Can anyone identify this gentleman!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter manwon
- Start date
I was going to say Fast Eddie! 
It would appear to be "Fast Eddie" Parker, who, I think, was from Texas. As part of his shtick, he claimed to be the model for Fast Eddie Felson in the book/movie The Hustler. Walter Tevis was quoted as saying Parker's claim was no more truthfull than Rudolph Wanderone claiming to be the model for Minnestoa Fats. Parker called Tevis "a drunk" and claimed that he was an alcoholic liar. I had a few emails back and forth with him about his claim. There has never, to my knowlege, been any truth to it.
In the movie the "Hustler" Paul Newman was "Fast Eddie" Felson and in that movie they also said he was from "Oakland," I always thought they were talking about Oakland, CA since I lived there at the time.
The real "Fast Eddie" was from Texas as the story goes and I have also
heard that Ronnie Allen may have also been nick-named "Fast Eddie."
The real "Fast Eddie" was from Texas as the story goes and I have also
heard that Ronnie Allen may have also been nick-named "Fast Eddie."
jrhendy said:
I've heard this also, but IIRC, Tevis was quoted in Billiards Digest and other sources as saying Eddie and Fats were both composites of players he had met/known over the years. In truth, Ronnie and Rudy Wanderone may both have been parts of those composites. But not Parker. I don't think Tevis even knew him.
Ronnie Allen=Fast Eddie?????
I would tend to believe John Henderson when he tells me something. You might believe this guy too.
Ronnie (Fast Eddie) Allen:
1977, Joe Burns was holding his annual tournament in Dayton (Forest Park), Ohio.
Walter Tevis; author of "The Hustler" and later, "The Color of Money" was in attendance, and being a writer fascinated with the gambling aspect of pool, seemingly had asked all of my peers who the best money player was and they referred him to me.
I agreed to do a tape recorded interview with Mr. Tevis while playing chess in his suite at the Holiday Inn in Dayton, Ohio.
Subsequently, Nov.77 Sports Illustrated published a 3 page article about me, which began as me being the best money player in the world, and ended with me being some kind of womanizer...Go figure.
At one point during this interview, I became the interviewer instead of interviewee, I flat out asked Mr. Tevis who he based Fast Eddie Felson on?
His reply went something like this; I went to Corcoran's Pool Roon in Frisco and saw a young, brash player by the name of Ronnie Allen who was a worldbeater, got the idea for the book and the rest is fiction and history.
Rudolph Wanderone "Minnesota Fats" was "New York Fats" before The Hustler came out. He sued the movie studio and won $25,000 and the rights to the name Minnesota Fats, the similarities were undeniable on who Walter Tevis had based Jackie Gleason's character on.
I know who the real Fast Eddie Felson was based on in Walter Tevis's mind - - Ronnie Allen!
Ronnie was faster than a speeding bullet, able to lift spectators out of their chair, and who, disguised as a mild mannered poolplayer could talk the Pope into staking him, after all it wasn't gambling because Ronnie always had the nuts (pool slang meaning he couldn't lose), if you don't believe me, just ask Ronnie.
1967, Norwalk, CA.. The first time I saw Fast hit a ball, he was giving Dado (the phillipino) who was a pretty good player, a handicap. From afar I saw the crowd interest in the game and asked a sweater (professional watcher), how they were playing...
$300 one pocket, Ronnie's playing him - his 1 hand to Dado's 2, and giving him 8 to 5 and the break. Tough game huh?
I walked in close for a better view (so help me this is true), Ronnie was almost frozen on the end rail, there were four balls that had been broken out of the stack and they were surrounding Dado's pocket.
Ronnie started grinning, talking to the crowd in general and Dado in particular, said something to this effect; I don't understand it Dado, don't you ever make a mistake, man you move as good as I do.
Look at the trap I'm in here.
Ronnie looking hard at the shot, still talking, smiling and chuckling about what a bad game this is, Then he seemed to see something(a way out) nobody else could see...
