St Louis Louie
Back in 1974 or early 1975 I went to my first real tournament. It was in Columbia Mo. It was a 14.1 tourney and some of the best was there. Steve Cook, Dick Lane and many others that don't stick out in my mind and of course Louie.
No one would play 9 ball with Louie. He was playing with a Joss that someone on the forum has and showed one time. Louie let me play with it some and it hit the balls great. He seemed real nice but did a lot of barking trying to get a game. He was playing the ghost with NY Blackie don't remember the bet but I do know that Louie put a 16 rack line together and a 20 rack together. It was awesome to see. He did well in the tourney but did not win. I remember someone running over a hundred and Louie run a high of 70 something. I remember Steve Cook played 1 game that had only three innings that he won. I was just starting to play and had the time of my life watching these great players. I did a little side betting and won some and lost some. Being in the military at the time did not leave me a lot to gamble with, but what I did do was fun. Those were the days my friend. There was a lot of gambling and then there was this one young man I don't remember his name. He played great but everyone I talked to said he did not gamble. I know he had some high runs in the 75- 80 range and everyone respected his game too. But no one really barked at him and I guess that was respect too since everyone knew he would not gamble. I made many more tourneys after that a this really got me wanteing to play better after seeing these guys play. Been a good road and a lot of fun, ups and downs.
Just a little history for the memory.
Percy/Knifemaker