Hubert L. "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes in jail 1964 newspaper clipping

Hubert Cokes, Titanic Thompson, and Minnesota Fats; that's a hell of a trio. I remember reading somewhere the "old" Fats that most know about was but a shadow of the "young" Fats that organized & collected. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when those three were roaming around.

I'd heard about that before. The guy Cokes killed was described as a tush hog. I was not aware he had killed a cop. I'd be interested to know the details of that since he was found not guilty.

I also notice in that article from 1964 Rudolf Wanderone is referred to as New York Fats. A recent thread showed an original transcript of the Hustler in which New York fats was crossed out and Minnesota written in. Maybe the character was based on Fats.

Billy I is a Prince and has done more for the game than most.

I have not played for the last year but thinking about Billy make me want to start playin again. I doesn't take me long to get back in stroke.

Bill Stroud

Even though you say you haven't played in a year

I am afraid billy is not willing to dismiss many memories
of you playing over the years so don't expect him to give up weight

This would be a great game for the ages

I warned billy about the danger of him losing big

you see billy is loaded with money,stiff in the back,and no longer
hungry to win.Put that all together and old mustache Billy might be easy money

I,of course am older than Billy and the only thing that keeps me
from taking a shot at him is pure fear

I don't think you ever experienced that emotion

alstl said:

I'd heard about that before. The guy Cokes killed was described as a tush hog. I was not aware he had killed a cop. I'd be interested to know the details of that since he was found not guilty.

I also notice in that article from 1864 Rudolf Wanderone is referred to as New York Fats. A recent thread showed an original transcript of the Hustler in which New York fats was crossed out and Minnesota written in. Maybe the character was based on Fats.

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I couldn't find any contemporary accounts about Cokes being arrested or tried in court for murdering the police chief in Hot Springs …*no mention anywhere after the initial report. My guess is that the lack of newspaper attention was no accident. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where the police chief was "wetting his beak" and that even higher-placed people in Hot Springs preferred to keep the case out of the public eye.

I've read a lot of articles about Cokes over the years and will say from everything I've read from multiple sources and people that I've spoken with that he was a) polite and respectful to a fault the majority of the time, b) not afraid to gamble and gamble big and c) no one that you wanted to cross or disrespect.

Even people who had reputations for violence were apparently respectful in his presence.

One of the more interesting gamblers and characters in the world of billiards over the years IMHO.

RabbiHippie said:

I couldn't find any contemporary accounts about Cokes being arrested or tried in court for murdering the police chief in Hot Springs …*no mention anywhere after the initial report. My guess is that the lack of newspaper attention was no accident. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where the police chief was "wetting his beak" and that even higher-placed people in Hot Springs preferred to keep the case out of the public eye.

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Freddy shed a little light on it but didn't go into great detail. Not the first or last guy to end up in the cemetery over a woman.

http://www.onepocket.org/forum/showthread.php?p=56150

the three pistols

alstl said:

Freddy shed a little light on it but didn't go into great detail. Not the first or last guy to end up in the cemetery over a woman.

http://www.onepocket.org/forum/showthread.php?p=56150

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Started to post earlier but wasn't absolutely sure it was Cokes. The police shook everybody down in a place and collected a lot of hardware. They were surprised to find three pistols on Cokes. He explained he carried lots of cash in bad places! Best I recall they gave him the pistols back.

Hu

Great thread, btw.

Not pool related, but pretty damn good novel called Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter is set in post-WWII Hot Springs - pretty entertaining read (precursor to the one about the sniper they later made a movie about) and made me more interested in learning about that place/era when I read the book on a vacation many years ago.

I like those Swagger novels by Hunter including this one

there used to be a little more colorful characters than we see today

then again i used to get out of the house

deanoc said:

I like those Swagger novels by Hunter including this one

there used to be a little more colorful characters than we see today

then again i used to get out of the house

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I read all the Hunter novels....today we got Jack Reacher

beautiful place!

jeephawk said:

Not pool related, but pretty damn good novel called Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter is set in post-WWII Hot Springs - pretty entertaining read (precursor to the one about the sniper they later made a movie about) and made me more interested in learning about that place/era when I read the book on a vacation many years ago.

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Hot Springs and the surrounding area is beautiful! The mountains are more like tree covered hills and tend to be softly rounded, much older than the comparatively "new" mountains out west. Lake Ouachita offers 40,000 acres of clear, clean water surrounded by the scenic Ouachita National Forest forty-five minutes away. The land around it being national forest means there is very little build-up on the shores and you can enjoy the unspoiled scenery. The water near the dam stays at about thirty-five degrees year around. A dip will cool you off in a hurry!

I first visited Hot Springs on a family vacation when my age was still in single digits I believe. Dad's friend was a guide on the lake and had a fourteen foot very narrow Skeeter bass boat with a huge forty horse engine on it. About the size of a bathtub to hold two men and a boy. A forty thousand acre lake can get very choppy sometimes but we caught lots of bass, including schooling bass in the afternoons.

The tourism seems to have died down in Hot Springs which is all to the good. The springs are still there, as are some bath houses. Some bath houses are family oriented now, some I am not too sure about. Prostitution was one of the "features" of Hot Springs in the not too distant past.

I once dreamed of living in or near Hot Springs. Never happened but I have made a half-dozen or so trips there. Genuinely nice people for the most part and a nice climate.

Apologies for the slight thread detour. I have to talk up Hot Springs when I get a chance. Catman and Country Calvin live in or near Arkadelphia, in maybe even more beautiful country than Hot Springs but without the springs or tourism in bygone days. An hour or two away from Hot Springs best I recall. It has been twenty to thirty years since I have been that way. The four corners area and the nation's backbone have got my attention now. When I need some fresh air the southwest and west have extremely powerful pulls too!

Hu

If I recall correctly, I was told that Cokes played a big role in the up and coming career of a young guy from the Owensboro area by the name of Nick Varner.

r/DCP

ShootingArts said:

Started to post earlier but wasn't absolutely sure it was Cokes. The police shook everybody down in a place and collected a lot of hardware. They were surprised to find three pistols on Cokes. He explained he carried lots of cash in bad places! Best I recall they gave him the pistols back.

Hu

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Happened at Johnston City once but it was the FBI and I doubt they have anybody's gun back although they did collect quite a few which had been discarded as soon as the FBI walked in.

what a beautiful description of hot springs

makes me want to buy some beautiful land with forest and running water

Louie Harper and I made a trip that took us through there back in 1973

we returned in a 2002 model bmw car and very little cash

but we were young and still having fun just being out on the road
and free

we didn't find the area to be wide open like the stories and we
came home without any stories,but as i say we were young and we were free

I seem to recall Billy Incardona saying on one of the Accu-stats tapes that Buddy Hall learned one pocket from Cokes or was it Nick Varner. I have to find that tape...


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Ratamon said:

I seem to recall Billy Incardona saying on one of the Accu-stats tapes that Buddy Hall learned one pocket from Cokes or was it Nick Varner. I have to find that tape...


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It was Nick Varner. He spent a lot of time with Hubert as a young man. Nick's father and Cokes were old friends.

I went to and All Around Event in Long Beach at the old Lafayette Hotel promoted by Charlie (Tennessee) Miliken. This was around 1967 and saw Daddy Warbucks for the first time. He was immaculately dressed and had that cigar in his mouth constantly. Everybody was around him trying to get him down in a pool match. But he just waited them out and I only saw him play one time and his game was good but not great. Those Sharkskin Suits with Silk Shirts and a Bowtie sure looked good on Mr. Cokes. He reeked of money and swagger. A nice combination back then.........maybe even today.