Jack Cooney

he's one of the guys i refer to often. not that i'm a huge afficianado like freddy or billy, but for my money, give a guy like cooney (or artie) the shooting power of a pagulayan and there is just no way to describe how bad everyone would get robbed. that is just what i think.

Don't know Cooney that well, but I watched him play one pocket against King Kong for $100/game. He was spotting Kong "no fouls"...meaning there was no penalty for Kong scratching, or lagging into the pack, not hitting a rail after contact. I understand that maybe one hole isn't Kong's best game, but I was baffled by the fact that some guy I never saw playing on TV or something could give that much weight to someone who plays as good as Bernardo....

Cooney won 6 games straight.

J. Learned Hand said:

In another thread, Mr. Incardona mentioned that Jack Cooney will be elected into the One Pocket HOF at this year's DCC. I must admit I have heard a few stories of Mr. Cooney's prowess and he sounds like a very stealthy character. I would like to hear more stories if anyone cares to share.

All I've ever heard is he can never be found in a picture and his "lemon man" act is legendary. This thread is not meant to "out" Mr. Cooney. However, since he will soon be de-cloaked at the DCC it really doesn't matter at this point.

Stories anyone?

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I saw him win somewhere around 40 or 50 thousand in a payball game in Dayton Ohio around 1972 or 73. He played for like two days non stop.

macguy said:

I saw him win somewhere around 40 or 50 thousand in a payball game in Dayton Ohio around 1972 or 73. He played for like two days non stop.

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I hear stories of lllooonnnggg sessions like that & I can't imagine how they can maintain a sharp mind to keep themselves in high gear.

<<---"hits the wall" at 11:00pm and can't make a ball. :frown:

mosconiac said:

I hear stories of lllooonnnggg sessions like that & I can't imagine how they can maintain a sharp mind to keep themselves in high gear.

<<---"hits the wall" at 11:00pm and can't make a ball. :frown:

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This game went non stop for more then a week with dozens of players in and out. These were not suckers, these were the best players on the planet from Ronnie Allen to Diliberto. Mike Carella, Big Bob, Jimmy Reid, Mike Sigel, you name them they were all there and all were in and out of that game. The tough part is you are constantly playing against fresh players but he busted the game.

Jack Cooney is simply the best pool hustler of the modern era. There is no close second. Jack was making six figure scores when all the top players were trying to win a few thousand by beating a field full of champions. Once or twice a year we would hear about Jack beating someone for eighty grand or one twenty G's. And this was in the 70's, when winning a thousand dollars was a nice score.

More amazing was the fact that most of the players did not even know what he looked like. He NEVER came around a tournament for 25 years!

macguy said:

This game went non stop for more then a week with dozens of players in and out. These were not suckers, these were the best players on the planet from Ronnie Allen to Diliberto. Mike Carella, Big Bob, Jimmy Reid, Mike Sigel, you name them they were all there and all were in and out of that game. The tough part is you are constantly playing against fresh players but he busted the game.

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I have to correct my story. I may be thinking of Denny Sercey (sp?)

macguy said:

I saw him win somewhere around 40 or 50 thousand in a payball game in Dayton Ohio around 1972 or 73. He played for like two days non stop.

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I have to correct my story. I may be thinking of Denny Sercey (sp?)

Anyone ever seen his driver's license. I bet his real name is Fred Jones.

I am not sure who Ronnie Wiseman played at the Cue Club one year but the bet was something like $20,000 for 10 ahead one pocket or something like that, maybe the opponent was Walden or Cooney. Anyway Ronnie takes down the cash after three days of playing where they agreed to play 8 hours and stop.

Ronnie was exhausted afterward and told me it's the closest to a job as he ever felt. He said he had to work too hard to get the money.

Now, what would be funny is if he would send someone else to get his award.

I saw him play at Lamberts in Baton Rouge during one of Grady's one pocket tournaments. The game lasted well over 30 hours. It was short rack one pocket and he was giving up a ball. The other guy was either Rooster or Hooker-I forget.

