1983 Clinton IA bar table tournament documentary

sixpack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just stumbled across this on YouTube. It’s a documentary about the Clinton Iowa bar table tournaments from the 1980s. Lots of great photos and narrative to go along with them.

https://youtu.be/5Hu3a_H2h3c

15:45 long.
Photos of Buddy, Matlock, Danny Medina, David Howard, Larry Hubbard, Mike Massey and many more.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
That's awesome. I remember watchin almost all those cats at one time or another. Ray had a rep for running a killer event. I was 23 in '83 and went to sleep thinking of pool shots. Good times for sure.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Nice to see my buddy Ray in this documentary. He did a great job organizing the Clinton, Iowa tournaments and everybody wanted to come to them. It was a good tournament and there was action all night long. I went a couple of years in a row. The first time we had no success (the player I was with went broke gambling. He will remain nameless for now) but the second time I took Danny Medina and he got second place. He used to pop the cue ball straight up in the air on his break and I remember when he broke the light in the final match. Ray got it cleaned up pretty fast though.

Danny did take the heat when he lost the finals after going undefeated. I knew it was only one set but it was still hard for me to calm him down. He wanted to keep playing. $2,500 was a good score back then and I had won another five or six hundred betting on Danny in the earlier matches. I didn't bet the finals because I had too much respect for David and he was playing lights out.

Some people used to bad mouth Danny but I never had any problem with him. I'm guessing we won over 50K in our time together and never had an argument. Danny was just a very fierce competitor who wouldn't back down from anyone. One time we went outside and a guy pulled a gun on him and Danny pretended like he had a gun too, simulating one in his jacket pocket. He walked right toward the guy and made him turn and run away. I was sitting in the car and asked him what happened. He acted like it was no big deal. Like I said, Danny was fearless.

That trait was what got him beat up by three thugs in downtown Vegas. Broke his jaw bad and stomped him unconscious and he never really recovered from the beating he took (broken ribs and severe concussion as well). Danny was never the same after that, his health getting worse and worse. He died a few years later. It was nice to see him in this video. That was when he was in his prime.
 

sixpack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nice to see my buddy Ray in this documentary. He did a great job organizing the Clinton, Iowa tournaments and everybody wanted to come to them. It was a good tournament and there was action all night long. I went a couple of years in a row. The first time we had no success (the player I was with went broke gambling. He will remain nameless for now) but the second time I took Danny Medina and he got second place. He used to pop the cue ball straight up in the air on his break and I remember when he broke the light in the final match. Ray got it cleaned up pretty fast though.

Danny did take the heat when he lost the finals after going undefeated. I knew it was only one set but it was still hard for me to calm him down. He wanted to keep playing. $2,500 was a good score back then and I had won another five or six hundred betting on Danny in the earlier matches. I didn't bet the finals because I had too much respect for David and he was playing lights out.

Some people used to bad mouth Danny but I never had any problem with him. I'm guessing we won over 50K in our time together and never had an argument. Danny was just a very fierce competitor who wouldn't back down from anyone. One time we went outside and a guy pulled a gun on him and Danny pretended like he had a gun too, simulating one in his jacket pocket. He walked right toward the guy and made him turn and run away. I was sitting in the car and asked him what happened. He acted like it was no big deal. Like I said, Danny was fearless.

That trait was what got him beat up by three thugs in downtown Vegas. Broke his jaw bad and stomped him unconscious and he never really recovered from the beating he took (broken ribs and severe concussion as well). Danny was never the same after that, his health getting worse and worse. He died a few years later. It was nice to see him in this video. That was when he was in his prime.

I played Danny several times and saw him at a lot of tournaments around the country. We were always friendly although the last time I saw him I said hi to him and he acted like he didn't know me. So I reminded him who I was and he said "I know who you are." lol. That was Danny.

One time when I first met him he told me he had an 'easy score' for me with a friend who was visiting and wanted to gamble. I showed up and it was Jose Parica...Gee thanks Danny... I knew who he was and I was already PROBABLY not going to play before that because if Danny didn't want to play them then I certainly wanted no part of them. Although in hindsight I wish I would have played him. I played Jose later in a tournament in Texas and that was no fun at all. Race to 7 and he wins the flip and starts with 3 9-ball breaks in a row.

He told me the story about breaking the light there and how it was BS that they only played one set.
 
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pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
I just stumbled across this on YouTube. It’s a documentary about the Clinton Iowa bar table tournaments from the 1980s. Lots of great photos and narrative to go along with them.

https://youtu.be/5Hu3a_H2h3c

15:45 long.
Photos of Buddy, Matlock, Danny Medina, David Howard, Larry Hubbard, Mike Massey and many more.

Thanx for this....I was happy to see that Handsome Danny Jones won the mini...
...always liked him.
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nice to see my buddy Ray in this documentary. He did a great job organizing the Clinton, Iowa tournaments and everybody wanted to come to them. It was a good tournament and there was action all night long. I went a couple of years in a row. The first time we had no success (the player I was with went broke gambling. He will remain nameless for now) but the second time I took Danny Medina and he got second place. He used to pop the cue ball straight up in the air on his break and I remember when he broke the light in the final match. Ray got it cleaned up pretty fast though.

Danny did take the heat when he lost the finals after going undefeated. I knew it was only one set but it was still hard for me to calm him down. He wanted to keep playing. $2,500 was a good score back then and I had won another five or six hundred betting on Danny in the earlier matches. I didn't bet the finals because I had too much respect for David and he was playing lights out.

