Wanna Bet?
Throughout history, man's inability to back down has resulted in many bold wagers. From coin flips to 100-yard sprints, crazy wagers are everyhwere. Here are some of history's wildest.
Teed Off In what might be one of the craziest golf wagers ever, Huck Seed accepted a six figure challenge to play four rounds of golf in a single day, breaking 100 in each round, using only a five-iron, a sand wedge, and a putter. He had to do it all without the aid of a golf cart on a day when temperatures soared up to 120 degrees. Sure enough, Seed pulled it off
Walk For The Ages Notorious playboy Harry Bensley couldn't help but overhear a conversation between John Pierpont Morgan and Hugh Cecil Lowther, Fifth Earl of Lonsdale, at the National Sporting Club in London in 1907. Morgan and Lonsdale were arguing over whether a man could walk around the world without being identified. By the end of that evening, the two had placed a $100,000 wager on Bensley completing the journey. On January 1, 1908, Bensley began his journey under 15 separate stipulations, among them that he was to walk through 169 specific British colonies in a particular order, push a baby carriage the entire way, wear an iron mask throughout, and find a wife along the way despite wearing said mask. The details of the trip have been muddled over the years, but some say he abandoned his journey with the onset of World War I, after six years of walking.
Life Or Death In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel. Webb must have assumed his reputation would hold up when he bet $10,000 (huge money at the time) that he could swim across the whirlpool below Niagara Falls. The boast proved costly, as Webb lost the wager and his life on the same day.
Fighting Into The Sunset In the twilight of his wild and reckless life, poker legend Johnny Moss was once approached and offered $15,000 to $1,000 odds that he couldn't win a bar fight. Moss ended up in the hospital with several broken bones. Legend has it that fellow Vegas legend Puggy Pearson came to his bedside, pleading with Moss to stop his foolish bets. Moss told him, "Fifteen-to-one was too good to pass up. I had to take it."
Millennium Bet In 1989, a man in South Wales walked into a local sports book and put down a $75 bet on a series of events that he claimed would occur by the year 2000. They included singer Cliff Richard being knighted by the Queen, rock band U2 staying together, and soap opera Eastenders staying on the BBC. Sure enough, the man returned in 2000 with all these events having transpired. The cumulative 6,479-1 odds resulted in an estimated $486,000 payday.
$100,000 Curves
Little did Vegas gambler Brian Zembic know that a discussion on the merits of breast implants would render him with a shapelier figure and a fatter bank roll. It was in 1997 that a friend, a high-stakes backgammon player, offered Zembic $100,000. All Brian had to do was get C-cup silicone implants and keep them in for a year. Almost ten years later, he still has them.
World Cup Wager
Steve Caldicott of Birmingham, England, must have had high hopes for his young son when he walked into a William Hill sports book in 1997. Caldicott placed a $33 wager that his young son would score a goal for England in the 2018 World Cup soccer final. At the time, Caldicott's son was 3 1/2 years old.
Whether for money or pride, history is full of some really wild wagers.