Dont hold me to it but i believe he was 17 games down after 10 hours or so. He came back to even and might have squeaked a small victory. He didnt look like a pool player, more like a salesman and i was real impressed with both these guys stamina. Neither were spring chickens.

jay helfert said:

Jack Cooney is simply the best pool hustler of the modern era. There is no close second. Jack was making six figure scores when all the top players were trying to win a few thousand by beating a field full of champions. Once or twice a year we would hear about Jack beating someone for eighty grand or one twenty G's. And this was in the 70's, when winning a thousand dollars was a nice score.

More amazing was the fact that most of the players did not even know what he looked like. He NEVER came around a tournament for 25 years!

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What do you mean by modern era? starting when? Better then Keith McCready or Parica or Sigel when he was on the road. How does he stack up with Ronnie Allen Jay? thank you.

Also, isnt he the guy that somebody always says nobody knows what he looks like? If he shows up for the dinner, everybody will have a picture of him now!

grandpapkusky said:

What do you mean by modern era? starting when? Better then Keith McCready or Parica or Sigel when he was on the road. How does he stack up with Ronnie Allen Jay? thank you.

Also, isnt he the guy that somebody always says nobody knows what he looks like? If he shows up for the dinner, everybody will have a picture of him now!

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Jay can answer this better. My understanding is that the guys you mentioned were mostly known as champions wherever they showed up. They had to work real hard to stay undercover when they went to a new place.

Jack on the other hand was so undercover that even the top players couldn't tell you what he looked like. He has been reported to have gone into a town and laid down a trap for the mark for as long as six months. That's a dedicated hustler who treats his job like a career.

Come to think of it that is odd. I've heard the name Jack Cooney in pool halls up and down the east coast and I have no idea what he looks like.

Jack has been photographed many times in his later years.

Ed Wiggins said:

Jack has been photographed many times in his later years.

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the previous 4 or 5 posts were the most ridiculous things i've read on this site.

J. Learned Hand said:

In another thread, Mr. Incardona mentioned that Jack Cooney will be elected into the One Pocket HOF at this year's DCC. I must admit I have heard a few stories of Mr. Cooney's prowess and he sounds like a very stealthy character. I would like to hear more stories if anyone cares to share.

All I've ever heard is he can never be found in a picture and his "lemon man" act is legendary. This thread is not meant to "out" Mr. Cooney. However, since he will soon be de-cloaked at the DCC it really doesn't matter at this point.

Stories anyone?

Click to expand...

Don't know any stories but if you want to see him playing - Accustats has a 1 pocket dvd "Cliff Joyner - vs Jack Cooney" 1p98-06

http://www.accu-stats.com/Qstore/Qstore.cgi

he slipped past me, from 85 to almost 95 I was all over the West Coast and chased action all over and recoginzed everyone or heard of them guys like Sax Del Porto etc. But I never heard of him til the internet.

Fatboy said:

he slipped past me, from 85 to almost 95 I was all over the West Coast and chased action all over and recoginzed everyone or heard of them guys like Sax Del Porto etc. But I never heard of him til the internet.

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He is very popular in Chicago!

There used to be a room named at the Derby City Classic in his namestake and James Walden.

The two of them had a high-stakes match -- (I can't remember the money amount) -- between Jack Cooney and James Walden.

News travels fast when it comes to pool players. When a road agent comes to down, all the best players in the land come to the place where the stranger is, hoping to get action.

In the '70s, I think it was, me and my pool buddies were hanging out at Champion Billiards in Silver Spring, MD, where I used to work, and somebody came in and said there was a stranger in town at the Golden Cue in Bladensburg who was betting it high. The stranger was Jack Cooney, who was accompanied by his girlfriend.

I did not get the opportunity to see him play at that time, as I had to work graveyard shift, and that's when the action would begin. I did hear about a horrible incident through the pool grapevine. Word had it that he not only had deep pockets, but he was winning and holding a bundle.

Jack Cooney was playing some guy at the Golden Cue, and some thugs came into the pool room and put a gun to his face, demanding all of his dough. His girlfriend refused give up the money, and they shot her. She survived, but it is one of pool memories that taught me to never flash my cash and/or hold large amounts on my person when in a pool room.

We almost got robbed in Upstate New York holding 18 large one year, and I drove out of town in a snow blizzard at 3 o'clock in the morning.