Bill Stroud pool stories................

[jay helfert]

I always said I would and unlike Bill, I'm a man of my word.

Jaden

Anyone who ever brings him up that I see, I will bring up DYD... We make choices and have to live with them. He had so many chances to even TRY to make it right and didn't bother, so he gets to live with the choice.

Sadly I must concur with Jaden on this one thing. Billy was my friend and we got along well, but when the DYD cue contest tuned out to be a big letdown for so many people I called him to find out what happened and why he never followed through. I reminded him of his stellar reputation as a cuemaker and how highly he and his cues were regarded. I told him he didn't need to let that all go away because of this.

He then informed me that he had sold his equipment and had no intention of making any more cues. I asked him why he didn't make just one more cue for the winner of the contest. His response was that he didn't care. To say the least that was a disappointing thing for me to hear. I didn't want to believe that a friend of mine could be so callous about something that I thought was important for his legacy.

I never spoke with Billy about it after that, when I saw him at DCC or at any other time. He acted as if it never happened and refused to discuss it with other friends of his. Somehow, somewhere I believe it had to eat at him inside for what he had done. I know I couldn't live with something like that on my conscience.

 

[Paul Schofield]

I am not prepared to sum up the entirety of a man's life and let it be defined by one incident. It is not fair. None of us would like it done to us. Bill Stroud was a good man PERIOD.

 

[8cree]

I am not prepared to sum up the entirety of a man's life and have it be defined by one incident. It is not fair. None of us would like it done to us. Bill Stroud was a good man PERIOD.

You make a fair point. Sucks, but like my old boss used to tell me, "it only takes one 'oh shit' to ruin 100 attaboy's".

 

[HawaiianEye]

He mentioned Jack Taylor...Alfie’s brother. I knew Jack. I would like to hear some stories about him.

 

[misterpoole]

I apologize guys. I thought maybe people wouldn't pile on a dead guy. Looks like i was wrong. I saw this on Tor's YT page and thought some guys in my age bracket would like it. It really must be nice to be perfect. ATTN MOD: feel free to remove this thread any time you want.

Great video. Never actually saw him play but owned a few of his cues and his radial pin is the best pin i.m.o

 

[overlord]

I met Bill S. one time at a pool tournament in Burbank. He was hawking his wares. I introduced myself to him and told him

I had one of his cues. He was very rude and asked how I knew it was one of his cues. I said it said, JW 1988 and that Ernie G. had refinished, and rewrapped the cue and confirmed it was a Joss West. Ernie, did an outstanding job and made the cue look better than it ever did.

If you've ever been in sales you know that you can't talk to somebody the way he talked to me and expect to sell them anything. I was kind of thunderstruck.

Notwithstanding his very rude behavior he did make an outstanding cue which I still have. Ebony points with ivory diamonds with three veneers into a Birdseye maple forearm. Between the butt and the wrap are mitered windows with ivory diamonds and between the mitered windows are ivory diamonds. The cue hits great.

After Ernie refinished it, I liked to take it out at the pool hall and play with it but it was perfect and I was always paranoid I would ding it.

 

[7stud]

Sadly I must concur with Jaden on this one thing. Billy was my friend and we got along well, but when the DYD cue contest tuned out to be a big letdown for so many people I called him to find out what happened and why he never followed through. I reminded him of his stellar reputation as a cuemaker and how highly he and his cues were regarded. I told him he didn't need to let that all go away because of this.

He then informed me that he had sold his equipment and had no intention of making any more cues. I asked him why he didn't make just one more cue for the winner of the contest. His response was that he didn't care. To say the least that was a disappointing thing for me to hear. I didn't want to believe that a friend of mine could be so callous about something that I thought was important for his legacy.

I never spoke with Billy about it after that, when I saw him at DCC or at any other time. He acted as if it never happened and refused to discuss it with other friends of his. Somehow, somewhere I believe it had to eat at him inside for what he had done. I know I couldn't live with something like that on my conscience.

Why do you think he didn't follow through?

