Buddy Hall in Action

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DrawtheRock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I used to see Buddy play in a lot of tournaments in the 80's and 90's and he was great. Excellent Cue ball control, terrific stroke, and a ton of heart. What I wasnt able to do was see him in action with the other top players. Can some people like Jay Helfert give us to some insight of how good he was in action matches. I heard he played Efren when he first came to the US but did he play the other Philipinos and how did he do? Parica was the man back then but did he play Buddy? How did they match up and who won? I would love to hear some stories on how Buddy matched up with the other top players and how he did.

D
 
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I am sure there are a lot of folks on this forum who can give you the Buddy Hall rundown when he was The Rifleman shooting down any and all players in his sights.

That said, do a little search on this forum for "Buddy Hall," and I'll bet you'll come up with some GREAT reading material as well. :)

JAM
 
i'm not a pool groupie. i know alot of pro's going back to 85, and met most of them. there are only 2 people in pool that I ever was star struck when I met them Buddy and Barry Szam.


Buddy is probably my all time favorite player for alot of reasons, another top top top pro said the same thing to me once, how strong is that????
 
Buddy actually has a hard to find and expensive biography out called "Rags To Rifleman" that has a ton of stories about him gambling.

Costs 100-300 a copy but its a good book.
 
DrawtheRock said:
I used to see Buddy play in a lot of tournaments in the 80's and 90's and he was great. Excellent Cue ball control, terrific stroke, and a ton of heart. What I wasnt able to do was see him in action with the other top players. Can some people like Jay Helfert give us to some insight of how good he was in action matches. I heard he played Efren when he first came to the US but did he play the other Philipinos and how did he do? Parica was the man back then but did he play Buddy? How did they match up and who won? I would love to hear some stories on how Buddy matched up with the other top players and how he did.

D
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Back in the early '70s Buddy played out of a room called Guys and Dolls in Sherveport, La. The owner there had a standing offer to back Buddy against anybody in the world. They didn't care how good anyone played, they figured that Buddy was going to string more racks together on a consistent basis than anybody else in the world. Remember, in those days everyone played "two shot push-out". That style of play produced more "stringing" of racks than today's one-foul rule. Players could take chances on breaking out clusters or playing position into a very tight area, knowing that if they did get hooked they could push out.

And here's something that you may find interesting. In 1986 I had a chace to sit down with Mr. Luther Lassiter for about a two hour conversation. His health was failing and he hadn't been able to go outside of his home town for some time. He was curious about the players coming over from that little island on the far side of the Pacific. He heard they were good but hadn't had the chance to see them play. But then he added that if they were going to match up for money, his money would be on Buddy Hall because "Buddy is the best player I've ever seen".

Two years later while in the Houston area I spent some time with Jersey Red (Jack Briet). Jersey's playing career spanned that of both Luther Lassiter and Buddy Hall. When the conversation turned to who the best ever 9-ball player was those two were at the top of his list. He added that of all the modern day (1989) players, Buddy's style of play was the closest to Luther's style. When he said that I remember thinking, "No wonder Mr. Lassiter said Buddy was the best player he had ever seen. He was looking at a reflection of his own game".
 
I would love to see buddy get in a little better shape, start practicing and really competing again. I don't want to have a thread on remembering buddy hall next to mizerak's memorial thread. I believe that is something that can be avoided.
 
DrawtheRock said:
I used to see Buddy play in a lot of tournaments in the 80's and 90's and he was great. Excellent Cue ball control, terrific stroke, and a ton of heart. What I wasnt able to do was see him in action with the other top players. Can some people like Jay Helfert give us to some insight of how good he was in action matches. I heard he played Efren when he first came to the US but did he play the other Philipinos and how did he do? Parica was the man back then but did he play Buddy? How did they match up and who won? I would love to hear some stories on how Buddy matched up with the other top players and how he did.

D
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Just a quick story. About 6 or 7 years ago when I was playing th Florida tour. (My wife and I have known buddy an been friends with him for about 12 or 13 years). I was watching Buddy play a match as I always did when he played(watching him put me in stroke) and he made 2 mistakes in a race to 9 and won the match. He came over and sat down next to me and said "Rob I cant play no more, but there was a time for about 20 years when I was THE MAN!" and the hair on my arms stood up when he said it. The way he said he wasn't bragging it was a fact.
 
