If the saga of Top O' Hill Casino becoming Arlington Baptist College were written as fiction, readers would dismiss t as improbable and impossible.  The story of a tea room evolving into the gambling hot spot of Texas that was then fought by a fiery gospel preacher, who foretold its transformation into a Baptist seminary and ultimately an accredited Bible college, is stranger than fiction yet absolutely true.  The rich and famous enjoyed rubbing shoulders with the mysterious and notoriously infamous, and if large amounts of money were involved, so much the better. Stir in fabulous racehorses, flashy stage and screen stars, singers, dancers, well-known bandleaders and bands, and the tale becomes enthralling.

Top O' Hill Casino was taking in over a half a million dollars on weekends in the depth of the Great Depression while Las Vegas was but a duty crossroad in Nevada.