 

[7stud]

I met Bill S. one time at a pool tournament in Burbank. He was hawking his wares. I introduced myself to him and told him

I had one of his cues. He was very rude and asked how I knew it was one of his cues. I said it said, JW 1988 and that Ernie G. had refinished, and rewrapped the cue and confirmed it was a Joss West. Ernie, did an outstanding job and made the cue look better than it ever did.

If you've ever been in sales you know that you can't talk to somebody the way he talked to me and expect to sell them anything. I was kind of thunderstruck.

Notwithstanding his very rude behavior he did make an outstanding cue which I still have. Ebony points with ivory diamonds with three veneers into a Birdseye maple forearm. Between the butt and the wrap are mitered windows with ivory diamonds and between the mitered windows are ivory diamonds. The cue hits great.

After Ernie refinished it, I liked to take it out at the pool hall and play with it but it was perfect and I was always paranoid I would ding it.

Allright...now we have to see some pictures. You knew that, right?

 

[ShootingArts]

Jay,

If you have your sequence of events straight here, it is very hard to build a cue if you have sold your equipment. If there was a nearby cuebuilder he might have gotten permission to work in his shop but it is almost impossible to work in somebody else's shop with the shop set up for their way of doing things. When it comes to pool cues there are usually many ways to skin a cat.

Dealing with "I don't care" is a little trickier. Now I am trying to delve into Bill's mood and if he really meant that. If he had sold his tooling he might have just been responding to you suggesting he build another cue. However, there is another thing too. He was in the middle of major trauma in his life. Even if he was ahead of the cancer at the moment he might just be drained, physically, mentally, emotionally. Financially too for that matter. I'll be three years paying off one week in a hospital. Many years ago when I had a thriving business I lost my brother to an accident. For months I would go to my business. Might stay five minutes or up to two hours. I'd look around and think what did any of this mean when I had lost my brother, turn around and leave without doing anything to deal with business. I finally went to work for someone else awhile just so I had a commitment to come to work.

I remember all of the build a cue hoopla but didn't pay it much attention since I had a cue shop myself at the time. While I can understand people being disappointed, wasn't this a free deal on Bill's part? No cash for the cue, no raffle, no profit or even return of his expenses to Bill?

I am looking for a little closure on this too. Any link to Bill's apology thread?




Biloxi Boy,

You and Shakespeare are pretty smart!

Hu

 

[Matt_24]

Yes Hu, however, almost everyone is understanding of health issues. All it would've taken is a statement apologizing that he wouldn't be able to build the cue and offering any number of remedies. Hell even at the least simply offering one of his own cues with a letter of authenticity stating that it was his personal cue as a recompense for not being able to finish the DYD cue.

Instead he elected to lie to the winner and to the world and just ignore anyone who questioned him. This is why I agreed to never let his name be mentioned in my presence without speaking up and as I've said and I'm sure many on this forum can attest to, I am a man of my word.

Jaden

p.s. the only thing I remember resembling an apology was him saying he was sorry for people reacting the way they did, IOW, not an apology for what he did and assuredly never apologizing for lying to and leading on the winner of the contest for so long. Also, to my knowledge, the winner never did get a cue. Someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong.

He decided not to build a FREE cue for someone. He did not commit a crime. I drew up a big design in that thing too (spent a whole hour on it, LOL). He's now passed away. I think he probably had way more of a positive impact on the billiard community than negative. Try to get over your egotistical "man of my word" hoopla, and let it go.

 

[bbb]

look
the guy didnt come thru on his promise.
many people suffered by their wasted time in designing a cue.
nobody was injured .
he didnt take anyones money
he was already a famous cue builder so he didnt need the business
he got sick
everyone is entitled to hold a grudge against anyone they want to
but my advice is
life is to short to be aggravated .
the guy is dead.
just let it go
its over
like water under the bridge
jmho

 

[Maxx]

He absolutely did commit a crime. He was a business owner who used a contest to promote his business. You can't offer a prize and then just not give the prize, that is called fraud. Dying doesn't make what you did go away. Hitler died, you gonna defend what he did? I hate when people think that just because someone dies that you have to let them be. Nope, I won't.

