Okay, here's the scoop. It was the first event of CJ's new pool tour (the PCA?), held in his room (CJ's Billiard Palace) in Dallas. It was played on tight Gold Crowns. No one thought for a moment that someone could run ten racks. It was just part of the hype for the new tour. CJ found a company that would insure it (through Lloyds Of London) and the tourney began.
John McChesney, Robin Adair and myself were the tournament officials. On the first day the most racks run was three. We were playing long matches, a Race To Thirteen. The players did "rack their own". Earl was playing Nick Mannino on a back table and figured out how to rack on this particular table. In the first five racks he made two Nine balls and another combo on the Nine near the corner pocket. So three easy racks out of five.
CJ called me over to rack the balls because it was required for the insurance policy to be good. Also the last five racks had to be videotaped. I went to the table as did CJ's girlfriend (Lisa?) with a videocamera. Earl refused to let me rack. He broke and once again almost made the Nine. He proceeded to run that rack for six in a row.
I told him that he must let me rack or he wouldn't get paid even if he ran ten racks. He let me take over, and he never made another Nine ball, or even got it close to the corner pocket. He broke and ran out three more nice racks to reach nine racks. In the tenth game, he broke and made a ball. The Nine stopped about a foot from the corner pocket. The One ball was near the side pocket and the Cue ball was down near the far corner, on the same side of the table as the Nine.
He had few options other than to try to cut the One in the side and turn the Cue ball loose or go for a long difficult combo on the Nine. After some deliberation he went for the combo and slammed in the Nine ball at warp speed. That was the tenth rack in a row. For good measure he ran out the next rack for eleven racks total. Nick then won a game or two before Earl closed out the match.
A petition was passed around the room and some 30 to 40 spectators attested to the fact that Earl did indeed run ten racks in a row. The insurance company refused to pay, perhaps because no money had changed hands to enforce the policy, or maybe because who could believe this would happen right away in the first tournament on tour.
It is correct that this was supposed to be an annuity paid off in twenty annual $50,000 installments. CJ did give Earl the first 50K immediately. After a year or two of litigation, there was a settlement. My understanding was that Earl received in the neighborhood of 300K in a lump sum and CJ got back his 50K.
A final note. After the match, Earl sat at a table for two hours and signed autographs for all in attendance. He and I drove back to the hotel in a shuttle CJ provided for us. Along the way I asked him what he was thinking on that final shot (the long combo). He said "I just wanted to give it a legitimate chance". His exact words. I never forgot them.
Earl finished second in the tournament, losing to CJ in the Finals.