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lowed. Books and albums would come later. "Comedy was the rock 'n' roll of the '70s," Dreesen says. His work with Sammy Davis brought Dreesen into Sinatra's orbit. They first met at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. After the second night's performance, Sinatra said, "I like your material and I like your style. I'd like you to tour with me." Dreesen couldn't help but flashback to his scrap- py childhood. "The first time I heard his voice was when I was a kid working in the tavern back in Harvey," he says. "It stopped me cold even back then. That voice had never left me." Sinatra once described their kinship by saying, "We're a couple of neighborhood kind of guys." The gig at the Golden Nugget turned into 50 shows a year, often trav- eling on Ol' Blue Eyes' jet. Dreesen never tired of seeing his name below Sinatra's on the marquee, and he relished getting to know whom he calls "a very complex man." For all of his legendary Rat Pack exploits—the parade of famous broads, a bedtime that was never before sunrise— Sinatra had a bedrock set of principles that Dreesen came to adopt: fierce loyalty and unwavering friendship. "Like all the people around him," says Dreesen, "I had to learn to never compliment Frank on anything he was wearing, because he would imme- diately take it off and give it to you, whether it was a pair of cufflinks or a watch worth thousands of dollars." In Dreesen's view, Sinatra had only one serious flaw: "He wasn't a very good golfer, probably because he was the most impatient person I've ever met." Dreesen, meanwhile, has maintained a single-digit handicap for most of his life. Through Sinatra, he became friendly with Clint Eastwood, which 120 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 (Clockwise from top) Clint Eastwood became a friend through Sinatra, and Dreesen enjoys golfing whenever he can. As a teenager, he caddied at Ravisloe Country Club to help support his large family. Today, he has a sin- gle-digit handicap and plays with the likes of Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer. In 2006, he was called the "third best celebrity golfer" by Golf Digest. 112-120 Tom Dreesen/Sinatra_152-161 Garcia story 1/24/14 6:24 AM Page 6