Ronnie Allen story

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deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As you know time moves on and the pundits proclaim
a changing of the guard.
We see it every day today when people say,"Efren was the best one pocket player in the world at one time,but now its Scott,or now its Alex or now

These stories have gone on for years , at first it was Ronnie Allen was the best one pocket player who ever lived.Great players like ed Kelley got a ball when playing Ronnie.
rumor was that Eddie Taylor couldn't beat Ronnie

Well our story begins sometime after Ronnie was no longer considered invincible
and at the time Allen Hopkins was considered the best one pock player alive,

Ronnie was speaking to Allen and brought this up,he says to Allen i hear that you are the best in the world now,Allen humbly agrees,so Ronnie ask him ."When did it happen"

"you becoming better than me",Allen shrugged and Ronnie offered to play a race to 4 for some greenbacks to make it official

Allen agreed and they started the race,4 games later the score was Ronnie 4 Allen 0,
game count,ball count was Ronnie 32 Allen minus 4 as I remember

Ronnie was a great,maybe the greatest,what I would give to see some of his old matches on video

I just got to thinking,who really wants to play Efren today,I feel like betting
on the old Magician one more time,don't you?

Dean
 
PoolChump

PoolChump

Banned
Who's Ronnie Allen?

deanoc said:
As you know time moves on and the pundits proclaim
a changing of the guard.
We see it every day today when people say,"Efren was the best one pocket player in the world at one time,but now its Scott,or now its Alex or now

These stories have gone on for years , at first it was Ronnie Allen was the best one pocket player who ever lived.Great players like ed Kelley got a ball when playing Ronnie.
rumor was that Eddie Taylor couldn't beat Ronnie

Well our story begins sometime after Ronnie was no longer considered invincible
and at the time Allen Hopkins was considered the best one pock player alive,

Ronnie was speaking to Allen and brought this up,he says to Allen i hear that you are the best in the world now,Allen humbly agrees,so Ronnie ask him ."When did it happen"

"you becoming better than me",Allen shrugged and Ronnie offered to play a race to 4 for some greenbacks to make it official

Allen agreed and they started the race,4 games later the score was Ronnie 4 Allen 0,
game count,ball count was Ronnie 32 Allen minus 4 as I remember

Ronnie was a great,maybe the greatest,what I would give to see some of his old matches on video

I just got to thinking,who really wants to play Efren today,I feel like betting
on the old Magician one more time,don't you?

Dean
Click to expand...

Who's Ronnie Allen?
 
mvp

mvp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nice little write up! And you could never bet against Efren!
 
book collector

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
deanoc said:
As you know time moves on and the pundits proclaim
a changing of the guard.
We see it every day today when people say,"Efren was the best one pocket player in the world at one time,but now its Scott,or now its Alex or now

These stories have gone on for years , at first it was Ronnie Allen was the best one pocket player who ever lived.Great players like ed Kelley got a ball when playing Ronnie.
rumor was that Eddie Taylor couldn't beat Ronnie

Well our story begins sometime after Ronnie was no longer considered invincible
and at the time Allen Hopkins was considered the best one pock player alive,

Ronnie was speaking to Allen and brought this up,he says to Allen i hear that you are the best in the world now,Allen humbly agrees,so Ronnie ask him ."When did it happen"

"you becoming better than me",Allen shrugged and Ronnie offered to play a race to 4 for some greenbacks to make it official

Allen agreed and they started the race,4 games later the score was Ronnie 4 Allen 0,
game count,ball count was Ronnie 32 Allen minus 4 as I remember

Ronnie was a great,maybe the greatest,what I would give to see some of his old matches on video

I just got to thinking,who really wants to play Efren today,I feel like betting
on the old Magician one more time,don't you?

Dean
Click to expand...

I remember not too long ago, some of the sages of the pool world, here on AZB, were talking about the decline of Efrens game, and how bad he looked, and it was all over for him.
Tthen they had another major tournament and he beat them all again.lol
I would never bet against Efren.
Especially for the big money.
 
