Fred McNatt is not your typical “Friday night with the boys” type of card player. The Ninnekah resident recently qualified for this year’s World Series of Poker to be played at the North Texas WinStar Casino next week and friends may get to see him play on ESPN’s live coverage of the final rounds on Saturday, August 23.
McNatt has been playing for almost twenty years but got serious about it five years ago.
He has played in numerous “invitation-only” poker, blackjack and golf tournaments that have opened doors to major sporting events and allowed him to rub shoulders with a list of sport and entertainment celebrities that is staggering.
“I played in the Lake Tahoe Celebrity Golf Tournament for the past two years with people like Emmitt Smith, Tony Romo, Jerry Rice, Digger Phelps, Michael Jordan, John Elway, Charles Barkley, Johnny Bench and Ben Roethlisberger, among others,” he told me.
“I went to Eddie Murphy’s birthday party a couple of years ago during a pre-season NFL ‘meet-and-greet’ at Planet Hollywood and got to play with Warren Moon, Lawrence Taylor, Marshall Faulk, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Burt Reynolds.”
His most memorable celebrity run-in, though, was in January, 2007 when he was invited to the Mirage in Las Vegas to play in the Garth Brooks “Teammates for Kids” $100,000 Celebrity Poker Tournament.
“When I was young I did lighting for concerts and turned Garth down when he was in Stillwater and just getting started in music,” he said. “It was a $150.00 job.”
“My wife, my mother and I got to meet him and Trisha Yearwood at a special reception and we had a good laugh about that.”
Also included in the deal was a private concert by Garth and Tricia, complete with lighting.
I asked Fred what his wife Allison does when he goes to these tournaments. He responded that she used to go with him a lot but now she just stays here and looks after things at home.
The McNatts have a son, Justin, a freshman at CHS, and a family tradition of helping. Fred’s father, Gene, donated the land for the Ninnekah HS baseball complex and passed away two weeks before getting to see the large scoreboard he donated to the program installed two summers ago.
“I lost my dad in May of 2006 and I go outside, look up at the heavens and talk to him every time before I play,” he told us.
Most recently, McNatt qualified for the World Series of Blackjack to be played in November at the Dallas Winstar, finishing 72nd out of a field of 8,600 players.
Next up, though, is the World Series of Poker and he’ll play on Thursday, Aug. 21st. The tournament wraps up on Saturday with the winner claiming a $2 million dollar first prize.
There will be a “send-off” party for McNatt at A&E; Grill next Wednesday evening from 7:30 until 10 p.m. and “everyone’s invited.”
“It gets crazy sometimes,” he said. “One year I flew out to Vegas on Friday morning, played, flew back home for my son’s football game Friday night then flew back to finish the tournament Saturday morning. This has been fun but it gets tiring.
“After the Blackjack Series wraps up in November, I’m going to take about five years off.”
Sports
McNatt qualifies for World Series of Poker
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THURS, SEP 9
BSB-Am-Po, Ninnekah @ Fletcher WB tournament (TBA)
BSB-Verden @ Geronimo tournament (TBA)
SB-Alex hosts Elmore City (4:30 start)
SB-Am-Po, Verden @ Sterling tournament (TBA)
SB-Chickasha @ OU HOF tournament (TBA)
SB-Chickasha MS hosts Noble (5:00)
SB-Ninnekah @ Lindsay tournament (TBA)
VB-Chickasha HS/MS @ Cement (4:00 start)
XC-Chickasha @ Cameron (4:30 start) -
O-State finds go-to receiver in Blackmon
Justin Blackmon had the humblest of goals in Oklahoma State's season opener. Even a single catch would have made him a happy man.
He ended up with so much more. Blackmon caught eight passes for 125 yards and three touchdowns in the Cowboys' 65-17 win against Washington State on Saturday night. He also picked up a blocked punt and scored on that, too.
Even after his career day, Blackmon isn't getting ahead of himself.
