Billiards of Springfield's Turkey Shootout-Nov.29th

lol

Sam -

Great to hear about Springfield. I lived there for about 10 years and worked at the General Electric plant on Sunshine.

I loved Springfield and when I was there, the pool was pretty incredible. I played on several leagues and watched Darrin and Danny Harriman play almost daily.

I remember and giggle when I think about Danny Harriman. Darrin was top dog and made some pretty decent scores over the years. Danny was a close second at the time. Whenever Dave Matlock came in to town it was like the freaking second coming as the crowds, including me, witnessed magic on barboxes.

Jim Helt was a solid player but nowhere near his apparent skill now. I think he was APA level 6 or so, (if he would have played).

Some guy named Jamie was pretty solid player and had a habit of busting lights over tables on his breaks at Sharkeys.

Dennis' Place was the place for leagues and tourneyments. Well ran, nice, great place. All bar tables but still an excellent place.

There was a place on the East side of town that Darrin played at, in like an industrial park. I think it was gone last time I was in town.

One of my favorite stories about springfiled is when Kim Davenport came in town to do an expedition and some little kid from the crowd played him (Little Andy) he was about 12 -14 years old and broke and run out on Kim.....Kim put on a great show and was a good sport.

Is Snooker John still around ? How about that older guy from Lebannon, and they guy from Rolla with 2 first names who owned pawn shops?

Sorry my memory is slipping...

Ken
 
Ken,

Great to hear from you. Those were the days indeed! I watched the same as you and loved every minute of it myself. Then I had to run off and join the Marine Corps for 12 years! LOL Darren is still playin' and doing well. He's very focused on family nowadays, but don't let anyone go thinkin' they can sneek up on him and get a score. He can still hit 'em straight. ;) Danny...well, I'll just keep hoping that someday he'll realize his true talent and quit allowing his attitude to ruin his opportunities.

Dennis' Place is still kickin' and a good time can be had by all who walk through their doors for sure!

That ol' place Darren used to play at was called The Player's Club and it's now been turned into a country style bar without much to do with the pool scene.

Snooker John is still around and living down around Lake of the Ozarks. He and Jamie are living in that area now and running around livin' the life. :)

My favorite match-up that ever happened in Springfield was when Roger Griffis came to town and ended up playin' Danny over at the ol' South Street pool hall, wish it was still around. It was some of the best top notch pool I'd seen at the time and even though Danny didn't get the cash that day, I think it was a grand leap forward for his game as a pool player.

Jim Helt is still running around and hanging out at the local bar table tournaments. He's always a tough game in any tournament.

Well, keep your eyes peeled, i'm tryin' to rekindle the fire in the Springfield pool scene again and I'll be posting any tournaments I get going on the forums. I'd love to have you join us for the next one if your still within a short driving distance from town.

Keep hittin' 'em straight man!

Sam
 
sas great shooting, you beat me out in 17th, breaking and running the first rack of the set, as well as the 3rd. couldn't get much going. at 4-2 i broke and made the 9 and scratched, last time i saw the table. great shooting. definetly have to practice for next year.

the guy from rolla i believe is martin warren. last time i seen him was at a pretty big poker tournament. not sure how much he's hittin the balls around nowdays.
 
dgarfoot said:
sas great shooting, you beat me out in 17th, breaking and running the first rack of the set, as well as the 3rd. couldn't get much going. at 4-2 i broke and made the 9 and scratched, last time i saw the table. great shooting. definetly have to practice for next year.

the guy from rolla i believe is martin warren. last time i seen him was at a pretty big poker tournament. not sure how much he's hittin the balls around nowdays.
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Yep thats the guy Martin Warren. Tough action for sure.

Snooker John once won a tourneyment that was on LOCAL television... how strong was that?

Ken
 
dainese919 said:
great safety you played on me the last rack, and damn nasty 1-9 combo after that.. :mad:

good shooting man~
sasman:wink:
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great shooting to you too sas. i had an awesome time at the tourney. pool needs more ppl like you. a gentleman and a scolar. rep to you.:wink:
 
trigger, think i played some w/you on the front table (by the door). not sure. We took off shortly after getting knocked out. great tournament though, nothing but good things can be said about the players, tournament director, and establishment
 
Glad you had a good turnout Sam. I wish I could have made it but I had to work. I also lived in town from 85-97, I really miss the pool action that used to be in town. Maybe you guys can get some things rolling again. Rusty
 
dgarfoot said:
sas great shooting, you beat me out in 17th, breaking and running the first rack of the set, as well as the 3rd. couldn't get much going. at 4-2 i broke and made the 9 and scratched, last time i saw the table. great shooting. definetly have to practice for next year.

the guy from rolla i believe is martin warren. last time i seen him was at a pretty big poker tournament. not sure how much he's hittin the balls around nowdays.
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yeah.. indeed you gave me few ball in hand's(lucky me). I could see you have a big game in you, but balls just roll my way rather than yours :wink:

didn't go too far after that match myself, but heck..I had fun and it was great to meet new friends and see many old pals
 
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Trigger said:
great shooting to you too sas. i had an awesome time at the tourney. pool needs more ppl like you. a gentleman and a scolar. rep to you.:wink:
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thx for the kind words.. you too a good player with nice attitude.

btw..if the driving is boring back to KC, then you need to drive 7 hours down to TX as I did last nite lol:)
 
What Sam Waltz is referring to about my attitude is maybe the fact that I do not compete in any of the tavern table tournaments, which are very common in the Midwest. I once asked Matlock what he thought about the tavern table (3 1/2' by 7' or coin ops) - David would have been one of the top three in the world on this specific table with the big ball during this timeframe. His reply was interesting he said that bar pool was not even really pool, he may have been in a bad mood at the time but this was his answer. I have allways been under the impression that professional players should stick to double shimmed 9' ftrs. - again I am judged for not trying to play in more bar table tournaments.

I feel that 8 ball is not a bad game on the tavern table and I enjoy playing bank pool on them also or any table for that matter. On the bar table however if you play banks your limited to only playin short rack, or else there is too much congestion as if you were to try and play 14.1 on the tavern table. First of all if this is what Sam is referring to about my attitude then he is speaking out of turn, I hear people say you have to play where the action is but I am to much of a purist for that kind of thinking. Besides that my attitude is fine other than the fact that there are no men's tournaments, Sam should be grateful to me as he received free instruction from me growing up. When top players came through my hometown I never turned down a chance to compete with them but the action was on 9 ft tables. Just once I would like to walk into a bar and see ten ft. tables only and look at the faces of the people when they saw there was nowhere for them to put there quarters.
Keep in mind also that there was alot of jealous people in the pool rooms who liked to gamble and felt very threatened by the ability that I had, I did have many friends in the pool rooms but most of them were not big gamblers.

Sincerey, Danny Harriman
 
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