RunoutalloverU said:
I would love to see buddy get in a little better shape, start practicing and really competing again. I don't want to have a thread on remembering buddy hall next to mizerak's memorial thread. I believe that is something that can be avoided.
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I'll second that one.
MULLY
 
Terrific player. One of the best that our nation has ever put together! One thing though: David Matlock beat him every time they played; big table and bar table sessions.
 
DrawtheRock said:
I used to see Buddy play in a lot of tournaments in the 80's and 90's and he was great. Excellent Cue ball control, terrific stroke, and a ton of heart. What I wasnt able to do was see him in action with the other top players. Can some people like Jay Helfert give us to some insight of how good he was in action matches. I heard he played Efren when he first came to the US but did he play the other Philipinos and how did he do? Parica was the man back then but did he play Buddy? How did they match up and who won? I would love to hear some stories on how Buddy matched up with the other top players and how he did.

D
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Buddy was THE MAN in the 70's and the 80's when it came to gambling. And in tournament pool, he was right on top with Sigel, Mizerak and Earl. Buddy was the most feared money player in the world until a little punk named Parica showed up in 1985. Parica played and beat everyone, giving up weight to most. As far as I know, he and Buddy broke even in two match ups, but Buddy didn't want any more of his business.

From the mid 80's to the late 90's, Parica was the most feared money player on the planet. NO ONE wanted anything to do with him. He was kind of like Lassiter in the 60's. Even today at age 59 or 60, not too many people are willing to challenge Jose.
 
RunoutalloverU said:
I would love to see buddy get in a little better shape, start practicing and really competing again. I don't want to have a thread on remembering buddy hall next to mizerak's memorial thread. I believe that is something that can be avoided.
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I would recommend a high protein modified fast diet, no eating after 6pm, six glasses of water per day with lots of daily walking.
 
clint3612 said:
David Matlock beat him every time they played; big table and bar table sessions.
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Not according to Rags To Rifleman, Then What?. Matlock did beat Buddy in an 18 hour barbox session, using the big cueball. Buddy then challenged him to a session using the regular cueball, but Matlock refused. Buddy did beat Matlock 7-1 in a barbox tournament which he won in Kansas City in 1985. The event was written about in "Pool and Billiard Magazine" by Mike Ives.

Matlock was generally regarded as the top barbox player. As far as the big track, I don't believe Matlock wanted any part of Buddy when he was beating everyone during the 1980's and early 90's.

Doc
 
I remember the first day I ever saw Buddy, it was in Hardtimes in Bellflower, I think it was when Mosconi was there in 89? or 87? It was as busy as I ever saw Hardtimes, I was near the front door the place was packed with people like a rock concert because Mosconi was in the entrance area if it was when he was there otherwise it was just for a big tournment-i'm pretty sure it was when Mosconi was there, its a big area in that pool room. I had just arrived and was standing there looking all over the place trying to figure out what I was going to watch, do, sweat, etc. Buddy comes crashing through the crowd in a hurry headed towards the front door, I was about 20 feet inside, He has a bright Hawaii looking shirt on and sunglasses with purple/pink fames on-like Tom Seleck on that TV show Magnum P.I. He was about 5 feet from me with a couple poeple between us(it was that packed-like the enteance of the DCC main room) and Buddy stopped and turned looking back over his shoulder and said "We gotta see if they get the 10 dimes up", then he just kept walking right out the front door. I couldnt see who he said that too. I stayed there the rest of the day and Buddy didnt come back until the next day. Nothing ever happened. I did my best to figure out what he was talking about but couldnt piece anything together. Infact I dont remember watching him play that trip. But I will awalys remember the fuchisa colored sunglasses he had on.
 
