RIP Danny.
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Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Just want to share:
I moved to Denver in 1983 and was just learning to play. I went to a tournament at Sheridan Billiards and saw a young Danny Medina literally mow down the entire field. All eyes in the room were on him every shot and mine were big as basketballs.
Like so many in Denver, we got to watch Danny play many dozens of times over the years. Table #1 at Tennyson Billiards was setup especially "tricky". Super tight pockets, super fast cloth and super bouncy rubber. There might be two sets of tied up balls and you couldn't imagine how anyone could run out. Well, Danny would slice balls 90 degrees down the long rail in the center of the pockets, playing 4-rail position to nudge balls apart and somehow find a way to run the table. Remember this was before Texas Express and you had to make shots to get a chance at the rack.
Danny had a reputation for hitting every single shot center-pocket and the rapid fire whap-whap-whap of the ball hitting the back of the pocket would hypnotize his opponents!
Danny's sledgehammer colossus of a break and lightning fast play was always a joy to see. Danny, you were an inspiration to so many, you will be missed. RIP
Bob
I have dreaded the call I got last night for some time. Danny Medina died Thursday evening at 11:38 in Denver Colorado.
Danny and I met way back in 1971 at the old Civic Center Billiards in Denver. We were both 19 years old.
He was a young and cocky guy but ponce one got past that, he was really easy to talk to and easy to get along with.
In one of our latest conversations he was struggling with some decisions he had made just like the majority of us. He feared he had wasted life by being a pool player. he lived what he loved. hre ate, slept, and breathed Pool. he head natural talent and should be remembered as on of the best shot makers ever in the game.
He was , once some got to know him better, really not so arrogant and cocky. he had vulnerabilities just as we all did and I always felt it made him even more likable and intriguing.
When he learned he had Cancer he fought valiantly and hung on when many would have thrown the towel. A calmness came across him and he faced it head on.
When I was in Denver back in August, we spent about 4 days together and never talked about the illness and pain. I was surprised he remembered some conversations we had driving across this country. he laughed at some of the dumb assed things we did ad some scrapes we narrowly escaped.
i love Danny Medina and wish I could hear that "He He" just one more time, but in one way I am relieved his pain is over and he is finally in good hands.
God Bless you Brother.
R.I.P Danny Medina September 1951 January 2013
CHAMPION!!!!!
Lewis,
I'm sorry to hear of Danny's passing, I just now read this , I haven't been checking in on AZB that much lately and have been kinda out of the loop.
Danny sure was a great Champion, he and Calvin had many wars playing 9-Ball with the big cue ball, I'm just glad I got to watch him play when he and Calvin were in their prime and both played lights out.
R.I.P. Danny Medina........A True Champion!
David Harcrow
I was on the road and through a strange chain of events I ended up without my car in Denver. Dave Gomez found me a place to stay and steered me around for about 4 or 5 months. Went home pumped up pretty good.
And during this time I met Danny Medina. He was a sight to behold.
I watched him beat player after player. He would give them spots but it didn't seem to matter. He would get rolling and just fire the shots in. The balls looked like they had a magnet that just sucked them to the pocket.
I got to see a side of Danny that many people never saw. He wanted to play me in the worst of ways. I wanted nothing to do with him. At that time in my life it would have been pool player suicide.
If I played Danny and somehow played the best pool of my life at that time and he played his worst and I won there would certainly be no more action for me anywhere near Denver or Colorado for sure. I might as well put my cue away and head back to Wisconsin.
And losing wouldn't be very good either because that is what probably would have happened for sure anyway.
But everytime we crossed paths during this time Danny would come up to me and say : Hey Man. Why don't you and me play some? My answer to Danny was, you play too good Danny. Just trying to play you would ruin any action I could get. I never admitted to him that I thought I couldn't win. This kind of ate at him a little I could tell. And it's maybe why he kept asking. Kind of cat and mouse.
It got so when Danny would come up to me and ask again it was almost like a comedy skit. We got to know each other and this was our main means of communication. Him asking me to play and me turning him down.
He got pretty inventive with the words to ask me. and I just kept coming up with new words to turn him down. Sometimes I would just sit and think about what I was going to say next time he asked me to play. It was kind of fun.
