The Rack in Detroit

punter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
freddy the beard said:
Got a PM request from Punter about confirmation of a Rack story. There was this ex-pug, Jimmy, that used to hang in the Rack. He was brutally obnoxious. He stuck his nose in everybody's business. Finally one of the mob guys ordered a hit, just to rid him out of the joint. He was an old man but he was pretty tough. He got grabbed, beaten to a pulp and thrown in a dumpster. Lo and behold. a few days later he shows back up like nothing happened. The mobsters gave up on him after that.
That's the same guy that Popcorn Miller had a problem with. Even after the dumpster incident this guy didn't slow his act down. He was interfering in Popcorn's game and the Corn warned him to stop. Jimmy paid no heed. The next day Corn came into the pool room with a cue ball in a sock. He went up to Jimmy and conked him with it. He still stayed a pest, but he at least stayed away from the Corn's games after that.
Philly's Joel Marx also took Jimmy outside and gave him a strumming.
I wasn't there for the dumpster incident, I just heard, so there is probably more to that story, but I did attend Popcorn and Joel's events.

the Beard

My DVD will be in my hands this week. (Banking With The Beard--The Movie)
Yes, I do tell old war stories on it.


Thanks Freddy. I searched for that story, but couldn't find it. The part I thought was funny was when Jimmy came back into The Rack, after getting out of the hospital, the first guy he encounters is the mob guy that ordered him roughed up, and he says something like, "You won't believe what happened to me."
 

Dogsit4cash

Registered
Pittsburgh John.....seeing his name makes me smile. He was a cool cat, had a ton of heart, and loved pool. He was a friend of mine but he would bust my chops about wanting to hear some pool stories. In the end it was worth it......he did have some GREAT stories.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
I don't know the entire story, nor am I 100% I have his opponent right... but Hopkins said he played Jew Paul (I think, might be wrong) for $10000 / game 1P on the snooker table at The Rack. I'm not sure what the spot was, but I believe it was 10-7.

Well, Hoppy ran 10-and-out three times in a row to get the cash. If anyone knows the specifics, post them.
 

Ed Wiggins

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Bill (Tex) (Calhoun) Kelleher is still around, by the way.
Don't know if he wants to be found, but someone in the Carolinas might get some stories from him.

EW
 

ironman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ed Wiggins said:
Bill (Tex) (Calhoun) Kelleher is still around, by the way.
Don't know if he wants to be found, but someone in the Carolinas might get some stories from him.

EW

Bill Calhoun? There is a good one.
He was hanging around Redbird's place in San Marcos Tx 3-4 years ago and then just took off.

He could still play{ a little} but all one had to do was wait until he had about 4 drinks and right into the tank he went. He was trying to dump Redbird to everyone in Texas.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Ed Wiggins said:
Bill (Tex) (Calhoun) Kelleher is still around, by the way.
Don't know if he wants to be found, but someone in the Carolinas might get some stories from him.

EW

My God, this old hustler has been around forever. He used to play some pretty sporty One Pocket. He's kind of a discount version of Cornbread Red. :wink:
He used to run with a guy they called "Chicken". Wonder if he is still around too. Calhoun has to be well into his 70's.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
My God, this old hustler has been around forever. He used to play some pretty sporty One Pocket. He's kind of a discount version of Cornbread Red. :wink:
He used to run with a guy they called "Chicken". Wonder if he is still around too. Calhoun has to be well into his 70's.

Is this Bill Calhoun a former running mate of Sam Trivett (Seattle Sam?).
 

FSutton

Full Rack Banks only!
Silver Member
Anymore stories? Anyone. I don't want this thread to die.. It's been cool hearing what we have so far but I feel like we have barely skimmed the surface.
 

poolandpokerman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The raid at the Rack
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The joint got raided one night. I missed that one. They collected an incredible amount of cash, which was eventually returned. One broken down looking old man had 100k cash on him. The police couldnt believe someone that looked that shabby could have that kind of cheese in his pocket. It turned out he owned the building that the police station was in.

That's the same night that CornBread told Bugs in the lockup, "Let's see you bank your way out of this trap, Bugs!"

the Beard
__________________
Bank on, brother!





I was passing thru Louisville on the way to Florida last week, stopped by the Bankshot and talked to Truman for awhile. We were talking about the raid at the Rack, Cornbread was standing behind Truman when the Rack got raided. They told everyone to empty their pockets, Truman said Cornbread at 7 cents and a pair of nail clippers. I thought that was funny. Not much has been said of Rosie, there are many good stories about him.
 

12squared

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Speaking of Cornbread...a guy walked into the rack and said he wanted to play Cornbread for $1000/game 9-ball, but Red wasn't there. Someone got Red on the phone and told him what he wanted to do, Red asked how much he had in his pocket, the guy replied $10,000, Cornbread said "Tell him I'll play him some $10,000 a game". The player left.

Of course you have to really stretch out the Thooouuuuusaaaand, with a little hint of a whistle to get the real flavor.

