Joe Salazar,the pool player

deanoc said:

i never heard his name until the phone at my real
estate office rang and when I answered this is what I heard

"my name is Joe Salazar,I am a road pool player,I just went broke
playing a guy who had no chance and I am calling you because I need money"

At this time anyone with a lick of sense hangs up.But I said,
come on over " and gave him my address

I gave Joe $500 which in 1973 was about what $5000 is today,he headed back on the road saying he would split the profits when he saw me next.

As i said i didn't know him,but about a year or two after this he came back through,called me and met me to split the profits,he had a bid wad of money

When I got the $500 back,I said forget the profit, I was so astonished at his
integrity,I never expected to see him again.

Strangely I kept running into Joe,before he ever got into selling pool cues,
now he is very successful with a wonderful wife and children. I am sure many
if not most of you know him,but I wonder how many of you knew he was
championship level pool player. Especially great on the bar box.

He beat almost everyone in the early 70s

Perhaps the greatest ever, Keith would know more about this than I do

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Tracy Joe in his day was a monster. Good guy too. Always has really nice cues for sale.

Great story. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for sharing- I knew he sold pool cues and he seemed like a fair guy to deal with- did not know he was a road player.

I knew him well, since we were close to the same age.

One thing he told me years ago, at Shooters in Olathe/peddling his cues was this.

He had just gotten his new White Cadillac...(TX heat).

He tinted the windows. Welllllllllllllllllllllllllll, that turned out to cause a problem, being so close to the Tex/Mex border.

He got stopped Allot....Cops thought he was a drug runner. He removed the tint and problem gone.

'Tracy Joe' could beat a LOT of people on the Bar Table. Could play a lil on the 9 footer also.

"Joe told me....
He busted EVERYBODY-
BUDDY HALL, DAVID MATLOCK ,DANNY MEDINA … Just to name a few-
He was a break and run-out monster' on the bar box....
I guess 6 pack specialist-break and run out SETS :smile:
Joe also played really good 1 pocket

Duane Remick said:

"Joe told me....
He busted EVERYBODY-
BUDDY HALL, DAVID MATLOCK ,DANNY MEDINA … Just to name a few-
He was a break and run-out monster' on the bar box....
I guess 6 pack specialist-break and run out SETS :smile:
Joe also played really good 1 pocket

Click to expand...

Couldn't wear em out. His height was an advantage. He never had to bend over to shoot, he just bellied up.
He didn't drink that I know of and didn't do drugs, and always had a great smile.

Joe Salazar

Joe was playing and winning in Indianapolis late one night, when he noticed a couple of thugs waiting for him to walk out to his car. With a big wad of cash in his pocket, he was worried. So he calls the local police department asking for an escort to his vehicle. The desk Sargeant takes his name then asks where he is. Joe told him and the reply he got was "you got yourself into that hole, you get yourself out"!
If you know Joe, when you ask him about that you will get his sly little smile!

I heard he had a strong one pocket game.

deanoc said:

i never heard his name until the phone at my real
estate office rang and when I answered this is what I heard

"my name is Joe Salazar,I am a road pool player,I just went broke
playing a guy who had no chance and I am calling you because I need money"

At this time anyone with a lick of sense hangs up.But I said,
come on over " and gave him my address

I gave Joe $500 which in 1973 was about what $5000 is today,he headed back on the road saying he would split the profits when he saw me next.

As i said i didn't know him,but about a year or two after this he came back through,called me and met me to split the profits,he had a bid wad of money

When I got the $500 back,I said forget the profit, I was so astonished at his
integrity,I never expected to see him again.

Strangely I kept running into Joe,before he ever got into selling pool cues,
now he is very successful with a wonderful wife and children. I am sure many
if not most of you know him,but I wonder how many of you knew he was
championship level pool player. Especially great on the bar box.

He beat almost everyone in the early 70s

Perhaps the greatest ever, Keith would know more about this than I do

Click to expand...

Joe is one of only 3 people I think to sweep both the one pocket and nine ball tournament at Shooters in Kansas. Always monster fields there, quite a feat.

Joe used to come to the Billiard Tavern in San Diego for the weekly tournament on Tuesday sometimes in the early 80's. He showed me a really nice 4 point cue I had not seen before. It was a new brand from Wisconsin called Schon. Lol. Absolutely a stand up man to deal with and it's good to see him continue to be successful with the cue business.

deanoc said:

i never heard his name until the phone at my real
estate office rang and when I answered this is what I heard

"my name is Joe Salazar,I am a road pool player,I just went broke
playing a guy who had no chance and I am calling you because I need money"

At this time anyone with a lick of sense hangs up.But I said,
come on over " and gave him my address

I gave Joe $500 which in 1973 was about what $5000 is today,he headed back on the road saying he would split the profits when he saw me next.

