A Mississippi Legend Has Passed

hemicudas

hemicudas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For years before Reed Pierce could pick up a cue, Ben Katz, was recognized as the greatest pool player to ever come out of the state of Miss. Yes, he got your humble $Bill. If Ben had not been really smart and become a tremendous success in business he could have been, like Reed, a potential US Open winner.

Ben Sanders Katz, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and brother was born in Starkville, MS on March 3, 1938, the son of the late Ben Sanders and Mildred Stanley Katz.
He died Wednesday, January 13, 2010, in West Monroe, LA.
A graduate of Starkville (MS) High School and Mississippi State University, his professional career took him to many parts of North America and the Caribbean. Mr. Katz was a senior vice president of Amax Coal Company and president of Deposit Trust Bank.
Survivors include his wife of almost 54 years, Kay Kellogg Katz; son, Brit Katz; daughters Kelley Vance and Kris Coons (Dick); grandson, Trevor Reynolds (Jodi); great-granddaughter, Rylee Reynolds; brother, Robert O. Katz (Vicki); and uncles, aunts, and cousins.
Memorial services will be held at 10:30 A.M. Saturday, January 16, 2010, at the First Presbyterian Church in Monroe, LA with Dr. Allison Moody officiating under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral Home, Sterlington Road, Monroe, LA. Final resting place will be Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, MS.
Online registry/condolences may be offered to the family at www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com.
 
Bill - Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Mississippi pool players have big hearts and yours is shown here off the pool table.
 
Thanks Bill, I'd heard about Ben Katz but never got to see him play. The players from the South used to talk about him. He reminds me of a couple of other very good players who put pool on the back burner to follow more lucrative careers.

Barry Greenberg was a terrific Straight Pool player in New York who became a very successful lawyer. Pete Margo was one of the best before he retired in his early 30's to open a string of video stores. Bernie Schwartz out of Pittsburgh was considered one of the best 9-Ball players in the country before he made his millions in business.

Even Sigel quit at the peak of his career (about age 40) to make cues full time. He said there was nothing else for him to prove as a player. Dan Louie put his family restaurant business ahead of his pool career for most of his life. He rarely traveled because of it, except in the Northwest.
 
jay helfert said:
Thanks Bill, I'd heard about Ben Katz but never got to see him play. The players from the South used to talk about him. He reminds me of a couple of other very good players who put pool on the back burner to follow more lucrative careers.

Barry Greenberg was a terrific Straight Pool player in New York who became a very successful lawyer. Pete Margo was one of the best before he retired in his early 30's to open a string of video stores. Bernie Schwartz out of Pittsburgh was considered one of the best 9-Ball players in the country before he made his millions in business.

Even Sigel quit at the peak of his career (about age 40) to make cues full time. He said there was nothing else for him to prove as a player. Dan Louie put his family restaurant business ahead of his pool career for most of his life. He rarely traveled because of it, except in the Northwest.
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Good point jay but lets not forget bobby vanover,his family & work was at the forfront of everything.Hemicuda,sorry the here the news of a friend,i lived there as a kid all over Miss., i was in singing river hospital when it had 14 rooms & windows that wouldnt shut & also remember sherrif Ira grimsley well,again sorry the hear the bad news. Rick
 
8&snap said:
Good point jay but lets not forget bobby vanover,his family & work was at the forfront of everything.Hemicuda,sorry the here the news of a friend,i lived there as a kid all over Miss., i was in singing river hospital when it had 14 rooms & windows that wouldnt shut & also remember sherrif Ira grimsley well,again sorry the hear the bad news. Rick
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Yep, Bob was another man who put career before pool. Meanwhile, he may have been the best player in the state of Texas.
 
Many times in the late sixties road players would come through Memphis wanting action and they would ask me about him and I would laudh ans say yeah he'll play you some. They would always come back thriugh scratchin a broke A--
 
I was playing mexican johnny in Helana Ark. in the late sixties and Ben called me on the phone at the pool room and asked me if I wanted to come to starkville and play the next day. He asked has anybody run ten racks yet me or johnny, I said heck no ,and he said well dont bother coming then cuz you can't win then!!!
 
hemicudas said:
For years before Reed Pierce could pick up a cue, Ben Katz, was recognized as the greatest pool player to ever come out of the state of Miss. Yes, he got your humble $Bill. If Ben had not been really smart and become a tremendous success in business he could have been, like Reed, a potential US Open winner.

Ben Sanders Katz, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and brother was born in Starkville, MS on March 3, 1938, the son of the late Ben Sanders and Mildred Stanley Katz.
He died Wednesday, January 13, 2010, in West Monroe, LA.
A graduate of Starkville (MS) High School and Mississippi State University, his professional career took him to many parts of North America and the Caribbean. Mr. Katz was a senior vice president of Amax Coal Company and president of Deposit Trust Bank.
Survivors include his wife of almost 54 years, Kay Kellogg Katz; son, Brit Katz; daughters Kelley Vance and Kris Coons (Dick); grandson, Trevor Reynolds (Jodi); great-granddaughter, Rylee Reynolds; brother, Robert O. Katz (Vicki); and uncles, aunts, and cousins.
Memorial services will be held at 10:30 A.M. Saturday, January 16, 2010, at the First Presbyterian Church in Monroe, LA with Dr. Allison Moody officiating under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral Home, Sterlington Road, Monroe, LA. Final resting place will be Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, MS.
Online registry/condolences may be offered to the family at www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com.
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Sorry to hear about Mr. Katz's passing.

Bill,

Is Deposit Trust Bank the same as Deposit Guaranty National Bank?

When I lived in Jackson, MS, Deposit Guaranty was one of the largest banks in the South.

JoeyA
 
JoeyA said:
Sorry to hear about Mr. Katz's passing.

Bill,

Is Deposit Trust Bank the same as Deposit Guaranty National Bank?

When I lived in Jackson, MS, Deposit Guaranty was one of the largest banks in the South.

JoeyA
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Not the same bank, Joey. DGB is larger.
 
Ben Katz

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend. Can you verify the story about how, as a student at Miss. State, he ran 150 and out on Willie Mosconi in a campus exhibition and, facing a difficult break shot for #151, said to the champion, "Why don't you hit a few balls? I'm getting tired,"? Sure is a nifty story, one way or the other. Thanks very much. GF
 
George Fels said:
I'm very sorry to hear about your friend. Can you verify the story about how, as a student at Miss. State, he ran 150 and out on Willie Mosconi in a campus exhibition and, facing a difficult break shot for #151, said to the champion, "Why don't you hit a few balls? I'm getting tired,"? Sure is a nifty story, one way or the other. Thanks very much. GF
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George, I heard that story all my life and that is pretty close to what I heard all those years ago but as far as the accuracy of it I can not attest because the exibition was in Starkville where Ben's dad owned a pool room and I live/lived in Jackson, other than the 20 years I spent in your lovely Chicagoland......
 
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