ShootingArts said:Thanks Jay. This is what a few people aren't getting. The black players may not have been able to play in some events however this was because they were considered socially inferior by some, not inferior players. They carved their way into pool society by their own merits and did play the other greats of their time, white and black, that is how we are able to measure their greatness.
As I said in an earlier post, black pool players with plenty of skill and gamble were in the "white" pool halls long before segregation ended. I also made a few forays into "black" pool halls in the deep south back in the day when segregation was real. There were a few rumbles when I first came through the door but it quickly changed to "dayumn, that white boy can play pool!" This was actually during the ugliest days of racial tension when integration was first taking hold.
It didn't hurt things any that having been born in a small rural community the first juke boxes I ever saw had Hank and Lefty on them . . . and Otis and Marvin. Black and white, we all hung out together in the little country stores twenty years before integration was ever officially attempted.
Hu
It's interesting how race is perceived in America, and it's also uncomfortable for me to post about "race" after getting slammed on this forum and being labeled a "racist."
Growing up, I experienced the 1968 Martin Luther King riots in D.C., and it wasn't pretty. I was in junior high school at the time. However, we didn't seem to have race problems when I was in school. The only time you heard about it was reading it in the media or seeing on TV.
In the pool rooms in D.C. area, when a player walked in the front door, nobody looked at him and saw black or white. Rather, it was how strong of a player they were. Strawberry was probably the best African-American player in D.C. Very few would tangle with him, but if you got him in action, he was in for the long haul, and if you were lucky enough to beat him, then you made a good score because Strawberry liked to bet it up.
Bus Driver Ronnie, Reggie, Sterling, John Henry, Patcheye, Left-handed Kevin, Marvelous Marv, Buck, Nate and Jake are just a few names that come to mind of prominent African-American players in my area, but nobody looked at them in racial terms. They were players, just like the other local hotshots, i.e., Fat Mike, Geese, Cigar Tom, Fat Wayne, Korean Lee, Larry Neudecker, Elevator Larry, Cab Driver Pete, Scrimmer, Danny Green, Tom-Tom, Bobby Hawk, and Quick Vick, just to name a few. I worked in the pool room on the graveyard shift and seen all the great ones in my area battling it out on a field of green day after day and night after night. The only color that was looked at was the color of their money, not the color of their skin!

Out of all of the above-referenced players, Strawberry leads the pack. He was then and still today will be remembered as was one of D.C.'s finest pool players. May he rest in peace.
JAM
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