Weenie Beenie Tournament

9 Ball Girl · May 15, 2007

This is posted on the Billiards Digest home page:

"Weenie Beenie" Memorial 9-Ball to be Held in Virginia Beach"

The Bill "Weenie Beenie" Staton Memorial 9-Ball Tournament will be held at Q-Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, Va., on June 22-24.

The $20,000 prize fund and $7,200 added is based on a maximum field of 64 players. The entry fee is $200, and the field is open to all players.

Staton, known as "Weenie Beenie" after the multiple hot dog stands he owned, was a well-known business man and pool hustler in the Arlington, Va., area.

Taking up the game after he was into his twenties, Staton often used his business earnings to support his poolroom education. Later in life, after his game and table savvy improved, he would use his winnings to support his businesses.

Traveling around the country in search of action, Staton played with many of the greats, often stopping in Johnson City, Ill. He also made several appearances on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson."

He died on February 18, 2006 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., at the age of 77.

For information on the tournament, contact Q-Master Billiards at (757) 499-8900.

JAM · May 15, 2007

Thanks for posting this!

JAM

9 Ball Girl · May 15, 2007

Bumpity Bump.

gesan · May 21, 2007

Beenie - owned Jack and Jill's in the 60's - had as much action as any poolroom in those days - all the greats were there 1 time or another.

1pocket · May 21, 2007

More about Beenie...

He was inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame the year before he died, which meant a lot to him. He was a real popular guy with all the old timers. A 'gentleman hustler' who definitely had his feet in two different worlds -- the world of the businessman and the world of the hustler. He was definitely a bit of both!

You can read my interview with him on here:
http://onepocket.org/StatonInterview.htm

SCCues · May 21, 2007

Weenie Beenie

I talked to Bill at the last US Open he attended and my friend and I asked for his autograph. He signed 2 cue balls for us and you could tell it meant a lot to him for us to think enough of him to ask for his autograph. He was a great guy to talk to and if you ever get a chance to listen to his commentary on Accu-stats don't pass it up because he had quite a bit of pool knowledge and he was very pleasant to listen to.

JAM · May 22, 2007

gesan said:
Beenie - owned Jack and Jill's in the 60's - had as much action as any poolroom in those days - all the greats were there 1 time or another.

I was too young when Jack and Jill's was in full swing in Northern Virginia. I remember as a teenager, my girlfriend and I dared each other to walk into the pool room, and so we did, standing there with the deer-in-headlights look for a few minutes before we departed. In those days, women weren't often seen hanging out in pool rooms.

About 10 years later, I was on the road with a friend shooting pool, and in Petersburg, Virginia, there was a real old-timey pool room with a front porch and rocking chairs. On the front window was a sign that said "No Women Allowed." I often wish I had taken a picture of that sign.

In a 1981 interview, Weenie Beenie said: At one time, I had seven Weenie Beenie spots and a truck stop. In 1963, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in pool. I leased my places out, so I would be free to travel and do what I wanted to do. I opened a pool room in Arlington, Virginia, with 32 tables, a pro shop, a snack bar, and a tournament area that seated 180 people in tiered comfortable seats, and I hosted about two dozen tournaments over the years when I was there.

I opened the doors in 1967, and we never closed the place for even an hour in the next 14 years. I want to tell you this, with 32 tables, 2 ping pong tables, and a dozen pinball games, oftentimes we had a waiting list all night long, up to 7:30 a.m. the next morning. I mean, everything was busy all night long, including the pay telephones.

Continuing: I played the very best from 1957 to 1960. In those days, players used to meet in Hot Springs, Arkansas, every January. It was always a big shootout. One year when I went down there, for some reason they met in Blythesville, and I walked into this small room that had four tables. I want you to listen to this cast of players that were in there. There was DADDY WARBUCKS (Hubert Cokes), RUDOLPH WANDERONE alias New York Fats -- at that time, we called him "Triple Smart Fats" -- EARL SCHRIVER, SQUiRREL, CRAIG STEVENS, TITANIC THOMAS, BOLIVAR COTTON, MEATHEAD and about 20 other of the toughest players in the world.

In the early '80s, rumor had it that Weenie Beenie was coming to Glebe Road in Virginia at the then-Champions and was going to play Freddie Boggs some one-hole for a nickel a pop. He quit after the first game because Freddie was taking too long between shots.

Just thought I'd add a few Weenie Beenie tidbits. I saw him at the 2003 U.S. Open, and he was kind enough to sit down with me for a spell. We chatted about the good old days in Virginia. Here is a picture I took of Bill Staton a/k/a Weenie Beenie and Keith that year.

