Eddie "The Knoxville Bear" Taylor
- Thread starter shayne87
- Start date
Eddie Taylor
My memorabilia from Eddie.
My memorabilia from Eddie.
I had never seen Eddie Taylor hit a ball until this video. (shame on me, I know)
What a beautiful, fluid, effortlessly powerful stroke! WOW
What a beautiful, fluid, effortlessly powerful stroke! WOW
Eddie Taylor
This has to be my favorite. Eddie was 23 years old When this picture was taken in New York City
This has to be my favorite. Eddie was 23 years old When this picture was taken in New York City
that's pretty sweet Jack. I've never seen that picture before. He looks like a mob boss. I bet he was an absolute MONSTER back in the day.
Naw man...Eddie was to pool like Bob Hayes was to the 100/200m...or Mickey Mantle to baseball, just on another level to which others will never attain or understand lol.....heres a taste....
Eddie: "I was playing Bill Webster of Asheville, N.C. -- he was very
good -- for $2 a bank," said Taylor. "I made 12 in a row to finish
the first game, broke the rack wide open and made all 15 balls. He
broke but didn't make one and I made 10 straight -- 37 without a miss."
He used to put a ball on the rail at each of the six dots on one
side of a table and bet anyone he could bank all six balls into one
corner pocket with no more than nine shots. And he always won.
"I had so much confidence in banks," he said, "that, when I got
out of position or a guy left me a hard shot, I still felt I could make it."
Taylor said he has banked all 15 balls into the hole without a
miss five times "and believe me, to do that is an absolute miracle.
I've banked in 13 or 14 hundreds of times, but that 15th has
escaped me many times."
i think only Youngblood and bob coles wanted to try to play banks with Eddie....until years later when Buggs ascended to those mountain tops....
the "hustler" trick shot from the movie....Eddie i believe is credited with creating that shot.....but shooting it from the corner diamond on the short rai l to the opposite end corner.....
at that last birthday party of his i was at i remember him shooting maybe his most famous bank....the CB in left corner on head of table and the OB on the middle diamond of the crossside longrail at the foot of the table.....its like a ticky sort of.....tweaks the hit to double kiss on the thin cut and gently banks cross corner......my man he made that 5 times in a row....old as Moses glasses so thick probably see the future if a mere mortal tried them on.....probably hurt your neck and crush your nose them heavy things
but on a serious note he was very gracious and kind...very exuberant about the game and sharing....what little time i was able to eek out i'm glad i showed up.
Alot of our legends and greatest champions are in black and white....
i was too young to have met Red or Cornbread, Lassiter, mosconi.........and Eddie was from wow WAAAY back....i remember reading an article and him saying he beat a dude out of a Pontiac in like 1929! I know he was born in 1918......
if you really want to know how good Eddie Taylor was....
Minnesota Fats told a bunch of reporters once....about how he and Eddie played for 500$ a game for 3 days and nights and BROKE EVEN.....
AINT A MAN ALIVE EVER BROKE EVEN WITH THE FAT MAN.....
so he basically had give or take a few a 70 year career as a player and ambassador of the game....as far as i know he was the oldest player alive especially of that calibur.....
I think Squirrel would own that spot now if i'm not mistaken. He should be about Eddies age when he passed 87/88
-Greyghost
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Eddie said he broke the balls in the third game as well. Webster never came back to the table during Taylor's 37 ball run.
Incredible that he said he was just 18 or 19 years old at the time!
Thanks Max
randyg
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