One time I told him you got to be kidding. i saw what you did to so and so last week. As he was turning I could see a smile come across his face.
One day just before I left Denver I got to really talk to Danny. This was different because I was usually talking to Danny Medina the pool player trying to get a game and he could get pretty aggressive. He knew i was leaving so we just talked about things in general but mostly about pool and some pool stories. it was a side of danny that i had never seen before.
As we talked he started to smile a little. Through our little ritual of play me, and I don't think so, we had became friends. Not the kind that would go to the bar and have a few drinks together but the kind that if either one of us needed some help the other would be right there.
I met Danny 7 years later at a tourny in Rochester Mn. We talked again just like old friends. It was really cool.
Then I never saw Danny in person until I was in Denver teaching in the summer of 2009. He was playing in a weekly tourny they were having. He didn't play like he used to but he had that same bounce in his stroke. He still looked dangerous as all get out. We were both much older but we still recognized each other. Old friends met again.
But I did notice one thing. He was trying to help anyone he could with their game. He had become a teacher. Passing on his great knowledge to whomever he could. You could see his eyes light up when he would explain something to someone.
Danny was one of the great players of all time. I was proud to know him.
And when I was in Denver for those few short months back in the late 79's, early 80's, I know there was no one in the world that wanted to mess with that man on any pool table. Sometimes his stroke was like lightning, and his break sounded like a cannon.
Danny You were one of the Greatest ever of our time.
Rest in peace my friend.
i was with him when he once played Calvin in Odessa Tx. I think it was at Woody's where Billy Weir played many years ago.
Danny and Calvin had been playing for like 14 hours and Danny went to the rest room. Calvin dropped to the floor and started doing push ups. i9 thought it was the most outrageous thing I had seen.
Danny walked out of the rest room and saw Calvin and said,"What the hell is that dude doing"!
"Oh he is just getting loose" I said.
"Any looser and I would fall apart" He said back.
most of the stories from those days, few would even believe now. It was a different time altogether.
Another time, Danny and I were in Lincoln nebraska at the old Madsens tournament.
i woke up about 5 am and Danny was pacing back and forth in the room. I asked what was wrong and he said he was playing so good now that he was afraid to sleep. he was afraid he would wake up and it would all be gone.
i said i was going back and sleep and try to find it. he said, yeah, you better get some sleep!
Yes I remember the bar Woody's in Odessa,TX., ( Billy Weir bought that place, not sure if he still has it) my family and I went out there in 1975 to visit Calvin, Calvin was going to college and part owner of the poolhall called the Ace Ball with Earl Moorse.
I played in Woody's all night, I was only 16 and held the 8-Ball table all night, later that night after closing I went out to Calvin's place and watched Calvin play Jimmy Speer's (Flyboy) 9-Ball untill my family came to pick me up and head back to Arkansas about 5:30 in the morning.
About 1980 Calvin, Jerald Jackson (TopWater) and me went to Odessa and stopped in at the Ace Ball, it was then own by Vernon Cole, we had just days before been in Caney City, Tx. for 6 months and the Texas Rangers raided the place and said 3 got away, that was us, nearly 40 players were busted for gambling and some had drugs, ( mostly just pills,uppers).
Anyway Danny Medina was in the Ace Ball and Calvin and him matched up, that was my first time to watch Danny play, Calvin won the first night and then Danny hit a gear and won nearly all we had the second night, man he sure could run the table with ease, all his shots were in line every time, he never said a word except you wanna raise the bet!......lol ,,,,,I remember that Danny was dressed real sharp too, I couldn't believe that a guy dressed so nice could play pool so damn good!
Yes Calvin often did push up's during a match and played bare footed too, guess that's how he got the nic name County Calvin....
Calvin sends his condolences to Danny's family & friends........
David Harcrow
Anyhow, back in the 80's and early 90's I used to see many a worldbeater come and go and this was back when Danny was really in his (1st) prime.
Rest in Peace, Champ.
DogLoop...Not to take away from your nice story, but Medina was a force to be reckoned with in even in the 60's and 70's, so he was "in his prime" for much longer than you thought! Nice tribute to a great player.
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com