Superstar player from the late 60s to the 70s, died tragically, very young. Heart the size of an elephant, more gamble than the next 1000 players combined. Anyone remember him? Any stories or recollections?
Mike Carella
- Thread starter Michael Andros
- Start date
Heard the name almost from the time I started playing seriously (early '70s) but never saw him.
Phenomenal player, played ALL games. ROCK solid. From Miami. Saw him play many, many times... and watched him bust more than a couple great players. He was relentless and he almost always bet his own money, at least that I recall. And he bet BIG and never showed any fear.
Met him (Detroit??? ) I'm thinking (memory) mid 80's to early 90's. From what I recall we played a little straight pool.
I did get to watch him play 1 hole before that, so I knew who he was and how strong he was.
Good ole days.........or the tail end of the good ole days I should say.
Players like him is what IMO, made going to rooms exciting.
I've never seen that before ( I'm not on 1hole.com ) and it's strange, reading some of Billy I's comments: Tons of gamble, fearless, relentless, etc... and boy, howdy, WAS HE EVER.
Rake, pool affects one's memory! Couldn't have been 80s or 90s, he was murdered in the late 70s. He DID play in Detroit, though. Tons. Detroit back then had a rep as the biggest action spot on earth. Carealla supposedly won hundreds of thousands there in the mid 70s giving up games like 30 to 6 and whatnot. And snapping it off.
After reading this I called my brother who was with me in detroit.
My brother just confirmed it was 1987 through 1991 when I was making trips to Detroit to play.
He too thought Carella was the guys name. Oh well.
As you said pool, gambling and time.....lol.....does things to memory.
Regardless of my memory it was another Carmella. The guy I'm talking about couldn't give no 30 to 6. I remember he gave me 10 /7 but I beat him to death......hence trips to Detroit.
Rake
I'm totally CRS these days. The only reason I carry a wallet with my license is, not if I get stopped, but if someone just asks me my name... :banghead:
LOL
Speaking of memory, just last week I lost a bet on what year I started work where I retired from.
I would have bet my life. Good thing it was just $20 instead, whew.
Sad I tell ya, just sad. The guy hired on same day as I which is how we met.
Rake
"The Rack" closed in 1986 so we know it wasn't there you played...but...could the guy you were playing been Mike Sardelli?
Only one off the top of my head with a name that was/is close to Carella.
I did not realize just how damn bad my memory is. I called my brother and a friend that made the trip once and neither one was able to say for sure.
My brother was "the driver"...lol and the only one that did not drink but my buddy (Terry Smith) played somewhat sporty but did not have much gamble in him so he was a little skiddish with strong players even if they gave the world.
I got one more person I can ask. He is not answering his phone tonight. Maybe I will be able to contact him in the next day or so. He is in nursing home but he has pretty good memory.
Thanks for trying to help me remember this. It was like most realize, a special time in my life. The only problem was, I did not know it. If I had known those times were gonna be gone forever I would have spent much more effort to take pictures, document....something, anything.
Again, thanks a ton,
Rake
Joni Mitchell said it perfectly: "Don't it always seem to go... you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."
I saw Mike Carella play a couple of times:
Once in Dayton at Joe Burns' Forest Park ( in the back of a mall, I went to several tournaments there). Loved the action and ring games. I took a friend from my hometown with me, Donnie Williams, who could play well and always found action.
Met/sat with Walter Tevis (The Hustler author) for an entire day. Memorable. He went to college in southern Ohio, not far from Dayton.
Wow, could Mike play. The way he got down to shoot. The way he practiced. The way he gambled. Always fearless.
I also saw him at a tournament in Indianapolis, one that also had Louie Roberts, Mike Massey, Terry Bell, Jim Rempe, Larry Liscotti, Mike Sigel, many others. A great weekend.
At this tournament he was playing with a fancy ebony, ivory box cue by Bill Stroud (Josswest) with red veneers. We spoke at some length because I had a similar box cue made for me by Bill Stroud, but the buttsleeves were a bit different. I still have the same box cue!
His was nicer, dammit!
I remember being shocked the day I heard he died. What a shame. World class skills.
Will Prout
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Carella came to Beenie's a lot in the 70's. He was a great shotmaker.
I came in one late nite and he was playing Mizerak races to 11 for I believe
$1000 and $100 a game. Larry Liscotti was in with Carella. At the end of the session
Miz was sitting on the table outside the tournament room cutting up the $3300 he won.
Liscotti came out and told Miz: 'He (carella) would have beat you if he wasn't scared
of you' ! Of course Larry was high and Miz just laughed.
Action like that was common at Bennie's all thru the late 60's and 70's.
What a place!
I came in one late nite and he was playing Mizerak races to 11 for I believe
$1000 and $100 a game. Larry Liscotti was in with Carella. At the end of the session
Miz was sitting on the table outside the tournament room cutting up the $3300 he won.
Liscotti came out and told Miz: 'He (carella) would have beat you if he wasn't scared
of you' ! Of course Larry was high and Miz just laughed.
Action like that was common at Bennie's all thru the late 60's and 70's.
What a place!
I watched him bust Bob Osborne over 2 days ( straight ) playing even @ 74 or so. Osborne was one hell of a player and was from the Miami area as was Carella so they knew each other well. Carella was side betting @ 15 different railbirds and after each game ( they were playing by game, not sets ), he would make the trip down the rails of @ 3 different tables either picking up or dropping off. He made a lot more pick-ups then drop-offs, though. Carella had to have been @ 25, maybe. Something like that.
I'll say this, there was never a long line of players waiting to match up with him. There was something about the way he played that seemed to intimidate even some world-class players when it came to playing for the cheese... I always felt it was the sheer relentlessness. He just never, ever let up. And as far as his "bad rep", I'll say, the few times I spoke with him ( in Tampa at tournaments and then in Tallahassee, where his brother was going to FSU at the time ), he was pretty normal, though he always seemed kind of edgy to me. I think it was just his nature. But I did see him a few times acting like a total d**k... just never to me. That said, I think most here would agree it's difficult to spend endless hours in pool rooms, around pool players and NOT be a total d**k at times. He was always ok by me.
thanks for the link...:thumbup:
havent read the whole thread yet but great reading so far
Watched him play a number of times at Joe Farhat's Velvet Rail in Lansing MI. He showed up one day in a late model Lincoln, got out with two girls, and left the thing running with the doors open.
Played all games great having a most solid looking stance at the table and babied nothing. He could run a 100 balls playing 14.1 and rack after rack of rotation games.
I recall one game where had the eight ball on one long rail and the nine in the same position on the opposite long rail. Nearly flat on the eight, he hit it so hard the cue ball jumped up, nipped the cushion on the way down, and bounced across the table for perfect position on the nine. Some stroke!
Played all games great having a most solid looking stance at the table and babied nothing. He could run a 100 balls playing 14.1 and rack after rack of rotation games.
I recall one game where had the eight ball on one long rail and the nine in the same position on the opposite long rail. Nearly flat on the eight, he hit it so hard the cue ball jumped up, nipped the cushion on the way down, and bounced across the table for perfect position on the nine. Some stroke!
saw mike play at joe burns place. monster player. reminded me a little of singer jim croce. home grounds was congress bowl in Miami. joe had some great tournaments. all the players were there inc. Don Willis & Ronnie Allen. Louie Roberts was really wired & lost his car,cue, & clothes an was up the next morning playin $10 9 ball. lol