Another Hal anecdote: Caltech at one point had a contest against MIT about who could write a Gomoku program that could beat the other. On a lark, Hal decided to enter a program he wrote over the weekend. It beat MIT.

That was when I found out Hal was not your average bear. Usually, he was just the friendly fellow who was always up for taking as many students as would fit into his VW bug to Tommy's at 3AM. I was small enough at the time to fit in the luggage slot behind the back seat.