I received the following note from Jerry Forsyth this morning. I think he puts it pretty well...
Thank you for the message about Miz. I am grateful for Karen that her ordeal is now nearly over. If there is any justice in this world she can now have some rest and peace from this terrible ordeal she has borne.
Steve was one of the finest men I ever had the privilege to know. I played in some of his Senior Tour events and had a great time at each of them. It was a marvelous 'old boys club' where players who had possibly not seen one another in a dozen years would get together and rekindle the old war flames. Being in the same room with the likes of Miz, Varner, Rempe, Hall, Mathews, Lisciota (SP?), LeBron, and all the other past champions was an experience that cannot be described well. It was like walking into a room full of royalty.
The Miz was said by all to be possibly the greatest Straight Pool player who ever held a stick. But he was feared in all games. There seemed to be nothing played with a cue and balls that he did not master. Miz was much more than a great player, he was a trailblazer who set the path for many who followed him. Instead of complaining that there was no money in pool, Mizerak found a way to profit from the game off of the table. His billiard supply business, especially the cues, sold in big-box stores around the globe and this taught an entire generation of players that tournaments alone were not the only way to profit from the game. He taught the sport to use creative business practices to forward itself and those who play.
The last few years, the ones following his stroke, were an unfair and sad end to a grand life. Thankfully, these will not be the times that will remain with those of us who loved him. Instead we will see the Miz standing over an impossible layout, chalking his cue and studying. Then, as always, we will remember him bending to the shot and beginning his run with a thrilling thin cut and clearing the table thereafter. We will see him raising his cue in victory, shaking the hand of the vanquished, and accepting the applause of the crowd. His skill and his love of the game and those who play it will live on forever.
-Jerry
Thank you for the message about Miz. I am grateful for Karen that her ordeal is now nearly over. If there is any justice in this world she can now have some rest and peace from this terrible ordeal she has borne.
Steve was one of the finest men I ever had the privilege to know. I played in some of his Senior Tour events and had a great time at each of them. It was a marvelous 'old boys club' where players who had possibly not seen one another in a dozen years would get together and rekindle the old war flames. Being in the same room with the likes of Miz, Varner, Rempe, Hall, Mathews, Lisciota (SP?), LeBron, and all the other past champions was an experience that cannot be described well. It was like walking into a room full of royalty.
The Miz was said by all to be possibly the greatest Straight Pool player who ever held a stick. But he was feared in all games. There seemed to be nothing played with a cue and balls that he did not master. Miz was much more than a great player, he was a trailblazer who set the path for many who followed him. Instead of complaining that there was no money in pool, Mizerak found a way to profit from the game off of the table. His billiard supply business, especially the cues, sold in big-box stores around the globe and this taught an entire generation of players that tournaments alone were not the only way to profit from the game. He taught the sport to use creative business practices to forward itself and those who play.
The last few years, the ones following his stroke, were an unfair and sad end to a grand life. Thankfully, these will not be the times that will remain with those of us who loved him. Instead we will see the Miz standing over an impossible layout, chalking his cue and studying. Then, as always, we will remember him bending to the shot and beginning his run with a thrilling thin cut and clearing the table thereafter. We will see him raising his cue in victory, shaking the hand of the vanquished, and accepting the applause of the crowd. His skill and his love of the game and those who play it will live on forever.
-Jerry
