Monday, Sept. 8, 1997 | 9:32 a.m.
Ferris P. Ferris, who overcame poverty in his youth to become a jeweler and was the brother of legendary Las Vegas gambler Fred "Sarge" Ferris, has died. He was 71.
Ferris, a 20-year Las Vegas resident, died last Thursday in Waterville, Maine, where he and the late Sarge Ferris were born.
Upon his younger brother's induction into the Poker Hall of Fame at Binion's Horseshoe in 1989, Ferris told the SUN about their humble beginnings.
"As a gambler, my brother was broke several times in his life, but he never refused to help anyone who was in need," Ferris said in a story that was published Nov. 13, 1989. "Sarge always remembered where we came from. We were destitute as children. My brother never forgot that."
Ferris was proud of his brother's accomplishments as a gambler and did not mind taking a back seat to him, even though Sarge shunned publicity.
Sarge Ferris, who died March 12, 1988, hours after playing in a high stakes poker game, was the 1980 world no-limit deuce-to-7 draw champion, winning a then-record $150,000 purse. He was the 18th inductee into the shrine at the downtown Las Vegas hotel-casino.
Sarge made headlines when on April 22, 1983, IRS agents, looking to collect back taxes from him, stormed into the World Series of Poker tournament at the Horseshoe and seized $46,600 in chips from a high stakes game in which Ferris was playing.
The incident caused the IRS much embarrassment when it was reported that, at the conclusion of the raid, an agent flipped Sarge a $25 chip and told him he could buy a taco.
The Ferris brothers, who were the sons of a Lebanese-born railroad worker, often were mistaken for Hispanic men.
Ferris Ferris, however, said the way he understood the story was that the agent kindly allowed his brother to keep $23 that was in his pocket and said "you can buy a good Mexican dinner here," referring not to a mistaken heritage but rather to a Horseshoe restaurant-bar where Sarge often ate.
Nevertheless, the incident drew anger from the local Hispanic community and gave another black eye to the reputation of the much-maligned IRS.
Services for Ferris were to be held in Waterville, where his brother, mother and father also are buried.
Born April 13, 1926, Ferris was a Navy veteran of World War II, who later became a jeweler and a watchmaker.
He was a member of the Elks Lodge.
Ferris is survived by his wife, Virginia, sons Richard, Fred, Joseph and Peter Ferris, and daughters Karen Boudreau, Sheila Beaton and Lori DeCreny, all of Las Vegas; a sister, Armera Ferris of Waterville; and nine grandchildren.
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