Unbelievable Pool Memorabilia Collection Captured on Video

Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This is unbelievable.
Any pool history fanatic can't watch this video without being completely speechless.

https://youtu.be/nH_KzGwEEaU


The Mosconi 526 Balabushka might be the unicorn of the lot.

Let this be the first official call to pool promotion heavyweights everywhere...Mark Griffin, Matchroom, Mike P at Billiards Digest.....

There needs to be an official pocket billiards hall of fame and museum and this is a collection to start it all off!

https://youtu.be/nH_KzGwEEaU
 

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
This is unbelievable.
Any pool history fanatic can't watch this video without being completely speechless.

https://youtu.be/nH_KzGwEEaU


The Mosconi 526 Balabushka might be the unicorn of the lot.

Let this be the first official call to pool promotion heavyweights everywhere...Mark Griffin, Matchroom, Mike P at Billiards Digest.....

There needs to be an official pocket billiards hall of fame and museum and this is a collection to start it all off!


https://youtu.be/nH_KzGwEEaU

Yrs ago I suggested purchasing Rudolph Wanderones home in Dowell IL and turn it into a billiard museum. Fats had a large billiard room added to his home. Even the animal area out back for rescue dogs was well kept. Fats loved animals. Home was next to corn fields on a corner lot.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Yrs ago I suggested purchasing Rudolph Wanderones home in Dowell IL and turn it into a billiard museum. Fats had a large billiard room added to his home. Even the animal area out back for rescue dogs was well kept. Fats loved animals. Home was next to corn fields on a corner lot.
Got me curious, so I looked it up...

Dowell is a tiny place in the southern tip of Illinois. Fats' house there is said to be at 611 South St. (corner of West Rd.)..,

pj
chgo

Fats' House in Dowell IL.jpg
 

Nullus

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
That, or maybe St. Louis which would be close to Fat's old residence if someone wanted to make the journey. It's also in the relative middle of the country.
 

Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been to that home.

I understand if you can’t answer...but how did this guy acquire things like hall of fame jackets or infamous cues that even the players family’s might have wanted?
I understand deep pockets might be the answer, but a certain level of trust has to be gained that it’s going to a good home before letting trophies and titles go.
 

Maniac

2manyQ's
Silver Member
Pool needs a museum but I’m not sure it should be in Dowell Illinois. How about in Chicago

Because you have a good chance of being shot while you're up there visiting??? :thumbup:

Please don't take this seriously. Just a tongue-in-cheek remark.

Maniac
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
I've seen it before and I'm still amazed.
I do have one of Efren's practice cues and the trophy he won for the Gabriel's Open in Las Vegas .

That Kling table and rack are insane.

I just wish the camera dude slowed down. And not call cue cases as "bags".
 
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metallicane

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've seen it before and I'm still amazed.
I do have one of Efren's practice cues and the trophy he won for the Gabriel's Open in Las Vegas .

That Kling table and rack is insane.

I just wish the camera dude slowed down. And not call cue cases as "bags".

Exactly what I was thinking. Got me dizzy trying to follow that.
 

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
I understand if you can’t answer...but how did this guy acquire things like hall of fame jackets or infamous cues that even the players family’s might have wanted?
I understand deep pockets might be the answer, but a certain level of trust has to be gained that it’s going to a good home before letting trophies and titles go.

Probably have to ask the living players about that award/moment. Mid eighties, Mike Sigel offered to sell me his worn out leather case with his name on it for $250 at the Denver Open. This was the case he traveled during his best years of play, musta been 8 yrs old. Road had definitely worn it out.
 

ROB.M

:)
Silver Member
post

the chicago billiard museum site was sweet....but now all that great info is lost......(



Rob.M
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Got me curious, so I looked it up...

Dowell is a tiny place in the southern tip of Illinois. Fats' house there is said to be at 611 South St. (corner of West Rd.)..,

pj
chgo

View attachment 540062

That's Fat's house. The big windows you see here is where his poolroom was. There were usually two Caddy's in the driveway! :D
 
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Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
That's easy. A flock of vultures will swoop in. They've been circling above for quite some time.

When I stand back and see this, I just see a perfect apology fo pocket billiards as a whole.

