Jack Cooney

[jay helfert]

The best Jack Cooney story I have heard is when he walked into a room with a "pool for dummies" book day after day and would open the book on the table and set the shots up as described in the book and make like he was attempting to learn the shots. After a while the locals started to help him make the shots, draw, englishes etc etc..but he missed a lot

He made friends with everyone, joined the leagues and all. 3 months goes by and he busted everyone in town.

Who was that masked man?

 

[crawfish]

Once again, Jack was far and away the best hustler of his era, from the late 60's through the early 90's. He came out from undercover in the late 90's, about ten years ago.

Jay, how old is he now? Just curious.

 

[daniel]

Last time I saw Jack was in Greensboro in the 80's. I had an original Joss/ivory joint 3 shafts that I had just bought from Steve Lillis when he heard the Lord call & was quitting pool. Yuk Yuk. Jack had a Szamboti & we traded even.& he told me the story when he took the big score in I believe Alabama. He got to be close friends with the mark & had spread his whole bankroll so had to call Detroit for a steakhorse & give up whatever they agreed on. The interesting part of the story was when Jack looked at me & said it was the hardest thing he had ever done when the time came to lower the boom on his friend. BTW this was in the summer & his woman had her trademark fur coat on. Harley Bryant & Johnny Ross were there too & we had a mighty good time.

 

[JoeyInCali]

It's a crime that Jack's life is not a movie or a book yet.

 

[jay helfert]

Jay, how old is he now? Just curious.

Jack is in his early 60's.

 

[jay helfert]

Last time I saw Jack was in Greensboro in the 80's. I had an original Joss/ivory joint 3 shafts that I had just bought from Steve Lillis when he heard the Lord call & was quitting pool. Yuk Yuk. Jack had a Szamboti & we traded even.& he told me the story when he took the big score in I believe Alabama. He got to be close friends with the mark & had spread his whole bankroll so had to call Detroit for a steakhorse & give up whatever they agreed on. The interesting part of the story was when Jack looked at me & said it was the hardest thing he had ever done when the time came to lower the boom on his friend. BTW this was in the summer & his woman had her trademark fur coat on. Harley Bryant & Johnny Ross were there too & we had a mighty good time.

Wow, John Ross! Haven't heard his name in a long time. We hustled around together a million years ago. He was a pretty sharp cat.

 

[8ballEinstein]

Last time I saw Jack was in Greensboro in the 80's. I had an original Joss/ivory joint 3 shafts that I had just bought from Steve Lillis when he heard the Lord call & was quitting pool. Yuk Yuk. Jack had a Szamboti & we traded even.& he told me the story when he took the big score in I believe Alabama. He got to be close friends with the mark & had spread his whole bankroll so had to call Detroit for a steakhorse & give up whatever they agreed on. The interesting part of the story was when Jack looked at me & said it was the hardest thing he had ever done when the time came to lower the boom on his friend. BTW this was in the summer & his woman had her trademark fur coat on. Harley Bryant & Johnny Ross were there too & we had a mighty good time.

This has to be the toughest part of being a hustler like Jack. He patiently sets up his mark, sometimes for months. In that time he gets to know his mark really well before he springs his trap. I know this is something I would have a hard time with, aways having to deceive your fellow man just to get to his cash. I guess I'm just too yellow to steal.

That said, I enjoy some of these Jack stories and have a few of my own. I remember a few years back, I strolled into Hard Times and a friend comes up and asks, "Do you know who that guy is outside?". I look and without thinking I said, "Wow. What's Jack Cooney doing here??" I wasn't sure if he was doing his undercover thing, but I was just surprised there were still a lot of folks who didn't know it was him. Of course his name was familiar to everyone, but not his face.

 

[Terry Ardeno]

in early 90s I once tried a some what similar trick to get into the pockets of 'Neptune Joe' a strong east coast player...

Vags,
That was Joe Frady. I haven't heard his name in a few years. Wonder what he's up to? Strong, solid player for sure.

 

[crawfish]

Vags,
That was Joe Frady. I haven't heard his name in a few years. Wonder what he's up to? Strong, solid player for sure.

I actually played Frady some in around '90. He gave me some weird spot. I couldn't make one in the Pacific ocean at the time. Solid is very true. I think he was staying in Greensboro at the time.

 

[jay helfert]

in early 90s I once tried a some what similar trick to get into the pockets of 'Neptune Joe' a strong east coast player but he did not fall for my trick. I followed him for a week or two pulling the things I know but he did not fall for it. I then moved on.

More than 9 years ago I ran into Jack at shooters in Olathe,KS .Jack Cooney is the best ' Hustler ' in modern era and no one can come close to it.Others are only Wannabe hustlers.

Vags, you've been on the lemon longer than Cooney.

 

[alstl]

This quote came to my mind when I saw the thread, posted a while back by Tom Ferry.

At last years DCC, Jack told me his back is bothering him and keeping him from playing much.
The best quote about good hustling came from Jack -
"Show me a guy (with lots of money) that plays pool and believes what he sees & I'll get him"!

 

[FSutton]

Last time I saw Jack was in Greensboro in the 80's. I had an original Joss/ivory joint 3 shafts that I had just bought from Steve Lillis when he heard the Lord call & was quitting pool. Yuk Yuk. Jack had a Szamboti & we traded even.& he told me the story when he took the big score in I believe Alabama. He got to be close friends with the mark & had spread his whole bankroll so had to call Detroit for a steakhorse & give up whatever they agreed on. The interesting part of the story was when Jack looked at me & said it was the hardest thing he had ever done when the time came to lower the boom on his friend. BTW this was in the summer & his woman had her trademark fur coat on. Harley Bryant & Johnny Ross were there too & we had a mighty good time.

