Rather than logout and log back in as Keith, I am going to transcribe his words verbatim in this post. So this is Keith's words below:
There was a time in Earl's life that he just played in tournaments. A friend of mine staked him a couple times and was telling me how well he played. I can't remember who he staked him against, but Earl never really had the reputation of gambling.
I mean, he talks about it at a young age that that's what he did. He might have done it with some locals. Earl actually probably had more gamble on the golf course. I never really saw him gamble, but it's not that he was afraid to gamble or that he couldn't play for money, which he could. He was more programmed for the tournament. Somewhere along in his life, he just programmed himself for the tournaments, and he would get asked to gamble at tournaments. But some people would know not to even ask him to gamble because the persona he gave off was strictly tournaments.
I was playing pretty good in the '70s, when I was spotting Kim Davenport the 7-ball and Morro Paez the 7-ball. Earl came into the pool room, and I asked him to play. I think I even offered him the last two, and the next thing I saw was that Earl was gone. I think Earl was hustling then. I don't know if Earl decided if he played me, it would knock a lot of his action, whether he won or lost. Don't know that for sure, but it sounds reasonable, because if I was Earl, I would have done the same thing.
In the '80s, Earl was the toughest player that I ever faced in a tournament. Mike Sigel was good, but Mike Sigel wasn't no Earl Strickland. Every time you had to play Earl, you had to run five or six racks, and sometimes maybe that might not be good enough, but at least you would have a chance. A lot of times when I played Earl, I didn't make many balls on the break, and the matches were still close, so I was proud of that.
Me and Earl had a couple ball-banger sets over there in Richmond, Kentucky. Never forget them. I lose one 11 to 10, and I win one 11 to 10, back to back years. I think it was '85 or '86. Big crowds. Great shots. After every great shot, the crowd would become unglued. It was a real nice atmosphere for playing pool, and there were a lot of gamblers around there as well, which made it all more the merrier. Those were the good old days. Pool has never been the same since, sorry to say.
Earthquake out.
[The above-referenced words were transcribed verbatim by JAM.]