Ronnie jacked up (w/1 hand) & fired into the highest ball above Dado's pocket...
When the smoke cleared - all 4 balls were spinning toward and transplanted in front of Ronnie's pocket, and low and behold - the cueball was frozen against the stack!!!
Dado looked like he just got sentenced to the electric chair!!!
To this day it is right up there with the best one pocket shots of all time. Fast Eddie beat him flat after that, Dado never won a game...
In 1966 - Ronnie won the Straight Pool, Nine Ball, and One Pocket All-Around Championship, held at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas.
For over 20 years, nobody would play him even-up one pocket. Facts speak for themselves, in 1971 Ronnie grabbed the microphone at the beginning of the Hustlers Tournament in Johnston City Illinois, offered everybody there 10 to 8 in one pocket --no takers.
Ronnie will go down in my mind as having the highest gear I've ever seen in one pocket, and you know I've seen them all.
Ronnie will go down in my mind as being one of the most entertaining players to watch.
Ronnie will go down in my mind as someone who always looked for and created action.
Jack (Jersey Red) Breit told it like it is (or was), he said; " With plastic balls, Ronnie Allen is the greatest one pocket player of all time."
Ronnie ( Fast Eddie Allen ) deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
He deserves it, justice demands it... Jimmy Reid
I would tend to believe John Henderson when he tells me something. You might believe this guy too.
Ronnie (Fast Eddie) Allen:
1977, Joe Burns was holding his annual tournament in Dayton (Forest Park), Ohio.
Walter Tevis; author of "The Hustler" and later, "The Color of Money" was in attendance, and being a writer fascinated with the gambling aspect of pool, seemingly had asked all of my peers who the best money player was and they referred him to me.
I agreed to do a tape recorded interview with Mr. Tevis while playing chess in his suite at the Holiday Inn in Dayton, Ohio.
Subsequently, Nov.77 Sports Illustrated published a 3 page article about me, which began as me being the best money player in the world, and ended with me being some kind of womanizer...Go figure.
At one point during this interview, I became the interviewer instead of interviewee, I flat out asked Mr. Tevis who he based Fast Eddie Felson on?
His reply went something like this; I went to Corcoran's Pool Roon in Frisco and saw a young, brash player by the name of Ronnie Allen who was a worldbeater, got the idea for the book and the rest is fiction and history.
Rudolph Wanderone "Minnesota Fats" was "New York Fats" before The Hustler came out. He sued the movie studio and won $25,000 and the rights to the name Minnesota Fats, the similarities were undeniable on who Walter Tevis had based Jackie Gleason's character on.
I know who the real Fast Eddie Felson was based on in Walter Tevis's mind - - Ronnie Allen!
Ronnie was faster than a speeding bullet, able to lift spectators out of their chair, and who, disguised as a mild mannered poolplayer could talk the Pope into staking him, after all it wasn't gambling because Ronnie always had the nuts (pool slang meaning he couldn't lose), if you don't believe me, just ask Ronnie.
1967, Norwalk, CA.. The first time I saw Fast hit a ball, he was giving Dado (the phillipino) who was a pretty good player, a handicap. From afar I saw the crowd interest in the game and asked a sweater (professional watcher), how they were playing...
$300 one pocket, Ronnie's playing him - his 1 hand to Dado's 2, and giving him 8 to 5 and the break. Tough game huh?
I walked in close for a better view (so help me this is true), Ronnie was almost frozen on the end rail, there were four balls that had been broken out of the stack and they were surrounding Dado's pocket.
Ronnie started grinning, talking to the crowd in general and Dado in particular, said something to this effect; I don't understand it Dado, don't you ever make a mistake, man you move as good as I do.
Look at the trap I'm in here.
Ronnie looking hard at the shot, still talking, smiling and chuckling about what a bad game this is, Then he seemed to see something(a way out) nobody else could see...
Ronnie jacked up (w/1 hand) & fired into the highest ball above Dado's pocket...