"That was just one game," he said Monday. "The next game, it could be somebody else being that guy, having numbers like that." -
Mighty-mites to sponsor scrimmages, food drive
The Chickasha Mighty Mite Football Association will sponsor a food drive in conjunction with several scheduled scrimmages Saturday.
Scrimmages will start at 10 a.m. at the Chickasha Sports Complex. Fans are asked to donate a non-perishable food item or $2 for entrance into the complex. Food and money donations will go to soup kitchens at Lighthouse Ministry and Cornerstone Church.
The scrimmages will feature eight to 10 teams from Chickasha, as well as teams from Andarko, Elgin, Weatherford, and Lawton. -
Storms empty Memorial Stadium early
The first night of real football ended early when Thursday’s storms blew into Chickasha, forcing the cancellation of the Chicks' freshman game with Anadarko.
The cancellation was announced it at the end of the third quarter of the eighth grade game, and they tried to finish that one, but when the Warriors scored with just under three minutes left to extend to 38-14 under threatening skies, the officials said “enough” and sent everyone home. -
Wort adds British flair for No. 7 OU
Football is king where Oklahoma linebacker Tom Wort is from. Just not American football.
Wort’s father would regularly bring footballs back to England from his business trips to the U.S., feeding his son’s obsession with the game played an ocean away. Wort would promptly get them confiscated by the headmaster. No room for that at recess.
“I’d be playing around with it on the playground, I’d be playing catch and he came and took it away from me because he said that because of the point, if it hits someone, it might hurt them,” Wort said. -
Mount St. Mary's: Too big of a hill to climb
Chickasha’s volleyball team turned a much-needed corner at Mt. St. Mary’s Thursday but still came up short, losing on the road in four tough games.
The Chicks lost games one and two by identical 19-25 scores and then came back for a 25-23 win in game three. They dropped game four 23-25 for their tenth match loss of the year. -
UTAH STATE at OU
Line: Oklahoma by 34.
Series Record: Oklahoma leads 4-0.
Last Meeting: Sept. 15, 2007, Oklahoma 54-3
What's at Stake
Oklahoma can become the seventh Division I program to reach 800 wins if it avoids starting a second straight season with an upset loss to a Utah-based team — last season it was BYU at Cowboys Stadium. The Aggies are trying to win their season opener for just the fourth time in 24 tries and the first time since 1997.
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Lady Chicks' bats heat up in 7-4 win
Chickasha’s softball team secured its third win of the season Thursday just before thunderstorms rolled across into town and drenched the diamonds.
After another slow start, this one against Guthrie in conference play, the Chicks turned things completely around for a solid, 7-4, comeback win.
“We got the game in then got us out,” Chick coach Jimmy Darnell quipped. “The storms and lightning were coming in pretty quick.” -
QB Roethlisberger suspension reduced
NEW YORK (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger's suspension has been cut from six games to four by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The Pittsburgh Steelers' star quarterback met with Goodell early Friday and was told he could return on Oct. 17 against Cleveland.
Roethlisberger was suspended in April for violating the league's personal conduct policy, but Goodell said at the time he would review the player's behavior over the next few months. Goodell was satisfied that the quarterback has followed the league's guidelines and stayed out of trouble. -
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SAT, SEP 4
BSB-Am-Po, Ninnekah, Verden @ Hydro-Eakly tournament (TBA)
SB-Ninnekah hosts Verden (noon)
SB-Am-Po @ Maysville (11 a.m. start)
SB-Chickasha HS/MS tournament (TBA)
SOC-USAO v Emmanuel College @ Union, TN (1:00, 3:00)
SUN, SEP 5
BSB-Am-Po, Ninnekah, Verden @ Hydro-Eakly tournament (TBA)
MON, SEP 6
BSB-Am-Po, Ninnekah, Verden @ Hydro-Eakly tournament (TBA) - More Sports Headlines
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