Hi Dan; For thoese who have heard this story, please bare with me.
As a teenager I grew up in a pool hall, where the game of SNOOKER, was king. I played for 2 hours in the morning (before school), a 1/2 hour at lunch, an hour after school & 2 hours after supper...every day. One day while playing my best friend, an old guy motioned me over to his chair. "DO YOU KNOW THIS FELLA THAT YOU'RE PLAYIN'" "YA", I SAID "HE'S MY BEST FRIEND" HE LOOKED AT ME & SAID " YOU JUST PLAYED 3 SNOOKERS IN A ROW, WHERE HE HAD NO SHOT, AT ALL". "IF THAT'S HOW YOU TREAT YOUR FRIENDS... YOU MUST HAVE A VERY "BLACK HEART". The counter guy heard the conversation & picked up on it. He started telling everybody, I had a "BLACK HEART", just to get under my skin. Well, the nickname stuck & when I made my 1st cues in 1986, players started calling them "BLACK HEART'S CUES", I dropped the "S" & BLACK HEART CUES were born. I knew Jim Mcdermott at the time & my wife said I should draw a black heart on the butt cap, like Jim did the green shamrock, on his cues. Since I didn't have the capabillities of inlays then, I drew them on with india ink. To this day the black hearts are drawn on each cue by hand. Because of my recent illness, my hand shakes, so my wife Connie has taken over the logo drawing...JER
