Interesting picture, who was Johnny Irish?

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
http://www.onepocket.org/JanscoHOF.htm

First of all, interesting picture. On the scoreboard we have Fats, Larry Johnson (Boston Shorty), Hubert Cokes, Cowboy Jimmy Moore, Eddy Taylor among others. A name I'm not familiar with, if I am reading it correctly, is Johnny Irish. It sounds like a made up name but everybody else is using their given name. Who is or was he?

Also, I see that George Jansco died at the relatively young age of 52. What did he die from?

Thanks,
Al
 

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Johhny Irish

Johnny Irish's real last name was Lineen.
George Jansco died of a heart attack I believe, my information says he was 56?
 
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jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
http://www.onepocket.org/JanscoHOF.htm

First of all, interesting picture. On the scoreboard we have Fats, Larry Johnson (Boston Shorty), Hubert Cokes, Cowboy Jimmy Moore, Eddy Taylor among others. A name I'm not familiar with, if I am reading it correctly, is Johnny Irish. It sounds like a made up name but everybody else is using their given name. Who is or was he?

Also, I see that George Jansco died at the relatively young age of 52. What did he die from?

Thanks,
Al

According to his peers, only one of the best players to ever live. Some considered him second only to Greenleaf.
 

cardiac kid

Super Senior Member
Silver Member
Al,

Learned something new today. Always thought Billy's name was Staton not Spaton. An old dog can learn new tricks. Shame on me:eek:!

Lyn
 

Terry Ardeno

I still love my wife
Silver Member
John Thomas "Johnny Irish" Lineen was born on May 23. 1914 in Brooklyn, NY. He started playing pool at the age of 13. He was a very quiet, unassuming man. He got to be so good a player that the newspapers started calling him "The next Ralph Greenleaf."

Serving in the U.S. Army during WW2 and some health problems helped contribute to the fact the he never won a world's championship. He did win several other 14.1 titles, including the N.Y. State Championships. Lineen gave numerous exhibitions and was employed for a time as one of Coca Cola's "Masked Marvels".

He died on March 17, 1956.

***ATTENTION*** Mr Fred "The Beard" Bentivegna astutley caught that Mr Lineen's date of death is inaccurate. Instead of 1956, it should read 1965. Kudos to him for paying attention to detail!
 
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Bobby

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Johnny "Irish" Lineen was considered one of the best ever 14.1 players. Johnny Ervolino told me many stories about him: He usually used a house cue, ands would sleep in a chair in the back of the 7/11 poolroom. A road player would come in looking for action, they would go and wake Irish up and he'd often run 100 and out cold, then go back to sleep.

He would often play the great James Evans 75 or no count on a 5 x 10 with very tough pockets.

Ervolino rated only Greenleaf, Evans and Mosconi as better 14.1 players than Lineen...just slightly.
 
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freddy the beard

Freddy Bentivegna
Silver Member
Check the date Terry

John Thomas "Johnny Irish" Lineen was born on May 23. 1914 in Brooklyn, NY. He started playing pool at the age of 13. He was a very quiet, unassuming man. He got to be so good a player that the newspapers started calling him "The next Ralph Greenleaf."

Serving in the U.S. Army during WW2 and some health problems helped contribute to the fact the he never won a world's championship. He did win several other 14.1 titles, including the N.Y. State Championships. Lineen gave numerous exhibitions and was employed for a time as one of Coca Cola's "Masked Marvels".

He died on March 17, 1956.

Terry, Irish died much later than that. Is that a typo? He played in the first Johnston City Tourn. That was held in Oct 1961!

Beard
 

Terry Ardeno

I still love my wife
Silver Member
Who knows? Da' Beard knows!

Terry, Irish died much later than that. Is that a typo? He played in the first Johnston City Tourn. That was held in Oct 1961!

Beard

Freddy,
Once again, you're right! It was supposed to read March 17, 1965. I switched the 5 and 6 around, which is proof at how hard I struggled in math during high school.

Good eyes, good, sharp, accurate mind you still have!

*Maybe you can use this as ammo over at 1P.org about how good YOUR memory still is!
 

Nostroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Al,

Learned something new today. Always thought Billy's name was Staton not Spaton. An old dog can learn new tricks. Shame on me:eek:!

