Best Road Player Team Ever?

[Terry Ardeno]

You got it tight

Don Willis and Luther Lassiter. How was anyone going to come out winners against these two boys?

That's my all time best tandem as well. Nobody beats them two as a team.
Honorable mention would be Corey & Alex and Sigel & Hubbart.

And how's this...Billy Incardona, Danny DiLiberto and Ed Kelly were running mates! Can you even imagine!

 

[JAM]

Swanne was another of my fvorites back in that day as well. A huge guy but always seemingly pretty happy nd easy going.

I drew him in the Denver Open and was playing pretty well at the time. We had battled pretty hard when the score reached 10-10 and I thought I had him when made maybe the most incredible shot anyone hs ever made on me in a tournament and made it look so routine.He got out and came over and shook my hand and said, " I almost feel like I should apologize for that because I never go for it, but it just looked like itwas on."

The man must hae paddeled like hell underneath, because he was as smooth as glass on the surface.

Keith loved Swanee like a brother. I never had the privilege to meet him, but have heard quite a few tales of the two of them together.

One day, Swanee made his way to the semi-finals of a big tournament The dress code was formal -- slacks, dress shirt, and leather shoes. Swanee had to purchase some clothes quickly to meet the dress code for this event at the last minute. He was kind of a portly gentleman, and so finding something in his size that was comfortable proved to be difficult, but he did manage to get him an outfit.

Swanee's match was called to the designated table. His first shot in the game was a reach shot, and as Swanee stretched to fire it in, his pants split wide open in the rear end area. Oh, the noise of it all was bad enough, but then to see the huge tear, revealing poor Swanee's derriere.

The rest of the match, Swanee was extremely uncomfortable, choosing his shots wisely, hoping to not have any more reach shots because he was truly in a bad way. Keith said he was laughing so hard in the audience, watching Swanee struggle, going for shots that he normally would not have.

I'm not sure what the outcome was of the match, but years later, Swanee and Keith would still giggle about that match. He sure did seem like a great sport. Everybody says good things about Swanee!

JAM

 

[jay helfert]

Keith loved Swanee like a brother. I never had the privilege to meet him, but have heard quite a few tales of the two of them together.

One day, Swanee made his way to the semi-finals of a big tournament The dress code was formal -- slacks, dress shirt, and leather shoes. Swanee had to purchase some clothes quickly to meet the dress code for this event at the last minute. He was kind of a portly gentleman, and so finding something in his size that was comfortable proved to be difficult, but he did manage to get him an outfit.

Swanee's match was called to the designated table. His first shot in the game was a reach shot, and as Swanee stretched to fire it in, his pants split wide open in the rear end area. Oh, the noise of it all was bad enough, but then to see the huge tear, revealing poor Swanee's derriere.

The rest of the match, Swanee was extremely uncomfortable, choosing his shots wisely, hoping to not have any more reach shots because he was truly in a bad way. Keith said he was laughing so hard in the audience, watching Swanee struggle, going for shots that he normally would not have.

I'm not sure what the outcome was of the match, but years later, Swanee and Keith would still giggle about that match. He sure did seem like a great sport. Everybody says good things about Swanee!

JAM

HE WON! Swanee was a great guy! He never barked at anyone, but also never turned down a game.

 

[Ken_4fun]

Jay, thanks for the info. I worked in a bakery in 72 or so with Wade's girlfriend in Ahaheim. I was an apprentice baker for about a year ( as long as I could stand it).

She lived in the area while he was on the road, I guess.

So now youre a MASTER baker?

Sorry I couldnt resist.

Ken

 

[corvette1340]

I haven't heard a mention of Stevie Moore in this thread yet. He is possibly the best road man of this era. Until recently when Stevie decided to play professional tourneys full time, he was mainly under the radar after he won the world bar table championship back in the mid 90's. He would change hair color and shoot with ugly custom cues and broken cases. He never wanted his picture taken and often ducked out of regional tour stops before the trophy presentation. I've seen him put on his act and if you weren't pool knowledgeable you would defininitely play him some.
I also saw Shannon Daulton put on a stuttering character act while playing a strip club owner some bar box 8 ball. If you didn't know he was a champion you could have sworn he needed to be in the Special Olympics. It was all I could do not to crack up as he would just barely beat the guy, take 5 minutes to speak one sentence, and then get him to raise the bet. Classic.

 

[Terry Ardeno]

I also saw Shannon Daulton put on a stuttering character act while playing a strip club owner some bar box 8 ball. If you didn't know he was a champion you could have sworn he needed to be in the Special Olympics. It was all I could do not to crack up as he would just barely beat the guy, take 5 minutes to speak one sentence, and then get him to raise the bet. Classic.

Thanks for that story...I had heard that before but had forgooten about it.
No matter how many times you hear these stories, they still make you chuckle.

 

[chipperd]

Best road teams

My favorite road team was Johnny Archer and Tony Ellen. That's when Archer was player of the decade and Tony was beaten everybody for the cheese. We miss ya Tony.

 

[JAM]

Here's a funny tale about Ronnie Allen and Keith McCready on the road. Keith was about 18 years old at the time.

They were traveling with another guy named Bob Lambert who had a motor home. The three of them traveled cross-country looking for any and all action. Ronnie had a road map with action joints marked off from the West Coast to the East Coast, a pool player's dream, and he took copious notes and had the line on every spot.

They end up in this little town somewhere in Missouri that had a pool room. Ronnie was pretty well known, but Keith, on the other hand, was not. The line on the house champ was that he liked to play snooker. So Ronnie and Bob put Keith in the box, but remained in the motor home, not wanting to be a knock. Neither of them knew if Keith's snooker game would hold up.

Keith walks in, spotted his designated target, and immediately got him down playing "15 red-ball snooker" -- (I never heard of that ) -- meaning they used 15 red balls, and the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 in the "regular colors." They started off playing 200 a game, even. Keith played with a house cue, as was sometimes customary for road players.

After several hours had transpired, Ronnie Allen couldn't stand being in the motor home, not knowing what was going on. All he had to do was send Bob Lambert in, but Ronnie's curiosity got the best of him. So he snuck up to the front window and peered in, to find out the score.

Keith's opponent immediately recognized Ronnie's mug in the front window and said, "What, you got steered here by Ronnie Allen? Well, then, from here on in, I'll take 15 points and bet you a nickel or a dime a game, whatever your pleasure."

Apparently, his opponent had plenty of gamble. Bob and Ronnie, with their cover blown, came in and brought Keith his own cue stick. It was tough action from here on in. After an all-night battle, Keith ended pocketing 12 large.

When you're on the road, challenging the best in the region can backfire on you. Though 9-ball seems to be popular today, in the '70s and '80s, it was mandatory to be able to play all games to get action, to include 9-ball, but also banks, one-pocket, 10-ball, snooker, et cetera. A road player with only one specialty wouldn't go very far.

JAM

 

[ribdoner]

Damn Jay, you're up early. Me too.

How about Billy Johnson? I remember back in the early 70s he was going into towns challenging everyone and usually winning. He played mostly solo, didn't he?

He was alone when I snuke up on him