What Tournament that no longer exists do you miss???????

Lexington All-Stars and the Glass City Open.

Lexington was my first pro tournament. It was bar table 9 ball. Never forget it. Won my first sweat bet on a pro match there. Archer versus Medina. Medina don't 8. I bet Archer and he got there. Around '91 or '92.

If I am not mistaken the man who was making the line at that event may have been our very own Mr. Incardona. What a way to get your feet wet.

Few years later at that event I saw two kids running around playing lights out. They were named Corey and Alex. Alex was playing Nick Varner in a match and noticed a hair on the cue ball. He showed it to Nick and says " It's gray so it must be yours"

Worst hotel in the history of man. Great tournament.

Tournaments I miss

The Akron Open and the Cleveland Open.

You had the Akron Open first, then followed by the Cleveland Open. Akron was 9 ball with some of the best players around. I believe Earl won it 6 times in a row in the '80's. I got to see Tony Ellin win in 1992. Lots of greats there then. I believe Jeff Carter from Chicago came in 2nd.

The Cleveland Open was a combination of games. One of them being straight pool and the decision maker being 10 bALL. In 1992, Johnny Archer didn't know anything about straight pool. J.R. Calvert, house pro from South Hills Golden Cue, just south of Pittsburg, (now owner of Inside Billiards Magazine) was his coach when he played Nick Varner $20.00 games of race to 100 at Starchers, preparing for the OPEN.

Johnny was playing Nick Varner in the Cleveland Open finals after coming back from the losers side. (lost his first match). Nick made a couple of balls and played safe, Johnny made three and played safe, This went back and forth for about four innings, then Johnny got a shot and ran 147 and out! (They even air brushed T-shirts at the tournament with this on them). Johnny continued to run up to 212 balls and then the tournament director made him stop to continue the tournament.

The Tournament director for the Akron Open was a gentleman by the name of Joe Kerr. Someone should write a book based on all the knowledge that this man has of the tournaments he has participated in. He has run over 150 Pro events from 1980 to 1992.

I guess this is some of the best times I remember.

edited: correction by forum user, Blackjack; run stopped at 200 balls. Thank you. Three signs of old age. The first is loss of memory and I forget the other two.

The U.S. Open Straight Pool
The World Summit of Pool
The Big Apple Classic



sigh.

Best Tournaments no longer running

Jansco Brothers, Johnston City, IL.
Miss watching all the back room action!
One Pocket
Straight Pool
9 Ball
All around

klockdoc said:

The Akron Open and the Cleveland Open.

The Tournament director for the Akron Open was a gentleman by the name of Joe Kerr. Someone should write a book based on all the knowledge that this man has of the tournaments he has participated in. He has run over 150 Pro events from 1980 to 1992.

Click to expand...

I love Joe Kerr ! Joe helped me out a lot when was I was just starting off as a TD. You couls say he was my mentor. One of the 1st PRO tournaments I ever attended was his Akron Open. If it wasn't for Joe "The Joker" Kerr I or the Viking Tour would not be here today.

The Akron Open

and the old bar box events that Gary Benson used to do for Huebler - those were great events that attracted players from near and far !

World Series of Pool - that was always fun

and yes... any Joe Kerr event was well worth the trip!

klockdoc said:

Johnny was playing Nick Varner in the Cleveland Open finals after coming back from the losers side. (lost his first match). Nick made a couple of balls and played safe, Johnny made three and played safe, This went back and forth for about four innings, then Johnny got a shot and ran 147 and out! (They even air brushed T-shirts at the tournament with this on them). Johnny continued to run up to 212 balls and then the tournament director made him stop to continue the tournament.

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From what I remember, they stopped Johnny at 200 exactly... I think he could have ran balls all night if they would have let him!

cueball1950 said:

While replying to another thread about famous Earl quotes it got me to thinking. What tournaments do you miss that are no longer done and why. please tell some stories to make this thread interesting.
...

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Though the Joss Tour still exists, I miss it being at a room convenient to me. The closest is Snookers in Providence and besides being a bit of a ride, I hate parking around there.

the ESPN Ultimate 9-Ball Challenge. for both men and women. that was popular when i took up this sport in the late 90s.

that, plus the Glass City Open. its only about a 6 hour drive from me to Toledo, might have actually considered playing in that tournament. sure wish someone would get this one going again.

DCP

They only put on one Superman Classic/Buddy Hall tournament in Metropolis Il. but I sure wish they had made it a regular event as they pondered doing.

cueball1950 said:

Mine would have to be the old B.C. Open that was promoted and run by a very nice man named Gary Pinkowski. May he rest in eternal peace. What i liked about his tournaments was that he held tournaments for both men and women at the same time at the Holiday Inn in Binghamton NY. It was usually held at the same time as the B.C. Open pro Golf tournament. And a lot of times the pro golfers would come by and chat with the spectators and players. That is where I 1st met Fuzzy Zoeller and Lee Trevino. Like a lot of pool players, both were approachable and would gladly sign autographs for anyone who asked.......Boy what a tournament venue. To bad no one else can get it going again........................mike

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That would be mine, also. I lived in Binghamton until 1997, when I moved to South Carolina. I went to every one of them and hung around after hours. I helped set up one year. I knew Pinky a long time, never heard anyone who knew him well refer to him as "a very nice man". He certainly was a character, alright. I met a lot of Pro players at Gary's tournament that I wouldn't have met otherwise, as I didn't get to other tournaments.The first tournament was where I saw Efren for the first time. Saw him playing Allen Hopkins Rotation at the Pocket Billiard Lounge on State Street. He was giving Hopkins the 15 ball after the break. Allen didn't have a prayer. Lost $1800 at $200 a game, if memory serves me. Efren never played in the BC Open after the first year. I don't know why. I miss the tournament and pool in New York in general. LOT different in the South.

