The Best player from Hawaii...

M

mrinsatiable

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just witness Rodney Morris put on a clinic in the finals of the Chuck Markulis Memorial 9 ball vs Santos Sambojan...

Was wondering is Rodney Morris the most successful shooter to come out of Hawaii?
 
Hawaiian players

How soon we forget!

Rodney plays real well - and has a pretty high gear. He always plays loose and I think helps him a lot but also can cause some careless mistakes, too).

But let 's not forget rodney's mentor - and one of the most feared money players to hit the US. 'Hawaian' Brain Hashimoto.

I had heard stories how he got the goods on the east coast many years ago - i think wearing an 'NYU' sweatshirt.

I also heard the Miz said it was the best playing he had ever seen.

And that means old Brian hit 'em pretty good!

Mark griffin

(another one of those old timers vs the new guys - lol)
 
mrinsatiable said:
I just witness Rodney Morris put on a clinic in the finals of the Chuck Markulis Memorial 9 ball vs Santos Sambojan...

Was wondering is Rodney Morris the most successful shooter to come out of Hawaii?
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I seem to remember a loooong time ago, a player from there by the name of Howard Akita, probably spelled it wrong, that could have given weight to Rodney in his prime. I sure know Grady didn't like his game way back then;)
 
realkingcobra said:
I seem to remember a loooong time ago, a player from there by the name of Howard Akita, probably spelled it wrong, that could have given weight to Rodney in his prime. I sure know Grady didn't like his game way back then;)
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Howard Ikeda was a nice player and in Ca a long time. His speed was not up to what I saw from Rodney this week. Howard's game was also a little under Hawaiian Brian's.

I usually see him at DCC every year.
 
I met Brian at his poolroom back in 06 and he was nothing but rude to me!! He may be a great from the past but he's a class A Douche in my eyes
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I learn something new all the time here ...

Mark Griffin said:
... But let 's not forget rodney's mentor - and one of the most feared money players to hit the US. 'Hawaian' Brain Hashimoto.
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I didn't know this. That explains a lot, actually. Hawaiian Brian was one of the toughest money players in his day, yet very few people realize it. If you learned the game from Brian, you learned from one of the best!
 
I met and became friends with Howard Ikeda at Racketeers in the New Orleans area back around '93 or so. He played really good but was no Rodney by any means. Now, Blackie was there at the same time and that could be a different story, but that's not the subject here. ;)

Gerry
 
The Rocket

I'd like to see a Rocket and SVB challenge match!!! The way the Rocket is playing it might be a little closer than people think...., and if the races are short, 5 sets to 11.., the Rocket might get there!
 
westcoast said:
Morris is very underrated. I think he has as good a shot as anybody of winning the US Open
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The man is very underrated,that man a couple posts before me dont know much about pool to say morris is in need of a spot from ikeda,nobody in the world could give Morris a spot playing 9or10 ball and win,Morris is a top 5 player,mite be the best!
 
Ah spot????

Het Richiebalto, I'm with you. ANTBODY that thinks they can spot Rodney can get all the action they want, just set the game up and bring big bank!!

He might be the best American player? SVB, Archer no doubt they can go, but Rodney takes a back seat to no one, the guy can get out, flat out!!
 
RunoutJJ said:
I met Brian at his poolroom back in 06 and he was nothing but rude to me!! He may be a great from the past but he's a class A Douche in my eyes
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I met him at the DCC last year or the year before and he was very cordial with me , not real talkative but allowed me to take a couple of pictures get an autograph and ask a couple of questions. He seemed surprised anyone remembered him.
 
jrhendy said:
Howard Ikeda was a nice player and in Ca a long time. His speed was not up to what I saw from Rodney this week. Howard's game was also a little under Hawaiian Brian's.

I usually see him at DCC every year.
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Did you ever get to see Howard play in the late 70's, early 80's? He'd come into the Corner Pocket in Colorado Springs every once in a while to practice 9b on the 10' snooker table there. More often than not, I'd watch him run the rack out with the 2 1/4" pool balls...on a SNOOKER table like it was a 9ft Gold Crown with no problem.
 
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back when i was in college in the early 90s David Grossman was probably the best player in central to north florida. At that time he wasnt much of a tournament player (still isnt really) and basically just was undercover. He ran all over the USA and he even went to hawaii. Hawaii for Grossman was the nuts bc he loved to surf and fish and the hawaiian lifestyle was really attractive to him. Anyways, David told me of the time he spent in Hawaii. He said that he played alot of pool out there and that the thing that was consistent about hawaiian pool (at least back then in the late 80s, early 90s) was the fearless nature of the hawaiian pool scene. The local players there would get up and play anyone and play even. They were not afraid to gamble, not afraid of strangers who ran out and would not quit you easily. If you were going to beat you better pack a lunch. He told me there were alot of good players there and he just avoided Brian and spent a few months out there playing and surfing. David is a great player and one of the more intelligent pool players I ever met.
 
realkingcobra said:
Did you ever get to see Howard play in the late 70's, early 80's? He'd come into the Corner Pocket in Colorado Springs every once in a while to practice 9b on the 10' snooker table there. More often than not, I'd watch him run the rack out with the 2 1/4" pool balls...on a SNOOKER table like it was a 9ft Gold Crown with no problem.
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Howard lived in San Jose, CA in the early 80's and I watched him play quite a bit. I did not go out of my way to play him any 9 ball and he also left me alone. We were both scuffling around the same places. He also played on the bar tables and I couldn't play him there.

Blackie from Hawaiii was also around some and thought to be a better player.

Neither of them would play one pocket or anything on a snooker table.

I heard about him from time to time after he moved to the south.

I went through Coloado Springs and Denver in 83/84 and just mostly played golf. The only loser I booked was to Cigar Sam at Family Fun Center in Denver. I did not play Danny Medina, could not beat him at anything.
 
westcoast said:
Morris is very underrated. I think he has as good a shot as anybody of winning the US Open
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Yes he is very underrated. I think it's because a lot of people don't really remember him when he was younger and really tearing up the pool scene. In 1995-1996 he was phenomenal...easily winning the u.s. open...he seemed like the man to beat at the time and only 25 years old. Then he went away for 3-4 years and when he came back he wasn't quite the same. But he still sometimes hits a high gear and you can see how good he can play.
 
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