This has to be one of the best threads ever published on AZB. Highly recommended for new members! The locations , the colorful nicknames, the gripping tales of huge scores (and devastating losses) all coalesce to paint a vivid, technicolor image of one of pool's wildest bygone eras.
Heck even the AZB posters fortunate enough to have lived in that world are an invaluable resource! Toupee Jay, Wincardona, Steve Molako, CJ Wiley, JAM...these folks have experienced a little known part of a life worthy of a Hollywood manuscript. Such a shame that others such as Freddie the Beard are no longer with us to share more of these stories.
For those who often bemoan the "seedy" side of pool and how it holds back the modern game...you may be right. But how much more interesting and exciting is it to read about Cornbread beating someone for the cash using a broomstick? Reading about Cornbread, Freddy the Beard, Ronnie Allen, etc. is just as exciting as was reading about pirates or cowboys when I was a youngster.
Great stuff. At least we have the action room stories at Derby City to pay homage to these colorful characters!
