In the mid-1960s, two young men, David and Jonathan, attended Goddard College, a liberal arts school in rural Vermont.
They traveled from college to college hustling unsuspecting people for cash. Here’s how.
David and Jonathan would play ping pong against one another, and David would always win… because Jonathan would secretly let him.
David would then goad onlookers to beat him at ping pong for money. But he had one stipulation. The challenger had to beat Jonathan at a game first for the same amount.
Jonathan, a slight fellow, seemed easy to defeat.
But David failed to mention that Jonathan was the New York State ping pong champion of 1964, one of the best players in the country.
He could win even when he spotted a competitor 15 points.
The hustle succeeded over and over, and David and Jonathan split the winnings.
David went on to Broadway fame as a playwright who wrote American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, and other successes.
Jonathan became a standup comedian best known for his animated series on Comedy Central in the 1990s.
They are lifelong friends David Mamet and Jonathan Katz.
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