\


Johnny Ross now there's a character. I crossed paths with him with I was all of 18 and I'll never forget him. lol

 

[vagabond]

Wow, John Ross! Haven't heard his name in a long time. We hustled around together a million years ago. He was a pretty sharp cat.

in 90s johny Ross was living in Jacksonville, FL.

 

[monica]

Jack's my Hero

I am proud to say that Jack and Barbara are friends of mine. I hung around to try to learn whatever I could when I was a teenager playing in Marietta GA when it was a real hot action spot for quite a while. When I started playing again (10 or 11 yrs ago) I went out to cali and hung around hardtimes. That's where I met up w/ Jack & Barbara again. They have always been nice to me. He was going to play Toby for the second time after losing to him in Vegas. This time they would play at Hardtimes. I watched Jack everyday in the pool room practice on his table one-pocket for a solid week at least all by himself. Then he played the weekly nine ball tournament just before the action was to arrive just to make sure he would be in stroke for pocketing balls and not just "move". The weekly tournament had a few phillipinoes and Tang, king kong, Morrow, Dave Hemmah, Marcus, Helena just to name a few and the list went on, mind you. Everybody said not to bet on Jack but he was one of my heroes. I had left everything behind in Ga to try to learn pool and go pro, all I had was 1 pair of jeans w/ holes all in them. I bet every thing I had on Jack and that was $200. The backer would only take $500 or more on side bets so Mark introduced me to him and said let me bet and so he did. There was THOUSANDS bet that day on a game that lasted a week to finish. I sat in the bleachers everyday and sweated Jack in. This is one of my best memories and really appreciate Jack, Barbara and Mark always being so nice to me. I will be there for his HOF and can't wait to see it.

Another story I heard about Jack was that he would drive up the east coast and lay down lemons like a champ and then when he drove back through, take off huge scores. Barbara kept a black book that had hot spots in it with details like names, how much they made and things the potential scores liked or disliked from the last time they played. I have seen Jack invent games to make people play that sounded like they had the absolute nuts but actually Jack did. I mean invent whole new games that don't even have a name. I think he is a genius.

 

[Gerald]

Jack stayed around Hard Times for awhile after that match up with Toby. I remember that Jack was down 6 games the first night--or early the next morning. I had to leave and I thought that Jack was about out of the match. I stopped on the way out to talk to "Little" Al Romero. I shook my head and Al said "Jack will come back--he's a warhorse." Sure enough he did. Good money on that match up. He stayed around HT for awhile and then he went on the road. The second hand info I was given, and hopefully someone here can confirm, is that he got 10/8 from Walden in OK and won a nice score. He then went down South and got 10/8 from Joyner and his backers. He took down even a bigger score and came back to So. Cal where he pretty much retired, His appearances at HT were less and less frequent. I think he probably played more golf than pool. But during that time he taught John "Victorville" Schmidt an awful lot about One Pocket!

 

[onepocket1]

I played Jack 40 years ago at Tropicana Bowl in Inglewood California.
He gave me 8-6 and my scratches didn't count. He won every game but was already working on his stall game.

Everybody likes Jack - even most of his victims.

I will be at DCC to see him inducted into the HOF.
Ken Thomason

 

[1on1pooltournys]

Is it true?

Seems I heard that Mr. Cooney made a nice investment into some off shore internet gaming company and has made serious money, which is why we never see him?

On another note, I'm suprised nobody has mentioned the move where Barbara cusses him out and then proceeds to take his glasses off of him and stomp on them, forcing Jack to pull up loser. Of course, he comes back the next day and takes the whole joint off. I saw this move in Olathe up close and personal. It was a great performance, and yes Monica, Jack is a genius.

 

[nichollss]

Wow, John Ross! Haven't heard his name in a long time. We hustled around together a million years ago. He was a pretty sharp cat.

Yes he is. He has been trying to get us to meet up and play some snooker. He is a straight shooter. I might tell the story about him busting me when I was younger with a nearly impossible shot on the snooker table. Very funny guy too. If you ever need his number let me know, that is if you don't already have it.

If you have any stories about him, I would like to hear about them.

 

[freddy the beard]

"Roxanne's Game" a movie script

For an unauthorized (Barbara wouldn't let me use her or Jack's first names) full blown movie script, based loosely on Jack and Barbara's road adventures, read "Roxanne's Game."
www.scriptforroxannesgame.blogspot.com/

the Beard

"Roxanne" is really Barbara, "Mick" is really Jack, and me is really me.

 

[1pocket]

I played Jack 40 years ago at Tropicana Bowl in Inglewood California.
He gave me 8-6 and my scratches didn't count. He won every game but was already working on his stall game.

Everybody likes Jack - even most of his victims.

I will be at DCC to see him inducted into the HOF.
Ken Thomason

And I want to thank you for coming and showing your support. One of the things that has been truly special about these HOF inductions has been the "full house" present at every dinner. Not just a bunch of faces, but many well known faces that the guys being inducted are very familiar with -- truly an experience of being "recognized by your peers".

We cannot do this without the support of people like you. Thanks, and see you there!!!

Click here for One Pocket Hall of Fame dinner reservations & info