I guess Cornbread felt it wasn't worth getting dreesed and out of the house for only $1000/game :grin:.
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So what happened to the money won?

Let me be specific. It seems from the stories told over the years on AZ, in Freddies book, and in this thread, that there was a small group of ultra rich suckers that came to The Rack. The group included bona-fide business multi-millionaires, pimps and drug dealers with steady streams of disposable cash, bookies, etc.

Now to take this huge stream of "sucker money" there was a bunch of pro level players, that were also the best hustlers in the world.

Obviously from all the stories we heard the pro level players got all the cash from the "suckers". But what did they do with it? Did any of these players that won hundreds of thousands off the rich suckers make anything of that money? It just doesn't add up that most of these older generation players today are just getting by.

I love these stories from the past, I'm not knocking anyone. I just want to know did the players get to keep the cash, or did they somehow blow it all?
 

Dogsit4cash

Registered
how many pool players do you know that are good money managers? i'm not talking about guys that play pool but pool players. the nature of the lifestyle makes it very difficult. on a side note.....the suckers didn't ALWAYS lose either.
 

Tommy-D

World's best B player...
Silver Member
> One story Grady told me himself goes like this. The guy that went by Jew Paul had been losing a pound of 100's a week for quite a while. Grady had beaten him out of a Wal-Mart bag full,and Paul offered to bet Grady 10k or so that he never hit another ball. Paul came in that night,paid Grady off,and said let's play. He lost 2 Wal-Mart bags that night. Tommy D.
 

Ken_4fun

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Dogsit4cash said:
how many pool players do you know that are good money managers? i'm not talking about guys that play pool but pool players. the nature of the lifestyle makes it very difficult. on a side note.....the suckers didn't ALWAYS lose either.


This is very true. Almost all, (I didnt say all) and I do mean almost all die broke.

I can count a few HOF players, yes Hall of Fame pool players that are flat broke.

I took some pool lessons from Ray Martin at his house, it was nice but very modest. We discussed this topic while I was there, and he considered himself very fortunate.

But then again, most people die with very little wealth really. I have found that the money isnt the same with pool players. Its the action more than the money.

So who is the real suckers? The millionaire that looses $100K and never misses it, or the broke pool player who wins it and loses it at the tables or the track?

Ken
 

Scott Lee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Very true! Most of the old time hustlers (and probably the newer hustlers too) had no concept of "SAVING" money. They make a score on the pool table, and lose it the next day bettin' on baseball, dice, or horses. Jack White told me a story about him and Earl Schriver (another well known con man/pool hustler). The two of them got together and beat some Greek restaurant owner out about $60K. They split the money, and were to meet up a few days later somewhere else. Earl had to borrow $$$ from Jack to make his car payment! He had lost the whole $30K betting the window the very next day, after winning it! True story...

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Ken_4fun said:
But then again, most people die with very little wealth really. I have found that the money isnt the same with pool players. Its the action more than the money.

So who is the real suckers? The millionaire that looses $100K and never misses it, or the broke pool player who wins it and loses it at the tables or the track?

Ken
 

androd

androd
Silver Member
Scott Lee said:
Very true! Most of the old time hustlers (and probably the newer hustlers too) had no concept of "SAVING" money. They make a score on the pool table, and lose it the next day bettin' on baseball, dice, or horses. Jack White told me a story about him and Earl Schriver (another well known con man/pool hustler). The two of them got together and beat some Greek restaurant owner out about $60K. They split the money, and were to meet up a few days later somewhere else. Earl had to borrow $$$ from Jack to make his car payment! He had lost the whole $30K betting the window the very next day, after winning it! True story...

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
The same thing that lets these people win $60,000 makes them lose it. Some people would have to win 12,000 games to be $60,000 winner. These are the same people who say "can you believe he was that much winner and lost it all." They could have never got that much winner.
 

eddieindetroit

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I heard one a few years back about the time Paul threw 10K into the large blowing window fan at the Rack just to watch the ensuing mad scramble.
Anyone have anything to add to the tale?

Eddie
 

huckster

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I heard stories of Rosie and Jew Paul Brusslof. Where did Rosie get his money and is he still alive and gambling? I heard some players held onto some off the winnings, like Champagne Ed Kelly. Most of the stories I heard were that the top champions did not get much of it except Cornbread because it was mainly Whales playing other whales. I heard about a drug dealer/pimp who played high (10k+ a game 1pkt) his brother was kidnapped and after paying the ransom they found the four of the five kidnappers murdered and there was a standing offer for 500k for information about the one that got away
 

gunzby

My light saber is LD
Silver Member
Dogsit4cash said:
how many pool players do you know that are good money managers? i'm not talking about guys that play pool but pool players. the nature of the lifestyle makes it very difficult. on a side note.....the suckers didn't ALWAYS lose either.


Heck the majority of people who win the lottery are dead broke in a couple years
 

jasonlaus

Rep for Smorg
Silver Member
gunzby said:
Heck the majority of people who win the lottery are dead broke in a couple years

If ya didn't know, there's a little difference in doing something for a living and winning a contest(lottery).
 
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