Mary Kenniston stories in billiard buzz magazine a must read!

trob

trob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know I posted a thread before about this free magazine right on the home page but I also wanted to bring attention to this lady right here. If you love pool history man these stories are fantastic. She was traveling and hustling during a great time and writing and stories are so interesting. She’s lived an interesting life involved in this game and I’m glad she’s taking the time to document it.

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Thanks, trob! Thanks, Jen! Glad you're enjoying the read!

To those for whom my column is new, the first "Chalkin' Up The Memories" debuted in the May 2025 issue of the Buzz so be sure to start there! It's my chronological pool journey...

Mary
 
trob said:
I know I posted a thread before about this free magazine right on the home page but I also wanted to bring attention to this lady right here. If you love pool history man these stories are fantastic. She was traveling and hustling during a great time and writing and stories are so interesting. She’s lived an interesting life involved in this game and I’m glad she’s taking the time to document it.

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Mary ran with Buddy and Blackie for years. Old hustler Doc Holliday was her mentor.
 
jay helfert said:
Mary ran with Buddy and Blackie for years. Old hustler Doc Holliday was her mentor.
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I don't know if I would call Tommy ("Doc") Halliday my mentor but he was definitely my best friend & travel buddy in my first few years of playing pool. I don't know why but he took me under his wing when I first started playing for money & made sure I didn't get snapped off. He was a hoot - had a zillion stories about coming up in the infamous 7-11 in New York City around Jersey Red, Johnny Ervolino, NY Blackie, etc. After I left north Jersey & ended up out west, he'd come to LA once a year & stay with his friend, Bruce - an old friend from New Jerseu that had made it big in real estate. He'd stay for a month or so & we'd run around LA & Orange County together. Whenever I had a WPBA tournament back east, he'd always come to see me. In the late '90s, he passed away in the hospital after a long fight with pancreatic cancer the day before I got to the Super Billiards Expo. I never got to see him one last time & say goodbye. I think of him almost every day & smile when I see his laughing face in my mind.

The photo below is the only one I have of Tommy & me. It was taken at the 1986 PPPA World 14.1 Championships in Philadelphia, PA.
 

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nightmare said:
I don't know if I would call Tommy ("Doc") Halliday my mentor but he was definitely my best friend & travel buddy in my first few years of playing pool. I don't know why but he took me under his wing when I first started playing for money & made sure I didn't get snapped off. He was a hoot - had a zillion stories about coming up in the infamous 7-11 in New York City around Jersey Red, Johnny Ervolino, NY Blackie, etc. After I left north Jersey & ended up out west, he'd come to LA once a year & stay with his friend, Bruce - an old friend from New Jerseu that had made it big in real estate. He'd stay for a month or so & we'd run around LA & Orange County together. Whenever I had a WPBA tournament back east, he'd always come to see me. In the late '90s, he passed away in the hospital after a long fight with pancreatic cancer the day before I got to the Super Billiards Expo. I never got to see him one last time & say goodbye. I think of him almost every day & smile when I see his laughing face in my mind.

The photo below is the only one I have of Tommy & me. It was taken at the 1986 PPPA World 14.1 Championships in Philadelphia, PA.
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Tommy used to come to my poolroom in the winter time often with Danny Gartner. I sure remember him years ago with crazy Bruce. That Bruce really was nuts.

He would punch himself in the face for missing a ball and break cues over his own head. Tommy never reacted to Bruce's antics. I guess it was normal for Bruce. I heard he once threw himself down a flight of stairs after losing.
He rarely lost though, he was a good game maker
 
nightmare said:
I don't know if I would call Tommy ("Doc") Halliday my mentor but he was definitely my best friend & travel buddy in my first few years of playing pool. I don't know why but he took me under his wing when I first started playing for money & made sure I didn't get snapped off. He was a hoot - had a zillion stories about coming up in the infamous 7-11 in New York City around Jersey Red, Johnny Ervolino, NY Blackie, etc. After I left north Jersey & ended up out west, he'd come to LA once a year & stay with his friend, Bruce - an old friend from New Jerseu that had made it big in real estate. He'd stay for a month or so & we'd run around LA & Orange County together. Whenever I had a WPBA tournament back east, he'd always come to see me. In the late '90s, he passed away in the hospital after a long fight with pancreatic cancer the day before I got to the Super Billiards Expo. I never got to see him one last time & say goodbye. I think of him almost every day & smile when I see his laughing face in my mind.

