In the fall of 1964 Don Smiley, who was working at the Glendale Post Office at the time, sent one of his co-workers around to my folks' house to pick up some football sheets. Not knowing what to expect, I was somewhat taken aback when a helmeted guy named Bill Wallner, dressed in a leather jacket, levis and motorcycle boots pulled into the driveway on a loud Harley. First impressions mean a lot, they say, but in this case they couldn’t have been more misleading.

Why Jimmy Bond? Some thought the likeness to Sean Connery was amazing, others not so much, but regardless, the name stuck.

Jimmy Bond in reality, was about as far from a biker as any dude could be. He turned out to be a very conservative individual with interests that ran from football pools, to horse racing, to sandlot softball and flag football. And he worked most of his life in a suit and tie at an insurance company after starting things out with a short stint at the Naval Academy. That gig kept him on the rolls as a member of the US Navy and he was able to avoid the unpleasantness in Viet Nam because of it.

This flounder was gaffed at the ripe old age of 37 by the charming Miss Gloria.

Jimmy went on to play 341 NSAA softball and 55 football events (in documented attendance) and many more than that in the early years before records were kept. He ended up at #21 on the All-time list, and #6 in flag football. He also suffered two of the most frightening injuries in league history. On Jan 18, 1969 he broke his nose in a football game which resulted in the most blood ever spilled at an NSAA event. Then, on May 10, 1976 at a softball game, also on the college upper, he mysteriously collapsed on the field and we couldn’t get him up. The paramedics were called and he ended up in emergency surgery for a looped artery in his neck that got tweeked on a wicked ground ball to second base, thereby cutting off (as some opined) the supply of Coors to his brain. Yes, JB was known to enjoy a brewski from time to time.

In 1973 tired of his boring BS office routine, he quit and moved to the shed row at Santa Anita race track to take up, of all things, horse training. Working side-by-side with long time SoCal trainer Cliff Sise, he lasted about a year living in tack rooms and needing a shower before jumping back into a business suit down in San Diego. Just in time, as it turned out, to host the first ever Del Mar junket (for Commish, Eddie Lee, Combs and Whistler) at his SD digs. Over the years, he went on 19 Del Mar junkets in the 20th century and 9 more in the 21st. Then came the 34 infamous Bush Track junkets where a bunch of us NSAAers toured western states searching for small tracks with less sophisticated horse players to fleece. Fleecing was accomplished alright but not to the intended victims.

On the beach at the 1990 Del Mar junket.

After a 37 year batchlorhood in 1980 he finally took the plunge and married Gloria McElroy (a gal with a million dollar smile) right there in Glendale. Proudly, I got tapped as the Best Man but botched the gig totally when I could not even come up with the traditional, humorous preamble. All I did was hand over the ring. (Seriously, if you need a BM, I'd look elsewhere.) The couple lived in Diamond Bar for a while then moved down to Rancho Penasquitos. Although the marriage eventually dissolved, they ended up with two highly rated sons, Kevin and Brian, to show for it.

Camping with Commish in Princeton, BC on the 2001 sabattical.

In 2001 JB had earned a 3 month sabbatical from his employer and could think of nothing better to do with it than to head off to Canada in a midnight blue Ford Mustang with your humble correspondent. With the intent of slaying every bush track we could find up there, we had a great time puntin’ the ponies and living out of cheap motels and camping tents for 5 weeks-- before I had to head home. Jimmy kept going for another 2 months, however, and ended up running amok thru most of British Columbia and Alberta before returning home with a great love for Canada. For a long time he intended to go back in a big RV after retirement and do it up right. But the fates took a different turn.

In 2006 while back at the daily grind, he met and married a gal named Barbara Vilbrandt down south. He moved into her condo in north San Diego and they lived there for a number of years.

During this time, Barb's mother died and left the couple a windfall mostly from a property she owned in Rancho Santa Fe. With some of the proceeds JB decided to get into thoroughbred racing as an owner. A company called My Racehorse offered micro-shares in top notch runners for $200 a pop. One of the horses he owned was Authenic who ended up winning the 2020 Kentucky Derby. Later, this seemed to impress alot of the orbiting ladies at the old folks home.

After a whirlwind romance, JB married Barbara V, eight years his junior, down in San Diego.

Joy turned to sorrow shortly thereafter however, when Barbara took seriously ill and passed away at the tender age of 68. At about that same time, Jimmy’s health began faltering too. We were all shocked when, down for one of the Del Mar reunion junkets, we found him in a walker. A head scratcher for sure, as even his doctors never could come up with excactly what ailed the boy.

A few years later he sold the condo and moved up to NorCal in Santa Rosa into a series of assisted living places. After getting bounced out of two of them for too much screaming in the stretch, he ended up at Brookdale. a more tollerant place where he set up what became known as the Jimmy Bond Sports Book. A spot with TV sets, computers, outrageous snacks and adult beverages where one could bet every racetrack in America. I frequented the place on many a weekend, right up until his death on February 18th. Jimmy was a great NSAAer and good buddy to all who knew him. He will be sorely missed.

Shockingly we found Jimmy in a walker on the Del Mar reunion junket.