Rob piersa down at Yale billiards in Wallingford ct is pretty lights out. His buddy Dave ain't bad either
Unknown "monster" players
- Thread starter DoubleA
- Start date
Agreed!!!!
Thanks, enjoy, many of the names on here(Weldon "Jr" Rogers, Vernon Elliot, etc.) were personal friends of mine. Jr still is, others too numerous to list. We have lost too many in the last couple of years.
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Norm is not little, from Battle Creek. Great player.
Would Bob Ogburn be considered "unknown"? How well did he play? Doe anyone on here remember a guy from Pheonix name Rudy? I saw Jackie Madden said he died a few years ago. Rudy told me he once beat Ronnie Allen playing 9 ball in Ca. I never heard Rudy lie or brag so I believed him
Detroit Kenny is a pretty good player. We saw him at SBE a couple years ago. I think he's a little known though
Unfortunately, none of us will outrun that roll. Sad, but true DoubleA. I would have loved to have seen all the great players within this thread in action, but a lot of them have gone on. Fortunately for us, they left behind a legacy and many great stories to be told.
Yep, but pete was waaaaaaaaaaay past his prime and the Kid was In his prime.
Michael "Geese" Gerace was the best one-handed player I'd ever seen. He could draw his rock the length of the table without his cue touching a rail. That's pretty strong. 
In the '80s era, we got a call from a mayor of a town up in Pennsylvania who happened to like staking pool players. Geese and I had been up in that region before hustling, and we met the mayor. He took us around a few spots. I remember one bar in Morgantown, WV that had a ton of action, and the town of Morgantown had a pool room that you walked downstairs to, just like on that movie "The Hustler."
Anyway, one day Geese got a call from the mayor who said he wanted Geese to come up right away, that he'd pay him $200 to just show up, win or lose. Apparently, there was a stranger in town looking for action.
Geese and I wasted no time packing, and we were on the road again. It was only about a 3-hour drive. When we got to town, though, it was on a Sunday, and wouldn't you know that all the pool spots were closed in this region, except one bowling alley in Altoona. The mayor negotiated the logistics, and we were to all meet at this bowling alley in Altoona.
Off we went. We got there first, with the mayor in tow, and Geese started hitting balls. An hour goes by, and we're thinking that the stranger in town was going to be a no-show. But then he pops in with his entourage and doesn't even check out the table. He had long straggily blond hair and was wearing boots. Most pool players in this generation of action men wore Nikes or tennis shoes. Nobody wore boots, unless they were from Texas, and these were some odd-looking boots, just about as scraggily as his hair. He pulls a coin out of his pocket and said, "Call it. Heads or tails." :grin-square:
Well, anybody who knows Geese is aware that he cannot tolerate losing to anyone. When he can't stay in the lead in a match, he has a meltdown, similar to Earl Strickland, but in Geese's case, it can get violent. I saw him throw a 9-ball across the pool room as hard as he could in the Maryland State Championship one time as he was racking the balls. Fortunately, it didn't hit anybody. I remember Cigar Tom's (Tom Vanover) wife saying to me, "If that was my man, I'd break that cue stick over his head." :embarrassed2:
The match was a race to 10, if memory serves me right, for $1,000, 9-ball on a Brunswick 9-footer. Now, 9-ball was *not* Geese's best game, but he could keep up with the best of 'em when it came to action. It was a brutal match to watch in the beginning. The stranger would win one, and then Geese would win two. The stranger would win two, and then Geese would win one. Back and forth, back and forth. I could see the blood boiling in Geese's neck veins, and I started to wonder where the nearest Greyhound station was, so I could get a ride home. No way was I getting in the car with him if he lost.
