In honor of Larry King, here's one of the craziest stories I've ever heard...

...and it happened to Larry.

Buckle up. It's wild.

(A thread.)

All of this is a direct quote from Larry King in @esquire, as told to @calfussman. Okay. Here we go:

"I gambled only on horses. I liked the thrill of them turning into the stretch. I still like it. Except it's not as much fun when you don't need the money. It's much more...

"...fun when you're riding on the rent.

I'm dead broke. Station I was working at had just switched to ethnic. Hired all black—and we were all let go at once.

So I'm out of work. I have forty-eight dollars to my name...

"It's late May, and I'm paid through the end of May rent. I got a daughter I'm trying to support. I'm divorced. It's 1972. I drive to Calder racetrack. I'm sitting there and it's the third race and I look up at the horses. I see a horse called Lady Forli...

"It's a filly running against males. Normally, fillies don't beat males. We're talking cheap horses. I look up at the board and she's 70 to 1. I look at the guy next to me and say, 'You know, this horse, three races back, won in more or less the same company. Why is she 70 to 1?'

"Guy says, 'Well, there's a couple of new horses here.' I said, 'Yeah, but she should be, like, 20 to 1, not 70 to 1.' Screw it... I bet ten dollars on the horse to win. I keep looking at the horse. The more I'm looking at this horse, the more I like it. So I now bet exactas...

"I bet it on top of every other horse and below every other horse—11 over everybody and 11 under everybody. Now I've got a wheel. It's called a wheel. Oh—I'm wearing a Pierre Cardin jean outfit that has no pockets. The keys are in the car where the valet parked it.

"So I said, "Wait a minute. I got four dollars left. I gotta give the valet two bucks. I've got my cigarettes—don't need money for that. You could also bet a trifecta." So my birthday is November 19. The horse is number 11. So I'll bet 11-1-9...

"Now I've got 11 on top, I've got 11 on bottom, I've got 11 to win, and I've got a trifecta 11-1-9. I've got two dollars left to my name. Now the race begins. They break out of the gate, the 1 breaks on top, the 9 is second, and the 11 is third. The 11 passes the 9...

"...the 11 passes the 1, and they run in a straight line all around the track. No question.

"The 11 wins by five lengths. The 1 is three lengths ahead of the 9. So I've got every winning ticket. I got it to win. I got the exacta. I got the trifecta. I collect $11,000—eleven thousand dollars! But I got no pockets...

"So I stuff all the money in my jacket. I don't know what to do with it. I run outta the track. The valet guy comes out and brings me the car. He says, "You leaving so early?" I said, "Yeah." He says, "Bad day, Mr. King?" I tip him fifty dollars. Guy nearly faints...

"I gotta go somewhere. I drove into a vacant lot which is now Joe Robbie Stadium. I parked among the weeds. And I opened up my jacket and all the money spilled out. I counted out $11,000...

"You know what I did? My child support was $100 a month. I sent $1,200. My rent was $360 a month. I paid my rent for a year. I bought twenty cartons of cigarettes, stacked em up in my apartment. And that may have been the happiest moment of my life."

What a life. #LarryKingRIP.