A story told to me by the recently deceased JJ Jenkins. If you knew JJ you can appreciate his story telling ability.
"It was Santa Monica in the 60's. The place was alive, it had a pulse all its own. The action was unreal, money flowed through that place like water. There were more high rollers in there than in Vegas. There was a cat in the parking lot who sold silk suits and dresses out of the trunk of his car, the finest clothing available, if you needed to pick up a gift for your old lady, he was the man. You better get the size right because there were no refunds. Another dude would leave his limo out front with his driver and his bodyguard and he always had a quarter million in the trunk.
The hustlers in this place were rich with their winnings. One of them drove a new Mercedes and lived like a King. There were movie stars, sports stars, and people who made stars, all of them playing pool in there. There were backers and bettors all over the place.
I remember the night I first saw Keith like it was today. I was watching the action and checking out the stars in the room. Peter Falk was in his regular game in the corner with Ray Fox. George C. Scott was playing with James Caan and that tennis player Jimmy Conners was in a game too and Telly Savalas.
This guy walks in and pulls out a was of cash and says "I've got a 17 year old kid out in the car and I'm ready to put up $20,000 if anyone wants to give him a try." The buzz in the place got louder. A game was set up with the best player in the place at the time. Keith McCready came in and started playing, no practice, no warm-up and let me tell you it seemed like it took him 3 weeks to miss a ball. He picked off every player one after the other. I never saw anything like it."
(Note: Actual year was 1974 as pointed out by Keone and Jay in later posts)
"It was Santa Monica in the 60's. The place was alive, it had a pulse all its own. The action was unreal, money flowed through that place like water. There were more high rollers in there than in Vegas. There was a cat in the parking lot who sold silk suits and dresses out of the trunk of his car, the finest clothing available, if you needed to pick up a gift for your old lady, he was the man. You better get the size right because there were no refunds. Another dude would leave his limo out front with his driver and his bodyguard and he always had a quarter million in the trunk.
The hustlers in this place were rich with their winnings. One of them drove a new Mercedes and lived like a King. There were movie stars, sports stars, and people who made stars, all of them playing pool in there. There were backers and bettors all over the place.
I remember the night I first saw Keith like it was today. I was watching the action and checking out the stars in the room. Peter Falk was in his regular game in the corner with Ray Fox. George C. Scott was playing with James Caan and that tennis player Jimmy Conners was in a game too and Telly Savalas.
This guy walks in and pulls out a was of cash and says "I've got a 17 year old kid out in the car and I'm ready to put up $20,000 if anyone wants to give him a try." The buzz in the place got louder. A game was set up with the best player in the place at the time. Keith McCready came in and started playing, no practice, no warm-up and let me tell you it seemed like it took him 3 weeks to miss a ball. He picked off every player one after the other. I never saw anything like it."
(Note: Actual year was 1974 as pointed out by Keone and Jay in later posts)
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