The photo below is the only one I have of Tommy & me. It was taken at the 1986 PPPA World 14.1 Championships in Philadelphia, PA.
Click to expand...
Doc was a good guy, always enjoyed having him around. We shared our 7/11 stories.
 
middleofnowhere said:
Tommy used to come to my poolroom in the winter time often with Danny Gartner. I sure remember him years ago with crazy Bruce. That Bruce really was nuts.

He would punch himself in the face for missing a ball and break cues over his own head. Tommy never reacted to Bruce's antics. I guess it was normal for Bruce. I heard he once threw himself down a flight of stairs after losing.
He rarely lost though, he was a good game maker
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I refused to play Bruce due his craziness. He would promise me he wouldn't act out if we played and he meant it. He was a very good Eight Ball player and I had a tough game against him. We played 20 a game.

Things would go along fine if he was winning. As soon as he missed a shot or two and lost a game(s) he would start to lose it. Pretty soon he started getting crazy and I told him last game. I hated playing the lunatic Bruce even if i could make a little score. He did pay off anyway.

The last time I played him, he went outside and lowered his head and ran into a wall. I heard the thump from inside the poolroom beside the open door to the parking lot. I went out and Bruce was unconscious on the ground.
 
jay helfert said:
I refused to play Bruce due his craziness. He would promise me he wouldn't act out if we played and he meant it. He was a very good Eight Ball player and I had a tough game against him. We played 20 a game.

Things would go along fine if he was winning. As soon as he missed a shot or two and lost a game(s) he would start to lose it. Pretty soon he started getting crazy and I told him last game. I hated playing the lunatic Bruce even if i could make a little score. He did pay off anyway.

The last time I played him, he went outside and lowered his head and ran into a wall. I heard the thump from inside the poolroom beside the open door to the parking lot. I went out and Bruce was unconscious on the ground.
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Bruce was very handsome and girls flocked to him. Last time I saw him was on Venice Beach. A beautiful woman on his arm. He said she had been the Playboy Playmate of the Month. I think he married her. Bruce made some big money in real estate. Not bad for a guy with zero education, could barely read or write! He grew up in the poolroom.

He was a charming con man. Could charm the stripes off a tiger!
 
"Women can't play pool!" Back in the seventies and eighties there were plenty of men with this opinion. Fortunately I met a few ladies that could early in my playing days so was never given to such foolishness.

Never did but I have to think traveling with a lady player would have been like having the keys to the mint!

Hu
 
jay helfert said:
I refused to play Bruce due his craziness. He would promise me he wouldn't act out if we played and he meant it. He was a very good Eight Ball player and I had a tough game against him. We played 20 a game.

Things would go along fine if he was winning. As soon as he missed a shot or two and lost a game(s) he would start to lose it. Pretty soon he started getting crazy and I told him last game. I hated playing the lunatic Bruce even if i could make a little score. He did pay off anyway.

The last time I played him, he went outside and lowered his head and ran into a wall. I heard the thump from inside the poolroom beside the open door to the parking lot. I went out and Bruce was unconscious on the ground.
Click to expand...
I'm sure people reading this think these are exaggerated pool room stories, I can assure them, they're not. When he used to be in South Florida he would play at the Congress billiards in Miami. Congress was open 24 hours but all the action was late at night.

I'm telling you when Bruce was in town the parking lot would be full just waiting to see what kind of act he was going to do that night. I remember one night he broke his cue. He then went around the room collecting up house cues. At one point the table next to where he was playing must have had like three dozen cues on it as he's trying out every cue.

One of the worst I ever saw him had nothing to do with playing pool. He was wearing white shoes and somebody stepped on his shoe scuffing it. He went on and on about the shoe how it was ruined.

Then at one point he goes into his self-destructive mode, runs about 15 or 20 ft across the room and smashes his fist into a column. I'm sure everybody thought he was going to do it with his head.

