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Parkinsn Current Topics
January 15, 1999
Parkinson's disease puts damper on fight night scene for Finfrock
By Tim Graham <tim@lasvegassun.com> LAS VEGAS SUN
These were the weekends Dennis Finfrock lived for.
As the former vice president of special events for the MGM Grand Garden, Finfrock was one of the key individuals responsible for making Mike Tyson the arena's biggest draw.
And when Tyson walks down the aisle and into the Grand Garden boxing ring to fight Frans Botha Saturday night, the scene Finfrock helped create will happen all over again.
Fans will actually feel the roar of the crowd. A shower of flashes will pop all around.
"You couldn't help but miss that," Finfrock said. "It's an exciting atmosphere. It was fun."
But the fight-night electricity Las Vegas is famous for doesn't mean nearly as much to Finfrock now.
His perspective changed three years ago, when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
"I wouldn't say (Parkinson's) is the most fun I've ever had in my life," Finfrock said in slightly slurred and slowed speech. "But you look at the things you like the most, and then you make sure you enjoy them in your free time."
Finfrock, 51, claims his Parkinson's was stress-related.
"I was guilty of being a recovering workaholic," he said. "Sometimes you work to the point where you get cranked up, to a point where it's a personal high."
He buried himself in his work as the executive director of the Thomas & Mack Center from 1982-90 and later as the interim athletic director at UNLV (he was widely accused of being the point man who carried out former president Robert Maxson's plan to oust then-basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian) before taking his trademark handlebar mustache to the MGM. He later became president of the 3,000-member International Association of Auditorium Managers.
"In everything he's ever done, he's overachieved," said Pat Christenson, who worked as Finfrock's assistant at the T&M before taking over in 1990. "In some cases that led to his trouble.
"He works very hard at a lofty vision that he sets for himself. He's a continuous overachiever."
Finfrock now is the executive vice president of ticketing and marketing for Advantix, a Southern California-based box office agency that ranks second only to TicketMaster.
He still maintains his Henderson home, where he returns on the weekends and his wife of 34 years, Kay, resides. Their 30-year-old son, Jason, lives about a mile away.
"I don't have the tremors very often, but I have to pay attention to it," Finfrock said. "You have to get your rest and take your medication.
"By no means is it a totally debilitating disease. They're coming up with miracle cures, and hopefully they'll continue with the process."
Dr. Bob Iacono of the Loma Linda Clinic performed a pallidotomy on Finfrock in May. The delicate procedure, for which Finfrock had to remain awake the entire time, goes deep into the brain to destroy bad brain cells. It was considered a success, allowing Finfrock to control most of his symptoms with medication.
His Parkinson's is under control to the point he can enjoy all his favorite activities: weight lifting, fly fishing, big-game archery hunting -- "If I'm not steady, I won't shoot" -- and wildlife videography. He still travels the world for business and pleasure.
He even took up team calf roping recently. It was an endeavor he always meant to try shortly after the rodeo entered his bloodstream. He was one of the figures instrumental in bringing the National Finals Rodeo to the T&M.
"When a lot of people think of Parkinson's," Iacono said, "they think of someone old, sitting in the corner, shaking. But it can happen to people who are younger and in shape.
"With the right treatment they can still be productive."
Finfrock always was productive, before and after his departure from the MGM. He was one of 770 employees cut loose from the hotel-casino in 1995 due to an administrative reshuffling.
But before he left, Tyson was signed by the MGM to a six-fight, $20 million deal.
"I was part of the team that was in the middle of that, but I couldn't take credit for it," Finfrock said. "I had a good group. We had a good go of it.
"You'll have to ask the MGM their feelings on it. But it must be good because they (signed Tyson again)."
He was asked if he felt he had led the MGM into a bad marriage after seeing all the negativity surrounding Tyson fights. Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot to death after the Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight, and gunshots allegedly were fired inside the MGM casino after Tyson bit Evander Holyfield.
"It didn't even cross my mind," he said. "It's all part of the theatre.
"It's too bad it happened; you don't want any bodily harm to come to anyone attending your events. I was there both nights as a spectator, and it was hard to sit back and watch that, but I knew everybody at the arena was well prepared and trained.
"Something, no matter how much you prepare, can always go wrong."
Finfrock found that out after signing Jorge Luis Gonzalez to an exclusive contract, making the overrated heavyweight the MGM's first house fighter.
Finfrock faced the heat when Gonzalez was badly beaten by Riddick Bowe. As a side bet with Bowe's camp, he also lost his handlebar mustache, which he had groomed for 24 years.
But Finfrock finds it difficult to worry about such trivialities today. Instead, he concentrates on how to get the most out of every day and advises others to do the same. He is writing a book with Iacano about dealing with Parkinson's.
"Life is good," Finfrock said. "Our time on this Earth is very precious and very limited. The things you like to do, take time to do them."
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