BackPocket9Ball said:
Jude, who is Richard Peck? And who have you seen him beat at one pocket?
Although this is not the greatest story for one-pocket fans, the one I love most is after Mika won the World Championship. At the time, Mika was dating Helen Chiang who was a good friend of Peck's when Peck owned City Hall Billiards in lower Manhattan.
Well, after Mika won, Helen suggested to him that they go to Long Island to visit Peck. Peck just opened a new room out there and as I stated in my previous post, never played in any tournaments. Mika must have been surprised by such a notion. Here he was, the World Champion of 9-ball and his girlfriend thought it would impress her if he went to a little room in Long Island to play the room-owner.
Well, Mika obliged and the following day, we called Peck to get a report. The conversation went something like this:
"Hey Peck, how'd you do?"
"Wow, that kid is amazing!"
"How'd you do?"
"He doesn't miss a ball!"
"How'd you do?"
"Oh well, all we played was one-pocket."
"How'd you do?"
"He won a game."
"Wait, what? I don't understand. What was the race? How long did you play?"
"We played all night. I think he only won one game. Yeah, that kid is amazing! Never missed a shot!!"
Now, I know you're immediately going to remind me that Mika is not regarded as a one-pocket player and at that time, he really was just learning how to play the game. However, he was still World Champion at 9-ball and had run 15 balls in one-pocket at Corner Billiards. No matter, it is my favorite story about Peck.