Anyone remember Curtis Sharp? A long time ago, Curtis won a $5 million New York Lottery jackpot and he spent the rest of the 1980s sashaying around New York in bespoke suits and bowler hats attracting crowds wherever he went. Curtis was the Man. Charismatic and impish, Curtis was the Toast of the Town.
I once saw Curtis at a Yankee game and the aura around him was palpable. He was Electric. People just wanted to touch Curtis. Maybe some of that luck would rub off.
That afternoon, a few rows behind us, a drunk kept yelling at no one in particular: “You can’t win if you don’t play!” I thought that the guy was pretty creative for exhorting the listless Yanks (it was 1989, after all) to get in the game by using the Lotto marketing slogan within earshot of Curtis. I appreciated the confluence.
I think of Curtis often . . . around my shop, I’ve started calling Curtis the patron saint of LPs who invest in venture capital funds. Don’t get me wrong, I love VC. We continue to find extraordinary people doing venture investing in extraordinary ways.
It just strikes me that when you push some LPs to articulate why they have outsize venture commitments when history shows that only the smallest slice of the business has rewarded the faith, they throw out New York Lottery slogans with Ivy League veneer. They use words like “optionality,” and “asymmetric payoff.” They might as well be mimicking the catchphrases from the Lotto TV commercials: “Hey, you never know,” or “All you need is a dollar and a dream.”
They just want to be Curtis: The Guy That Beat The Odds.
I hope that everyone makes loads of money and I never root against anyone. That’s bad karma. I do find myself asking, though, how many LPs who invest in venture firms are committing the fallacy of composition: Some people have made fabulous returns in venture, therefore venture will provide fabulous returns. But hey, as they say: you can’t win if you don’t play.
Super LP 
Back in 1999/2000, GQ Magazine did a piece on lottery winners and our man Curtis Sharp was broke. I mean a$$ed out. His wife divorced him and he overspent his millions. As of the GQ article he was a street corner preacher. He was still styling in bespoke suits and his trademark bowler hat. Five million Samolians is not what it used to be.
Bond Street
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After winning the big money, she said, “it feels unlimited.”
But it isn’t. One of the best examples is Curtis Sharp Jr., an air-conditioning technician from Newark, N.J., who won $5 million playing Lotto in 1982. Sharp filmed commercials for the New Jersey Lottery Division, became something of a local celebrity – and blew his money on cars and fine living. Before long, he was borrowing against future payout checks. When it was all gone, he moved to Tennessee and became a minister.
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i’am living with the guy who won a year earlier than curtis.his name is lou eisenberg.when this guys teamed up together they gave hope to millions.i watch lou’s vidio’s of the last 20 years.they have to be the most televised of any lottery winner’s.lou is looking for someone to write a book on the two of them.
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First of all I recommend watch film about New York ( http://rapid4me.com/?q=new+york ) and afterwords about A Dollar and a Dream
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Hi great article Today, the closest definition to a dollar comes from the United States code Title 31, Section 5116, paragraph b, subsection 2, “The Secretary shall sell silver under conditions the Secretary considers appropriate for at least $1.292929292 a fine troy ounce.” However Federal Reserve banks are only required to deliver credits instead of money. The silver content of US coinage was mostly removed in 1965 and the dollar essentially became a baseless free-floating fiat currency, though the US Mint continues to make silver $1 coins at this weight.
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Agreed, we can’t wil if we don’t play and Curtis Sharp is a good example, but I can say that he is a good lucker…
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Great article. I knew Curtis Sharp and I can say that it’s a classical example of american dream. And I need to admit it works nowadays.
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New Jersey Lottery Division, became something of a local celebrity – and blew his money on cars and fine living. Before long, he was borrowing against future payout checks. When it was all gone, he moved to Tennessee and became a minister.
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