The Pinball Wizard, Elton John, and a 30 Year Record

Ron Mowry is the Pinball Wizard, and until anyone can prove that they’ve played pinball longer than he has, he maintains his title. “I’m the original pinball wizard. There’s only one of me.”Mowry, a grounds worker here at Plymouth State University, played a pinball game for seventy-two hours and eight minutes thirty years ago in Florida where he lived at the time. It all started when the movie “Tommy” opened in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a local radio station announced a lottery to win a chance to play one of fifteen pinball machines for a prize. First prize was an $1,800 pinball machine, second prize was 250 silver dollars and third prize was a date with Anne Margaret, one of the actresses from “Tommy.” At the time, lotteries were illegal in Florida and Mowry didn’t want to be involved in anything like that, so he proposed that the radio station take the first fifteen people that showed up. “They said ‘don’t make waves.’ The moon makes waves. I don’t make waves,” Mowry replied. The radio station offered to get Mowry a sixteenth machine since he wasn’t chosen for the lottery, but that angered him even more. Instead, he found his own machine in a submarine sandwich shop in the next county and played pinball there.Mowry, who said, “I’m not lucky,” started his first game at the same time that the fifteen other people did without a rigged machine and any rules and regulations. The machines that the others were playing were set at continuous play, where Mowry’s machine required a quarter or a free game to keep it going. Mowry tilted the first game and didn’t tilt again until his very last game. “I’m the only one so far, under those certain circumstances. You play the game by putting the quarter in,” Mowry said. He also was able to win bonuses and free games, which helped keep him going. “What I did [by] tilting that first game was to [set a record] for thirty years later, to dare you to break my record.”Another radio station competing with the one in Fort Lauderdale interviewed Mowry. He wanted support from others to him keep going during the seventy-two hour playing time. “When I was on FM radio, I asked for help. I asked the people of South Miami to come give me quarters, get a patch, but most of all help me.” Mowry had been sewing patches to earn money and had a table set up at the submarine sandwich shop where people could take one in exchange for a quarter. He said that people came in from all over Florida including Miami and Key West to support him. Mowry donated all of the money spent during his games to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters charity. Mowry played until his legs could no longer sustain him. Doctors had his legs elevated during the seventy-two hour span, but advised him to stop after they became swollen. He played continuously, only taking five minute breaks every hour to use the bathroom. Internal motivation kept Mowry going and he said that until you play a game for that long, only you know where your mind will take you. “I did this just to prove that I am the only one that knows how to play a pinball machine for three days without losing your legs or your mind.” Since no previous record had been set for playing pinball, Mowry hoped to be included in the Guinness World Book of Records. The book, however, does not include pinball or any kind of arcade games and Mowry was turned away when he attempted to talk to them. Mowry said, “I was a superstar without the star.” It wasn’t until, by chance, that Mowry met Walter Day that he had a shot at recognition. Day runs Twin Galaxies, the official record keeper of pinball and arcade games. Mowry is included in the new Twin Galaxies book, which has yet to be released. Mowry signed copies of the older version of the Twin Galaxies book even though he wasn’t included, and even signed an autograph for Sir Elton John, an avid pinball fan.Mowry wrote a book of his own, entitled Mayfair, which is in the process of being printed. The book is named after the doughnut shop that Mowry’s father used to share with Samaha’s on the corner in downtown Plymouth. Mowry’s father used to look after him during the day, so to keep the then three-year old Mowry entertained, his father would let him play his old pinball machine. Mowry credits his parents for getting him started with pinball. His mother, who lives in New Jersey, is very proud of his accomplishment. Mowry continued to make patches and made two very special ones that he hopes to present to Sir Elton John when he plays at the Verizon Wireless arena this Friday, April 23 (These patches have been on display in the windows of Samaha’s). He has been working on getting in contact with Sir Elton John’s advance team and hopes to be able to show them an article from a 1976 Florida newspaper stating his record. Mowry has his ticket ready for the show and hopes that Sir Elton John will play “Pinball Wizard” for him at the concert. Even though Mowry won his record thirty years ago, Mowry said that he “can remember it like it was yesterday. It’s never going to leave my mind, because I lived it.” He wears a jean jacket displaying his accomplishment of seventy-two hours and eight minutes, and until someone beats him, this Pinball Wizard remains unchallenged and undefeated.