I'm trying to remember this one game that he used to play which was 9 ball one pocket. If I remember right you played nine ball and then when you got on the nine you had to make the nine in your pocket. In other words at a point it just became a game of one pocket with one ball.

He used to beat everybody at this game even the great Mike Carella lost to him at this game. I saw him beat Mike also playing 9-ball even. Mike was giving Bruce two and a half to one on the money. This was not a set this was per game. Bruce managed to win the first four in a row and Mike quit he was down a thousand.
 
ShootingArts said:
"Women can't play pool!" Back in the seventies and eighties there were plenty of men with this opinion. Fortunately I met a few ladies that could early in my playing days so was never given to such foolishness.

Never did but I have to think traveling with a lady player would have been like having the keys to the mint!

Hu
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Dude there still are lol while sports requiring acts of physical strength and agility are going to be dominated by men it never made sense to me why if you have boobs you can’t possibly push balls around with a stick
 
middleofnowhere said:
I'm sure people reading this think these are exaggerated pool room stories, I can assure them, they're not. When he used to be in South Florida he would play at the Congress billiards in Miami. Congress was open 24 hours but all the action was late at night.

I'm telling you when Bruce was in town the parking lot would be full just waiting to see what kind of act he was going to do that night. I remember one night he broke his cue. He then went around the room collecting up house cues. At one point the table next to where he was playing must have had like three dozen cues on it as he's trying out every cue.

One of the worst I ever saw him had nothing to do with playing pool. He was wearing white shoes and somebody stepped on his shoe scuffing it. He went on and on about the shoe how it was ruined.

Then at one point he goes into his self-destructive mode, runs about 15 or 20 ft across the room and smashes his fist into a column. I'm sure everybody thought he was going to do it with his head.

I'm trying to remember this one game that he used to play which was 9 ball one pocket. If I remember right you played nine ball and then when you got on the nine you had to make the nine in your pocket. In other words at a point it just became a game of one pocket with one ball.

He used to beat everybody at this game even the great Mike Carella lost to him at this game. I saw him beat Mike also playing 9-ball even. Mike was giving Bruce two and a half to one on the money. This was not a set this was per game. Bruce managed to win the first four in a row and Mike quit he was down a thousand.
Click to expand...
Last Pocket 9-Ball. Bruce also liked to play Last Pocket 8-Ball. I tried him that game......Once!
middleofnowhere said:
I'm sure people reading this think these are exaggerated pool room stories, I can assure them, they're not. When he used to be in South Florida he would play at the Congress billiards in Miami. Congress was open 24 hours but all the action was late at night.

I'm telling you when Bruce was in town the parking lot would be full just waiting to see what kind of act he was going to do that night. I remember one night he broke his cue. He then went around the room collecting up house cues. At one point the table next to where he was playing must have had like three dozen cues on it as he's trying out every cue.

One of the worst I ever saw him had nothing to do with playing pool. He was wearing white shoes and somebody stepped on his shoe scuffing it. He went on and on about the shoe how it was ruined.

Then at one point he goes into his self-destructive mode, runs about 15 or 20 ft across the room and smashes his fist into a column. I'm sure everybody thought he was going to do it with his head.

I'm trying to remember this one game that he used to play which was 9 ball one pocket. If I remember right you played nine ball and then when you got on the nine you had to make the nine in your pocket. In other words at a point it just became a game of one pocket with one ball.

He used to beat everybody at this game even the great Mike Carella lost to him at this game. I saw him beat Mike also playing 9-ball even. Mike was giving Bruce two and a half to one on the money. This was not a set this was per game. Bruce managed to win the first four in a row and Mike quit he was down a thousand.
Click to expand...
Last Pocket 9-Ball! Also Last Pocket Eight Ball. I tried him some.....Once! That was enough.
 
Santa Ana Rose was hustling bars before Robin Bell came along. She was Pancho's GF.
ShootingArts said:
"Women can't play pool!" Back in the seventies and eighties there were plenty of men with this opinion. Fortunately I met a few ladies that could early in my playing days so was never given to such foolishness.

Never did but I have to think traveling with a lady player would have been like having the keys to the mint!

Hu
Click to expand...
Re
 
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