When the folks at Potawatomi Bingo Casino asked if we wanted to talk to Vince Van Patten while he's in town to spread the word about the casino's holiday charitable campaign Miracle on Canal Street, Andy Tarnoff and I jumped at the chance.
More than simply being the face of Potawatomi -- he admits he never wears a tux, much less a bow tie (tied or otherwise) when he plays poker; it's bad luck he says -- Van Patten has had a long and varied career.
Son of actor Dick Van Patten, Vince was making films and appearing in all kinds of TV shows since childhood. He was in "Rock and Roll High School" and he also starred as TV's "Bionic Boy" in a spinoff of "The Six Million Dollar Man."
He was a ranked tennis player who beat John McEnroe in 1981, is a pro poker player and a poker commentator. He's written a mystery novel and on and on and on.
Here is an excerpt of the conversation we had with him this morning at the OnMilwaukee.com offices.
OnMilwaukee.com: How long have you been doing the Potawatomi campaign?
Vince Van Patten: About 8 years.
OMC: So people probably think that you have a Milwaukee connection, but you've never lived here or spent a lot of time here other than what you did for the campaign.
VV: That's right.
OMC: So do you get that when you're traveling ... "Hey, it's the Potawatomi guy!"
VV: Yeah, a lot of people ... why aren't you back in Milwaukee? I say I'm actually just the spokesperson for [Potawatomi].
OMC: You're sort of a renaissance man for lack of a better word.
VV: I'm lucky. I've been able to do things that I like, and turns out, pretty good. I've been a failure in many ventures, of course.
OMC: Do you think you beat McEnroe because you were the Bionic Boy? Did that give you special powers?
VV: Actually, when I did the "Bionic Boy," I was 19 and was going to make national junior tennis, and get to go back east to Kalamazoo, and I wound up getting this "Bionic Boy" show instead. It was a choice: "Do you want to play in the nationals?" I wouldn't have done well in the nationals. I was not even ranked nationally, so I chose to do this show, "Bionic Boy." I never thought I'd make it in tennis, but it took like two years, and it was after, I started kind of going for it and kind of broke through.
OMC: So you were doing all of that stuff concurrently -- tennis and TV and films at the same time?
VV: Yeah.
OMC: Acting, being a spokesman, playing professional tennis, playing professional poker -- which do you like the best out of all these things? If money wasn't part of the picture, what would you do all day?
VV: I wouldn't play poker. I've played poker for so long, and I enjoy playing it, but if it wasn't for the money I wouldn't do it. I just wouldn't do it. Too much sitting.
I love tennis. Tennis is by far the hardest. I mean you can't get there unless you have the talent. That's the best feeling. Acting is subjective, as well. You don't have to be the best actor in the world. You could have a certain look or something else, so that's nice, and I'm glad I've had a nice career and all of that, but I'm not as proud of that.
Hosting -- when I do (poker) commentary and stuff -- that comes very naturally to me. I'm kind of an authority on the subject. With poker and tennis, I can do that with my eyes closed, and I like it. I have a great partner on The World Poker Tour -- Mike Sexton -- we just have laughs and like to analyze poker.
OMC: What about the poker thriller book that you wrote.
VV: It was fictional, and a very decent fictional writer came to me and said, "I do a lot of murder mysteries. I know you know the poker world. You know the acting and directed before, and wrote screenplays and stuff like that. Would you like to combine and do something?"
This was about four or five years ago. So we did, and I put my touch of poker knowledge in. I, hopefully, in the book, made people feel like they're living a real part of it ... of life in Vegas at Bellagio, and a murder mystery happens.
OMC: Do you spend a lot of time in Vegas?
VV: Yeah. Can't go wrong. It's great. It's fun. Every restaurant in the world.
OMC: So, tell us about why you're in Milwaukee this time; about Potawatomi's Miracle on Canal Street.
VV: Next Friday is the announcement of the grand prize of how much we've raised for Miracle on Canal Street in the bingo games, and you still have a chance to contribute if you play the Miracle games at Potawatomi, that pool
is still getting added up. That's why I'm on some radio shows, telling people to enjoy it.
Potawatomi, for 17 years, has had Miracle on Canal Street, and it raises money for all of the charities -- children's charities -- in Wisconsin, and believe it or not, it's close to $10,000,000 after 17 years. This year we hope to go over the $10,000,000 mark. We don't know where it will be,
but that's not bad. The bingo people have enjoyed it; it's a social thing; it's an exciting thing, but on top of that they get to raise a lot of important money for great charities.
OMC: You get to Milwaukee semi-regularly, right? Where do you like to go when you're here, other than the casino and Dreamdance? Do you have a chance to get out to some of the places in town?
VV: I'm a runner, actually, I love to run, and I always run from The Pfister, where they put me up, down by the lake and by the tennis courts down there, and then stop at the coffee shop. So, I absolutely love to run and be outside in the fresh air. I always wind up going to a fantastic restaurant. I mean, I've gone to the great German restaurant in town, and then we always go to these fantastic restaurants they take me to, so I enjoy it. I went to the Brewers game last year. An amazing stadium. So, yeah, I like to get around.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