JAM

Edited: First name

Jerry Forsyth · May 22, 2007

Memories of Bill

One year, about 2002 I believe, Bill Staton and I arrived at the US Open too late to find a hotel room. I looked around and all I could find was a room at the Motel 6 (I believe that was the name), the hotel that was tucked in behind the Hampton Inn at the corner. There was only one room so Bill and I shared that room for two nights uintil some rooms opened up at the Holiday Inn. The motel was nothing but a crack house and whore haunt. We were kept awake all night by screams, fights, partying and drunks falling into our door.

So we slept in fits and starts and talked a lot. My favorite story was when he sold Jack n Jills. As a previous poster said, the room was open 24 hours a day. So when they closed the deal at the bank the new owner asked for the keys. "Keys?", Bill told him, "We don't know where they are. We haven't locked the door in seven years."

Beenie was one of the greatest guys I even met. Full of life. And what a gambler. He made enough money with those hot dog stands to travel the world and play in every casino from Monte Carlo to Vegas and the big back rooms all over the world. His favorite casino score was when he won over a million in one hand. After he tells you that story he then adds that it was a million Italian Lira, worth not all that much in dollars.

I am glad that Barry is having this memorial tournament. I hope someone brings a Keno Board and they have a side event with that. Bill always had one in his trunk and could empty every wallet in the room if he could get a game going on it.

Thanks Barry!

Black-Balled · May 22, 2007

JAM said:
I was too young when Jack and Jill's was in full swing in Northern Virginia.

Me too, quite a bummer, from what I hear!

JAM said:
Here is a picture I took of Bill Staton a/k/a Weenie Beenie and Keith that year.
JAM

When we see keith out & about, that's how we feel!!

Jerry Forsyth said:
...I hope someone brings a Keno Board and they have a side event with that. Bill always had one in his trunk and could empty every wallet in the room if he could get a game going on it.
Thanks Barry!

In the room Jam mentions (Glebe Rd. Champions), they had 9 tables and 2 Keno boards- for a little while, 2 of the tables were Billiards tables- the game likely popularized thru Beenie's love for it. Man the $ can fly there! I miss that room. No music, no beer, no food, always action.

Island Drive · May 22, 2007

Jerry Forsyth said:
One year, about 2002 I believe, Bill Staton and I arrived at the US Open too late to find a hotel room. I looked around and all I could find was a room at the Motel 6 (I believe that was the name), the hotel that was tucked in behind the Hampton Inn at the corner. There was only one room so Bill and I shared that room for two nights uintil some rooms opened up at the Holiday Inn. The motel was nothing but a crack house and whore haunt. We were kept awake all night by screams, fights, partying and drunks falling into our door.

So we slept in fits and starts and talked a lot. My favorite story was when he sold Jack n Jills. As a previous poster said, the room was open 24 hours a day. So when they closed the deal at the bank the new owner asked for the keys. "Keys?", Bill told him, "We don't know where they are. We haven't locked the door in seven years."

Beenie was one of the greatest guys I even met. Full of life. And what a gambler. He made enough money with those hot dog stands to travel the world and play in every casino from Monte Carlo to Vegas and the big back rooms all over the world. His favorite casino score was when he won over a million in one hand. After he tells you that story he then adds that it was a million Italian Lira, worth not all that much in dollars.

I am glad that Barry is having this memorial tournament. I hope someone brings a Keno Board and they have a side event with that. Bill always had one in his trunk and could empty every wallet in the room if he could get a game going on it.

Thanks Barry!

Last time I saw his Keno Board, LA Open it all of a sudden appeared on a pool table at the end of the event, Bean won pretty good I heard, Jay would know much more about the score since he ran that event.

JAM · May 22, 2007

Keno boards

Island Drive said:
Last time I saw his Keno Board, LA Open it all of a sudden appeared on a pool table at the end of the event, Bean won pretty good I heard, Jay would know much more about the score since he ran that event.

We used to play with 'em all the time in Maryland, a good money game.

For the locals, Greek Danny who used to go off big time in the pool room. One day Hodge, an Indian who likes to gamble at anything, and Greek Danny went at it on the Keno board, flashing big and fat wads of cash. Don Jones, a local pool player and card player, started side-betting with Greek Danny on the side. $14,000 later, Don Jones and Hodge drove over to my house to count up their winnings. I was broke dog at the time, and I remember Hodge giving me a C-note just for the heck of it. Man, that was SWEET!

