Well this "Old Road Story" takes place back in 1979, ....................
When I had been running around with my brother Country Calvin Harcrow,.. back when Ermand Bullard, Gary Seay,Doug Wells,Jimmy Sanders,Scotty Townsend,Hawaiian Brian,Charlie "Good Times" Owens, Steve Gumphrey, Joey Barns"the black guy from DFW",Jerald "Top Water" Jackson from Houston, Billy Weir,Johnny Frankland & Jim Murrel from Odessa,Ted Copeland,Rod Surfer,John McCarthey,Danny Jones,"Topsy" from Shreveport, Little Wayne,Randy Dorsey, Billy Newton,Gene Greathouse,Tom Green,Mike Watson,Mike Bosswell,Rick Thompson from Kansas,Earl Kellum,Walter Glass,Curtis Payne,Fat Paul,David Matlock,Mark Wilson, and numerous other backers & players ...Converged on Longview,Texas at the Motel/Bar "Talley Ho" and the pool room "The Last Stop"......
It didn't matter if it was a Tuesday/Wednesday ...3:00 in the evening or midnite you could get $5.00, $50.00 or $500.00 ACTION!, at either place.
Wherever Country Calvin went the Action was soon to follow!
I guess it was because he was 1/2 ball under a World Champion,everyone liked Calvin, crowds of people would gather to watch him play and he could stir-up action faster than anyone I ever saw, just a "Good Ole Country Boy!", he was/is.
Me,Calvin,Charlie,Scotty,Top Water, and Steve Gumphrey shared a room/appt. at the "Motel Talley Ho" for about six months , it had a Fredg., Stove, 3 beds, and TV..we took shifts sleeping so it worked out very well.
There's many stories I could tell about being in Longview at this time, but this is the one I'm going to tell........
I had been playing John McCarthey some 9-ball sets, I was getting the wild 7 and had gotten beat outta $1,400.....( Steve Gumphrey had even been in with me on some of it)..it was kinda weird cause John beats me giving the 7, Joel Barns beats John getting the 8, Jerald beats John even, and I beat Jerald even and I can give Joel the 8 and win at the time.....WEIRD!......anyways!
Well at that time when playing pool it was customary to give back the losser 10% of the loosing...so John gave me a $140.00 "Walking Stick" something you never here of now, but then it was so your opponent could "Pump Up"
"Good Time" Charlie ask me after the match with John McCarthey if I wanted to take a road trip to Dallas,Texas and I said yes .....we took off in his old Volks Wagon car, I slept all the way about 150 miles from Longview to Dallas, when we got there, we arrived at some old dinky bar outside of town about midnite, I got down with this guy immediately for $20.00 playing 9-Ball and then it went to $50.00 agame, well I soon busted him for $540.00
Charlie says lets go to New Orleans, I said OK!.....we took off ..I slept all the way to Baton Rouge, La. and woke up in the parking lot at Greenway Billiards, well Charlie got down with this guy called "Shorty" giving Shorty the 8 playing 9-ball for 50.00 agame, it then soon went to $100.00...well Charlie soon busted him for $1,800.00......Charlie sure was playing some awesome pool!
Well Charlie had a brother that lived in Houma, La (not far from New Orleans) and we crashed there for the night.
The next day/night we went to "Roaches Roman Room" in New Orleans, well I didn't play any and Charlie got up there and won about $300.00 off the locals, and the owner befriended us (some friend)(Doubled stirred us into Kim Davenport).....well we left that bar and went to a place the owner sent us, .....wasn't long and we got a phone call from the owner at Roaches Roman Room to come back to his place , said that a cowboy was there and he wanted to bet high, so we took off that way.
We got there and sure enough this guy in a cowboy hat and boots wanted to play some 9-ball race sets for $200.00.
Me and Charlie had been in halfvers all this time but it seemed kinda strange to me about this cowboy, but I went in on the bet anyway. Well the cowboy played like a monster, running out from everywhere, but Charlie at that time was playing the best pool in his life, and we was already on a roll of sort, so as it come out Charlie bested him that night out of $1,400.00
We gave the owner a $140.00 jelly roll, ( he couldn't lose he was getting a jelly roll no matter who won) so after the game we went back to Charlie's brothers house in Houma to sleep for the night.
The next day I wanted to go back to Arkansas, but for some reason Charlie wanted to go back to New Orleans and play the cowboy some more, cause he offered to play again.
Well, it was mostly Charlies dough that we had won , but I did do all the leg work with side bets and getting Charlie whatever he needed during the game, he talked me into going back to New Orleans with him, I didn't want too, but...
we got there and went to playing $500.00 a race this time, well today the cowboy had on lax pants,loose shirt and tennis shoes, more comfortable for playing, I was kinda nervous, and walked outside and saw this "Gold Cadillac" License plates from California!!!.....
"then it hit me!"...I heard one the guy's refer to this "Cowboy" as Kim...
I came in and told Charlie he was playing "Kim Davenport" from California....
hehe....I shouldn't have said that to him,Charlie fell apart after that.....needless to say we lost almost all our cash!.........and it WAS him!..shoulda went on to Arkansas....but that's pool and gambling!
Charlie and I went to Monroe,La, we spent the night at his mothers' house, Then the next morning I got into my truck which was there, and drove to Arkansas, I had $200.00 left......stopped by this bar/nighclub in Camden,Arkansas and started playing this guy 9-Ball for $20.00 and won $2,000!
All this happen in less than a week!
