The Rack in Detroit

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Funny and sad thread. Imagine if these talented folks had focused on their efforts on something productive for their families and society.

But then there wouldn't be these great stories ;)

It is far easier to play pool than to start a business or get a medical/ law degree.

Dint fool yourself into thinking coz one is great at pooll, he would parlay into success elsewhere.

Imo, the opposite is true in more cases than not.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cool...what was the address, please?
13400 Capital St, Oak Park. The pic i posted was a few yrs old. Building is gone now. Google maps still has it as SuperiorBallons until you zoom in and its gone. There's two small suv's parked on the slab of the Rack building. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.454...4!1s3aI5_3ZgLv82GCpIF0gmwA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 The building across the street with the "diamonds" on the front(13405) used to be kind of a hq for some of the Detroit heavies that hung-out at the Rack. https://www.onepocket.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7484
 
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garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Funny and sad thread. Imagine if these talented folks had focused on their efforts on something productive for their families and society.

But then there wouldn't be these great stories ;)
You're kidding, right?? Productive AND families???? We are talking about a poolhall,right?
 

skip100

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It is far easier to play pool than to start a business or get a medical/ law degree.

Dint fool yourself into thinking coz one is great at pooll, he would parlay into success elsewhere.

Imo, the opposite is true in more cases than not.
Betting your life savings on a pool match and performing at a high level for 24+ hours without sleep and while on a drug and alcohol bender is far beyond the capabilities of the vast majority of people.

Just to say these high-end players and gamblers were very intelligent, motivated and talented people. Their traditional productivity (or lack of it) doesn't take that away from them.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
On my one and only trip to the Rack (Cornbread got me in) I watched a match between Jimmy Reid and some other guy, with Jimmy giving up the six ball and the break. They were playing a set for ten grand (1976) and I asked if anyone wanted to bet 100 a game on the side. Some guy looked at me and laughed, "You have to bet at least 500 a game to get action in here!" I knew then this was the wrong place for me and I had five grand in my pocket. That was all my traveling money and there were no ATM's back then where you could reload.
 

12squared

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Cool...what was the address, please?

Mr. Balled, just as a side note...

I grew up about a mile north of there (The Rack) in Oak Park: 13330 Rosemary, same side of the street and almost the same address just east of coolidge. :) 3 bedrooms, 1 bath for a family of 6 (3 boys in one room, one for the baby sister). :eek: We moved to a bigger house about 1 1/2 miles further from the poolroom about 4 years before I began to play.
 

ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ed"Detroit Whitey' Beuchene used "The Rack' as him home base. That pretty much says what you need to know about the clientele! :eek:

Freddy Bentivegna will have numerous war stories to add should he see this thread.

Some of the stuff that went on there, the statue of limitations STILL hasn't expired! :D

I knew Whitey, he had invited me to come see him in the early 60's. I watched him play at the Cotton Bowling Palace, in Dallas, TX
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
I knew Whitey, he had invited me to come see him in the early 60's. I watched him play at the Cotton Bowling Palace, in Dallas, TX

Detroit Whitey was the lowest of the low-lifes in the Pool world! :shakehead:
 

ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I didn't want to say that about him, we weren't friends. We met at the palace & that was that. I hate to say bad things about dead people, but you did it for me... He talked about things in Pool in the Detroit area. He was playing Bobby Chapman that evening. One of the fellows here at Magoos knew Whitey, his remarks weren't quite as bad as yours...
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
The Rack II?

Ancient history now and Billy can say better if I am right or wrong but I think Billy and a small group tried to revive the rack in Dallas some time back. The big betters didn't come fast enough, Billy tangled in some tough action, and the place was a money pit, meant in a bad way.

There was no way for the place to generate the income to cover the overhead without big action and the house getting a piece of the pie. Sad, it had the makings of a fine private pool club. As a commercial venture there was no real source of income. Cheap table time and a few snacks, no alcohol license or place to put a bar. Seems like you might have been able to bring your own beer in but it has been awhile and my memory of only a couple visits there isn't the best.

Hu
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Great stuff here and all true. I was only in the rack twice in my life. I tried to bet $100 a game on the side and got laughed at. Al Sherman said, "Kid, the minimum bet in here is $500."

You did have to know someone to get in. The first time I went, they wouldn't let me in, until Cornbread took a break from his game and walked over to the door. He looked at me through the peephole and said, "He''s okay, let him in."

The second time I went in with Jimmy Reid and he was playing some black pimp $500 a game 9-Ball and I had half. Jimmy was only giving him the 5,7 and the break. I was sweating bullets but Jimmy took it off. Jimmy won over 100K that trip, and drove back to L.A. in the most beautiful Caddy convertible you ever saw.

I ran into Piona after he beat someone for $40,000 at the rack. He told me it was the most money he ever had in his life and he was a 40 year old man then. He told me he went to sleep in the motel room with the money all spread out on the bed. He slept with it.

I remember Watson a black dude who would rack the balls just to get a nice tip from the winner. I come back a year later and he is dressed to the nines. What happened to Watson I ask? Oh he's a millionaire now I'm told. He won a million dollars in cash during the time I was away.

Cornbread made untold millions in his years at the Rack. I often wondered what happened to all that loot. I would never ask Red about money, just not cool. He never loaned money to the best of my knowledge, but he really liked me, especially after I wrote a story about him. When he won all that money in Vegas, I saw him the next day. I told him how cool it was that he bought clothes for all those guys, and he tried to hand me $500 to buy some clothes. He still had a huge stack in his pockets. I turned him down. I was too proud to take a loan from anyone, and I had money of my own. I let him buy me breakfast. True Story! :smile:

Bon Appetit! :grin-square:
 

FIREBATTCHIEF06

New member
Cornbread Red

I love my pool history and I was wondering if anyone on here could share any stories about this famous room in Detroit. Anyone have any pictures of it? Etc I'm all ears

My Father used to go to The Rack with his coworkers after the midnight shift at the Chevrolet Plant off of Chrysler Fwy, Detroit. He told me about a time when Cornbread Red Burge came in, picked up a broom, chalked up the handle tip and proceeded to run the table against one of the regulars there. My Father was just amazed and talked about that place all the time.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cornbread Red



My Father used to go to The Rack with his coworkers after the midnight shift at the Chevrolet Plant off of Chrysler Fwy, Detroit. He told me about a time when Cornbread Red Burge came in, picked up a broom, chalked up the handle tip and proceeded to run the table against one of the regulars there. My Father was just amazed and talked about that place all the time.
Welcome to our room, BC06!
 

jokrswylde

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This has to be one of the best threads ever published on AZB. Highly recommended for new members! The locations , the colorful nicknames, the gripping tales of huge scores (and devastating losses) all coalesce to paint a vivid, technicolor image of one of pool's wildest bygone eras.

Heck even the AZB posters fortunate enough to have lived in that world are an invaluable resource! Toupee Jay, Wincardona, Steve Molako, CJ Wiley, JAM...these folks have experienced a little known part of a life worthy of a Hollywood manuscript. Such a shame that others such as Freddie the Beard are no longer with us to share more of these stories.

For those who often bemoan the "seedy" side of pool and how it holds back the modern game...you may be right. But how much more interesting and exciting is it to read about Cornbread beating someone for the cash using a broomstick? Reading about Cornbread, Freddy the Beard, Ronnie Allen, etc. is just as exciting as was reading about pirates or cowboys when I was a youngster.

Great stuff. At least we have the action room stories at Derby City to pay homage to these colorful characters!
 
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