The Corpus Christi Classic 9-ball tournament that was held for 3 consecutive years at Paradise. They quit having it when they found out they could host IPT qualifiers instead. Now Paradise doesn't have anything going on because the IPT is dead.

I MISS THE CORPUS CHRISTI 9-ball CLASSIC!

I miss:

LA Open
Bicycle Club Invitationals
Hard Times Open(s)
Hollywood Billiards Open
Glass City Open
IPT Tourneys
Reno Open (June)
WPC (on US Soil)
Mark Betor Classic
The Las Vegas Open (Hopkins production. Pro Event during APA Nationals in Vegas).
Camel Pro-Billiards Tour

klockdoc said:

The Akron Open and the Cleveland Open.

You had the Akron Open first, then followed by the Cleveland Open. Akron was 9 ball with some of the best players around. I believe Earl won it 6 times in a row in the '80's. I got to see Tony Ellin win in 1992. Lots of greats there then. I believe Jeff Carter from Chicago came in 2nd.

The Cleveland Open was a combination of games. One of them being straight pool and the decision maker being 10 bALL. In 1992, Johnny Archer didn't know anything about straight pool. J.R. Calvert, house pro from South Hills Golden Cue, just south of Pittsburg, (now owner of Inside Billiards Magazine) was his coach when he played Nick Varner $20.00 games of race to 100 at Starchers, preparing for the OPEN.

Johnny was playing Nick Varner in the Cleveland Open finals after coming back from the losers side. (lost his first match). Nick made a couple of balls and played safe, Johnny made three and played safe, This went back and forth for about four innings, then Johnny got a shot and ran 147 and out! (They even air brushed T-shirts at the tournament with this on them). Johnny continued to run up to 212 balls and then the tournament director made him stop to continue the tournament.

The Tournament director for the Akron Open was a gentleman by the name of Joe Kerr. Someone should write a book based on all the knowledge that this man has of the tournaments he has participated in. He has run over 150 Pro events from 1980 to 1992.

I guess this is some of the best times I remember.

Click to expand...

I so miss the Akron Open.I grew up playng and working at Starchers.I knew Joe very well and met Mike a few times great people.

Events at Joe Farhat's Velvet Rail in Lansing, MI.

I would love to have gone to one of the Johnston City tournaments.

Though most on this forum have seen this short 3-minute video of Johnston City Pool Hustling, I never tire of watching it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekyLXFehvvk&eurl=

JAM

The Akron Open. I stopped by Starcher Billiards a couple months ago but it has closed. Just being there reminded me of playing some of the greats at the Akron Open such as Buddy Hall and Jose Parica. After Earl won one his many wins there we took him out to the lakes for a couple beers. He was truly a champion and had many road stories to tell. In the days before jump cues---When Earl played, everone watched.

The success of the Akron Open was due to my friend of many years, Joe Kerr.
Here is to his good health.

JCIN said:

Lexington All-Stars and the Glass City Open.

Lexington was my first pro tournament. It was bar table 9 ball. Never forget it. Won my first sweat bet on a pro match there. Archer versus Medina. Medina don't 8. I bet Archer and he got there. Around '91 or '92.

If I am not mistaken the man who was making the line at that event may have been our very own Mr. Incardona. What a way to get your feet wet.

Few years later at that event I saw two kids running around playing lights out. They were named Corey and Alex. Alex was playing Nick Varner in a match and noticed a hair on the cue ball. He showed it to Nick and says " It's gray so it must be yours"

Worst hotel in the history of man. Great tournament.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the continental inn wasn't a five star hotel for sure. At least when I stayed there one summer I didn't feel guilty parking my motorcycle in the room. Miss the All-Star tourneys. My all time favorite was the Clyde Childress tourneys. I remember the first one, it was like magic seeing all the greats for the first time. Great ring games and all the champions of the day: Hows this for a ring game..Buddy, Earl, Keith, Jimmy Reid, St Louie Louie, Grady, Howard Vickery and some others jumping in and out. Undercover agents who came out from the cold...Gary Nolan, John Shuput, Toby Sweet, Tony Coleman, And some greats who are no longer with us...Gene "the Glove" Catron, Edgar White, Gary Spaeth, Paul Campbell, ah the memories.

I miss the Legends of One Pocket events. Of course, it was my only chance to see great players who have since passed away, but it was a field of champions playing races to 4 or 5.

I was too young to see any of the true legends play while they still had decent games, but thanks to Grady and Accu-Stats I have a chance to watch Bugs, Cook, Jersey Red, Miz,etc.. play some great one pocket.

Other than DCC races to 3, I can't think of any major one pocket tourneys that get a decent field anymore. The US OPEN at one pocket hardly gets anyone to play since it pays less than $5k I think.