With the Stratosphere Tower about to celebrate its 20th anniversary this weekend, it seems timely to address a lesser-known side of its creator, Bob Stupak. While the self-styled "Polish Maverick" is remembered, deservedly, as a flamboyant and relentless self-publicist and high-stakes gambler, friends also remember him for being real and for putting his money where his mouth was. And he was no stranger to philanthropy, particularly after surviving a near-fatal motorbike accident in 1995 that definitely seems to have affected Bob Stupak's outlook on life. While he made no pretense about his expertise at extracting as much gambling bankroll as possible from his casino's patrons, Stupak knew what it was like to be the underdog and definitely had a compassionate side to his character.
"I don't know how anyone could have survived. Every bone in his face was fragmented. It was worse than anything you could see in a horror movie," recalls Phyllis McGuire, the famous singing sister and a long-term friend and companion to Stupak who helped nurse him back to life after he crashed his Harley Davidson. But during his absence, the Stratosphere's construction costs had spiraled out of control, while the project's owner was facing potential multi-million dollar fines relating to gaming violations stemming from his vacation-package promotions. However, once he was back in action, rather than hunkering down or losing his mind, Stupak opted to sell a bunch of stock and start cutting checks to charities, evidently in gratitude for being alive.
For example, in 1996 Stupak donated $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund in exchange for being able to suit up and play basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. Of course, Stupak being Stupak, there was a whirlwind of associated publicity plus, as John L Smith reports in his biography of the casino entrepreneur, No Limit, he "had as much $250,000 riding on wagers he made with associates on whether he could make a shot from the charity stripe." An inveterate gambler who claims to have wagered every single day of his adult life, with Stupak there was always an angle, but a donation's a donation all the same.
It was around this same time that Stupak offered $100,000 to anyone who could help solve the murder of a North Las Vegas second-grader who was gunned down one Halloween night, but the he case went unsolved. He contributed money to homeless programs and fed thousands of meals to the city's needy. In another classic Stupakian play, covered by former Las Vegas journalist Steve Friess, in 1998 the casino owner threw a Thanksgiving party for the homeless at his Thunderbird motel, offering free turkey dinners and free $5,000 chips to the city's poor "for their benefit and enjoyment."
The stunt happened to coincide with Stupak's battle with the Horseshoe over an estimated $250,000 in $5,000 chips that the cage was refusing to cash. Of course, the "chips" being handed out at dinner turned out to be of the chocolate variety (also the nickname for the brown-colored $5,000 chips, but these were definitely the edible type) and host Stupak also invited a bunch of TV reporters along for the show. But the 1,200 meals he paid for were real enough and not every philanthropic gesture was accompanied by a press release. On that occasion, Stupak made a point to address the media, observing: "These people don't care about the chips, only you people care about that. Look at them, they're good people who need some help."
At the time of Stupak's passing, fellow poker champ and gaming executive Bobby Baldwin described how Stupak was someone who "forged the image and personality of Las Vegas" and was "committed to bettering the Las Vegas community which he deeply loved." It was for as much for his charitable donations and community contributions as it was for his efforts to put Vegas on the map that the City Council officially recognized Stupak as "Mr Las Vegas" in 1996 (see QoD 4/14/16), following his substantial contributions to the City. This included founding Chester Stupak Family Park, named for his father, and the Stupak Community Center (251 W Boston Ave.), an award-winning facility that's credited to this day with being a major social hub in the resource-deprived neighborhood behind the Stratosphere.
As a gambler himself, Stupak was attune to the plight of other talented degenerates, chief among them being legendary card player and cocaine addict Stu Ungar. At one point when "The Kid" was particularly down on his luck, Stupak let him live for free at the Thunderbird. It was just prior to Stuey's death, in 1998, that Bob Stupak made an arrangement to pay off Ungar's debts and stake him in several tournaments over a period of time. Of course, the terms of the contract were that Stupak would get to keep any winnings, but at the time there was no one else left who'd invest a dime in the three-times WSOP champ, so dire was his physical and mental condition. Stupak was offering him a genuine last lifeline.
As it turned out, it was too late. On November 20, 1998, Stu Ungar checked into another seedy motel located at the north end of the Strip, where he was found dead two days later. All that remained of the $25,000 advance he'd received from Bob Stupak was $800. Nevertheless, Mike Sexton, of World Poker Tour fame, recalls that "When Stuey died ... Stupak did come to bat and paid for the whole funeral to start with. At the funeral itself, all of the players came out. It was a really nice affair. The family didn't have any money, so Stupak funded it. But at the funeral, he did go around and pass the hat around to all of the players, and everybody forked in and put money in the hat. Knowing Stupak, he probably came out ahead on the deal. Still, I always admired him for stepping up to the plate and putting up the money for the funeral. That was really nice of him." And that was classic Stupak.
