I knew him going back to the early 90's when he was a STRONG force on the Memphis region tournament scene as a player(in modern terms 700+ Fargo),with at the time when we met a crazy nice ivory pointed South West or Kersenbrock before he started making cues,and in way he's the reason I am where I am with my repair business. His primary job back then was a field tech for National Cash Register,as he was very bright and well educated. Not that it matters,but he drove a Sixteen Candles era Porche.
When he started making SP's and plain janes,he moved his equipment into the back room at Player's in Memphis,which at the time was owned by our own Ribdoner. That move made the in-house repair lathe obsolete,I asked about him if he knew anyone that had such equipment,he told be about his,and I went and got it. Until I get my new machine going,this has been my main tip lathe since 1998,and has done almost every tip I've done in public since 2011 since I started that at the Paris,Tn tournament at RJ's that until COVID went along with the World's Biggest Fish Fry.
I started doing repairs in public with that same Enco mini lathe and a Chinese wood lathe after having an ivory ferrule hacked up
by a supposedly revered cuemaker
named something similar to our favorite woodpecker while at The Rack in Memphis. It was bad enough to the point we had to be seperated and I told and showed everyone that would listen the next 2 days...
.
He taught me stuff I still use regularly,yet never saw him do anything. RIP Alex. Tommy D.