Then, like a streak of greatness for Geese or a lack of endurance from the stranger, Geese surged forward and won the match. I remember the stranger never smiled. He unscrewed his cue and left as fast as he blew in town. Geese was happy, and so was I. We drove off into the sunset with a little more cheese than we came with, and that was always a good thing. :thumbup:
20 years or more later, I returned to the pool scene and went to a tournament at some bar in Maryland, close to the Ocean City. I can't remember the name, but they were having a big pool tournament there. A local kid named Cutty was popular at this time, and he could play, loved action too, to include poker. The finals came down to Cutty and this out-of-towner I'd never seen before. The people I came with got knocked out. I was running a poker game back in my hotel room, whiuch was a suite up the road, but I wanted to sweat the finals and pull for Cutty to win, mainly because I was hoping he'd come back to my suite and play poker, giving us a chance to bust him.
Well, Cutty lost, but he still came to my poker game. The out-of-towner ended up being a strong player. I watched him collecting his dough, wondering if I should approach him and invite him to play in my poker game. As I walked up to him, I looked down at his feet, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was wearing the most god-awful ugly boots I'd ever seen, and then it hit me. I stared at his face and asked him about Altoona. I soon found out that I was standing in front of the legendary Scotty Townsend. What a small pool world it is sometimes! :embarrassed2:
In 2006, Keith and I drove to Las Vegas for an IPT event, and Keith and Scotty, it turns out, were good buddies. I couldn't believe this guy was the same Scotty Townsend I had previously run into. What a hunk Scotty Townsend is today, a really nice-looking gentleman. Who'd ever think this guy was a road agent! :grin-loving:
In the '80s era, we got a call from a mayor of a town up in Pennsylvania who happened to like staking pool players. Geese and I had been up in that region before hustling, and we met the mayor. He took us around a few spots. I remember one bar in Morgantown, WV that had a ton of action, and the town of Morgantown had a pool room that you walked downstairs to, just like on that movie "The Hustler."
Anyway, one day Geese got a call from the mayor who said he wanted Geese to come up right away, that he'd pay him $200 to just show up, win or lose. Apparently, there was a stranger in town looking for action.
Geese and I wasted no time packing, and we were on the road again. It was only about a 3-hour drive. When we got to town, though, it was on a Sunday, and wouldn't you know that all the pool spots were closed in this region, except one bowling alley in Altoona. The mayor negotiated the logistics, and we were to all meet at this bowling alley in Altoona.
Off we went. We got there first, with the mayor in tow, and Geese started hitting balls. An hour goes by, and we're thinking that the stranger in town was going to be a no-show. But then he pops in with his entourage and doesn't even check out the table. He had long straggily blond hair and was wearing boots. Most pool players in this generation of action men wore Nikes or tennis shoes. Nobody wore boots, unless they were from Texas, and these were some odd-looking boots, just about as scraggily as his hair. He pulls a coin out of his pocket and said, "Call it. Heads or tails." :grin-square:
Well, anybody who knows Geese is aware that he cannot tolerate losing to anyone. When he can't stay in the lead in a match, he has a meltdown, similar to Earl Strickland, but in Geese's case, it can get violent. I saw him throw a 9-ball across the pool room as hard as he could in the Maryland State Championship one time as he was racking the balls. Fortunately, it didn't hit anybody. I remember Cigar Tom's (Tom Vanover) wife saying to me, "If that was my man, I'd break that cue stick over his head." :embarrassed2:
The match was a race to 10, if memory serves me right, for $1,000, 9-ball on a Brunswick 9-footer. Now, 9-ball was *not* Geese's best game, but he could keep up with the best of 'em when it came to action. It was a brutal match to watch in the beginning. The stranger would win one, and then Geese would win two. The stranger would win two, and then Geese would win one. Back and forth, back and forth. I could see the blood boiling in Geese's neck veins, and I started to wonder where the nearest Greyhound station was, so I could get a ride home. No way was I getting in the car with him if he lost.
