Louisville Magazine

DEC 2013

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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Do you like living here? "It's the fnest place I've lived, because it incorporates everything that I want in my life. I like good restaurants. I like the Toroughbred industry. I like very little trafc because I grew up with trafc. So it ofers me everything that I want in my life and then, if I want an amenity, I go to New York or I go to Miami, where I have residences. So I can get away from the basketball world, so to speak." We don't have paparazzi chasing you around here, but I'll bet in New York you get recognized. "I do, but in New York they'll yell something from the street, shake your hand, but when you go out, everybody is in such a rush to get where they have to go that they just don't notice. Now if you go to a Knicks game or you go to the theater, somebody may say something. But when you're out at a restaurant, everybody does their own thing." So you have places you can go where you can just step away. "Miami is the best for that. Miami is the best." I would sleep in the morning when I got of at 5 o'clock until lunchtime; then I would go play at McBurney YMCA (then) on 23rd Street in Manhattan. On Saturdays, Al would come over, and I would choose Al into our games just because he was in Te Godfather. He couldn't play. He was too small. "Years later, my wife is trying to get in to see him on Broadway. And she was using a friend of hers who was a producer on Good Morning America to get her backstage to see Al. I said, 'You should have asked me.' And my wife thinks she knows everything about me, but she didn't know the story I just told you. And I said, 'You know I used to choose him into games.' She said, 'No, you did not.' I said, 'OK, use Good Morning America.' She came back and I said, 'How was the show? Did you get backstage yet?' She said, 'No, she couldn't get me backstage.'" So what did you do? "I picked up the phone, and I called up the box ofce. I asked to speak to the manager. I said, 'I'm Coach Pitino. I used to coach the New York Knicks. Knew Al a long time ago, and I'd like to speak to. "The wealthy have gotten wealthier and the poor have gotten poorer. And the middle class is not coming up; it's moving down. It's quite obvious. But my world for 11 months a year revolves around people without means." You've been in horse racing for years. I've covered you since Cam Gambolati had horses for you. You had horses in the Breeders' Cup. People everywhere say horse racing is in trouble, that it's dead. What is one radical thing horse racing can do? "We need some form of casino gambling in the state. Why should we give the money across the river to another state? It's in every state surrounding us. It's not stopping Kentuckians from gambling, so why not have slots that would produce higher purses for the horses? If anybody should have slots, it's Kentucky, because the purse structure should go up in the home of horse racing. Why should New York's purses or California's purses or Florida's purses be higher than the breeding capital of the world?" Beyond horse racing, you meet celebrities, successful people — politicians, doctors, business people, actors. Can you tell us about some of those associations? "I played golf for a long time with Jack Nicholson. Laughed all through the rounds. He's a big basketball fan. I've played with Steve Wynn, the casino person. I've had a lot of experiences in my life with people like that, and the better person they are, the more I've enjoyed it. So I try to take away the Hollywood or Las Vegas part out of them and see what kind of person they are. I make decisions on how they treat me. Jack was a lot of fun to play golf with. I've played with a lot of professional golfers who are great to be around. I played last year with (Kentucky PGA tour veteran) Kenny Perry, and I judge Kenny Perry not as a golfer but as a person. And the person is better than the golfer, and he's a great golfer." Photographer Gail Kamenish: People had all that fun with you and Te Godfather. Have you ever met Al Pacino? "I've got a great story about Al Pacino. When I was in college, I had a summer job as a night watchman. My father was the superintendent of an industrial building. I lived in his locker room. I had a cot. . . .' Right away, he says, 'Louis is his manager. Here's his number.' I called Louis and said, 'I'm Rick Pitino. I used to coach the New York Knicks.' He said, 'I know who you are, Coach.' I said, 'My wife and myself are big Al Pacino fans and we're coming to your show, and she'd like to get back and say hello to him.' 'No problem, Coach.' I went back to her and said, 'No problem — we're going to see Al. We just have to stay in our seats after the show lets out and Louis will come and get us and bring us backstage.' So we're sitting there, sitting there, sitting there. Finally the usher says, 'C'mon, you gotta move out.' I said, 'No, we're meeting Al's business manager.' He says, 'Tat's what they all say. Get outta here.' So Joanne says, 'Yea, Mr. Big Shot, where's Louis?' And as we're about to leave, Louis comes out and says, 'Coach, come on back.' So we went back and met Al. I was talking to (the actor) Elliott Gould, who's a Knicks fan, and she's talking to Al about Scent of a Woman and doing the tango, and there he was, showing her how he learned to tango. Oh, she was in heaven." Did she meet anybody else like that? "Te same thing happened with a guy she just adores today, Hugh Jackman. We got backstage to meet Hugh Jackman. And it was because my son worked on Wall Street, and the person next to him, his brother was in the show. And listen to this one: His brother happened to be an ex-UK football walk-on. So we got backstage because of that. We spent 20 minutes with Hugh Jackman. He may have been the nicest celebrity we've ever met. He was so engaging, so nice. I couldn't believe it. My wife, she won't go see Wolverine, but everything else he's in, she's there." Could you run us through an average day during the season? "When I get up, I think, 'OK, we're going to master this day. Tis day is going to be something very special.' Ten I jump on the elliptical. I listen to music on the way to work. It's not a long ride — 10 minutes. I generally stop at Starbucks. Now I have a new routine. I don't go to 12.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 45

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