Some people used to bad mouth Danny but I never had any problem with him. I'm guessing we won over 50K in our time together and never had an argument. Danny was just a very fierce competitor who wouldn't back down from anyone. One time we went outside and a guy pulled a gun on him and Danny pretended like he had a gun too, simulating one in his jacket pocket. He walked right toward the guy and made him turn and run away. I was sitting in the car and asked him what happened. He acted like it was no big deal. Like I said, Danny was fearless.

That trait was what got him beat up by three thugs in downtown Vegas. Broke his jaw bad and stomped him unconscious and he never really recovered from the beating he took (broken ribs and severe concussion as well). Danny was never the same after that, his health getting worse and worse. He died a few years later. It was nice to see him in this video. That was when he was in his prime.

What a story! That is amazing! Poor Danny. I am glad you had a good experience with him.

I had only seen Danny shoot one time, and that was at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in Virginia, early 2000s era. I remember he had this quirk, I guess you'd call it, in that his tongue would go in and out like a lizard when he was in dead punch or in the zone. It was the most unusual thing to see, but everybody has their quirks when they get in the zone.

Here's his Find-A-Grave page with some photos. He was loved by many. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103762426/danny-medina
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nice to see my buddy Ray in this documentary. He did a great job organizing the Clinton, Iowa tournaments and everybody wanted to come to them. It was a good tournament and there was action all night long. I went a couple of years in a row. The first time we had no success (the player I was with went broke gambling. He will remain nameless for now) but the second time I took Danny Medina and he got second place. He used to pop the cue ball straight up in the air on his break and I remember when he broke the light in the final match. Ray got it cleaned up pretty fast though.

Danny did take the heat when he lost the finals after going undefeated. I knew it was only one set but it was still hard for me to calm him down. He wanted to keep playing. $2,500 was a good score back then and I had won another five or six hundred betting on Danny in the earlier matches. I didn't bet the finals because I had too much respect for David and he was playing lights out.

Some people used to bad mouth Danny but I never had any problem with him. I'm guessing we won over 50K in our time together and never had an argument. Danny was just a very fierce competitor who wouldn't back down from anyone. One time we went outside and a guy pulled a gun on him and Danny pretended like he had a gun too, simulating one in his jacket pocket. He walked right toward the guy and made him turn and run away. I was sitting in the car and asked him what happened. He acted like it was no big deal. Like I said, Danny was fearless.

That trait was what got him beat up by three thugs in downtown Vegas. Broke his jaw bad and stomped him unconscious and he never really recovered from the beating he took (broken ribs and severe concussion as well). Danny was never the same after that, his health getting worse and worse. He died a few years later. It was nice to see him in this video. That was when he was in his prime.

I hesitate to ask you who that player was (bolded in red) who lost gambling the first time you went. Was he about 26 years old then in 1983? :embarrassed2:
 

rellek

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I see Ray at the local Friday night tourney in Waterloo quite often, this was a really cool thing to see.
 

3kushn

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just stumbled across this on YouTube. It’s a documentary about the Clinton Iowa bar table tournaments from the 1980s. Lots of great photos and narrative to go along with them.

https://youtu.be/5Hu3a_H2h3c

15:45 long.
Photos of Buddy, Matlock, Danny Medina, David Howard, Larry Hubbard, Mike Massey and many more.

Iowa is still a good State that's hanging on to the game.
Davenport, Moline, Burlington. 3Cushion is still strong in Marshalltown.
 

pwd72s

recreational banger
Silver Member
King of the Bar Table

Short 4 minutes of Dave Matlock. Playing (? if he ever got a shot) Johnny Archer, The Miz making comments. Fun to watch...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2_aE6OR-yU

(edit) My apology for this...I thought I was starting a new thread. Posted here by mistake. :(
 
Last edited:

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
I hesitate to ask you who that player was (bolded in red) who lost gambling the first time you went. Was he about 26 years old then in 1983? :embarrassed2:

Ha Ha, I ain't telling. That same player and I won a ton of money in later years, so I have no complaints. We all book a loser here and there. I remember when your buddy talked me into going in with him (for some serious cash) when he got Efren to spot him 9-8 in One Pocket. Little did we know that rascal had been schooled in One Pocket and his game was greatly improved.
 

PoolBum

Ace in the side.
Silver Member
Is the Robert LeBlanc listed as coming in 9th-12th at 1:36 in the video the poker player?
 

SFC9ball

JimBaker PBIA Instructor
Silver Member
What a story! That is amazing! Poor Danny. I am glad you had a good experience with him.

I had only seen Danny shoot one time, and that was at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in Virginia, early 2000s era. I remember he had this quirk, I guess you'd call it, in that his tongue would go in and out like a lizard when he was in dead punch or in the zone. It was the most unusual thing to see, but everybody has their quirks when they get in the zone.

Here's his Find-A-Grave page with some photos. He was loved by many. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103762426/danny-medina

That quirk you talk about is weird because another player (Rich Sager) at that tournament had this same problem. Any time I mention his name around my wife she says "Is that the lizard man" I would tell her "of course it is. Rich is a great guy and fierce competitor too.
 

camaro69926

Registered
We still have tournaments in Clinton Ia, but now they are played at Legends and no where near that type of money added. My son plays tournaments there and is a pool history junkie, he will love watching that video. Little Joe V. has gave my son a few lessons on the pool table. What a great video. Thank you
 
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