the best in the country by walter s. tevis

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
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Silver Member
Reminds me of a favorite line

Good story, I enjoyed it. I have never read Tevis, just watched the movies. Seems like I need to look up some books.

"The best in the country" made me think this favorite line of mine was gonna come into play. Back when I was gambling nightly I would sometimes step into a strange place and loudly proclaim, "I am the best in the country!" All heads would turn my way. Then I would try to look a little sheepish, "I forgot I am in the city now." Rarely took five minutes to get into action.

The good ol' days when times were rotten. Sure to miss the old days and the old Hu sometimes.

Hu
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
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Good story, I enjoyed it. I have never read Tevis, just watched the movies. Seems like I need to look up some books.

"The best in the country" made me think this favorite line of mine was gonna come into play. Back when I was gambling nightly I would sometimes step into a strange place and loudly proclaim, "I am the best in the country!" All heads would turn my way. Then I would try to look a little sheepish, "I forgot I am in the city now." Rarely took five minutes to get into action.

The good ol' days when times were rotten. Sure to miss the old days and the old Hu sometimes.

Hu

His books are great reading. After you read The Hustler and The Color Of Money, you have to read The Man Who Fell To Earth!
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
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Pretty Sure I Did, Looonng Ago!

His books are great reading. After you read The Hustler and The Color Of Money, you have to read The Man Who Fell To Earth!


Seems like I did read The Man Who Fell to Earth long ago. Didn't connect it to his pool books, didn't remember who wrote it even. Could be just a similar title but I will check it out.

Still have my library card I got for internet access while moving, I wonder if the local library still has the little librarian that liked to twist her butt? Maybe I need to go check out their backsi, err, um, back catalog!

Hu
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
His books are great reading. After you read The Hustler and The Color Of Money, you have to read The Man Who Fell To Earth!

I enjoyed reading the book TCM a lot more then the movie. They are not even the same story. The only thing the same is the use of the names Fast Eddie and Fats. My guess is, the movie makers bought the rights to the book just for that so they could cast Newman then wrote their own story.
 

pwd72s

recreational banger
Silver Member
Hellofa short story..thanks for posting. A prequel to "The Hustler"?
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
Walter mentioned New York Fats in that story.
...gave Wanderone a little ammo?
 

evergruven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Walter mentioned New York Fats in that story.
...gave Wanderone a little ammo?

Hellofa short story..thanks for posting. A prequel to "The Hustler"?

good one, right? glad you enjoyed and definitely a "hustler" barrel

to you and pt, we had related convo recently in this thread:
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=512953&page=2

I'm digging around to see if walter did any other shorties
about fatty, or anything else "pool"-
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member

A long time ago I read an article by Walter Tevis in a billiard mag...maybe late 70s?
..it was about a 9-ball tournament in Florida that he just happened to drop in on.
I loved the article, he talked about the garish lighting ( that would’ve been that Brunswick,
recommended stuff from the 60s, bare neon tubes all over the ceiling), and how the voices
were too loud and shrill............then the play got serious...and it was like a golden haze
descended on the room for the rest of the contest,
When the last ball dropped, the magic was gone..the room was too bright and loud again.

That article described why I was fascinated about the game better than anything else
I had ever read.
I would sure like to read it again if anybody is good enough to find it....I haven’t been able to.
 

evergruven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A long time ago I read an article by Walter Tevis in a billiard mag...maybe late 70s?
..it was about a 9-ball tournament in Florida that he just happened to drop in on.
I loved the article, he talked about the garish lighting ( that would’ve been that Brunswick,
recommended stuff from the 60s, bare neon tubes all over the ceiling), and how the voices
were too loud and shrill............then the play got serious...and it was like a golden haze
descended on the room for the rest of the contest,
When the last ball dropped, the magic was gone..the room was too bright and loud again.

That article described why I was fascinated about the game better than anything else
I had ever read.
I would sure like to read it again if anybody is good enough to find it....I haven’t been able to.

pt, that article sounds like it's worth tracking down!
I'm game to join you on the hunt..
admittedly an amateur on the subject, I haven't heard of any pool-related writing by walter post 60's
is it possible someone else wrote it?
is there anything else about the article you can remember?
I'm even more an amateur re: billiard mags
but if it was in a billiard mag in the 70's, wouldn't that narrow it down pretty well?
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
pt, that article sounds like it's worth tracking down!
I'm game to join you on the hunt..
admittedly an amateur on the subject, I haven't heard of any pool-related writing by walter post 60's
is it possible someone else wrote it?
is there anything else about the article you can remember?
I'm even more an amateur re: billiard mags
but if it was in a billiard mag in the 70's, wouldn't that narrow it down pretty well?
If you remember we started talking about this because I mentioned running into Tevis at a tournament in Tampa Florida. Back then there was not really any billiards publications other the "Chalk Up" and a very slick mag on the quality of "Look " mag called "National Bowlers journal and Billiard Review". Of course Tevis was a freelance writer and it could been in any mag.