Interestingly, I just saw Don Jones and Hodge at The Cracked Claw, a local OTB site, during the Kentucky Derby. I hadn't seen Don Jones in maybe 20-plus years. As soon as we locked eyeballs, we both started laughing and then proceeded to talk about the good old days, to include that $14,000 score against Greek Danny.

At the 2002 U.S. Open -- I can't remember -- some of the pool players decided to go to a nearby pool room -- it wasn't Q-Masters -- and play this Keno board game. There was North Carolinian Tony Watson, "Jew Paul," Keith, Ryan McCreesh, Tony Chohan and his cousin "Omar," Shannon Daulton, and several others rolling the balls. Tony Watson was the winner that night, as I recall. The grapevine has it that Watson is a "Keno mechanic," whatever that means!

JAM

JAM · May 22, 2007

Hot Dog memories

Black-Balled said:
...When we see keith out & about, that's how we feel!!

Keith's kind of become one of the gang 'round these parts. We ain't been out and about in a while, but now that the weather is getting nice, it would be a real treat to go over to First Break in Sterling, Virginia, and visit Brandon and the gang. Maybe this Thursday. I like that pool room.

Black-Balled said:
In the room Jam mentions (Glebe Rd. Champions), they had 9 tables and 2 Keno boards- for a little while, 2 of the tables were Billiards tables- the game likely popularized thru Beenie's love for it. Man the $ can fly there! I miss that room. No music, no beer, no food, always action.

The money did fly over there big time.

I actually prefer pool rooms that serve no alcohol and very low music, if any. Having food is kind of nice, though, except at that pool room in Glebe Road, there was that diner down the street which was pretty tasty, especially at 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning.

I just remembered something else about Weenie Beenie's hot dog stands. They were little railroad car-looking structures, with a menu of a variety of different hot dogs -- big dogs, little dogs; sauerkraut, chili, onions, jalapena peppers, cheese. AND best part, they were very cheap. Matter of fact, it was said that Kroc, creator of McDonald's fast-food chain, was the founder of fast food. Well, Weenie Bennie's hot dog stands were here before McDonald's was. That's for sure!

If memory serves me right, after Weenie Beenie sold the hot dog stands, they changed names to "Ollie's Trolly." They weren't the same quality hot dogs as Weenie Beenie's, and after a while, I think they diminished.

JAM

JAM · May 22, 2007

Check it out!

I had some family who used to live over at Lee Garden Apartments in the late '60s, across from Fort Myers Army Base, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Iwo Jima statue. Right up the street, there was a Weenie Beenie hot dog stand shaped like a railroad car. I remember it well. It was a real treat to walk up there as kids and get a Weenie Beenie hot dog with the works.

There is mention of pool player Bill Staton and Weenie Beenie hot dog stands in the Arlington, Virginia, Department of Libraries: Did you know that the Weenie Beenie hotdog stand, located at the intersection of Shirlington Road and S. Four Mile Run Drive, was originally owned by pool hustler William "Weenie Beenie" Staton, who died earlier this year? Bill Staton was a world renowned pool player and an inaugural member of the One Pocket Hall of Fame. The start-up money for the purchase of the first hotdog stand was the result of a gambling trip to Arkansas in 1960 where he won the $27,000 which in turn became the seed money for this Arlington institution. Originally one of several, the Arlington site is the only one remaining. The stand was notable enough to be the title of song by the Foo Fighters, fronted by Dave Grohl, who grew up in South Arlington and Alexandria.

Staton performed trick shots in several movies, including "The Color of Money," and is also credited with giving "Minnesota Fats" his name. When he appeared on the television show "I've Got a Secret" his secret was that he could sink all balls on the table with one shot, considered quite a feat in the early 1960's. Staton also started Jack & Jill Cue Clubs, family oriented pool establishments, one of which operated 24 hours a day in Arlington for 14 years until Bill retired to Myrtle Beach, SC in 1981.

Author Jack Dyer has a great color picture of one of the last remaining Weenie Beenie hot dog stands, as well as some other VERY COOL pool photos from this era: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48600084074@N01/75002206

Here's a small black-and-white Weenie Beenie hot dog stand, one of the first ones, I'd imagine!

JAM

Black-Balled · May 22, 2007

If you get off 395 going to Shirlington, you can see one on the way to Shirlington. I don't go that way tooo often, but will try to snap/ post a photo if I do. The road to hell is paved with good intention.

Weenie Beenie Tournament

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