I think everybody in our pool world that comes from pool's golden years in USA has a Buddy story. Yours is beautiful! Thank you for sharing!
Buddy Hall - RIP
- Thread starter westcoast
- Start date
I used to create a lot of pages on Wikipedia for American pool players, but it's a very time-consuming chore due to the restrictions, rules, and the ability to back up what you write.
I found the photo that I cropped for Buddy's Wikipedia page. Here it is. I cut Keith off so I could put my photo that I had ownership of on Buddy's page. I am a Jr. Editor on Wikipedia, and posting photos on there requires a lot of study. You cannot just take somebody's photo and post it, and anything you write about someone must be backed up with references, or else the Sr. Editors and bots will delete it. This was my photo that I took, so I knew the bots and Sr. Editors couldn't delete it.
I love this photo. It was the first time I met Buddy. Seems like yesterday.
Ms. Lady,
What a thoughtful and beautiful tribute. At the end of my days, I hope there is someone out there who cares enough to to chronicle/remember me, the way you have the Rifleman here.
If there is an AZB hall of fame category for tributes in the afterlife...you my dear, have ascended to the Mount Rushmore of just such a place.
There are a number of members here, who make this place worthwhile. You are certainly at the top of that food-chain. Thank you for taking the time.
My sincere best.
j2
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've written here Hu.
@JAM knocked this one out of the park.
j2
I sure hate to hear Buddy passed away. RIP. He used to come by my cue repair booth back at the Wagon Wheel pro events in Atlanta back in the 80s and early 90s. Once he came by with several younger men following him all over the pool room acting like young apprentices waiting for some nugget of pool wisdom from the master. Buddy told me he wanted a LePro tip with Dime radius. Most pros asked for Nickel radius. Then he asked me to let him see the box. He turned several tips over looking at the back and said that is a good one, put it on for me. I put his tip on then one of his followers said Buddy pick me a tip out. Buddy looked at the flat side of the tips and said that is a good one. Every one of them asked Buddy to pick them a tip out for me to put on for them. After I put on several tips I was talking to Buddy and asked him what made the tips he chose better than the other ones. With a sly smile he said "Because I said so makes them better." Now most pro players ask for Dime radius. At least because he said so was the better Radius. His stroke was night and day smoother that everyone else's back then. If he would have had Johnny Archer's break I think he could have stayed at the top a lot longer.
Buddy, we all remember, was all business at the table, yet I recall one time when he couldn't help but show his lighter side.
At a PBT event in what I believe was 1998 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Buddy was playing Reyes in a close, well-played match. Like his fellow pros, Buddy knew that when you played a safe against Efren, the greatest kicker our game has ever seen, it better be a good one. Buddy played a safe that, at least to me, and probably to him, looked to be a rack winner.
When The Magician made the four-rail kick AND snookered back, the look on Buddy's face spoke volumes, but he managed to take it in stride and, as Reyes walked back to his player chair, Buddy gave him a pat on the back. Efren smiled widely and then Buddy smiled back at him. Professional respect in spades!
At a PBT event in what I believe was 1998 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Buddy was playing Reyes in a close, well-played match. Like his fellow pros, Buddy knew that when you played a safe against Efren, the greatest kicker our game has ever seen, it better be a good one. Buddy played a safe that, at least to me, and probably to him, looked to be a rack winner.
When The Magician made the four-rail kick AND snookered back, the look on Buddy's face spoke volumes, but he managed to take it in stride and, as Reyes walked back to his player chair, Buddy gave him a pat on the back. Efren smiled widely and then Buddy smiled back at him. Professional respect in spades!
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Buddy was Louie's nemesis.
Giving Jesus the 7 and the breaks...
Buddy won the US Open 9-ball when he was on the Miz senior tour.
I first heard of Buddy when he came through Weenie Beanie's in the early 70's, and beat Jimmy Rempe in a 10 ahead freezeout for $25,000. The table time was 45 cents. Rempe never missed a shot, but after he ran out following Buddy's only dry break, he broke dry himself and Buddy finished off the match. Buddy in his prime was the best 9 ball player I ever saw. In retrospect the funniest thing about that match was that back then Buddy was as thin as a rail and had hollowed out cheeks. Not the Buddy of later years!
