jobs and pump money into the local economy. It would increase tourism and new businesses. As a plum, he announced that the fronton would, in the off season, be made available to the citizens “as a community center-convention complex.” The following day the referendum passed 6,281-5,260. A jubilant Berenson stated “As far as I know every other parimutuel referendum took at least 2 votes before winning and we won it on the first. He updated his seating goal by saying that the fronton would start with 2,000 seats and increase over time by another 1,000 seats which he claimed would make it larger than Orlando Jai Alai.
It took over a year and a half and over $2.5 million to build the fronton. As the grand opening approached Berenson announced what was to be called the “2 to 10 plan.” That entailed running a six day Monday thru Saturday schedule. Mondays,Tuesday’s,and Thursdays would begin 2 PM with a (non-wagering) partido followed by a 12 game performance. Every game would be single point games to 7. The 12th game would be followed by another (non-wagering Partido).
Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays would also start at 2 PM but would have 2 twelve game performances, all with Spectacular Seven scoring. Berenson stressed that “We have to be open when the tourist stops off at a motel along I-75. We want to provide him with entertainment. We are the 1St gamble south of Kentucky.” The fronton’s new General Manager, Ernest “Buddy” Gilbert, acknowledged that there would be a “learning curve” for the people from Ocala and Gainesville but he expected the mutuel handle to exceed $5 million over the course of the season. The roster would include 35 players from Tampa, 5 from Miami, 2 new players from Spain, and 1 new player from Mexico. In a television news sport’s clip he threw out the names Bolivar, Almorza, Pablo, Salazar, and Gorrono. He omitted, in that interview, the player who would be the biggest draw--17 year old Joey.
On opening day long lines formed about 1 ½ hours prior to the partido. An informal polling by a local reporter found that less than half the attendees had ever seen the game. Some who entered got a look at (then) single season home run king Roger Maris. Maris played for the St Louis Cardinals after he left the NY
Yankees during the years 1967 and 1968. Although he never neared his Yankee stats he did appear in 125 games in 1967 and the Cardinals did win the World Series that same year. More significant was that Cardinal owner August Busch took a liking to him and awarded Maris with an Anheiser-Busch beer distributorship after he retired. Hence Maris at the fronton the sole beer distributor there.
Also in attendance was Marion County Sheriff Don Moreland. This was his first visit ever to a pari-mutuel venue. He told a reporter about “running down bolita and numbers carriers in the area” but he admitted that “This jai alai looks like a good thing. It caters to a fairly high class of people.” Berenson, ever so cautious to dispel any concerns about management’s integrity, had the mutuels’ calculating room installed in the center of the lobby in full view of the fans through a glass enclosure. As he put it: “We won the referendum by a 6-5 vote so that means for every 11 [potential] fans, five of ‘em don’t like us. If any of them come I want everything out where they can see the controls we employ.”
Unlike Miami, at least, Ocala did not have “telewager girls” whom patrons could use so that they would not have to leave their seats to wager. The fronton did sell reserved seats although they were not for specifically assigned seats. Rather,
attendees who purchased these “reserved” seats were given marked cards to leave on the seats while they went to wager or purchase concessions. In addition, there were no closed circuit televisions to watch the games. That would not come until the next season.
Wagering was limited to win, place, show, quinella, daily double, and the big Q.
There was no trifecta wagering. The Big Q, for readers new to the sport, required bettors to purchase from a Big Q window what was basically a quinella ticket. If those numbers hit then the buyer would exchange it for another quinella selection. That was the big paying wager in those days. If there was no winner then consolations were paid out. Unlike later years, bettors would select a specified window for the type of desired bet. There were windows for win, place, and show and different windows for quinellas, daily doubles, etc. There were entirely different windows for cashing winners as well.
Ocala may have been the first Berenson run fronton to switch from mutuel clerks using a keyboard to punch out tickets to the Australian Tote Company system. Under that process clerks would wind a dial around to the desired combination.
A quinella seller had 28 combinations whereas a perfecta seller would have 56.
Incidently, there was no going back once the ticket was punched. If the bettor changed his mind or did not have the funds the clerk would be stuck with the tickets. (I learned a few years later, while working at Big Bend, that people who got shut out would gladly purchase them so they would have “action” on the game). When player #1 served the pelota a bell would go off and the mutuel machines would lock.
Postscript. Opening day was a success. Two thousand two hundred and ninety six people showed up wagered $78,739. Both figures exceeded expectations. In fact, by the later games the fronton’s seating were fully occupied and people were watching play standing behind the last row of seats. Within a month the fronton would drop Friday matinees which added 2 additional weeks to the season. It also discontinued the “2 to 10 plan” when it reverted to the traditional !2 PM start for matinees and 7 PM start for evening performances. Although this appeared to be ominous, in reality the business was growing. Twenty betting windows were added and telewager “girls”were hired. Fridays and Saturdays became regular sellouts and the paved parking lot became too small. Plans were made to increase seating after the season ended. The partidos held at the onset of the season resulted in a championship game on August 23 between Joey-Laca and Bolivar-Gorrono. Over 800 fans stayed after the 12th game for the event which started at 11:55 PM. The match lasted for over an hour and was so frenzied that a half dozen breaks were taken, in accordance of “old world Partido rules.” Team Bolivar won 12-11 when he threw a match winning chula. It was reported that Joey was so upset at losing that he had tears in his eyes. Bolivar raised both arms and gave a big smile to the crowd. Pari-mutuel beat writer, Jim Haynes suggested that the 20 year old was jealous was of all the attention that Joey received and “wanted desperately to beat the American.” Haynes was very impressed with Laca. His description of him was that “he played like he had a car payment due.” GM Gilbert was so impressed that he raised the prize money from $50 and $25 to $200 and $150.
The last night of play on October 15, surprisingly a Monday, saw 2,556 fans pass through the turnstiles and wagered $132,893, the highest amount of the season.
Over the course of the year attendance totaled over 240,000 and $11.86 million was wagered. Berenson was not shy about expressing his amazement about the fronton. “I can’t believe what’s happened here. The people have embraced jai alai.“ In addition to the high quality of play, the people around him—player’s manager Enrique Beitia, general manager Ernest Gilbert, and publicity director Marty Fleishman to name a few—made Ocala a success.