Lyn

Ive seen 'staton' a zillion times and 'Spaton' only once- Im going with 'Staton'. still i guess it's possible that Beenie changed it to avoid the "Spat On" jokes.

I also see 'Coakes' and not 'Cokes' . I've never seen Hubert referred to as anything but 'Cokes' so maybe these guys just were not great spellers.
 
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KoolKat9Lives

Taught 'em all I know
Silver Member
Just thought I'd hotlink these pic's for grins.


JanscoBros1961-fade-480.jpg



Stardust-article.jpg



JanscoBros-RAllen-480.jpg
 

Big Bad Bern

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am always interested in info about the older players, does anybody know what Johnny Irish's stroke was like? Was it long and smooth like Mosconi's or was it short like Ervalino's?

Bern
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Terry, Irish died much later than that. Is that a typo? He played in the first Johnston City Tourn. That was held in Oct 1961!

Beard

I played Johnny Irish at the 7/11 in 1964. I had no idea who he was. Did seem like they picked him up off a chair to come play me, some $5 9-Ball. His stroke was a lot like Ervolino's, I'm guessing Johnny E. learned from him. The best of my recollection Irish (that's what they called him) had a little side saddle to his stroke. He was just a mousey little man who didn't say much. Just got up, played, collected the money and went back to his chair. No conversation, no fanfare. He seemed almost disinterested in playing.

By the way, that billboard from Johnston City is from the first year. Paulie put that up there and he didn't know how to spell many players names. These were not household names. I remember Amarillo Slim Preston was listed as T.J. Preston the first year I was there (1963). It should have been T.A. Preston. I still call him T.J. to this day when I see him. He doesn't seem to mind either, and has never corrected me. He knows where that came from.
 

Terry Ardeno

I still love my wife
Silver Member
I am always interested in info about the older players, does anybody know what Johnny Irish's stroke was like? Was it long and smooth like Mosconi's or was it short like Ervalino's?

Bern

I never seen him play. He died when I was 6. However, Marshall "Squirrrel" Carpenter said that "Johnny Irish had the prettiest stroke in pool."
 

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
KK9L,
Nice pics of George & Paulie Jansco w/ a young and dapper Ronnie Allen!

Even though their score board says Spaton, his last name was Staton. Them guys spell like I do numbers! :D

Thanks for posting those pictures. I wanted to but I'm not enough of a computer guy to do it. I doubt that you will see Fats name on many tournament pictures like that.
 

cardiac kid

Super Senior Member
Silver Member
Even though their score board says Spaton, his last name was Staton. Them guys spell like I do numbers! :D

Terry,

Thank you for saving me from a fate worse than.... Perhaps I'm not as senile as I thought!

Glad to hear you're feeling better and posting again.

Lyn
 

mountainlion

Registered
Weenie Beanie..........his name was William Staton...............most definitely NOT spaton. Weenie was a solid gold guy and played all games
jam up and he would bet the sky. If he couldn't get you one way, he'd out gamble ya........ cards (knock rummy especially), golf. Like has been said,
the unique pool characters around in the 60's & 70's were more than special & they left of irreplaceable void.
 

mountainlion

Registered
Weenie Beanie..........his name was William Staton...............most definitely NOT spaton. Weenie was a solid gold guy and played all games
jam up and he would bet the sky. If he couldn't get you one way, he'd out gamble ya........ cards (knock rummy especially), golf. Like has been said,
the unique pool characters around in the 60's & 70's were more than special & they left of irreplaceable void.
 

cardiac kid

Super Senior Member
Silver Member
Weenie Beanie..........his name was William Staton...............most definitely NOT spaton. Weenie was a solid gold guy and played all games
jam up and he would bet the sky. If he couldn't get you one way, he'd out gamble ya........ cards (knock rummy especially), golf. Like has been said,
the unique pool characters around in the 60's & 70's were more than special & they left of irreplaceable void.

We have special memories of Billy here in Rochester. Classic Billiards was one of the recipients of the Weenie Beanie roller ball boards:eek:. The new room owner threw it away when he cleaned house. Never could understand why people would bet on the outcome of that thing! Takes all kinds.

Lyn
 
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