Best Player that Quit Early on

Pushout said:
Haven't seen anyone mention Gloria "Honey" Walker. In the early '80s, I think it was, there was supposed to be a young kid from the Syracuse, Rochester, or Buffalo, NY area that was going to be a world beater, but I can't remember his name. Dropped from the radar a few years later.
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Gloria, from Ithaca, NY, if memory serves, had a nice game. On the women's side of pro pool, she was World 8-ball champion and World 9-ball champion in 1977. Still, she was not a serious threat to Balukas' reign back then.
 
Just wondering...

I am curious if anyone remembers a guy named Kevin Stanelle? Used to play out of Milwaukee back in the late 70's maybe. I remember talking with his backer about him playing some tournaments in Vegas and maybe missing two balls throughout the whole tournament. Never heard what happened to him since I am not in Milwaukee anymore.
 
Little Squirrel

hemicudas said:
It's going to take some of you old scuffs to remember this name but today in Houston, TX they still remember the name, Keith "Little Squirrel" Thompson. Keith at the ripe age of 17 won the one pocket division and all around at one of, if not the, last Johnston City tournament. Quit playing all together shortly afterwards. A great loss to the game.
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17 years old? I had thought he was 19 or 20. Keith winning the nineball and then the all-around was tantamount to the US beating the Russians in Hockey in the Olympics of 64. He was a straight shooter, but he was miles away from the top guns. In Johnston City that year, Keith and I played 1pkt every day. I had to spot him, so I was well aware of his speed. In the all-around finals he didnt have shoes to wear (only sandals) or even a shirt (only a "dago" T) and finally he didnt have a cue stick (He won it playing with my stick as a loaner) He wasnt even going to compete in the finals and was just going to forfeit and go back to Tx rather than embarass himself against Ronnie and Wimpy. I talked him into staying and playing, citing that it wasnt fair to the rest of us who would have killed their children to be in his position, whether he thought he could win or not. In a series of freak events, he won the damn thing.
I had heard that the reason he quit, and it made sense, was, where does he go from there? How is he ever going to get a decent game after beating Ronnie and Wimpy? The pressure had to be enormous. A too much, too soon, scenario.

the Beard
 
freddy the beard said:
Keith winning the nineball and then the all-around was tantamount to the US beating the Russians in Hockey in the Olympics of 64.
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Freddy, how did he end up winning the all-around that year? For that matter, how was the all-around determined each year, except of course when one guy won two divisions? Was there some type of playoff?

Doc
 
three way playoff

gulfportdoc said:
Freddy, how did he end up winning the all-around that year? For that matter, how was the all-around determined each year, except of course when one guy won two divisions? Was there some type of playoff?

Doc
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Everybody plays everybody, everything. I think the key to Keith winning was he bet Ronnie and Wimpy playing 1pkt.

the Beard
 
freddy the beard said:
17 years old? I had thought he was 19 or 20. Keith winning the nineball and then the all-around was tantamount to the US beating the Russians in Hockey in the Olympics of 64. He was a straight shooter, but he was miles away from the top guns. In Johnston City that year, Keith and I played 1pkt every day. I had to spot him, so I was well aware of his speed. In the all-around finals he didnt have shoes to wear (only sandals) or even a shirt (only a "dago" T) and finally he didnt have a cue stick (He won it playing with my stick as a loaner) He wasnt even going to compete in the finals and was just going to forfeit and go back to Tx rather than embarass himself against Ronnie and Wimpy. I talked him into staying and playing, citing that it wasnt fair to the rest of us who would have killed their children to be in his position, whether he thought he could win or not. In a series of freak events, he won the damn thing.
I had heard that the reason he quit, and it made sense, was, where does he go from there? How is he ever going to get a decent game after beating Ronnie and Wimpy? The pressure had to be enormous. A too much, too soon, scenario.

the Beard
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Fred I think the hockey game was 1980 or 1984. Philw
 
sjm said:
Gloria, from Ithaca, NY, if memory serves, had a nice game. On the women's side of pro pool, she was World 8-ball champion and World 9-ball champion in 1977. Still, she was not a serious threat to Balukas' reign back then.
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Gloria was not from Ithaca. I don't think there was anyone playing out of Ithaca at the time. In or near NYC or NJ area, I think. I was in Binghamton then, and we knew most, if not all, of the decent female players in that part of the state. I know there were some girls that Jean struggled against sometimes, but, again, can't remember names.
 
Pushout said:
Gloria was not from Ithaca. I don't think there was anyone playing out of Ithaca at the time. In or near NYC or NJ area, I think. I was in Binghamton then, and we knew most, if not all, of the decent female players in that part of the state. I know there were some girls that Jean struggled against sometimes, but, again, can't remember names.
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Gloria Walker was from around West Chester, PA. She dueled with Balukas for a number of years, usually ending up in second place, but occasionally rising to #1.
 
