Billy Peay gone

camargored

camargored

Camargo Red Cues
Silver Member
William Cecil Peay has passed ,I recieved message this morning that he had passed at 3:00 am .I have been talking and texting with him the past few weeks and knew this was coming . A great undercover player ,loved,hated or feared you couldnt knock his abillity .Ill miss my friend but glad the suffering is over and he can rest in peace.:frown:
Your friend and brother Camargo Red
 
Gone but not forgotten

Sorry for your loss. Friends like you keep us alive past our short time on Earth.
 
So sorry for your loss. I noticed on OnePocket.org's website, he was listed on the extremely extensive Nickname List as "Will Pay." Kind of cute: OnePocket.org Nickname List.

AzBilliards Member Huckster writes this post in April 2008 about Will Pay:

My favorite unknown that does not look like a player at all is Bill Peyton (AKA Will Pay, Billy Peay, Cecil) One look at this guy and they line up. he plays 9ball, around Troy Frank's speed. bank pool, he is definetly top twenty in the US, and Bar Box, he plays around T-Rex speed.

Source: Thread Entitled Unknown "Monster" Players.

In 2007, he came in third place playing in the BCAPL Big Tables 8-Ball Scotch Doubles. I can't tell from the link of this is the Qlympics or BCAPL leagues. Peay's partner was Dawn Fox from Ohio. Source: BCAPL Stats for 2007.

I tried to find a photo of Billy Peay but came up empty. It would be nice if somebody could share one on this thread. I read that he competed on Shannon and Marge's Great Southern Billiard Tour from time to time. He came in third place in 2008 in a field of strong players: GSBT LaGrange, GA Stop.

RIP, Will Pay.
 
camargored said:
William Cecil Peay has passed ,I recieved message this morning that he had passed at 3:00 am .I have been talking and texting with him the past few weeks and knew this was coming . A great undercover player ,loved,hated or feared you couldnt knock his abillity .Ill miss my friend but glad the suffering is over and he can rest in peace.:frown:
Your friend and brother Camargo Red
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So sorry for his family!! I'll never forget the first time someone said, "Hey, there is Billy Peay!" And what an unlkely mold for a 'pool player'. Billy had really thick glasses that resembled the bottom of a glass soda bottle more than glasses. I am not real sure that both of his eyes even pointed in the same direction. However, this man could flat out play!!! No doubt about that!!

I sit table side one evening at the 9 ball mini tourney at DCC one year and watched him play, oddly enough, George San Souci!! Although he, too, has since passed those 2 players put on a display on that bar table like no other I have seen! With each safe each player it appeared there would be no way to make a legal hit. But man did they make a believer out of me. Not only did they hit the OB they returned safe to the other man!! It was unbelievable to say the least and both players captivated me as I sit at my second DCC and learned what great pool is all about...

It saddens me again to think we have lost another player way too soon!! Billy was a remarkable player and was also remarkably down to earth and easy to talk to. I wish we had more of those!! RIP Billy and Ginky!! Thank you both for the memories....



Gary
 
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Here is a picture of Cecil. He was a nice guy. We always tried to match up over the last 2 years and couldn't never be in the same place at once. We was talking at a tournament and Cecil said " I would like to play you some 9 ball, and then he said very sincerely, would u like to play me some 9 ball before I die? " I told him I would be honored to match up with him. The match never happened. RIP Cecil. I had the upmost respect for you and ur pool game.

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Really sorry to hear the news. Billy paid a visit to Rochester several years ago. Left with the cheese. Wasn't happy with the deal only because one of the locals played a "shill" for Billy. Wasn't in town but certainly heard all about it.

For a road warrior, Billy was certainly honest in his own way. Sat at the bar with my neighbor who happened to work for the pool room. Told him that just as he worked as a counter man, Billy's job was playing pool and relieving gullible people of their money. For those who knew him, his looks told the only story necessary.

Jenny, I believe Billy won the "amateur" 9 Ball event at the "Qlympics". There is a photo of him in the results. You might recognize him. With his hat pulled so far down on his face, it would be a miracle! He hid about as well as anyone in his line of work.

Rest in peace Billy.

Lyn
 
He was definitely one STRONG player..He spent quite a bit of time in my area (Middletown Ohio), when I first saw him I mistook him for a goof ball.

After watching him play for a few minutes I wanted no part of Billy, "Cecil". The man definitely had a high gear. RIP.
 
I'm sorry for your loss.

Probably ten years ago, I saw "Will Pay" at a Mobile tournament and he was the most unlikely pool player I had ever seen. He just didn't fit my profile of pool player. If you knew Will, you know what I mean. He would have gotten my dough for sure, that is, until I saw him playing our local bank pool champ and whipping the dog doo-doo out of him. Probably the best example of "Don't judge a book by its cover" I have ever seen.

I never really got a chance to know him but always admired his talent and competitiveness.

"Will" could play and I seldom saw him pay. Good tournament player too.

RIP William Cecil Peay!
 
I heard about Cecil quite a bit and when he finally came to Georgia I wanted to play him. I knew he was a solid player and everyone told me that "he hates pool players" cause usually they think they can play and dont bet very much unless its a lock. Well I got to play him a few 50 dollar sets with him giving me the 7,8 and the breaks. After 4 sets and me down a 100 I pulled up. That being said I learned alot from that match up that day,he was playing position tighter than efren, and afterwards he must have saw something in me because he actually complemented me on my game. He matched me up once or twice with some locals then I never saw him again.

From what I remember he didnt look in poor health, maybe early 50's. Crazy thing is he shot that damn good with one eye!!!
 
