5th Avenue Red

billiardcue

billiardcue

11th Commandment
Silver Member
Does anyone know of a pool player from New York City that went by the name of 5th Avenue Red?

He was a black man that died in the 1980s and was a friend of Cisero Murphy.

Any information would be appreciated.

Here is a photo of his cue, trying to figure out who made it.


5thave_red-az.jpg
 
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billiardcue said:
Does anyone know of a pool player from New York City that went by the name of 5th Avenue Red?

He was a black man that died in the 1980s and was a friend of Cisero Murphy.

Any information would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

The only thing i know about him and it is hearsay is that he used to carry his stick in some sort of makeshift 'case' made of newspaper.
 
he played up around 7/11 in the city. he was quite a character and very good player. another guy i wonder about was 14th street joey.
 
I need some ginko for my memory

billiardcue said:
Does anyone know of a pool player from New York City that went by the name of 5th Avenue Red?

He was a black man that died in the 1980s and was a friend of Cisero Murphy.

Any information would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

He was well known in the back room sense. I was told of him by both Johnny Ervolino and Jersey Joe Defalco but the stories escape me. Its a ***** gettin old...
 
I got a little more info on 5th Avenue Red from Ray Martin in an email.


"I knew 5th Avenue Red. He used to come over to my pool room with another guy named Country, another black player. 5th Avenue Red and I used to play straight pool together. He was a damn good player at the time. Country and I used to play one pocket."
 
I was told he was a very good player who had at least one epic one-pocket match with Ervolino in Lodi, NJ. Ervolino's backers included a well-known bookie named Aaron, so everyone knew the match was on the square (with Aaron in, Ervolino would not dare play less than his best). They played for $1500, a VERY good stake in that era, and Ervolino won; he took his share to the track and was back at 711 (a famous midtown Manhattan room, at 47th and 7th Avenue) the next night looking for backers. GF
 
billiardcue said:
I got a little more info on 5th Avenue Red from Ray Martin in an email.


"I knew 5th Avenue Red. He used to come over to my pool room with another guy named Country, another black player. 5th Avenue Red and I used to play straight pool together. He was a damn good player at the time. Country and I used to play one pocket."
Click to expand...

"Country" was still around as of maybe 3 years ago-Anyone seen him lately?
 
Dick,

I'm no cue expert but it looks like a Titlist conversion. I'm tempted to say that the conversion was done by Karl Mayer from NJ, but I could be wrong.


Eric
 
LMAO...What a surprise!...a poolplayer who took his winnings to donate at the track (or baseball, or boxing, or, or, or...)! :rolleyes::D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

George Fels said:
They played for $1500, a VERY good stake in that era, and Ervolino won; he took his share to the track and was back at 711 (a famous midtown Manhattan room, at 47th and 7th Avenue) the next night looking for backers. GF
Click to expand...
 
martin had no chance against country in one pocket. but probably could beat red most of the time.
country didnt bet small and went where the fish were and took them off.
ervolino didnt worry about who you were when he was backed. all were fair game. but played better than about anybody in the 60's back east. but got run out and ended up dealing black jack at ceasers palace in vegas for many years.
 
Nostroke said:
The only thing i know about him and it is hearsay is that he used to carry his stick in some sort of makeshift 'case' made of newspaper.
Click to expand...


Ha Ha, Now I remember him. I thought it was so strange to see a guy carrying a cue wrapped in a newspaper. But that was part of his hustle. I saw him play white Cannonball at Guys and Dolls over 40 years ago. All I remember is they both played good. And Country was right there in Red's corner. He probably put up the money. They were playing 9-Ball. Cannonball (Eddie Klenowski) had the hardest break I had seen up till then.

Country always wore this long black leather trenchcoat and a little fedora, and was a low key guy. He wouldn't bother with small potatoes like me back then. Everyone treated him with unusual respect, even guys like Ervolino and Ambrose wouldn't mouth off to him.
 
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I wonder if 5th avenue Red and Preacher Red were the same person? Tall,slim,very light-skinned(hard to tell his race),beard, liked to talk about pool in the 40's and 50's, and one of the BEST movers I've ever seen in one-pocket. Preacher Red has been dead for maybe 15 or more years. I've heard some scary stories about him-sounded like he wasn't too savory a character. Played him cheap in Vegas-surprisingly he gave me 3 balls-but I had no chance.
 
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