Pushout said:
Gloria was not from Ithaca. I don't think there was anyone playing out of Ithaca at the time. In or near NYC or NJ area, I think. I was in Binghamton then, and we knew most, if not all, of the decent female players in that part of the state. I know there were some girls that Jean struggled against sometimes, but, again, can't remember names.
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Well, you made me do it, but I just took out my program from the 1978 PPPA Women's Straight Pool Championships. Sure enough, Gloria Walker is listed as from Ithaca. Based on your post, I guess she didn't live there for long.

I also recall her living in the NYC or NJ area in the early 1980's.
 
How funny

philw said:
Fred I think the hockey game was 1980 or 1984. Philw
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As I am just now reading this and watching Fox news they mention that hockey game. It was 1980 and they mentioned it because it was 27 years ago today. Now that is a concidence. lol
 
sjm said:
Well, you made me do it, but I just took out my program from the 1978 PPPA Women's Straight Pool Championships. Sure enough, Gloria Walker is listed as from Ithaca. Based on your post, I guess she didn't live there for long.

I also recall her living in the NYC or NJ area in the early 1980's.
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IIRC, Florence Fuller, who owned the Pocket Billiard Lounge, now Ball Busters, in Binghamton, knew Gloria quite well. I don't remember her ever mentioning that Gloria lived that close to Binghamton. It may be a misprint, or she may have lived there for a very short time. As posted above, she may have been from PA. I can't remember, been too many years
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
The two players that come to mind in the New York area are:

George "Ginky" SanSouci who is arguably the most accomplished player in history to vow never to actively tour again. Many people will refer to Efren Reyes as being one of 9-ball's most influential players and representative of the "Filipino-Style" but it's players like Hall of Famer Nick Varner and Ginky who have also shown that Americans can play at a higher level, as well. I honestly believe had he continued to compete, Ginky would typically be mentioned in the same breath as any of the game's best.
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one of the nicest things ive heard in a while. many seem to believe i dont have an intrest in the game anymore.. but its not true, if it wasn't for the mishaps that life has thrown at me and my family these past two years i would be activley playing in all tournaments, i just realized that my family comes first, the most important thing to me right now is having a child and i will focus my full attention on my wife's health as she goes on in her third pregancy so i can make sure my child is born and my wife is healthy, after that, you will see me playing in and winning a hell of alot of tournaments !
 
Jack Madden said:
Does anyone remember Johnny Drain (Draino)? - hustled around Phoenix in mid - late 60's. Played out of the Golden Cue and Golden Eight Ball. Last I heard his girlfriend got his stick.
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Played him many many times. He came to Az from Denver and was KIA in Nam. Didn't see him in the same league as Melendez, Fat Tony and the other better local players of that era. I found Johnny rather easy...Louis all too willing to play dirty and get "assistance" from his buds, and Fat Tony always a fun game on the table *IF* you could avoid his cardtable cons. Unbacked, you weren't going to win anything from any of these players...and they would not have cut it over in the better CA action spots.
 
PoolBum said:
I heard about Greg Stevens a long time ago from a guy who ran a pool room up in Massachusetts. He claimed that when Stevens was on he was the best 9-ball player, ever. There's an interesting section on Greg "Big Train" Stevens near the end of "Hustler Days."

Here's what someone told me once about Stevens:

Greg was one of the very few players who could play Jersey Red even. Red was a big and intimidating guy whose presence at the table was worth at least two balls in one pocket, but Greg's approach, to never take anything seriously, deflected Red's aura pretty well. They had some great matches. When Greg was hot and in stroke, I don't think anybody could beat him at nine-ball. Lassiter couldn't, Red couldn't, and Fats sure couldn't. Red would win in one pocket in the long run, though. I think it was too slow a game for Stevens.
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I never saw Greg Stevens play - but I saw Wimpy play 9 ball many times and Fats (if your talking about the Minnesota variety) couldn't hold Wimpy's stick - not even in the ballpark.

With all due respect and depending on what time in Wimpy's life you are talking about. When he was on the top of his game and in stroke no one had to beat him at 9 ball.

Lassiter was a world champion!
 
There's one I haven't seen mentioned, Jerry Brock. I guess the reason he left the building early is known to most, but I never got to see him shoot. I'm sure there are quite a few stories out there about his playing days.
 
A kid named Eddie Sauer played real good back in the 60's. Cranfield tried showing him some things but Eddie didn't have the patience.
 
Tony Ellin

On the subject of pool players that disappeared, I was wondering what happened to Tony Ellin. I remember he played in the finals of the 9-ball US Open and the semi's the next year, but after that nothing...
 
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