stolz2 said:
Some one dug out my old post on top gear, so I was reading it and started thinking about Mike Sigel and a few other of the all time greats. I just read Buddy Halls book rags to riflemen. And really admire him alot wish I could have seem him in his prime but I wasn't even concieved yet.
Does anyone have any good road or pool stories regarding Mike Sigel? In buddy's book it stated there was a time when the Mike and Buddy just went back for forth for years as number 1 and number 2. Did Mike Gamble alot? And how was he for the $$$$ ?
Any of the old crowd on this forum know Sigel, OHB?
Mack
My good friend Irving Crane introduced me to Mike as a strong up-and-comer in 1978 at the World 14.1 Championships at the Biltomore Hotel in NYC. I think it would be fair to say the Irving undersold his protege. Just two years later, Mike won his first World 14.1 Championship, beating Balsis in the final. I remember watching one of Mike's matches in the 1980 event with Irving sitting next to me, and although Irving generally approved of Mike's game, he felt Mike could do better in some of his safety play (of course, did anyone play defense well by Crane's standards? I never heard him praise the defensive play of anyone but himself and Allen Hopkins).
Proud mentors often make the comical remark "I taught him everthing he knows, but not everything I know", but the way Irving put it when it came to Sigel was that "I taught him everything I know, he just doesn't use all of it." That always cracked me up.
Another memorable event involving Sigel was an exhibition he did in the early 1990's with a twenty three year old Johnny Archer to benefit the National Leukemia Society. Archer wiped the floor with Mike in a short race that night, and the look on Sigel's face as he watched Archer play something approaching perfect nineball was priceless. Mike wasn't used to being pushed around by a kid like that, and even though it was just an exhibition with no money riding it, Mike looked a bit disheartened. Among the attendees were Loree Jon and Sammy Jones, Nick Varner, and the late Jerry Orbach.
Finally, there was Sigel's 150 and out against Zuglan in the 1992 US Open 14.1 championships. I had a great seat for that one at the Roosevelt Hoel in NYC, but not as good as either Mosconi or Caras, both of whom sat in the front row. Willie died just a few months later, but not before calling Sigel's run among the most technically perfect he'd ever seen.
Mike was, simply, one of the very best ever.