Precita Valley CHESS HERALD
Vol. 2, No. 2, February 1957

HOROWITZ AT SAN QUENTIN
(Jim Reynolds)

It was unscheduled and somewhat hard to squeeze in on Al Horowitz's very fast schedule, but following his night at Precita Valley and just prior to his exhibition at Mechanics' Institute, Al did manage to get to San Quentin. Al was greeted there by John Apostel, asst to supervisor of recreation, Mr. C. L. Swagerty who was on leave. He, in turn, was also greeted by old president of San Quentin's chess club, Nolte, and their new president, Frazier. The club is getting very democratic so have a new president about every club election.

The San Quentin Chess Club members gave up their lunch hour to see and hear Al. This did not give Al much time but he did make a hit and chatted with the members of the club and treated them as personally as possible. Upon leaving the institution, Al remarked, "I'll never regret having made this visit --, it was new and most interesting. And say, they have quite a chess club in there!"

All during his stay in San Francisco Al kept his eyes open for a post office. The post office at San Quentin stood out like a sore thumb and Al couldn't help using the facilities. As he asked for a money order, the lady clerk on duty asked, "For somebody inside?"

"Goodness no!" replied Al, "I have no relatives there!"

But --, he was probably thinking, I hope I have some friends...

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