I was sitting in the front row when Buddy beat Tang Hoa in the winners' bracket final and then again for all the cheese in the 1998 U. S. Open. He gave me his BreathRight nose bandage as a souvenir that I gave to a woman who played in our local tournaments. The winners' bracket final was one of the best matches I've ever seen in my life, and it's a shame that the Accu-Stats crew was taking a dinner break and didn't record it for posterity. After that match, the final was almost an anticlimax, as Buddy won easily.
But the most impressive memory I have of Buddy was at Joe Burns' Dayton tournament in 1974. Buddy won the 9 ball and the all-around title, but what I remember most was a side action match he had against Sigel, where both of them were playing opposite handed. I watched that match for a solid hour, and if I hadn't known better I would've sworn that they were playing with their "normal" hand.
I was sitting in the front row when Buddy beat Tang Hoa in the winners' bracket final and then again for all the cheese in the 1998 U. S. Open. He gave me his BreathRight nose bandage as a souvenir that I gave to a woman who played in our local tournaments. The winners' bracket final was one of the best matches I've ever seen in my life, and it's a shame that the Accu-Stats crew was taking a dinner break and didn't record it for posterity. After that match, the final was almost an anticlimax, as Buddy won easily.
But the most impressive memory I have of Buddy was at Joe Burns' Dayton tournament in 1974. Buddy won the 9 ball and the all-around title, but what I remember most was a side action match he had against Sigel, where both of them were playing opposite handed. I watched that match for a solid hour, and if I hadn't known better I would've sworn that they were playing with their "normal" hand.
I had a friend at that match at Weenie’s….Rempe was deemed the favorite, but Pittsburgh John figured Buddy had the backroom experience and unloaded for his biggest win at that point in his life.
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I remember that match well. The Sardo rack was being used that year, and Carmine Sardo and I would sometimes run into each other at the Holiday Inn restaurant for the breakfast buffet. If anybody made the 9 on the break, they were going to receive $500. I asked Carmine, "What's the best way to make that 9 on the break? What speed?" They had a speed gun on-site, too, that revealed how fast the cue ball went. Carmine said a medium speed would be best, not too hard and not too light, which was, I think, 18 to 22 mph. I was so excited to give the info to Buddy and Keith, like I had some inside information. Neither Buddy nor Keith made a golden break. It was fun, though, watching them try.Proof positive. In memory of the Rifleman.
Keith's smile says it all.
Some folks did make it that year. I can't remember who. But that was a nice incentive to win $500 on the snap.
Thanks for the pictures and memories of Buddy Hall.
I did visit the Wiki page, and I saw the photo above with Keith cut out.
I took your original photo and removed Keith and attempted to recreate Buddy's right arm. I am posting it below in case you ever need a more balanced isolated picture of Buddy from your original picture. It's not perfect, but it's not bad, either.
I tried to send you a DM, but I see that your account does not allow for that.
Yes Ray is spot on and almost 91! I spoke to him on the phone while I was at Derby briefly. Ray is a great guy.
Terrible day in pool to lose Buddy, sadly I never really knew Buddy. Only spoke briefly a few times.
I remember the first time I saw him, it was at Hardtimes Bellflower in 88. I was Star stuck
Rip
g0ds gReeN
Active member
Requiescat in pace 
At the Steve Mizerak Senior US Open in French Lick, Indiana back in November of 1999 Buddy was on a table and on the table next to him was Martin Rimlinger and another man I didn't know. The other guy was at the table and made a tough shot on the 4B and then proceeded to tell Martin how he was concerned about hitting the 5B, wasn't sure he could miss it, etc, etc.
Buddy must have been distracted because he turned and glared at the guy for 3-4 seconds. The guy must have been sharked because I remember him missing the 5B.
Buddy must have been distracted because he turned and glared at the guy for 3-4 seconds. The guy must have been sharked because I remember him missing the 5B.