Dear Fran, thanks for your contributions to this thread and your opinion on what I should have done other than what I did do. As you can see none of that will change now after the fact. Bottom line is that Barry fired me for not going along with his plan to get ALLEN into the tournament and rather than beg his forgiveness I quit.
I first knew this was coming at 7:30 Sunday morning (the first day of the tournament) when I got a text from Barry telling me that I had to put Allen in the tournament. After I responded that I couldn't do that since we had already done the draw the night before and posted it, he persisted in making more texts which became increasingly hostile and profane. I then called Allen in his room at 8 AM and told him that he could not get into the tournament, even though Barry had made an oversight in leaving his name off the list of past champions. The issue as to why this happened was between Barry and Allen! Allen said that he understood and that he didn't care if he played or not. I thought the problem had been solved.
How wrong I was! Barry went into hyper-drive about getting Allen into the field by hook or crook. He began exploring ways to find a player (any player) who would withdraw and give Allen his spot. He went so far as to post a notice to this effect by the tournament chart at mid day. I continued to go about my business as TD, hoping that no one would go along with this scheme of Barry's.
It has never been easy to run this event (I returned home sick last year) and this year I was left to pretty much shoulder it on my own. There was no Ken Shuman (a previous Barry fire), no Bill Stock, no John Leyman to help with the myriad tasks involved in making this event run smoothly. I had only Karl Kantrowitz to assist me as a referee, a good man but not the co-director that I needed. I was left to do the work of three men. It's not as simple as "just showing up" as you so innocently described it here. In fact I prepare for several weeks to do this job, communicating with Barry and Pat to make sure things are in order.
So on the first day of the event (after having done the players meeting and draw the evening before) I was faced with running a very difficult tournament on my own and dealing with an out of control promoter who was breathing down my neck asking me to bend my ethics to cover up his failures. I refused!
Unbeknown to me Barry had found a candidate who was willing to withdraw from the tournament for a nice settlement (more than his entry fee!). It may have helped him to make that decision knowing he was facing Warren Kiamco in the first round. So during the dinner break Barry had one of his workers white out the name of the player and write in Allen Hopkins name. I found this out when I returned from a quick dinner. No one was willing to do this while I was around! Barry then left a message on my phone saying I was fired. I continued to work the rest of the night (until after 1 AM) posting up the results, officiating the matches and scheduling the next two days of matches on the tournament board.
Barry never showed his face or spoke to me in person after his nefarious plan was enacted. He knew how I felt about it. I think you get the gist of what was at stake here from all the posters who understand what integrity is. I could have stayed (once again begging the forgiveness of Lord Barry) and just compromised my principles and tacitly condoned what had gone on, leaving my ethics at the door.
For me Fran, it was a Sophie's Choice. I couldn't win either way. If I stay I'm part of what went on and if I leave I deserted my post. I did my best to prepare Scott (our emcee) to take over in my absence, leaving him all the materials I use to run things. The man that I brought in to assist me (Bobby Chamberlain) was willing to stay and help out, even though Barry at first wanted him off my team. Barry needed Bobby now so he switched course and asked him to stay on.
I talked with several players that night and told them what had happened (none of them agreed with Barry and what he did) and that in good conscience I could not stay as TD. Whatever authority I had was now gone and Barry could continue to do things his way, right or wrong. Pat Fleming also asked me to stay, and he tried to rectify things and get Allen to not play. Unsuccessfully I might add.
I couldn't sleep that night, knowing what was ahead. The combination of Barry's abusive texts, feeling totally exhausted after only one day and then being asked to look the other way while the tournament board was compromised was a little more than I could bear. Unless you were in my shoes Fran you wouldn't have any idea what I was going through. It may have been the hardest decision I've ever made as a TD to accept Barry's firing and leave, but for me it was the right one to make. And I would do it again under similar circumstances.
I flew home the next day (on Monday) and slept good on the long flight back to California. I woke up with no self doubts, knowing that I had done the right thing, and in the end that's what matters most to me. Not how people feel about what I did, but how I feel about what I did. To thine own self be true and I was!