You guys would be better off just letting this die off instead of trying to defend him. I promise you, I will NEVER let it go.

Jaden

Pretty sad that you would be that way. The man has passed, let it go. Sorry you have to carry that poison in your heart, old and bitter probably sucks.

 

[Matt_24]

He absolutely did commit a crime. He was a business owner who used a contest to promote his business. You can't offer a prize and then just not give the prize, that is called fraud. Dying doesn't make what you did go away. Hitler died, you gonna defend what he did? I hate when people think that just because someone dies that you have to let them be. Nope, I won't.

You guys would be better off just letting this die off instead of trying to defend him. I promise you, I will NEVER let it go.

Jaden

You're equating him with a man who committed genocide? Dude....You really need to lighten up, Francis.

 

[book collector]

No I'm not equating him with Hitler or a murderer or anything. I was simply using an extreme example to showcase that just because someone dies it doesn't mean they get off the hook.

He's only guilty of being a POS, and potentially of fraud. Nothing more than that. I just simply vowed that I wouldn't let it go and wouldn't allow his name to be mentioned in my presence without bringing it up and I WON'T. You guys can just keep this thread going. I don't care.

I mean first it was, he apologized and said he'd make it right. That was proven inaccurate. Then it was he was really sick and just couldn't do it. That was shown to be false too. Now it's, the man is dead just let it go. LOL. Nope, won't do it.

He made his choice to have the contest, he made his choice to not make it right and he made his choice to lie about it and then ignore it for years before he passed. So that's the legacy he left for himself. I will leave the legacy that I am a man of my word.

Jaden

You are free to do whatever you feel is right.
None of us is perfect and my belief is that we will all be judged one day for not only the things we have done , but the things we say also.
None of us will be found worthy of anything but death and the Lake Of Fire except by the lords mercy. I also believe the writings of Jesus , where he says that you cannot get mercy , unless you are able to show mercy.
I understand your anger and frustration, I didn't like any part of what he did either.
I also understand not everyone believes the same things? I do , but just looking at it with an indifferent view point.
What purpose can be served, by staying angry? Isn't the end result , more harm, even to you ?

 

[Biloxi Boy]

Better yet (than Shakespeare), is what Jesus said:
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

Who out there is without sin?

 

[bbb]

book collector
that was a great post above #44
have a blessed day......

 

[dbgordie]

So I would suggest if you don't want me to keep harping on it, stop bringing him up and quit posting about it in this thread.

Jaden

Why do what Jaden wants? He didn't win the contest. He's just offended for the person that did. Sounds like a SJW thing to do. As I read in the DYD thread Bill tried to make the cue three times. He was unable to do so up to his standards. He tried to have another cue maker build the cue instead. He wasn't able to build the cue. He ended up selling his equipment. Again, the person that actually won understood and was probably disappointed but forgave Bill anyway. He didn't do anyone other than the winner wrong. A group of AZBer's took AZB away from him. It's enough. That's the price he paid for trying to do something nice for the AZB community. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. He's gone, it's time to let it go. He's more apart of pool history than most of us would/could ever be.

 

[misterpoole]

I particularly liked the story about one handed one pocket with Eddie vs Ronnie. I cant understand wanting to make 1P harder but maybe they had loose equipment and needed the challenge and the gamble.

 

[Matt_24]

Better yet (than Shakespeare), is what Jesus said:
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

Who out there is without sin?

Or when he said, "You mad bro?" - Hobbs 4:2

 

[Island Drive]

Why do what Jaden wants? He didn't win the contest. He's just offended for the person that did. Sounds like a SJW thing to do. As I read in the DYD thread Bill tried to make the cue three times. He was unable to do so up to his standards. He tried to have another cue maker build the cue instead. He wasn't able to build the cue. He ended up selling his equipment. Again, the person that actually won understood and was probably disappointed but forgave Bill anyway. He didn't do anyone other than the winner wrong. A group of AZBer's took AZB away from him. It's enough. That's the price he paid for trying to do something nice for the AZB community. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. He's gone, it's time to let it go. He's more apart of pool history than most of us would/could ever be.

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