When the smoke cleared - all 4 balls were spinning toward and transplanted in front of Ronnie's pocket, and low and behold - the cueball was frozen against the stack!!!
Dado looked like he just got sentenced to the electric chair!!!
To this day it is right up there with the best one pocket shots of all time. Fast Eddie beat him flat after that, Dado never won a game...
In 1966 - Ronnie won the Straight Pool, Nine Ball, and One Pocket All-Around Championship, held at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas.
For over 20 years, nobody would play him even-up one pocket. Facts speak for themselves, in 1971 Ronnie grabbed the microphone at the beginning of the Hustlers Tournament in Johnston City Illinois, offered everybody there 10 to 8 in one pocket --no takers.
Ronnie will go down in my mind as having the highest gear I've ever seen in one pocket, and you know I've seen them all.
Ronnie will go down in my mind as being one of the most entertaining players to watch.
Ronnie will go down in my mind as someone who always looked for and created action.
Jack (Jersey Red) Breit told it like it is (or was), he said; " With plastic balls, Ronnie Allen is the greatest one pocket player of all time."
Ronnie ( Fast Eddie Allen ) deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
He deserves it, justice demands it... Jimmy Reid
belmicah said:
I meant the only person that I remember hearing being called Fast Eddie. As I remember it, Parker began calling himself that after the movie came out. Fats did the same. That's in Hustler Days by R. A. Dyer, about Fats, I mean. I first heard of Parker in the mid '90s, in a post on rec.sport.billiard. I'd never heard of him before that, and I HAD heard of a lot of good players who weren't well known, through some road agent friends/acquaintances.
This reminds me of something funny from Fast Eddie's trick shot show. He had an assistant who traveled with him; I guess the guy helped him set up trick shots, etc. Anyway, the guy was wearing this jacket that said "1/2 Fast Eddie" on the back. When Fast Eddie came into the pool hall he introduced himself and made some comment about how his assistant had a tendency to think that he was Fast Eddie, so Eddie had his jacket made to remind him that he was just "half-assed Eddie", lol.
He seemed like a really nice old guy, but it was kind of sad because a lot of his shots didn't work real well on that crooked 8-footer, and a couple of local buttplugs were heckling him over it. Eddie just acted like they weren't there and continued with his show, and if a shot failed him twice he would pull out his wallet and set it on the table. He said "ok, the money's on the table, it's going in this time." All of his third attempts found the pocket, much to the chagrin of the hecklers, of course.
Aaron
He seemed like a really nice old guy, but it was kind of sad because a lot of his shots didn't work real well on that crooked 8-footer, and a couple of local buttplugs were heckling him over it. Eddie just acted like they weren't there and continued with his show, and if a shot failed him twice he would pull out his wallet and set it on the table. He said "ok, the money's on the table, it's going in this time." All of his third attempts found the pocket, much to the chagrin of the hecklers, of course.
Aaron
jrhendy said:
This is a helluva lot closer to the truth. Ronnie used the name Eddie around California when he first came out here, in about '59. Someone (maybe Jack Perkins) pinned "Fast Eddie" on him because he always wanted to raise the bet.
He came along way before "Fast Eddie" Parker, who didn't adopt that name until AFTER the movie came out.
hemicudas said:
I watched his act up close and personal for 20 years. There will never be another one like him. As to who played better, him or Efren? I will only say this, they had different styles of play. If I had to pick between them when they were both at their peak, I'm betting RA all the way. He had way too many weapons, both on the table and off. His gab alone was worth two balls.
And Ronnie was a fighter. He would go for the jugular. And no one hit a tough shot under pressure any better. AND he just gambled so damn good!
I use to live in Ft. Walton Beach, FL in the mid 70s for a short while. There was an older guy there that also called himself, Fast Eddie. His real name was Chris Mageehan(sp). Chris, was around many of the Johnston City tournaments and was a very good player in the late 50s and early 60s but was not the real Fast Eddie.