Article from the INDYSTAR.com dated July 31, 2007.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070731/LOCAL0504/707310383/1195/LOCAL18
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A LIFE LIVED: JAY A. ORNER, 1930-2007
Billiards whiz welcomed hustlers
By David Mannweiler
david.mannweiler@indystar.com
July 31, 2007
Jay Orner wielded a pool cue like a surgeon uses a scalpel, making delicate cuts here, manipulating around problems there and eliminating challenges with the skills of a pro.
Years ago, he'd use a broomstick for a cue to whomp his sons' friends in pool games. To give them a chance, he'd use his broomstick one-handed.
Before Mr. Orner died July 24 at Hendricks Regional Health Danville, he had developed 50-year-old Jay Orner & Sons Billiards Co. into one of the largest pool table dealers in the nation and helped pool gain a stamp of respectability.
Mr. Orner, 77, was entombed Friday.
Itinerant pool stars and hustlers would stay at the Orner home near Avon. "Jimmy Caras, Minnesota Fats, Willie Mosconi, Norman Webber, they all stayed with us," said Steve Orner, a son. "They'd get a hot meal. If they needed a few bucks, Dad would give it to them."
Hustlers spun tales about shucking the same players two days in a row, dressing as a painter one day and a farmer the next.
Self-taught, Mr. Orner claimed his friendship with Minnesota Fats -- played by Jackie Gleason in the 1961 movie "The Hustler" -- stemmed from a challenge in Indianapolis.
A legendary pool shark, Fats would bet everything in his money clip against a challenger who put up $100. Mr. Orner took Fats for $8,000, his son said.
"I can remember Dad coming home from playing pool all night, waking me up and finding Willie Mosconi doing trick shots on our pool table," his son added. "That was normal for us."
When he was 17, Mr. Orner persuaded his grandfather to buy a decrepit pool table for him to fix up. When he sold the $100 table for $200 before the restoration was complete, an idea was born.
"He worked at General Electric and sold pool tables on the side, out of our house," Steve Orner said. "We had pool tables in the garage, the extra bedroom and on the porch. People would come in the middle of the night to buy a pool table."
So popular were his tables that Mr. Orner opened a business selling them. He was last in his store at Rockville and North High School roads, in the shadow of I-465, a year ago. His sons, Steve and Tom, have run the business since then, and when they weren't busy they played sports trivia on the phone nearly every day with their father.
"A lot of Colts players are customers," Steve Orner said. "Dad would be pleased that Tony Stewart won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. Tony is a customer of ours.
"My brother and I were so lucky we both got to be with our parents all the time at the store. We were spoiled seeing them every day."
Other survivors include brothers Jim and Dave Orner and sister Dorothy Phillippi. Mr. Orner's wife of 40 years, Lorraine, died eight years ago.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070731/LOCAL0504/707310383/1195/LOCAL18
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A LIFE LIVED: JAY A. ORNER, 1930-2007
Billiards whiz welcomed hustlers
By David Mannweiler
david.mannweiler@indystar.com
July 31, 2007
Jay Orner wielded a pool cue like a surgeon uses a scalpel, making delicate cuts here, manipulating around problems there and eliminating challenges with the skills of a pro.
Years ago, he'd use a broomstick for a cue to whomp his sons' friends in pool games. To give them a chance, he'd use his broomstick one-handed.
Before Mr. Orner died July 24 at Hendricks Regional Health Danville, he had developed 50-year-old Jay Orner & Sons Billiards Co. into one of the largest pool table dealers in the nation and helped pool gain a stamp of respectability.
Mr. Orner, 77, was entombed Friday.
Itinerant pool stars and hustlers would stay at the Orner home near Avon. "Jimmy Caras, Minnesota Fats, Willie Mosconi, Norman Webber, they all stayed with us," said Steve Orner, a son. "They'd get a hot meal. If they needed a few bucks, Dad would give it to them."
Hustlers spun tales about shucking the same players two days in a row, dressing as a painter one day and a farmer the next.
Self-taught, Mr. Orner claimed his friendship with Minnesota Fats -- played by Jackie Gleason in the 1961 movie "The Hustler" -- stemmed from a challenge in Indianapolis.
A legendary pool shark, Fats would bet everything in his money clip against a challenger who put up $100. Mr. Orner took Fats for $8,000, his son said.
"I can remember Dad coming home from playing pool all night, waking me up and finding Willie Mosconi doing trick shots on our pool table," his son added. "That was normal for us."
When he was 17, Mr. Orner persuaded his grandfather to buy a decrepit pool table for him to fix up. When he sold the $100 table for $200 before the restoration was complete, an idea was born.
"He worked at General Electric and sold pool tables on the side, out of our house," Steve Orner said. "We had pool tables in the garage, the extra bedroom and on the porch. People would come in the middle of the night to buy a pool table."
So popular were his tables that Mr. Orner opened a business selling them. He was last in his store at Rockville and North High School roads, in the shadow of I-465, a year ago. His sons, Steve and Tom, have run the business since then, and when they weren't busy they played sports trivia on the phone nearly every day with their father.
"A lot of Colts players are customers," Steve Orner said. "Dad would be pleased that Tony Stewart won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. Tony is a customer of ours.
"My brother and I were so lucky we both got to be with our parents all the time at the store. We were spoiled seeing them every day."
Other survivors include brothers Jim and Dave Orner and sister Dorothy Phillippi. Mr. Orner's wife of 40 years, Lorraine, died eight years ago.