Here you have an entire link to some of the most valuable pieces of pool lore and history all in one room, so fragile and so vulnerable to being lost to the world. Is the proper curator looking after them? In case of switching hands, will they go as one collection and to a safe place with fire suppressing protection and safety monitoring? Will there be humidity control and prevention from flood and water damage? Will anyone care?

Kind of like the last great pool tournament you attend...will anyone video capture that battle of titans off to the side of the streaming table that has the room on edge or will it be lost to time and a whatever-shake of the head I-remember-when-type of story that dies after a generation. Will anyone care?

It’s all so fragile and on the edge of disappearing forever. Kind of like pool in of itself.

Will that 526 Mosconi Balabushka be lost to the world and reduced to an I-once-held-type of story by a few dozen people? The cue cases? The signatures. And the tragic truth is that there are a host of collections just like this one around the pool world.

If I go to the Springfield, Massachusetts and visit the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, I can see Michael Jordan’s shoes or Larry Bird’s jersey on display for the world—surely shouldn’t Efren’s green jacket get the same treatment and held aloft by the pool world other than hanging on rack of other dusty fall of fame worthy jackets?

I had a very profound moment down in Rhode Island, when I first had a chance to visit Snookers to watch a Joss tournament and SJM (Stu) took the time and walked around the walls of the New England Pool and Billiards Hall of Fame and gave me a tutorial and history of every picture and moment that was enshrined on those walls.

Players I surely never would have known of, heard of, or even paid any attention to ( many who had long passed away) were introduced to me that night—it was the true beauty of such a small little place in the pool world in its ability to educate and pass on the memory of those who spent a lifetime excelling in this game we all love.

I’ll never forget that.

It’s too bad the vultures don’t fly a bit higher and see the bigger picture in a room like that. There’s more of a duty and responsibility to those with the means to lift that little space in the world higher than just a pick and pull until the carcass is dry and gone event.

Oh well, it’s 2:38 AM and I’m feeling a little morose. Thanks for letting me vent. We have a great game in pool with a great history and we are losing it slowly....one collector at time.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
When I stand back and see this, I just see a perfect apology fo pocket billiards as a whole.

Here you have an entire link to some of the most valuable pieces of pool lore and history all in one room, so fragile and so vulnerable to being lost to the world. Is the proper curator looking after them? In case of switching hands, will they go as one collection and to a safe place with fire suppressing protection and safety monitoring? Will there be humidity control and prevention from flood and water damage? Will anyone care?

Kind of like the last great pool tournament you attend...will anyone video capture that battle of titans off to the side of the streaming table that has the room on edge or will it be lost to time and a whatever-shake of the head I-remember-when-type of story that dies after a generation. Will anyone care?

It’s all so fragile and on the edge of disappearing forever. Kind of like pool in of itself.

Will that 526 Mosconi Balabushka be lost to the world and reduced to an I-once-held-type of story by a few dozen people? The cue cases? The signatures. And the tragic truth is that there are a host of collections just like this one around the pool world.

If I go to the Springfield, Massachusetts and visit the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, I can see Michael Jordan’s shoes or Larry Bird’s jersey on display for the world—surely shouldn’t Efren’s green jacket get the same treatment and held aloft by the pool world other than hanging on rack of other dusty fall of fame worthy jackets?

I had a very profound moment down in Rhode Island, when I first had a chance to visit Snookers to watch a Joss tournament and SJM (Stu) took the time and walked around the walls of the New England Pool and Billiards Hall of Fame and gave me a tutorial and history of every picture and moment that was enshrined on those walls.

Players I surely never would have known of, heard of, or even paid any attention to ( many who had long passed away) were introduced to me that night—it was the true beauty of such a small little place in the pool world in its ability to educate and pass on the memory of those who spent a lifetime excelling in this game we all love.

I’ll never forget that.

It’s too bad the vultures don’t fly a bit higher and see the bigger picture in a room like that. There’s more of a duty and responsibility to those with the means to lift that little space in the world higher than just a pick and pull until the carcass is dry and gone event.

Oh well, it’s 2:38 AM and I’m feeling a little morose. Thanks for letting me vent. We have a great game in pool with a great history and we are losing it slowly....one collector at time.

I think the Glenn family will take very good care of that valuable and important billiard collection. Denny has long been seeking a proper location for a billiard museum, if anyone has a line on a good location. I would be willing to contribute to the purchase of a good space for such a museum and I'm sure others would as well.
 
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