Then, like a streak of greatness for Geese or a lack of endurance from the stranger, Geese surged forward and won the match. I remember the stranger never smiled. He unscrewed his cue and left as fast as he blew in town. Geese was happy, and so was I. We drove off into the sunset with a little more cheese than we came with, and that was always a good thing. :thumbup:
20 years or more later, I returned to the pool scene and went to a tournament at some bar in Maryland, close to the Ocean City. I can't remember the name, but they were having a big pool tournament there. A local kid named Cutty was popular at this time, and he could play, loved action too, to include poker. The finals came down to Cutty and this out-of-towner I'd never seen before. The people I came with got knocked out. I was running a poker game back in my hotel room, whiuch was a suite up the road, but I wanted to sweat the finals and pull for Cutty to win, mainly because I was hoping he'd come back to my suite and play poker, giving us a chance to bust him.
Well, Cutty lost, but he still came to my poker game. The out-of-towner ended up being a strong player. I watched him collecting his dough, wondering if I should approach him and invite him to play in my poker game. As I walked up to him, I looked down at his feet, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was wearing the most god-awful ugly boots I'd ever seen, and then it hit me. I stared at his face and asked him about Altoona. I soon found out that I was standing in front of the legendary Scotty Townsend. What a small pool world it is sometimes! :embarrassed2:
In 2006, Keith and I drove to Las Vegas for an IPT event, and Keith and Scotty, it turns out, were good buddies. I couldn't believe this guy was the same Scotty Townsend I had previously run into. What a hunk Scotty Townsend is today, a really nice-looking gentleman. Who'd ever think this guy was a road agent! :grin-loving:
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Michael "Geese" Gerace was the best one-handed player I'd ever seen. He could draw his rock the length of the table without his cue touching a rail. That's pretty strong.
In the '80s era, we got a call from a mayor of a town up in Pennsylvania who happened to like staking pool players. Geese and I had been up in that region before hustling, and we met the mayor. He took us around a few spots. I remember one bar in Morgantown, WV that had a ton of action, and the town of Morgantown had a pool room that you walked downstairs to, just like on that movie "The Hustler."
Anyway, one day Geese got a call from the mayor who said he wanted Geese to come up right away, that he'd pay him $200 to just show up, win or lose. Apparently, there was a stranger in town looking for action.
Geese and I wasted no time packing, and we were on the road again. It was only about a 3-hour drive. When we got to town, though, it was on a Sunday, and wouldn't you know that all the pool spots were closed in this region, except one bowling alley in Altoona. The mayor negotiated the logistics, and we were to all meet at this bowling alley in Altoona.
Off we went. We got there first, with the mayor in tow, and Geese started hitting balls. An hour goes by, and we're thinking that the stranger in town was going to be a no-show. But then he pops in with his entourage and doesn't even check out the table. He had long straggily blond hair and was wearing boots. Most pool players in this generation of action men wore Nikes or tennis shoes. Nobody wore boots, unless they were from Texas, and these were some odd-looking boots, just about as scraggily as his hair. He pulls a coin out of his pocket and said, "Call it. Heads or tails." :grin-square:
Well, anybody who knows Geese is aware that he cannot tolerate losing to anyone. When he can't stay in the lead in a match, he has a meltdown, similar to Earl Strickland, but in Geese's case, it can get violent. I saw him throw a 9-ball across the pool room as hard as he could in the Maryland State Championship one time as he was racking the balls. Fortunately, it didn't hit anybody. I remember Cigar Tom's (Tom Vanover) wife saying to me, "If that was my man, I'd break that cue stick over his head." :embarrassed2:
The match was a race to 10, if memory serves me right, for $1,000, 9-ball on a Brunswick 9-footer. Now, 9-ball was *not* Geese's best game, but he could keep up with the best of 'em when it came to action. It was a brutal match to watch in the beginning. The stranger would win one, and then Geese would win two. The stranger would win two, and then Geese would win one. Back and forth, back and forth. I could see the blood boiling in Geese's neck veins, and I started to wonder where the nearest Greyhound station was, so I could get a ride home. No way was I getting in the car with him if he lost.
