HENDERSON, Nev. -- Cliff Branch had just finished the sixth grade when, at his father's 4th of July company picnic in Houston, boys of all ages and sizes lined up for the day's main event -- a footrace.
The prize?
"They held up a box of Chinese checkers," recalled the Branch's sister, Elaine Anderson, who runs her brother's estate. "He beat everybody. Older boys. Bigger boys, Everybody. And all the way home he was ranting and raving about the game of Chinese checkers.
"That's when we understood he could run. This little bitty something.