Career highlights

ChrisinNC said:
That is certainly a memorable highlight most of us here have great envy of you for. That was 54 years ago, so I assume you must been fairly young at the time? To have been asked to play him, you must have been the best 14.1 player around.
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My highlight is memorable but not impressive. I have played a guy who played Mosconi. You guessed it....Measurman. I think I might be the only player who asks Bruce to play straight pool. In Denver the game is not hardly known and I suck at the highest levels when playing it. Measurman will rip off 20-30 ball runs left and right and I rack 14 balls like nobody's business.
 
Cuebuddy said:
My highlight is memorable but not impressive. I have played a guy who played Mosconi. You guessed it....Measurman. I think I might be the only player who asks Bruce to play straight pool. In Denver the game is not hardly known and I suck at the highest levels when playing it. Measurman will rip off 20-30 ball runs left and right and I rack 14 balls like nobody's business.
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20 to 30 ball runs everytime at table is stronger than most tbink.

All people talk about are high runs but nobody talks about the guys who makes 30 balls and then puts lock saftey on you and then puts another 20 or so ...... and then another saftey. That is how most str8 pool is played to take the cheese.

Jmo,

Rake
 
Great story, Jay!

Unfortunately, my career highlight is getting the joint protectors off of my cues without dropping at least one on the floor. :embarrassed2:

Maniac (quit using joint protectors)
 
Career highlight for me: getting promoted to Director at work. Enables me to spend more money on cues and such.
 
ChrisinNC said:
That is certainly a memorable highlight most of us here have great envy of you for. That was 54 years ago, so I assume you must been fairly young at the time? To have been asked to play him, you must have been the best 14.1 player around.
Click to expand...

I was 17 at the time and nowhere close to the best 14.1 player around,this was in N.J. not petticoat junction.
I did have a high run of 101 but still in N.J. at that time that was nothing.
As I drove to the room i was as calm as could be.
Then i walked in.
Besides a crowd of spectators there was Willie looking like a million dollars gray hair perfect and a real nice suit on.
Thats when i fell apart.
And at this time I was already a seasoned money player.
But Willie and the crowd were too much for a 17 year old.
 
jay helfert said:
Been there, done that. Willie picked me for his next victim at Ye Billiard Den in Hollywood in 1968. He knew me from watching me ref some Straight Pool matches. He won the lag and deliberately left me a long thin cut shot on the corner ball. I don't remember ever being so nervous before as I got down to shoot the ball. It was like I completely forgot how to play pool and I had been playing for five straight years at that time.

I took a couple of strokes and fired at the ball. The cue ball barely touched the object ball as it went past, and then broke open the pack coming off the back rail. Pancho yelled out, "He hit it!". The packed house all laughed together at his joke. I wanted to crawl into a hole. Willie ran 31 balls and gave me a wide open rack to shoot at. I ran nine balls and missed. Then he went into Mosconi mode and ran the final 119 perfectly, never getting out of line and never having to shoot a hard shot. The cue ball looked like he had it on a string.

We shook hands and someone snapped our picture at that moment (DAMN, I lost my copy of that pic years ago). What I remember afterward is some lady saying that Mosconi wasn't that good because he never had to shoot a hard shot! If she only knew.
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I felt the same way playing Willie.
 
jrctherake said:
20 to 30 ball runs everytime at table is stronger than most tbink.

All people talk about are high runs but nobody talks about the guys who makes 30 balls and then puts lock saftey on you and then puts another 20 or so ...... and then another saftey. That is how most str8 pool is played to take the cheese.

Jmo,

Rake
Click to expand...

The art of 14.1 is exactly what you said above.
 
1994, playing in a monthly tourney in Albuquerque. I was 17, thought I had invented the slip stroke...

I didn't, but local hall of famer did use it more than I did. Was out of line like most new to the game get sometimes,

had a hard thin back cut on the 8 to get out. Nailed it, and low and behold HOF Cowboy Jimmy Moore

congratulated me on that great shot.

Another one, warming up Mike Massey before a exhibition, had me run to go get him a snapple for his routine.

I did and asked to shoot some with him. He warms up by playing some straight, leaves me tough,

look at the stack, and call a ball out of it and nail it. Received another atta boy...from another HOF...

This is all 20+ years ago, since then....I have not done much...:thumbup:
 
I've won a lot of tournaments like a lot of people but my highlight was playing Willie in Atlanta in an exhibition and again during the Masters. I forgot what year it was (probably 76-77). He and Jackie Gleason were there. They were asked to come to the pool room and they did of course. I got to play Willie and Gleason which I beat. Me and a friend went there from Panama.City,Fl. to play someone. Boy did I get lucky.
 
My most memorable moments were:
1) I guess I was about 16 and we had a table in a gameroom over our garage. It was about 11:00pm and I broke and ran a rack of 8-ball for the first time in my life. I was so excited I quit playing and went back in the house and woke up my parents to tell them. They weren't quite as excited as I was! I think they knew then I had the bug.
2) Playing 9 ball with one of my friends on an 8-footer. I always had/have a hard break. Broke and made 6, but was hooked on the lowest ball on the table. Kicked and missed and my buddy ran the 3 balls.
3) Was playing once with my best friend and his new girlfriend. Her son came to meet us at the poolhall (just turned 18) and he was bragging that he could shoot well and was going to beat my buddy. After they play their game, my buddy said, "I bet you $20 Scott can beat you one-handed jackup. Again playing 9 ball. He laughed. I broke and ran out. I think he still can't comprehend what happened. It was 25 years ago. I used to practice one-handed jackup pretty regularly when I was not in stroke. I had to concentrate more to hit the ball without miscuing. I have only done that 3 times in my life. I have run out quite a bit playing one-handed off the rail, but jackup is a lot tougher.
 
measureman said:
I was 17 at the time and nowhere close to the best 14.1 player around,this was in N.J. not petticoat junction.
I did have a high run of 101 but still in N.J. at that time that was nothing.
As I drove to the room i was as calm as could be.
Then i walked in.
Besides a crowd of spectators there was Willie looking like a million dollars gray hair perfect and a real nice suit on.
Thats when i fell apart.
And at this time I was already a seasoned money player.
But Willie and the crowd were too much for a 17 year old.
Click to expand...