Then, like a streak of greatness for Geese or a lack of endurance from the stranger, Geese surged forward and won the match. I remember the stranger never smiled. He unscrewed his cue and left as fast as he blew in town. Geese was happy, and so was I. We drove off into the sunset with a little more cheese than we came with, and that was always a good thing. :thumbup:
20 years or more later, I returned to the pool scene and went to a tournament at some bar in Maryland, close to the Ocean City. I can't remember the name, but they were having a big pool tournament there. A local kid named Cutty was popular at this time, and he could play, loved action too, to include poker. The finals came down to Cutty and this out-of-towner I'd never seen before. The people I came with got knocked out. I was running a poker game back in my hotel room, whiuch was a suite up the road, but I wanted to sweat the finals and pull for Cutty to win, mainly because I was hoping he'd come back to my suite and play poker, giving us a chance to bust him.
Well, Cutty lost, but he still came to my poker game. The out-of-towner ended up being a strong player. I watched him collecting his dough, wondering if I should approach him and invite him to play in my poker game. As I walked up to him, I looked down at his feet, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was wearing the most god-awful ugly boots I'd ever seen, and then it hit me. I stared at his face and asked him about Altoona. I soon found out that I was standing in front of the legendary Scotty Townsend. What a small pool world it is sometimes! :embarrassed2:
In 2006, Keith and I drove to Las Vegas for an IPT event, and Keith and Scotty, it turns out, were good buddies. I couldn't believe this guy was the same Scotty Townsend I had previously run into. What a hunk Scotty Townsend is today, a really nice-looking gentleman. Who'd ever think this guy was a road agent! :grin-loving:
Scotty is a hell of a character and nice guy. I got to hang out with Scotty and listen to road stories a couple of years ago. I have sat and talked with more pros than I can remember but Scotty is one of a kind. He was wearing a jean shirt with the sleeves ripped off and cowboy boots. He still played like a champion and is one of the friendliest people I have ever met.
I hope I run into him again one day soon
Great Story!
It's hard to dislike a guy like Scotty even if he beats you out of your dough.
Michael "Geese" Gerace was the best one-handed player I'd ever seen. He could draw his rock the length of the table without his cue touching a rail. That's pretty strong.
In the '80s era, we got a call from a mayor of a town up in Pennsylvania who happened to like staking pool players. Geese and I had been up in that region before hustling, and we met the mayor. He took us around a few spots. I remember one bar in Morgantown, WV that had a ton of action, and the town of Morgantown had a pool room that you walked downstairs to, just like on that movie "The Hustler."
Anyway, one day Geese got a call from the mayor who said he wanted Geese to come up right away, that he'd pay him $200 to just show up, win or lose. Apparently, there was a stranger in town looking for action.
Geese and I wasted no time packing, and we were on the road again. It was only about a 3-hour drive. When we got to town, though, it was on a Sunday, and wouldn't you know that all the pool spots were closed in this region, except one bowling alley in Altoona. The mayor negotiated the logistics, and we were to all meet at this bowling alley in Altoona.
Off we went. We got there first, with the mayor in tow, and Geese started hitting balls. An hour goes by, and we're thinking that the stranger in town was going to be a no-show. But then he pops in with his entourage and doesn't even check out the table. He had long straggily blond hair and was wearing boots. Most pool players in this generation of action men wore Nikes or tennis shoes. Nobody wore boots, unless they were from Texas, and these were some odd-looking boots, just about as scraggily as his hair. He pulls a coin out of his pocket and said, "Call it. Heads or tails." :grin-square:
Well, anybody who knows Geese is aware that he cannot tolerate losing to anyone. When he can't stay in the lead in a match, he has a meltdown, similar to Earl Strickland, but in Geese's case, it can get violent. I saw him throw a 9-ball across the pool room as hard as he could in the Maryland State Championship one time as he was racking the balls. Fortunately, it didn't hit anybody. I remember Cigar Tom's (Tom Vanover) wife saying to me, "If that was my man, I'd break that cue stick over his head." :embarrassed2:
The match was a race to 10, if memory serves me right, for $1,000, 9-ball on a Brunswick 9-footer. Now, 9-ball was *not* Geese's best game, but he could keep up with the best of 'em when it came to action. It was a brutal match to watch in the beginning. The stranger would win one, and then Geese would win two. The stranger would win two, and then Geese would win one. Back and forth, back and forth. I could see the blood boiling in Geese's neck veins, and I started to wonder where the nearest Greyhound station was, so I could get a ride home. No way was I getting in the car with him if he lost.
