If the saga of Top O' Hill Casino becoming Arlington Baptist College
were written as fiction, readers would dismiss it as improbable and
impossible. The story of a tearoom evolving into the gambling hot
spot of North Central Texas that was then acquired 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.