sport football: Under the Bridge I: Anchor Down

It can take years to build an expansive bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge in the Bay Area took four. The Tower Bridge in London took eight. The Brooklyn Bridge in New York took fourteen.

In addition to time costs, bridges are expensive.

The Golden Gate required more than 400 workers per day and spent ~$700 million in today's dollars. The Tower Bridge required 432 workers each day and spent ~$250 million in today's dollars. The Brooklyn Bridge required more than 600 workers each day and spent ~$550 million in today's dollars.

The largest cost was human life.

The Golden Gate claimed the lives of ten workers. Another ten men died building the Tower Bridge. Building the Brooklyn Bridge resulted in almost forty casualties.

Few structures are as expensive as bridges. So why do we build them?

Bridges are critical to connection. They create passages over bodies of water that separate us, enabling commerce and exchange of ideas. Economic benefits of construction must outweigh the gross consumption of resources required to build, or else the project would not get approved by governments and other relevant stakeholders. Considering the seemingly endless costs of development, one would assume the economic benefits to be equally impressive.

In this series we will explore one of the most imposing bridges built by a man with no background in the architectural sciences.

Raymond Dallolio grew up as an only child, the son of Marino and Ann, an Italian couple that lived in the New York suburb of Manhasset. Marino was a musician who wanted Raymond to learn how to play instruments, but his son's rote memory was mediocre at best, and that dream died before Raymond reached high school.

Raymond's grades were also mediocre. He kept himself busy by working anywhere he could: delivering newspapers, busing tables, and working the golf course as a caddy.

At 12 years old, he became a caddy at the Links.

The Links was not an average golf club - it was built for Wall Street royalty. As a caddy, Raymond frequently ran into traders from the New York Stock Exchange.

One of those guys was George Leib, a Wall Street trader with a penchant for cigars and backgammon.

George's wife was Isabel.

Isabel saw something in Raymond.

At 19, Raymond - his friends called him Ray - finished high school with a 2.0 GPA, a C average. He was known to ditch class and ride waves on a surfboard. He ended up enrolling at a local college named C.W. Post. He was preliminarily placed on probation for his poor high school performance. It was in college that Ray would learn how to get good grades, but more importantly, he learned about the markets. One of his first bets was on Northeast Airlines, a stock he chose for its low price point - under $5 - that tripled in value after a buyout offer.

His portfolio grew to a few thousand dollars over the course of his career at Post.

He also decided to change his last name to something easier to pronounce.

His new identity: Ray Dalio.

There's something important about names.

In Act II Scene II of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's Juliet argues against the importance of a name:

JULIET: 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;

And for that name, which is no part of thee,

Take all myself.

ROMEO: I take thee at thy word.

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;

Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Juliet misses a critical point, however. Changing a name is an outward expression of a major change in one's life. We would not call a rose by any other name unless its unique qualities changed so dramatically that it was no longer a rose. People change names to reflect religious rebirth, embrace a new identity, or reject an old one. There is something important about names.

Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam.

Ralph Lifshitz changed his name to Ralph Lauren to avoid antisemitic bullying.

Saul of Taursus changed his name to Paul after divine inspiration and conversion to Christianity.

Name changes in the U.S. have increased steadily over time:

In Dalio's case, he just thought Dallolio was hard to pronounce, it didn't roll off the tongue right. He thought Dalio was smooth, it was professional.

Arguably still the same name, but the mindset Ray had intrigues me.

There's a lot in a name…

Post college, Dalio's early career was a rollercoaster, yet nothing out of the ordinary for a young Wall Street analyst at the time.

Isabel Leib got him a junior clerk role on the NYSE trading floor with Benton, Corcoran Leib & Co. He spent a significant amount of time drinking with Gordon Leib and playing backgammon.

❝

He was not very quick on his feet.

Gordon Leib on Ray Dalio in 1971

Ray enrolled at Harvard Business School in the early 70's then worked at a small commodities brokerage, Dominick & Dominick. Dominick & Dominick's main fund blew up shortly after Dalio joined.

His next stop was a larger brokerage, Shearson Hayden Stone, where Dalio developed a reputation for being a commodities expert. He lasted about a year before punching his boss in the face while drunk.

Gordon Leib introduced him to investors that funded Dalio's upstart commodities arbitrage business, which flamed out a year later.

He met Barbara Gabaldoni, a Spanish girl who spoke very little English. They started dating.

Barbara's grandmother was Barbara Whitney, daughter of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Harry Payne Whitney.

She had Vanderbilt in her blood, and liquidity in her bank.

Ray didn't need Gordon's money anymore.