Then, like a streak of greatness for Geese or a lack of endurance from the stranger, Geese surged forward and won the match. I remember the stranger never smiled. He unscrewed his cue and left as fast as he blew in town. Geese was happy, and so was I. We drove off into the sunset with a little more cheese than we came with, and that was always a good thing. :thumbup:
20 years or more later, I returned to the pool scene and went to a tournament at some bar in Maryland, close to the Ocean City. I can't remember the name, but they were having a big pool tournament there. A local kid named Cutty was popular at this time, and he could play, loved action too, to include poker. The finals came down to Cutty and this out-of-towner I'd never seen before. The people I came with got knocked out. I was running a poker game back in my hotel room, whiuch was a suite up the road, but I wanted to sweat the finals and pull for Cutty to win, mainly because I was hoping he'd come back to my suite and play poker, giving us a chance to bust him.
Well, Cutty lost, but he still came to my poker game. The out-of-towner ended up being a strong player. I watched him collecting his dough, wondering if I should approach him and invite him to play in my poker game. As I walked up to him, I looked down at his feet, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was wearing the most god-awful ugly boots I'd ever seen, and then it hit me. I stared at his face and asked him about Altoona. I soon found out that I was standing in front of the legendary Scotty Townsend. What a small pool world it is sometimes! :embarrassed2:
In 2006, Keith and I drove to Las Vegas for an IPT event, and Keith and Scotty, it turns out, were good buddies. I couldn't believe this guy was the same Scotty Townsend I had previously run into. What a hunk Scotty Townsend is today, a really nice-looking gentleman. Who'd ever think this guy was a road agent! :grin-loving:
It's hard to dislike a guy like Scotty even if he beats you out of your dough.
It's hard to dislike a guy like Scotty even if he beats you out of your dough.
That's called good old southern hospitality/business. The doors always open.
He might be able to spot "Crocodile Dundee" the Wild 8.
Scotty is a character to say the least. We've played in 5 different states and bet on each other in a few others.
In 86 Scotty and I were in Las Vegas, and after I won the World Series of Tavern Pool, Scotty and I were hanging out drinking a "few" White Russians when several of the California, Mexican Bar Table Champions surrounded us wanting to gamble.
I was way to buzzed to play, but Scotty said "I'll play all of you, just line up!" and preceded to play one after another as I fought to stay awake using one of the bar tables as a "recliner".
Scotty woke me out of my nap and said "let's go to the bar, they're done!"....I tried to focus my eyes trying to get my bearings "did we win?" .....Scotty smiled "hell, yeah, I busted all of em"....well, that gave me a second wind and we were off to the next adventure in Las Vegas.
Scotty's the only pool player that likes alligator as much as I do, only he actually wrestles them in Louisiana. He might be able to spot "Crocodile Dundee" the Wild 8. :thumbup:
It's hard to dislike a guy like Scotty even if he beats you out of your dough.
Scotty is a character to say the least. We've played in 5 different states and bet on each other in a few others.
In 86 Scotty and I were in Las Vegas, and after I won the World Series of Tavern Pool, Scotty and I were hanging out drinking a "few" White Russians when several of the California, Mexican Bar Table Champions surrounded us wanting to gamble.
I was way to buzzed to play, but Scotty said "I'll play all of you, just line up!" and preceded to play one after another as I fought to stay awake using one of the bar tables as a "recliner".
Scotty woke me out of my nap and said "let's go to the bar, they're done!"....I tried to focus my eyes trying to get my bearings "did we win?" .....Scotty smiled "hell, yeah, I busted all of em"....well, that gave me a second wind and we were off to the next adventure in Las Vegas.