As i said i didn't know him,but about a year or two after this he came back through,called me and met me to split the profits,he had a bid wad of money

When I got the $500 back,I said forget the profit, I was so astonished at his
integrity,I never expected to see him again.

Strangely I kept running into Joe,before he ever got into selling pool cues,
now he is very successful with a wonderful wife and children. I am sure many
if not most of you know him,but I wonder how many of you knew he was
championship level pool player. Especially great on the bar box.

He beat almost everyone in the early 70s

Perhaps the greatest ever, Keith would know more about this than I do

Click to expand...

Nice story

Thanks for sharing too; nice to hear of a road player who had integrity....also glad to hear he is doing well too........

Known Joe almost 30 years. Super great guy and a killer on the bar box. Always good to see him when he has his booth setup somewhere.

wahcheck said:

Thanks for sharing too; nice to hear of a road player who had integrity....also glad to hear he is doing well too........

Click to expand...

Joe was a road player and a pool hustler...
...and a great reputation for being a man of his word.
He could give most politicians the last seven for being stand-up.

Strange world we live in

Joe has always been a fair and honest person.
He was also a great player.

Bill Stroud

deanoc said:

I heard the story that Joe was playing Bobby Legs back in the 60s

After they matched up,Bobby won the flip and ran 11 racks,ran from the break

So Joe's horse ask him"you think we ought to pull up?"

Joe replied "naw,he can't play a lick" and proceeded to run 6s and 7s until he won the money

Joe had a lot of heart for sure.
You know he had a lot of nerve calling me to ask for money when i never heard of him.

That takes heart,and no use anyone else calling me either.

As far as one pocket,Joe tried to teach me how to play,but it was a losing battle.

He was always a nice guy,and often grabbed the check saying"you got it last time"

I remember asking Joe if he wanted part of my action in a high dollar one pocket game
He said something like"do I look like an idiot,no way"


I didn't take it personally


Compared to me Joe was a champion one pocket player,but he needs a ton of weight to play these days,

I was mad at him for turning down Efren's offer of 15 to 5.

I told him I would bet the house on that game,"thats why you let me match my own games
and you will still have the house tomorrow"

I didn't take it personally either

Click to expand...

It's nice to hear Bobby Leggs named mentioned. I didn't meet Bobby till he was up in years but what a fantastic guy and one hell of a pool player.

My beautiful ivory pointed Gilbert!
Enjoy the photos and the story behind it!
Had to find time to post all story but here you are a short version. I know Andy personally. Met him like 20 years ago in Vegas during BCA. Joe Salazar introduced me to him since I have known Joe for many years. He was Schon dealer at that time but as always he was carring many other cues. I wanted to buy Andy Gilbert j/b and AE cue from him but he refused to sell it to me during BCA and told me tht he can't sell them as long as BCA and VNEA last since during that time he can sell only Schon cues. So, he sold me those two cues after, when these tournaments were finished. We met at the parking lot in front of Cue Club...I think that was the name of that poolhall and he left and I stayed practicing in the poolhall. I was playing money game and after 5 hours Joe showed up. He was on the way to Texas and after 2 and half hour of driving he stops at gas station to get some fuel. He takes the money out of his pocket to pay for the fuel and he takes it out of the pocket in which was money I gave him. He realizes I gave him 100$ more than I should so he turns back and drives all the way back to Vegas to give me 100$ back. This is what he told me when he showed up in Cue Club!
I will never forget that...I was only 20 years old then.
Anyway many years later I was talking with Joe on the phone and he told me that Andy is building him an amazing cue for him and he sent me some photos on the emails. I was stunned. It was an amazing ivory pointed Gilbert in Amboyna Burl with numerous inlays in ivory, silver & abalones. Everything white is ivory. I wanted that cue so hard and invested some time in convincing Joe to give over that cue to me. It still wasn't finished but was close...in the final stage. He finally agrees to leave that cue to me!
Later Andy built me matching jump break...of course not with as many inlays as in the player but only with the same ringwork and boxes in the butt. So, this is the story and here you are!

Judd Fuller and Bakersfield Bobby

A very good friend of mine, Mr Judd Fuller and myself were sitting around in his shop down in Southwest Colorado several years back and Judd told me a story about being on the road in California with Bakersfield Bobby Hernandez.

He said himself, Bobby, and Trudy (Judd's wife pregnant with their daughter at the time) had built up a pretty significant bankroll for the times and were feeling pretty good about how they had been doing. Judd told me that Bobby came to him and said "hey I've got this guy over here on on the ropes and have the bet up pretty good, give me the rest of our bankroll and we are going to bust this guy. You guessed it, turned out to be Joe Salazar and he busted them...completely. Judd said Trudy went into labor just a short time after that and he basically had to write an IOU to the hospital for the birth of his daughter. Judd was laughing the whole time he told the story!!! Miss that guy!!

Thought I would share!!!