In today’s Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven, I take a look back at the career of Bill Pennington, who had a much bigger impact on Las Vegas than is generally recognized:
Last month the Nevada casino industry lost one of its pioneers when William N. “Bill” Pennington died at the age of 88. He wasn’t a household name in Las Vegas, but he had a hand in the creation of today’s Las Vegas Strip by helping transform a struggling, scandal-plagued hotel-casino into the keystone of what was, for a time, the most profitable gaming company in the world.
The very end of what I initially wrote didn’t make it in because of space constraints, but because it’s got an important quote from another Strip pioneer, I thought it was important to share. It also puts Pennington’s contributions into perspective:
And, in addition to being a business leader, Pennington never lost sight of the big picture.
“He wasn’t just a good businessman,” says longtime Circus marketing maven Mel Larson. “He was a good husband, father, and friend.”
In a time when Mob museums are memorializing the less-savory elements of our past, we shouldn’t forget real pioneers like Bill Pennington.
To me it’s a real shame that you’ve got tributes to people whose biggest claim to fame was that they had rap sheets, but no public recognition of the contributions of people like Pennington who just took risks, gave visitors what they wanted, and gave a lot of people jobs.