Sorry to hear about this. I met Billy a few times and he always seemed like a gentleman. He was a great player that played as hard as anyone for the cheese. R.I.P.
 
The first time I met Billy (I knew him as Cecil then) I was playing on table 2 at Jimmy Jacks in Columbus, Georgia. His first words to me were, "Damn you shoot good for a girl!" He then proceeded to move the balls around the table, setting up shots to see if I could make them. "Well, damn, I didn't think you'd make that one," is what he would say. He became a teacher to me, and more than that, he was a friend. There were four of us... him, me, Mike, and Bobby, and we would shoot pool until 3am in the morning before we all went to Waffle House to eat and just hang out. When Mike and Bobby eventually quit playing, I still hung on. He'd take guys of their money who thought they could beat the fat man with one eye. When the internet came about, he told me to check out AZ Billiards to see if anyone was talking about him or sharing his description. He was also careful not to have his picture taken. (That's how I ended up on AZB.) I was the only person who liked to go shopping with him, which made sense since I was the only girl he really hung out with. He saw me through my failed relationship with a "student" of his and listened to me cry about him. Not many friends who aren't girls will tolerate a chick crying about a guy, but he did. He once told me I was the only friend of his that was a girl, that called him just to see how he was doing and how he appreciated it. He said not many people called him without wanting something from him. I don't know if he knew how much people really did like him for him, and not just his ability to play and win them money. We lost touch these past few years but the last time we did talk on the phone, he told me he didn't think he'd have long and I didn't believe him. I would run into his aunt and tell her I keep meaning to come by and visit, but something was always going on between my family and work. It's not that I thought there would be more time... in my mind, I just couldn't conceive of him dying. I hope he knows peace, and how much he's admired and missed, and how sorry I am for not coming to say good-bye.
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JoeyA said:
I'm sorry for your loss.

Probably ten years ago, I saw "Will Pay" at a Mobile tournament and he was the most unlikely pool player I had ever seen. He just didn't fit my profile of pool player. If you knew Will, you know what I mean. He would have gotten my dough for sure, that is, until I saw him playing our local bank pool champ and whipping the dog doo-doo out of him. Probably the best example of "Don't judge a book by its cover" I have ever seen.

I never really got a chance to know him but always admired his talent and competitiveness.

"Will" could play and I seldom saw him pay. Good tournament player too.

RIP William Cecil Peay!
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He told me he didn't have to hustle... people just underestimated him by looking at him. That's one reason why he never felt sorry for taking their money, and I never felt sorry for them, either.
 
Sweet Marissa said:
He told me he didn't have to hustle... people just underestimated him by looking at him. That's one reason why he never felt sorry for taking their money, and I never felt sorry for them, either.
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ha ha...I cant count how many ppl have said..


"look at that guy.Do u see him?
There is no way in the world a guy like that can beat me!!"

ha how many times i got to laugh in different spots through out the country knowin these idiots were about to get taken off....

last time i saw him was when me and John Morra were in a little whole in the wall bar in Auburn Gerorgia..The bar owner said he had a guy we could play for whatever we could bet and he would be there in 30 minutes.Thirty minutes later Cecil walked in the side door, saw us and walked right out the other side door never said a word...in and out so fast even the owner didnt notice..10 minutes later the owner said.."damn...I guess he aint gonna show up."..ha ha later on we saw billy and he said he couldnt beat John the way he played these days but he was never gonna knock anyones action..we ended up stealing a few hundred...Pretty nice fellow if u ask me..he probably had lost about 100 lbs by this time..sad to see...
rest in peace....
 
Billy/Cecil made many trips to St Louis to come after Carl's money. He got it on many occassions. Ran around with Jason Miller and TJ.
 
watchez said:
Billy/Cecil made many trips to St Louis to come after Carl's money. He got it on many occassions. Ran around with Jason Miller and TJ.
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Watchez,

You jogged my memory. Years ago, I received a private message here from oldhasbeen (Tom Ferry) asking for advice on "Cecil's" speed. Always thought it funny Tom would ask my advice on anything related to the game. Tom was a pool legend. I'm a legend in my own mind:o!!!! I think.

Lyn
 
Honestly - in Tom's later years, he was out of the loop on most players speeds besides those that he was around on a daily basis.

Cecil and TJ were a ying/yang road team. To me, Cecil was a lock artist who was always in good when he got to the table. TJ is a flying by the seat of his pants gambler.
 
I hate to hear this... I knew he had been sick for a long time, but he just seemed to endure.

While almost all of the players in Louisville knew better than to play him for money, many of them can credit Billy for lessons, words of wisdom, and his very calm approach to helping others learn the game. He was a gem and we're glad to have known him!
 
I knocked heads at 9-ball with Billy a few times back in the day at Oliver's in Louisville. I haven't seen him in nearly twenty years, and didn't even recognize him in the first photo in this thread. I'm sorry to hear that he has passed.
 
Damn..... There goes a good one..... Cecil was a good player but, more importantly, he was a good guy. People always want to hate on hustlers because of the popular misconception that they think they lack scruples. Billy wasn't out to steal some poor saps diaper money, he was one of the true old school hustlers out looking to take off people that were true gamblers and had $ to lose. We seen him in a few hole in the wall BFE spots and always steered away once we seen him, not to knock anything.... I'd see him months later when we could talk and he would say "Every time I'm in a spot that theres no way in hell anyones gonna know me, there you are...". We used to trade spots and some of the spots he gave me weren't on anyones map, he just got around that much and wasn't scared to hunt for and create a new spot, not many people out there will do that.

One of the greatest Cecil lines ever (made even better by the slow southern draw).... "Is that anything like the called break???"

This sucks,
Godspeed buddy...
 
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