He was definitely the king of a small kingdom. My cousin was the same in a small town less than fifty miles from there when I think about it. The high school basketball star of a small town of maybe a few thousand or less. It was cause for excitement for a few years when the caution light in the middle of town was changed to a redlight, the only one for miles around! Then the highway department took the redlight away for some reason.
Chris was the real deal, NBA teams scouting him in high school. Unfortunately trying out a friend's motorbike with his girlfriend on back got one leg shortened several inches and among a lot of other things ended any NBA dreams. Fortunately the girl wasn't hurt and they are still married over fifty years later. The whole town knew my cousin and he was treated like a celebrity everywhere he went by people of all ages.
This guy was obviously the same. Had I beaten him it would have been like mighty Casey striking out in Mudville. We were playing for the usual few dollars a game, maybe five, I really don't remember but almost certainly three or five and I was very highly paid on this project. Had I lost real cash the king would have had to die, figuratively of course.
Hu
