Best Player that Quit Early on

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Island Drive said:
Your post made me think of another gal that quit early on, had a family, and was endorsed by Orvil Reddenbocker at one time. Her name slips me, but Linda or, was a very tough competitior, one of the top 3 or four player back 15 yrs ago or less, Linda I may be talking about you, help me out.

I'll take a stab at it. Perhaps you are referring to Joanne Mason Parker.
 

Onepocket73

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sjm said:
I'll take a stab at it. Perhaps you are referring to Joanne Mason Parker.
I remember Joann Mason!! What ever did happen to her?Last time I seen her was in 92 or 93 at the Pheasant Run Resort pro tournament.St. Charles,Il....
 

Onepocket73

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There was a couple of other great players in So. Cal that never really went anywhere.Jeremiah Johnson and Johnny Ringo...?Anybody remember them?
 

ribdoner

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Silver Member
Onepocket73 said:
There was a couple of other great players in So. Cal that never really went anywhere.Jeremiah Johnson and Johnny Ringo...?Anybody remember them?

John Morrow from NC called himself Johnny Ringo for some time. Brn hair, short, slight and played real strong when right. If he would have known he was going to live as long as he has/did I'm sure he would have taken better care of himself.

Havn't seen or heard of JOHNSON in prolly 10/12 yrs.

Although BILL BLAKE (Chi) and BILLY JOHNSON (Fla) never achieved CHAMPION status both had unlimited potential until they committed suicide ---BLAKE in the 60's and JOHNSON in the 80's. Both became drug addicted and felt, at the apprx. age of 20, that they were "washed Up".:mad:
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Onepocket73 said:
I remember Joann Mason!! What ever did happen to her?Last time I seen her was in 92 or 93 at the Pheasant Run Resort pro tournament.St. Charles,Il....

She retired from competition to raise a family. I seem to recall that she resurfaced in competition on occasion, and the last time I recall watching her play was in the 1998 WPBA Brunswick New York Classic, contested at the Amsterdam Billiard Club East in NYC.
 

Onepocket73

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ribdoner said:
John Morrow from NC called himself Johnny Ringo for some time. Brn hair, short, slight and played real strong when right. If he would have known he was going to live as long as he has/did I'm sure he would have taken better care of himself.

Havn't seen or heard of JOHNSON in prolly 10/12 yrs.

Although BILL BLAKE (Chi) and BILLY JOHNSON (Fla) never achieved CHAMPION status both had unlimited potential until they committed suicide ---BLAKE in the 60's and JOHNSON in the 80's. Both became drug addicted and felt, at the apprx. age of 20, that they were "washed Up".:mad:
Yah,might be the same guy.Real skinny dude,played jam-up!I remember him matching up at Hard Times with Jeremiah Johnson one night.He was one of the early 90's Southern Cali players.
 

PoolBum

Ace in the side.
Silver Member
Once upon a time there was a player who took up the game of pocket billiards at around the tender age of 5 or so, and he played so much that by the time he was a teenager he was completely burned out. So he retired.

A few years later, out of economic necessity, he took up the game again, and went on to be quite successful:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/images/d9744-5.jpg
 
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rackmsuckr

Linda Carter - The QUEEN!
Silver Member
Onepocket73 said:
There was a couple of other great players in So. Cal that never really went anywhere.Jeremiah Johnson and Johnny Ringo...?Anybody remember them?

We have a Jeremiah Johnson up here. I think he was originally from So. Cal. He is married to a woman named Carla. He still plays pretty sporty.
 

Onepocket73

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
rackmsuckr said:
We have a Jeremiah Johnson up here. I think he was originally from So. Cal. He is married to a woman named Carla. He still plays pretty sporty.
Yep,Thats him!
Carla gave it away.I took her up to Hard Times once.Jeremiah,the way I remember him,had glasses and sideburns.Geez,back then he was probably in his mid 40's.So now he must be 60?Still plays good though,huh?I watched him play a lot.Played REAL sporty.....:)
 

Onepocket73

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
rackmsuckr said:
We have a Jeremiah Johnson up here. I think he was originally from So. Cal. He is married to a woman named Carla. He still plays pretty sporty.
Hey,I was just in Seattle less than a year ago_One night we all went out to a real nice pool room right by the bay.You could see the water right through the windows.2-story joint.Wasn't too far from The Metropolitan Grill.You know the name of the place?
 

ironman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ribdoner said:
John Morrow from NC called himself Johnny Ringo for some time. Brn hair, short, slight and played real strong when right. If he would have known he was going to live as long as he has/did I'm sure he would have taken better care of himself.

Havn't seen or heard of JOHNSON in prolly 10/12 yrs.

Although BILL BLAKE (Chi) and BILLY JOHNSON (Fla) never achieved CHAMPION status both had unlimited potential until they committed suicide ---BLAKE in the 60's and JOHNSON in the 80's. Both became drug addicted and felt, at the apprx. age of 20, that they were "washed Up".:mad:

JOhnny Morrow died of a drug overdose aobut 3 years ago.
 

