James C. Abel, Sr.

DJSTEVEZ

Professor of Human Moves
Silver Member
My 1st pool instructor was Jimmy Abel. At the time, circa 1992, he and his son, Jimmy Jr., had a Pool & Billiard store in the Mount Kisco Mall in Westchester County, NY. Jimmy would become a good friend, and great mentor. I was in my 20's at the time and he was clearly in his late 60's (at least). I would later learn he used to tour the exhibition circuit with Willie Mosconi as his opponent (mostly Sears stores). Jim had a wide and varied past which included everything from running a wire room (don't ask), becoming a certified Hypnotherapist, to becoming an author (Best Shot), owning numerous pool rooms(Executive Billiards) and eventually having a Guinness World Record Title for having pocketed the most (pool) balls in 1, 24 hour period.

What Jimmy imparted to me about life was far more valuable than anything I could've learned about pool. Although regarding Pool, he reminded me always that it was just a game, and should be treated as such. There's so much more I could write about Jimmy. He was a serious man, a comical character, and a lights-out player of straight pool. 100+ balls runs were nothing unusual for Jimmy, just as Burning Otis Spunkmeyer cookies at his Billiard Club, Executive Billiards in White Plains, NY was. Jimmy has been gone for some years now. He's one of those friends that I wished I was not "too busy" to reach out and contact after life took us to different paths. Jimmy's life came and went before the digital world could thoroughly capture it the way it does nearly everyone today. In looking for anything about him online all I could find was the ad below from an old newspaper. It was from the May 13th, 1966 edition of the Herald Statesman which covered southern Westchester county. I'm hoping against hope some others who knew Jimmy will read this and contribute some of their memories of him. I guess I should say RIP Jim, but Jimmy was never one to sit, much less rest. As far as peace, Jimmy was always in motion and never not around action.


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