Tom Ferry aka AZBilliards user name OldHasBeen proved that he was nothing of the sort. In February 2005, he won his second Missouri State 9 ball tournament - 20 years after he won the title the first time. I think that this was one of his proudest accomplishments in pool.
Tom was an old school hustler back in the 60's, 70's, 80's. Later on in life, he found his family and putting them first, his world on the road ended. He was a close friend to Buddy Hall and Louie Roberts. He was also close to their ability as, although not many ever saw it, played the 8 under them.
Tom, on AZBilliards, was very upfront about his past life and didn't hold anything back. His honesty and unembelishing of old stories is what gained him the most respect on this board. He was one of the most popular posters and people were just waiting in anticipation for him to tell his next story or give his first hand insight on what really pool is about.
Finally, Tom was very instrumental & given credit as having the idea behind the AZBilliards room at the Derby City Classic. Tom enjoyed the 'country club' atmosphere of the pool room and wanted to bring this to the DCC, as a gathering place for forum members.
Not many knew Tom was very ill with inoperatable cancer and he wanted to keep it that way. When he told me I was shocked & tryed to convince him to let his forum followers know so they could say their good byes. Selfish on my part, I suppose, but Tom didn't want any of the fanfare. He told me he respected my thought of this but wanted to go out quietly. Til the end, Tom kept his interest in pool and desire to further the sport he loved. He would send me PMs wanting to make sure I was posting threads promoting local tournaments or action.
I miss Tom, his great play, knowledge and great stories. RIP.
Tom was an old school hustler back in the 60's, 70's, 80's. Later on in life, he found his family and putting them first, his world on the road ended. He was a close friend to Buddy Hall and Louie Roberts. He was also close to their ability as, although not many ever saw it, played the 8 under them.
Tom, on AZBilliards, was very upfront about his past life and didn't hold anything back. His honesty and unembelishing of old stories is what gained him the most respect on this board. He was one of the most popular posters and people were just waiting in anticipation for him to tell his next story or give his first hand insight on what really pool is about.
Finally, Tom was very instrumental & given credit as having the idea behind the AZBilliards room at the Derby City Classic. Tom enjoyed the 'country club' atmosphere of the pool room and wanted to bring this to the DCC, as a gathering place for forum members.
Not many knew Tom was very ill with inoperatable cancer and he wanted to keep it that way. When he told me I was shocked & tryed to convince him to let his forum followers know so they could say their good byes. Selfish on my part, I suppose, but Tom didn't want any of the fanfare. He told me he respected my thought of this but wanted to go out quietly. Til the end, Tom kept his interest in pool and desire to further the sport he loved. He would send me PMs wanting to make sure I was posting threads promoting local tournaments or action.
I miss Tom, his great play, knowledge and great stories. RIP.