Scotty's the only pool player that likes alligator as much as I do, only he actually wrestles them in Louisiana.
He might be able to spot "Crocodile Dundee" the Wild 8. :thumbup:Scotty is a character to say the least. We've played in 5 different states and bet on each other in a few others.
In 86 Scotty and I were in Las Vegas, and after I won the World Series of Tavern Pool, Scotty and I were hanging out drinking a "few" White Russians when several of the California, Mexican Bar Table Champions surrounded us wanting to gamble.
I was way to buzzed to play, but Scotty said "I'll play all of you, just line up!" and preceded to play one after another as I fought to stay awake using one of the bar tables as a "recliner".
Scotty woke me out of my nap and said "let's go to the bar, they're done!"....I tried to focus my eyes trying to get my bearings "did we win?" .....Scotty smiled "hell, yeah, I busted all of em"....well, that gave me a second wind and we were off to the next adventure in Las Vegas.
Scotty's the only pool player that likes alligator as much as I do, only he actually wrestles them in Louisiana.
Cj, do you remember playing a road player at the Flamingo lounge (Dales place) about 15-20 years ago, well they was suppose to stay away from you and Buddy Hall, Cigar Tom Vanover was the player, only thing was Tom didnt know what you looked like, only your name, Tom beat everybody he played on that road trip except you know who!
Toms road partners took off for awile and left him alone, Tom didnt really know who the players were on the road and he didnt probably care who he played, but when Toms partners came back they told him who he was playing and asked him how he stood and what was he playing for, at that time Tom was holding his own for 50 or 100 a game and then they played a race, well Cj destroyed Tom 2 straight races for 500 or more, i believe.
They headed back towards Baltimore after that session!
Bobby legg and Tom Vanover.
Neither of these men were unknown, but boy they had some awesom battles over the years playing even 9ball!
Their styles were totally different then one another, Bobby had power, Tom had finess, but in the end they played the same speed, these men must of played over 20 big money matches against each other and if i had to bet i would say there isnt no more then 1 or 2 wins one way or the other, thats how evenly they were to each other and they didnt start playing together until Bobby move to Baltimore around 20 some years ago.
I think in their minds they werent only playing for the money but also playing for the best player in Baltimore, which they cleary was at the time, 80s 90s. So many people would come to the pool hall when they heard Tom and Bobby were going to play, thats how good they played, no pool player around wanted to miss it!
Bobby is gone now, Tom is still going strong for 73, working at top hat cue club in Baltimore
Neither of these men were unknown, but boy they had some awesom battles over the years playing even 9ball!
Their styles were totally different then one another, Bobby had power, Tom had finess, but in the end they played the same speed, these men must of played over 20 big money matches against each other and if i had to bet i would say there isnt no more then 1 or 2 wins one way or the other, thats how evenly they were to each other and they didnt start playing together until Bobby move to Baltimore around 20 some years ago.
I think in their minds they werent only playing for the money but also playing for the best player in Baltimore, which they cleary was at the time, 80s 90s. So many people would come to the pool hall when they heard Tom and Bobby were going to play, thats how good they played, no pool player around wanted to miss it!
Bobby is gone now, Tom is still going strong for 73, working at top hat cue club in Baltimore
Wow small world. Silas is who taught me a lot about the game when I was 12-15 years of age. We practiced daily. I used to play with his Balabushka and Szamboti cues on a daily basis. Probably would have ended up with all of them if not for moving away for college, losing touch etc... We were great friends.
I believe the other you speak of is Bob Ogborn though? Also from Danville. He was top notch as well. Low on the radar road player.
jaywideman
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bob ogburn
i had the priviledge of playing under bob ogburn in brunswick, ga. for a couple of years. he taught me alot about one pocket towards the end of his playing days. good luck in tuscan, bob!
i had the priviledge of playing under bob ogburn in brunswick, ga. for a couple of years. he taught me alot about one pocket towards the end of his playing days. good luck in tuscan, bob!