Jack Sheehan signs Quiet Kingmaker of Las Vegas
Last night, I drove up to the Rampart Casino in Summerlin, where Jack Sheehan was signing copies of his newest book, Quiet Kingmaker of Las Vegas
“Quiet Kingmaker,” Sheehan told us, is a biography of E. Parry Thomas, told through interviews with the man himself and a number of his famous friends and business partners. Sheehan interviewed Steve Wynn, for example, and Robert Maheu, Howard Hughes’ “alter ego.”
While Thomas, who has never sought the limelight, may be an unfamiliar name to many, he’s long been the man behind the curtain. As banker to Howard Hughes and a laundry list of shady characters other bankers shunned, Thomas brokered most of the deals that created today’s Las Vegas. As if that weren’t enough to warrant a biography, Thomas is also the reason UNLV has a decent-sized campus in the center of town. Realizing that the school could never grow to any kind of stature on its paltry fifty-acre stake, Thomas spearheaded an effort that led to the acquisition of hundreds of acres the state could never have afforded to buy.
Quiet Kingmaker of Las Vegas, by Jack Sheehan
I’ve only just begun to read Sheehan’s biography of the straight-arrow Mormon banker who built Sin City, but I’m already savoring a story that’s better than fiction. Sheehan’s knowledge of and appreciation for Las Vegas history lends depth and color, and he has captured first-hand accounts from a rapidly vanishing era. Maheu, for example, passed away just a few months after speaking with Sheehan.
In his remarks last night, Sheehan said that if you ask a random taxi driver who the Thomas & Mack Center is named for, chances are he’ll tell you they were two star athletes. While I’m glad to say that I did already know the story behind the stadium’s name, there’s much more about Las Vegas’ past I have yet to learn. I’m grateful to Jack Sheehan for this timely effort to preserve a fading segment of local history. Quiet Kingmaker fills an important gap.
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