there were tons of them. but the best of them were the so called pro's. really just as now the very top pros will destroy any of the unknowns.
those unknowns mostly beat the top road players only on home court on favorite table. or on occasion on the road and that's the times people remember and talk about.
pool is a self employed business. and the measure of success is making more money than others and keeping it.
if they don't then no matter who they beat they are just another failure.
A lot of truth to what you say. Who wants to be famous when it bites into your cash? A very small example, I took off a known shortstop in Greenway a couple times about six months apart. Each time it cost me somewhere around $1000-$2000. I would be in that area which was a hotbed of low stakes gambling and quietly plying my trade when somebody would dime me out to my opponent. "I saw him beat so and so in Greenway." Part of it was who I played, part was how much I played for. Both marked me as outside of their league whether I was or not. I played regularly at a place five miles away and played for fifty a game several times a week. Differences were I wasn't playing somebody known and I wasn't doing it in Greenway.
One road player came in the bar with a covered sales pad in hand, ordered a drink, and sat down doing paperwork where he could scout the tables. No fuss, no muss, a pretty solid cover. Just a traveling salesman passing through town a few days.
We will never know the names of most of the road players quietly plying their trade. The best ones weren't known, still aren't.
Hu