That's pool at it's finest!:smile:
David Harcrow
When I had been running around with my brother Country Calvin Harcrow,.. back when Ermand Bullard, Gary Seay,Doug Wells,Jimmy Sanders,Scotty Townsend,Hawaiian Brian,Charlie "Good Times" Owens, Steve Gumphrey, Joey Barns"the black guy from DFW",Jerald "Top Water" Jackson from Houston, Billy Weir,Johnny Frankland & Jim Murrel from Odessa,Ted Copeland,Rod Surfer,John McCarthey,Danny Jones,"Topsy" from Shreveport, Little Wayne,Randy Dorsey, Billy Newton,Gene Greathouse,Tom Green,Mike Watson,Mike Bosswell,Rick Thompson from Kansas,Earl Kellum,Walter Glass,Curtis Payne,Fat Paul,David Matlock,Mark Wilson, and numerous other backers & players ...Converged on Longview,Texas at the Motel/Bar "Talley Ho" and the pool room "The Last Stop"......
It didn't matter if it was a Tuesday/Wednesday ...3:00 in the evening or midnite you could get $5.00, $50.00 or $500.00 ACTION!, at either place.
Wherever Country Calvin went the Action was soon to follow!
I guess it was because he was 1/2 ball under a World Champion,everyone liked Calvin, crowds of people would gather to watch him play and he could stir-up action faster than anyone I ever saw, just a "Good Ole Country Boy!", he was/is.
Me,Calvin,Charlie,Scotty,Top Water, and Steve Gumphrey shared a room/appt. at the "Motel Talley Ho" for about six months , it had a Fredg., Stove, 3 beds, and TV..we took shifts sleeping so it worked out very well.
There's many stories I could tell about being in Longview at this time, but this is the one I'm going to tell........
I had been playing John McCarthey some 9-ball sets, I was getting the wild 7 and had gotten beat outta $1,400.....( Steve Gumphrey had even been in with me on some of it)..it was kinda weird cause John beats me giving the 7, Joel Barns beats John getting the 8, Jerald beats John even, and I beat Jerald even and I can give Joel the 8 and win at the time.....WEIRD!......anyways!
Well at that time when playing pool it was customary to give back the losser 10% of the loosing...so John gave me a $140.00 "Walking Stick" something you never here of now, but then it was so your opponent could "Pump Up"
"Good Time" Charlie ask me after the match with John McCarthey if I wanted to take a road trip to Dallas,Texas and I said yes .....we took off in his old Volks Wagon car, I slept all the way about 150 miles from Longview to Dallas, when we got there, we arrived at some old dinky bar outside of town about midnite, I got down with this guy immediately for $20.00 playing 9-Ball and then it went to $50.00 agame, well I soon busted him for $540.00
Charlie says lets go to New Orleans, I said OK!.....we took off ..I slept all the way to Baton Rouge, La. and woke up in the parking lot at Greenway Billiards, well Charlie got down with this guy called "Shorty" giving Shorty the 8 playing 9-ball for 50.00 agame, it then soon went to $100.00...well Charlie soon busted him for $1,800.00......Charlie sure was playing some awesome pool!
Well Charlie had a brother that lived in Houma, La (not far from New Orleans) and we crashed there for the night.
The next day/night we went to "Roaches Roman Room" in New Orleans, well I didn't play any and Charlie got up there and won about $300.00 off the locals, and the owner befriended us (some friend)(Doubled stirred us into Kim Davenport).....well we left that bar and went to a place the owner sent us, .....wasn't long and we got a phone call from the owner at Roaches Roman Room to come back to his place , said that a cowboy was there and he wanted to bet high, so we took off that way.
We got there and sure enough this guy in a cowboy hat and boots wanted to play some 9-ball race sets for $200.00.
Me and Charlie had been in halfvers all this time but it seemed kinda strange to me about this cowboy, but I went in on the bet anyway. Well the cowboy played like a monster, running out from everywhere, but Charlie at that time was playing the best pool in his life, and we was already on a roll of sort, so as it come out Charlie bested him that night out of $1,400.00
We gave the owner a $140.00 jelly roll, ( he couldn't lose he was getting a jelly roll no matter who won) so after the game we went back to Charlie's brothers house in Houma to sleep for the night.
The next day I wanted to go back to Arkansas, but for some reason Charlie wanted to go back to New Orleans and play the cowboy some more, cause he offered to play again.
Well, it was mostly Charlies dough that we had won , but I did do all the leg work with side bets and getting Charlie whatever he needed during the game, he talked me into going back to New Orleans with him, I didn't want too, but...
we got there and went to playing $500.00 a race this time, well today the cowboy had on lax pants,loose shirt and tennis shoes, more comfortable for playing, I was kinda nervous, and walked outside and saw this "Gold Cadillac" License plates from California!!!.....
"then it hit me!"...I heard one the guy's refer to this "Cowboy" as Kim...
I came in and told Charlie he was playing "Kim Davenport" from California....
hehe....I shouldn't have said that to him,Charlie fell apart after that.....needless to say we lost almost all our cash!.........and it WAS him!..shoulda went on to Arkansas....but that's pool and gambling!
Charlie and I went to Monroe,La, we spent the night at his mothers' house, Then the next morning I got into my truck which was there, and drove to Arkansas, I had $200.00 left......stopped by this bar/nighclub in Camden,Arkansas and started playing this guy 9-Ball for $20.00 and won $2,000!
All this happen in less than a week!
That's pool at it's finest!:smile:
David Harcrow
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