The owner of our room spent about 3 years in his early to mid 20s ( he's mid 60s now ) playing mostly out of Four Seasons, Mizerak Sr.'s place in New Jersey. From what he's said, they wouldn't even let you in the door if you couldn't run 200 balls. He told me once that Tom Jennings was practicing one day, ran 400 and then broke his cue apart, saying something about "I gotta get to class." or he had to go grade papers or something ( he was a school teacher ). Growing up in a place where 9 out of 10 people had/have no idea what "14.1" even means, I have a very hard time wrapping my head around the idea of someone running 400 balls and then quitting to go take care of something. Yikes... It's a shame no one really plays 14.1 anymore. It really is a beautiful game.
 
Since we're talkin' straight pool...
..I was in Tallahassee...still didn't have to shave...
...the guy who ran the room was OLD....might've been 60...asked me to play 9-ball for $10..
...he won the flip and broke and ran out...then he broke dry...I could see he was killing
the cue ball...looked a little closer...it was a Macon Fast Draw..green dot...
...so he left me the 1-ball pretty full into the corner, had to stun cross table and back for
the 2-ball into the same pocket...with a light cue ball, had to hit it dead center....
...anything under center wold take it into the side pocket or way down table...
...I nailed it perfect and ran out...he gave me the $10 back and said "I gotta quit you, kid..
...I'm too old to play anybody who spots a Macon Fast Draw on his first shot."

We had a long conversation about pool...turns out he played about 15 balls off Mosconi
in his prime....told me a few things about playing...found me some action...
...we made a few bucks.

So I still feel pretty good getting respect off that man...his name escapes me.
 
pt109 said:
Since we're talkin' straight pool...
..I was in Tallahassee...still didn't have to shave...
...the guy who ran the room was OLD....might've been 60...asked me to play 9-ball for $10..
...he won the flip and broke and ran out...then he broke dry...I could see he was killing
the cue ball...looked a little closer...it was a Macon Fast Draw..green dot...
...so he left me the 1-ball pretty full into the corner, had to stun cross table and back for
the 2-ball into the same pocket...with a light cue ball, had to hit it dead center....
...anything under center wold take it into the side pocket or way down table...
...I nailed it perfect and ran out...he gave me the $10 back and said "I gotta quit you, kid..
...I'm too old to play anybody who spots a Macon Fast Draw on his first shot."

We had a long conversation about pool...turns out he played about 15 balls off Mosconi
in his prime....told me a few things about playing...found me some action...
...we made a few bucks.

So I still feel pretty good getting respect off that man...his name escapes me.
Click to expand...


P... his name was Howard.

Howard Barrett. ;)


And, trust me on this, one HELL of a player. All-games MONSTER.
 
Michael Andros said:
The owner of our room spent about 3 years in his early to mid 20s ( he's mid 60s now ) playing mostly out of Four Seasons, Mizerak Sr.'s place in New Jersey. From what he's said, they wouldn't even let you in the door if you couldn't run 200 balls. He told me once that Tom Jennings was practicing one day, ran 400 and then broke his cue apart, saying something about "I gotta get to class." or he had to go grade papers or something ( he was a school teacher ). Growing up in a place where 9 out of 10 people had/have no idea what "14.1" even means, I have a very hard time wrapping my head around the idea of someone running 400 balls and then quitting to go take care of something. Yikes... It's a shame no one really plays 14.1 anymore. It really is a beautiful game.
Click to expand...
No s^*t. Kids today would think 14.1 is the newest version of some lame-ass video game.
 
Great stuff Jay. Great memories, too. Good for you.

(And them, too... I expect they had as much fun watching as you did playing)
 
pt109 said:
Since we're talkin' straight pool...
..I was in Tallahassee...still didn't have to shave...
...the guy who ran the room was OLD....might've been 60...asked me to play 9-ball for $10..
...he won the flip and broke and ran out...then he broke dry...I could see he was killing
the cue ball...looked a little closer...it was a Macon Fast Draw..green dot...
...so he left me the 1-ball pretty full into the corner, had to stun cross table and back for
the 2-ball into the same pocket...with a light cue ball, had to hit it dead center....
...anything under center wold take it into the side pocket or way down table...
...I nailed it perfect and ran out...he gave me the $10 back and said "I gotta quit you, kid..
...I'm too old to play anybody who spots a Macon Fast Draw on his first shot."

We had a long conversation about pool...turns out he played about 15 balls off Mosconi
in his prime....told me a few things about playing...found me some action...
...we made a few bucks.

So I still feel pretty good getting respect off that man...his name escapes me.
Click to expand...

Could have been Howard Barrett. He was from around there and was a great undercover player.
Now that's funny. I just read the next post by Michael Andros and he said the same thing before me. Michael knows!
 
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