Kim Davenport's Stroke
- Thread starter DTL
- Start date
yeah
According to what I recall reading, he got hit in the eye when some kind of lawnmower somehow caused a flying golf ball.....
According to what I recall reading, he got hit in the eye when some kind of lawnmower somehow caused a flying golf ball.....
Kim's final stroke through the cue ball (the only one that really matters), and follow through, seems to be quite straight and good to me.
I also remember that comeback Kim made in San Diego. JR had what seemed like a comfortable lead and Kim was chipping away at it. Kim was really focused on the last half of that match. On the last game, Kim thought long and hard after the break, knowing he had to push-out somewhere. He pushes to a real compromising spot and JR spent no time thinking about, handing it back to Kim. The shot was tough and shape on the next ball was going to be dicey. But Kim methodically pulls off a fantastic runout for the match.
I'm pretty sure that was 1996, since I had just moved into town a few months prior. Amazing what you can remember after 19 years!
Can anyone point me to a video of the Miz in his prime? The ones I seem to come across on You Tube are later in his career - I'd like to see him at his best.
Gideon
The Miz beautifully stroking throughout this 1989 match is still available. It's a keeper for several informative reasons, the most minor being that it was contemporaneously Sigel's worst-ever 14.1 performance. Remarkably so, because the very night before, he had run a beautifully executed 150 and out against Rempe in the same tournament.
http://www.1vshop.com/Accu-Stats/st...322296270&PNAME=Steve+Mizerak+vs.+Mike+Sigel*
I was spectating at this Chicago tournament and Mizerak's stroke was a sight to experience. Pure as the driven snow as they say.
Arnaldo
Most of those would have been on ABC World Wide of Sports when they filmed some of the 14.1 championships in the very early 70s. Before the times of accu-stats etc... It was also sadly before the time people used the VCR on a grand scale to record such events. I myself would love to see the Lassiter - Mizerak 1973 US Open final that aired on ABC at that time. The 1970 US Open would be a great one for Steve as well. Wished there was ways to get those from ABC.
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Hard to pinpoint his prime. He played so good when he was young and maintained such a high level of play for so many years.
I'm surprised you don't remember, Pat. It was discussed several times on RSB at the time and always stuck with me.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!searchin/rec.sport.billiard/kim$20davenport$20/rec.sport.billiard/SOUnlk3BiXM/JI49exA2OVMJ
Gideon
You wouldn't love it if you had seen it. It was so bad it just about doomed any future for televised Straight Pool in TV executives' collective minds as well as product sponsors (and dented that discipline (which I love) in the viewing public's mind as well).
ABC had to film it for 4 hours. The 18 minutes of safety play had people switching to other channels. Here's a good report on the whole sad affair:
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/current_issue/aug_05/story_5.php
Sure wish it had transpired otherwise. I watched it live and there were plenty of cringe-worthy moments.
Arnaldo
I lived in Modesto, CA in the early-mid 80’s and had the good fortune of watching Kim practice and play quite often. I learned a lot about pool by watching him, but safety play does not stand out among those memories. Kim had an aggressive style of play that was perfect for 9-ball and was enabled by his precise shot-making. He never hesitated to shoot his way out of a difficult situation, which is why we recall so many comeback matches with him. He was an exciting player to watch.
ABC's world wide of sports done a lot of televised matches back then. Possibly not the best of matches (that particular final) as it was long and drawn out. But we are lacking a lot of pool video history from the 70s and a lot in the early 80s as well. Thanks to you, you gave us a view of some of those from the 80s :grin:
Plenty more coming up, Fly. I'll be continuing with the converting of additional ones of mine from their present gathering-dust home-recorded VHS analog format, to digital files then uploading to YT soon as I get beyond next week's cataract surgery (which is itself essentially a similar kind conversion/upgrade now that I think of it -- same sort of archaic-to-rejuvenation, as with the VHSes).
Someday we, or near future folks will get ourselves (or our minds) digitized and live on in some new iteration. Think of it . . . playing pool for centuries -- even millennia -- on end, and eventually getting the hang of it. Probably arguing about the same fine points ad infinitum -- quite literally. (As entropy may permit.)
Arnaldo
I didn't know that Hal coached Kim as well as Archer. I met him, Hal, at the 1992 Bicycle Club Tournament. Still have a signed edition of his only pool instructional booklet. A real gentleman.
I have always felt that Kim was one of the most underrated players of his time--except by the other players.
Last time I saw him was at Hard Times in Bellflower where he played Morro, Liability on "Big Bertha" for 3 days. They were both firing the balls in from seemingly everywhere which seem surreal to me after watching the daily Golf games for years where everyone always lagged to the tight pockets. Kim finally went home with the $$$$$.
A real class act
I have always felt that Kim was one of the most underrated players of his time--except by the other players.
Last time I saw him was at Hard Times in Bellflower where he played Morro, Liability on "Big Bertha" for 3 days. They were both firing the balls in from seemingly everywhere which seem surreal to me after watching the daily Golf games for years where everyone always lagged to the tight pockets. Kim finally went home with the $$$$$.
A real class act
I'm not familiar with Hal Mix but I was about to post the same thing. A lot of top players don't have a perfectly straight stroke. The key is being able to repeat the same stroke every time. I suspect a lot of guys with a short stroke or punch stroke are compensating for lack of a straight stroke.
Off the top of my head - at the risk of being proven wrong - I'd say Earl and Bustamante are a couple guys with a straight stroke or very close to it.
I wonder if a shot clock would have helped. I'm thinking of Sigel's match with Zuglan which had a shot clock and was excellent.
And we are greatly looking forward to these. And good luck on the surgery.