Billiards guru craves the return of billiards in his Shenandoah Valley hometown.

What is this guy talking about? Forget this BS -- it is fake news. Everybody knows pool is better off now than it ever has been. Nobody wants to hang out in those nasty old places. I'm glad they are gone and hope they never come back.
 
Thanks for posting the above. Looking through the pic's , Roanoke Red Terry, and Winner Beenie I knew along with Crabtree. All the others
I never had the pleasure. Most were a bit before my time, but not by much. The Gent that ran Guy's and Dolls in Roanoke ( guessing they
stole the name from Harrisonburg) Ollie could play real good when he was young. Straight pool , 9 ball and 3 cushion. His face I was expecting to see in one of those pics . In his day he could play a bit. Real good defense in the way he could control his cue ball. Good one pocket player as well..
Thanks again
 
That's a great article. Thanks for sharing. I knew Harry Crabtree a little from Obelisk Billiards in Newport News. In his later years he was the house pro and overall overseer of pool things there. Amazing to see him as a young man.
 
Biloxi Boy said:
What is this guy talking about? Forget this BS -- it is fake news. Everybody knows pool is better off now than it ever has been. Nobody wants to hang out in those nasty old places. I'm glad they are gone and hope they never come back.
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Love when people talk in absolutes. No on? I would love to see pool halls return. We have less places to play in my town then in my 35 years of playing. We have no pool halls. Most of the bars are gone replaced by brew pubs who don’t have a table. The closest thing to a pool hall is if a bar has 2 tables. the only way you are playing on a 9 foot table is if your a member of a private club. We were all talking about when a bca league would have 30 to 40 teams and you went to all kinds of different bars . Now you have about 10 and they play out of few places.
Now I don’t agree pool is dead.. it was pretty bad when earl said that many years ago but right now it’s in a resurgence but it’s still not where it was in the 80s when I started playing. We had 5 pool halls… now we have zero.
 
pool rooms that are sterile and little to do but shoot pool and then leave will be a thing of the past at some point. those that dont see that and change for the better will all or mostly be gone.

few take in enough of a gross to survive. it needs to come from other sources.
 
trob said:
Love when people talk in absolutes. No on? I would love to see pool halls return. We have less places to play in my town then in my 35 years of playing. We have no pool halls. Most of the bars are gone replaced by brew pubs who don’t have a table. The closest thing to a pool hall is if a bar has 2 tables. the only way you are playing on a 9 foot table is if your a member of a private club. We were all talking about when a bca league would have 30 to 40 teams and you went to all kinds of different bars . Now you have about 10 and they play out of few places.
Now I don’t agree pool is dead.. it was pretty bad when earl said that many years ago but right now it’s in a resurgence but it’s still not where it was in the 80s when I started playing. We had 5 pool halls… now we have zero.
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Okay, okay, I give. I will henceforth forego my feeble attempts at sarcasm, at least insofar as the subject is our loss of old school pool halls and the disappearance of the pool environment in which I was raised and educated and which I so mistakenly believed I would be allowed to grow old in -- slowly becoming one of the old fart hanger-ons, nursing my coffee, helping the young dudes smart enough to learn, and terrorizing the ones who were certain they already knew everything -- literal fixtures these old men were. But, alas, it is not to be, and, Trob, it really hurts to realize and acknowledge this sorry state. I can't fix it, so I deflect.

What really pisses me off however are those who so arrogantly opine that pool is so much better off now and losing all of the old places has been of great benefit. It just isn't so. The best I can tell such ersatz savants that such places really did exist and they truly made pool as popular as it is today. As much as I feel sorry for myself, my real pity is reserved for those who never had the chance to experience it.
 
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Rooms were all over the country. Small cities had like 5 or more all over town.. Locals would play everyday of the week
if they were open and it was a lot like Golf Courses I latter would attend. The comradery on a local room was a lot like
the comradery at your local golf course. Gents could get out of the house and meet up with buddies and enjoy
a few hours away from the problems of the day . You don't need much more to have a good time, other than the tables
and maybe a couple of nickle pinball machines , drink machine and a small black a white TV with the sound turned off.
No jukeboxes allowed. Everyone knew each other and what to expect from them. Can't find a thing wrong for wanting
spots like those too reopen again.
 
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