Jude Rosenstock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
BackPocket9Ball said:
Jude, Now I now exactly who you're talking about.

His name is actually Richie Pecoraro. I know him very well. He owns Bellmore Billiard Cafe on Long Island. I've actually played him several times. Yes, he is a very strong one pocket and all-around player. However, I wouldn't call him the best I've ever seen. He does have one of the more powerful strokes I've seen, though. At the time that Mika won the World Championship, he had no clue how to play one pocket and was very beatable by a strong one pocket player. Evgeny Stalev went to play Richie a little after that and beat Richie.

In my opinion, you could put Richie at the same level in one pocket as fellow New Yorkers Ginky, Flaco, and Slim (Guy Carney), but you couldn't compare him to greats like Allen Hopkins or Jimmy Fusco.

You're very right that Richie won't play in any tournaments, and it's not because he's afraid of ruining his action. He just doesn't care. The bar attached to his poolroom makes a lot of money, and pool is just a game to him. Richie has told me some good stories about when he owned a poolroom in the ?Tampa area when he was younger. He claims the best 1P player he's ever seen was Steve Cook.


It's hard to argue with you on this. I mean, the guy will NEVER leave his room so it's one we'll never know. I will agree, he possesses one of the greatest strokes I've ever seen. The guy just does things that you never thought were possible. However, it's impossible to compare him to anyone without him matching-up and we can only sit and wonder how he would have done if he were playing seasoned professionals on a routine basis.

Having played many of the top players, I can only tell you that if he played in anything, he would be regarded as one of the toughest draws in the field. Not being a one-hole player, I would be a poor judge but I am certain he'd still do well in 14.1 and 9-ball. If he ever went to DCC, he'd be the dark-horse but with a legitimate shot at making serious noise.
 

Jude Rosenstock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
gulfportdoc said:
Hal Mix told me in 1995 that he believed Ginky had the best stroke of anyone on tour. Outside of Buddy Hall's stroke, I'm inclined to agree.

Doc


The most common compliment given to Ginky's game is, 'Where you see 3 safety options, Ginky sees 6."

I've had discussions with him on the subject and he's told me why he'll choose one safety over another. He assumes that most of his safeties will be hit successfully so he looks for one that cannot be reversed on him. That is to say, he tries to make sure it's kick-safe-proof.

In a Joss event about a year ago, he pulled a safety that surprised me quite a bit. Instead of tucking the cue-ball behind the 7 and 8 (which was the obvious option, IMO), he decided to put the 1-ball there instead. This way, he would force his opponent to break-out the only cluster at the table or surrender ball-in-hand.

I mean, for some this might be obvious but at the time, it wasn't for me. I would have tucked that cue-ball behind the 7-8 in a heart-beat and even though that wouldn't have necessarily been wrong, it would not have been as constructive as Ginky's plan.

shot3.JPG
 

Hal

Beer Player
Silver Member
Maybe I just don't see it but how would you tuck the cue ball behind the 7 and 8 from the position shown?
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
sjm said:
I'll take a stab at it. Perhaps you are referring to Joanne Mason Parker.
Or Bonnie Hoffman. Ranked as high as #2 or possibly crawled into #1 at a very young age, she all about disappeared from the scene.

And to the earlier comment SJM, the thread quickly turned to a "greatest player you've never seen." Mike Sigel and Jean Balukas seemed to be easy front runners per the original post.

Fred
 

Jude Rosenstock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hal said:
Maybe I just don't see it but how would you tuck the cue ball behind the 7 and 8 from the position shown?


Hey Hal, forgive me for not drawing a perfectly to-scale diagram. The shooter is capable of shooting the 1-ball past the 7-8 and following the cue-ball behind the cluster with the assistance of the rail.

When I drew this, I was focused on showing the played-safety instead of its corresponding option.
 

christyd

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Island Drive said:
Your post made me think of another gal that quit early on, had a family, and was endorsed by Orvil Reddenbocker at one time. Her name slips me, but Linda or, was a very tough competitior, one of the top 3 or four player back 15 yrs ago or less, Linda I may be talking about you, help me out.


Are you talking about Linda Haywood?
 

Voodoo Daddy

One Pocket 101
Jude Rosenstock said:
Richard Peck who is the most talented cueist I have ever seen and he refuses to play in anything. I've seen him run-off 10 points in 3-cushion. On triple-shim tables (his opinion, a "real" player's table) he's run 6-packs and over 150 balls in 14.1. To add to his reputation, his best game is 1-pocket. Every player in New York City who has seen this guy shoot will attest he's done things amongst friends that you may never see in a professional event.


Richie Peck...wow, havent heard that name in decades. He was partners in a room with Tom Brown in Florida yrs back before selling his piece and heading back to the Big Apple. Solid player no doubt.

Tom Brown stopped playing WAY before his time. HE played all the games jam up and did it with one eye. He owns a room in the Daytona area to this day.
 
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