I have seen reprints from NBJ&BR though on line. I would bet you can track down the article. The tournament I was referring to would have be at Bakers Billiards. in Tampa Fla.. It was quite a place even having a tournament room like The Jansco show bar. It even hosted Johnston city style tournament back then with mamy of the same players. If you can hunt down a copy of "The First five years of Chalk Up" you will find a ton of contemporary stuff from back then. You may find a copy on ebay, if you do buy it.
http://www.onepocket.org/ChalkUp.htm
Wow I just looked and there is one on ebay now.


You know, From reading your postings you would love, "The Bank Shot and other great Robberies" It should be part of any pool players collection. They are around on ebay, only buy the hard cover copy not the reprint
 
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lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you like pool stories you should find yourself a copy of "Byrne's Book of Great Pool Stories" by of course Robert Byrne.

It's 31 short stories and includes two by Tevis: "The Big Hustle" and "The Hustler" which he eventually fleshed out into the novel.

Lou Figueroa
 

evergruven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks... made my day.

right on. thanks for saying so..that made *my* day :)

If you remember we started talking about this because I mentioned running into Tevis at a tournament in Tampa Florida. Back then there was not really any billiards publications other the "Chalk Up" and a very slick mag on the quality of "Look " mag called "National Bowlers journal and Billiard Review". Of course Tevis was a freelance writer and it could been in any mag.

I have seen reprints from NBJ&BR though on line. I would bet you can track down the article. The tournament I was referring to would have be at Bakers Billiards. in Tampa Fla.. It was quite a place even having a tournament room like The Jansco show bar. It even hosted Johnston city style tournament back then with mamy of the same players. If you can hunt down a copy of "The First five years of Chalk Up" you will find a ton of contemporary stuff from back then. You may find a copy on ebay, if you do buy it.
http://www.onepocket.org/ChalkUp.htm
Wow I just looked and there is one on ebay now.


You know, From reading your postings you would love, "The Bank Shot and other great Robberies" It should be part of any pool players collection. They are around on ebay, only buy the hard cover copy not the reprint

whew, good stuff
pt, ring any bells?

I do enjoy a good yarn..pool-related in a bonus ^_^
have not read "bank shot"- on my list now, thanks for the 'tip!

If you like pool stories you should find yourself a copy of "Byrne's Book of Great Pool Stories" by of course Robert Byrne.

It's 31 short stories and includes two by Tevis: "The Big Hustle" and "The Hustler" which he eventually fleshed out into the novel.

Lou Figueroa

lou, byrne's book is excellent- what a great comp. thanks for the reminder!
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
His books are great reading. After you read The Hustler and The Color Of Money, you have to read The Man Who Fell To Earth!

Excellent recommendation!

And I actually liked the Color of Money book much better than I like the Color of Money movie, which isn't based on the book. Both are good stories though.
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
If you remember we started talking about this because I mentioned running into Tevis at a tournament in Tampa Florida. Back then there was not really any billiards publications other the "Chalk Up" and a very slick mag on the quality of "Look " mag called "National Bowlers journal and Billiard Review". Of course Tevis was a freelance writer and it could been in any mag.

I have seen reprints from NBJ&BR though on line. I would bet you can track down the article. The tournament I was referring to would have be at Bakers Billiards. in Tampa Fla.. It was quite a place even having a tournament room like The Jansco show bar. It even hosted Johnston city style tournament back then with mamy of the same players. If you can hunt down a copy of "The First five years of Chalk Up" you will find a ton of contemporary stuff from back then. You may find a copy on ebay, if you do buy it.
http://www.onepocket.org/ChalkUp.htm
Wow I just looked and there is one on ebay now.


You know, From reading your postings you would love, "The Bank Shot and other great Robberies" It should be part of any pool players collection. They are around on ebay, only buy the hard cover copy not the reprint

Bakers seems like it’s gotta be the place....any idea of the year?
I played some 9-ball there in the late 60s...they had a carom cloth on one 9-footer...
...I was having so much fun on that stuff.....I blew all my action...ball would spin for a long time.

For the people that seem to mourn the demise of the old thick cloth....if you have a stroke,
you wouldn’t believe what you can do with whitey on a carom cloth...like draw three rails with running and when it comes in slow to the fourth, it walks up the rail.

I thought of that Tevis article a few years ago...I tried to look it up from every thing that
Tevis had written...no luck.
 
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