Buddy Hall

I used to watch Buddy play in the mid to late 80s. He's always had a stroke that I would sell my soul to the devil for. The last time I saw him play was 1998 if I remember correctly. He played a pro from Denver a race to 11 in ten ball for 10K and beat him up pretty good. I'd like to see him lose some weight and take better care of himself also, but, Buddy is Buddy.
 
gulfportdoc said:
Not according to Rags To Rifleman, Then What?. Matlock did beat Buddy in an 18 hour barbox session, using the big cueball. Buddy then challenged him to a session using the regular cueball, but Matlock refused. Buddy did beat Matlock 7-1 in a barbox tournament which he won in Kansas City in 1985. The event was written about in "Pool and Billiard Magazine" by Mike Ives.

Matlock was generally regarded as the top barbox player. As far as the big track, I don't believe Matlock wanted any part of Buddy when he was beating everyone during the 1980's and early 90's.

Doc
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Nice post Doc.
When Buddy was coming up, one guy he always had trouble with was a little known player named Seth "Buttermilk" Brown. But after Buddy got over that level, it was "Katie bar the door" for about the next 10-15 years!

I have often wondered this.....If you could take Buddy Hall when he was in "his zone", that time already alluded to by others in this thread, and match THAT Buddy Hall up against Louie "St Louie" Roberts when HE was in HIS zone, not missing anything, who would win? Buddy is certainly the far more credentialed champion, but I still think that would have been some match.

For me, Buddy Hall is the all time greatest with the cueball. He had whitey on a string and played near perfect position in his prime.
 
I remember about 6-7 years ago I first saw him at the U.S. Open 9-ball Championship. When I first laid eyes on him, I was completely star-struck. Buddy was the very first pro I watched on TV, and his long stroke with the trademark "pause" was the prettiest thing in the world.

I stared at him for nearly 5 minutes before I got the nerve to walk up and say hi.

So I go up and say, "Hey Buddy I'm a HUGE fan! Pleased to meet ya! I heard you used to play REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL good!" (In my mind, what I wanted to say was "I heard you were the best in the world for a long time" and it came out wrong)

Buddy gave me cross look and walked away.

It took me a few minutes to realize I made a TOTAL ass out of myself. After all, I just watched Buddy torch-in Efren either 11-5 or 11-6 and here I am saying "I heard you used to play real good."

Ah well, I guess we all get stage fright and makes asses of ourselves.
 
Buddy vs Louie

Buddy states in his autobiography that Louie tried and tried but couldn't beat him with the seven ball. I know this was Buddy's version but there is many that will back up this story. When Buddy was in his prime, I don't know of anyone I would rather watch play nine ball. Deliberate, smooth stroke, perfect two rail shape. He was like watching a famous artist painting a masterpiece!
 
DTL said:
When Buddy was playing in Shreveport he gave Louie the 7 two or three times and robbed him.
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This is correct. Louie used to hustle around and get up some money and go play Buddy with the 7, and go broke again. He never could beat Buddy. And no one else could spot Louie anything.
 
SpiderWebComm said:
I remember about 6-7 years ago I first saw him at the U.S. Open 9-ball Championship. When I first laid eyes on him, I was completely star-struck. Buddy was the very first pro I watched on TV, and his long stroke with the trademark "pause" was the prettiest thing in the world.

I stared at him for nearly 5 minutes before I got the nerve to walk up and say hi.

So I go up and say, "Hey Buddy I'm a HUGE fan! Pleased to meet ya! I heard you used to play REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL good!" (In my mind, what I wanted to say was "I heard you were the best in the world for a long time" and it came out wrong)

Buddy gave me cross look and walked away.

It took me a few minutes to realize I made a TOTAL ass out of myself. After all, I just watched Buddy torch-in Efren either 11-5 or 11-6 and here I am saying "I heard you used to play real good."

Ah well, I guess we all get stage fright and makes asses of ourselves.
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It's just so dammed painful to step on your dick like that. I plan what to say and how to say it and then something dorky as hell comes out of my mouth.

I met Buddy, as well as many other pros, at The Superman Classic. That tournament was held in Buddy's honor in his hometown of Metropolis Il and was my first time to see a pro tournament. I'll never forget how nice to me those top pros were. They treated me like just another pool player in a room of pool players. Buddy was very warm and open. I was hoping he would win his own tournament but I had to settle for my 2nd favorite player as the winner. Nick beat Johnny Archer for the win. I left there really pumped about pool.
 
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