G

GaryB

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I only was able to see Ronnie Allen play two times. Once he played Richie Florence out the SF Valley in late 60's or early 70's. The 2nd time was the very early 90's when he brought two guys into Hard Times in Bellflower. They posted a lot of money on the light but then again every light in the tournament room had money posted upon it. The two guys Ronnie was playing were shooting alternate shots while Ronnie shot every other shot onehanded. Ronnie talked the entire time, I mean constantly if not to the two guys he was talking to the railbirds. After several hours Ronnie had the 6K in his pocket and they were breaking down and he was pleading to make a different game and he followed them all the way to the exit door. They never said a word to him. I could never figure if he played as good as he talked or talked as good as he played.
 
B

Baby Huey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ronnie played great and in his prime could beat anyone playing one pocket. I watched him play a lot in the LA area in the 60's and 70's but many of his matches were head scratchers. He lost games where he looked like the nuts on paper and won matches where he was a big underdog. Go figure. Against the top players of his era including Ed Kelly and Jersey Red, they all got weight. Eddie Taylor may have been past his prime in one pocket when Ronnie hit his stride so I don't think its fair to compare the two of them. Suffice it to say that he could play anyone and expect to be in the match. On todays equipment and with the great ball strikers out there, Ronnie would have had his hands full playing the top players today.
 
jazznpool

jazznpool

Superior Cues--Unchalked!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Around 1983-84 Ronnie was the house pro at the Orange County Sports Arena on Lincoln near Brookhurst. A pretty nice room with good equipment. That was when I first got to know him a little although I had heard about him years before. He was really good at stirring up action (table time) for the owner and mediating player beefs. When I saw him play several times in the early 2000s he was as entertaining as ever but his play had deteriorated and he seemed, unfortunately, to drink excessively. Still I learned some useful one pocket shots/ kicks observing him. One of the games beloved and great characters who could handle the pressure of huge wagering.
 
Lesh

Lesh

One Hole Thinkifier
Silver Member
MMmmmmm yeah some good stories about Cecil Tugwell and all the crew that would run around between halls from San Francisco, Riverside, all over LA stealing each others money, games, backers.... oh the level of Pirate back then must have been mighty! I'm talking like 1966 to mid-80's. Must be some kind of memory out there of the west Coast action scene back then.

Gimme!

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Lesh
 
G

gmoney1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
my RA story

derby city classic 2011or 2012

i am hitting a few balls in the action room upstairs with a brand new Diveney i purchased just a few minutes before . all the tables are full and RA is sitting behind me making a game with a guy i did not know. they agree on a game and RA asks me if they could have the table and i say sure. before they start RA says he does not have a cue and asks to borrow mine. i hesitated because i have literally owned this cue less than an hour. well i give in after he offers to throw me some jelly if he wins. they play the first game and the balls stopped coming out(the time was up and required tokens) . RA did not know what was happening and before anyone could explain the table took tokens he had turned my cue around and was jamming the butt end into the holes of the ball return trying to get the balls out��. i went running up to the table and stopped him but not before he had done some real damage to my brand new cue��. Well all i coulld do was laugh - i knew he did not mean to damage cue. i let him finish the set and sure enough he threw me some jelly(almost enough to cover the cue refinish ����) fun night
 
C

cmll2000

Registered
I was fortunate to see Ronnie take off Jersey Red for $20k at Celebrity Billiards while drinking about 8 scotches and 2 pitchers of beer and yes - non stop talking. It was Phil Spector who lost the $20k 2 sets for 5k and last one for 10k. Could not believe that Ronnie could drink that much and play so good. Never saw anyone live play better one hole except Efren and Keith on one occasion using my cue playing John Schmidt at Hard Times.
Doubt that any human ever played better one hole than Efren at Derby when he beat Parica with 0 balls in the set and Busty who got 1 ball in the set, and 3-0 in the final running out almost every game
 
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