Concerning the history of 1960-70 NYC pool scene, Willy Masconi, George Balabuska, and the golden era of Pocket Billiards

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11am

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Nearly every morning I stop in the small, 20 table Billiards room in South Florida, that I maintain, and talk with one of the greatest educators of the game, Harvey Mason, who will be practicing one intricacy or another on a 9 by 4.5 table in the back corner of the room. On the back 8 tables, I redid all the subrails to tighten the pockets to 4.5 in the corners and 4.75 at the sides, and clothed the entire room with Simones 860 tournament blue on all tables, with the exception of the Snooker tables that have tournament green Strachan wool. Here in our little community, we take our pool seriously, lol. I did this at Harveys request, btw. Harvey is now 76 years old, and is one of the finest position players and pure ball strikers of his generation. His Daughter, JoAnn Mason Parker, was the 1990 US Open Womens Champion, so as an educator, Harvey's credentials stand pretty firm. In his era, he was ranked 14 in the world in straight pool, knew Willie Mosconi well, and played against him as well. The reason I am writing this, is I have been trying to convince this still brilliant player, educator, and incredible pool historian, to come onto this forum, and AZ Billiards in General, and tell his story, and share his knowledge with people who would actually appreciate it. Problem is, Harvey is old school, and not exactly computer savvy, so I told him, look, you were a close personal friend of the Balabuskas, you own two of Georges Cues, you hung out in his Garage, and you brought him the rosewood table leg, and gold inlays, along with the design, an George made you what became known as Buskas Golden Cue. That Cue was made for Harvey Mason. He was the original owner. He also knew Gus Zambotti very well, although he never owned one of Gus's cues, which he regrets for obvious reasons. His knowledge of that era, and the players of that era, who he competed against, is vast. So, I suggested I would put out a feeler here and see if there was enough interest to hear from the last of a dwindling breed of great old school road men that, have alot to offer the pool world. I want to coax him unto this forum. Help me out here guys!
 
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11am said:
Nearly every morning I stop in the small, 20 table Billiards room in South Florida, that I maintain, and talk with one of the greatest educators of the game, Harvey Mason, who will be practicing one intricacy or another on a 9 by 4.5 table in the back corner of the room. On the back 8 tables, I redid all the subrails to tighten the pockets to 4.5 in the corners and 4.75 at the sides, and clothed the entire room with Simones 860 tournament blue on all tables, with the exception of the Snooker tables that have tournament green Strachan wool. Here in our little community, we take our pool seriously, lol. I did this at Harveys request, btw. Harvey is now 76 years old, and is one of the finest position players and pure ball strikers of his generation. His Daughter, JoAnn Mason Parker, was the 1990 US Open Womens Champion, so as an educator, Harvey's credentials stand pretty firm. In his era, he was ranked 14 in the world in straight pool, knew Willie Masconi well, and played against him as well. The reason I am writing this, is I have been trying to convince this still brilliant player, educator, and incredible pool historian, to come onto this forum, and AZ Billiards in General, and tell his story, and share his knowledge with people who would actually appreciate it. Problem is, Harvey is old school, and not exactly computer savvy, so I told him, look, you were a close personal friend of the Balabuskas, you own two of Georges Cues, you hung out in his Garage, and you brought him the rosewood table leg, and gold inlays, along with the design, an George made you what became known as Buskas Golden Cue. That Cue was made for Harvey Mason. He was the original owner. He also knew Gus Zambotti very well, although he never owned one of Gus's cues, which he regrets for obvious reasons. His knowledge of that era, and the players of that era, who he competed against, is vast. So, I suggested I would put out a feeler here and see if there was enough interest to hear from the last of a dwindling breed of great old school road men that, have alot to offer the pool world. I want to coax him unto this forum. Help me out here guys!
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I think he would be a great addition to the forum, but if he were my friend, I would make sure he is educated about the trolls , and if he can't ignore them, he is better off left alone, to enjoy his days.
 
i live in vero beach florida
joann mason parker just came up to play in our monthly 9 ball tournament (which she won)
i was very impressed with her fundamentals and skill.
one of the older players in the room told me about her father harvey
he wasnt sure if harvey was still alive so i will pass along he is well and still shooting pool... (y) :)
what is the name and where is the pool room you work at /he plays at ?
check your pm
 
book collector said:
I think he would be a great addition to the forum, but if he were my friend, I would make sure he is educated about the trolls , and if he can't ignore them, he is better off left alone, to enjoy his days.
Click to expand...
Well yeah, there's that, but I've been a member here for many years, I'm approaching 69 years, and I see that there are many here that actually are interested in the golden age era that the movie " The Hustler" revived and kick started into what we have now. I'm trying to encourage this tremendous historical living resource to tell guys here, what he tells me over the years in countless informative conversations. It's gonna take a lot of prodding as it is. thank you for your encouragement, and I will pass it on to him. I'm still workin on just how the fuck to do this! Harvey has been in the process of writing a book, so he certainly has the ability to communicate in writing and speaking. He Loves to talk about anything pool related, in detail.
 
bbb said:
joann mason parker just came up to play in our monthly 9 ball tournament (which she won)
i was very impressed with her fundamentals and skill.
one of the older players in the room told me about her father harvey
he wasnt sure if harvey was still alive so i will pass along he is well and still shooting pool... (y) :)
what is the name and where is the pool room you work at /he plays at ?
check your pm
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was talking about that win with her yesterday when she was practicing here. She likes the back tables, and the 5x10 I converted from one of our billiards tables, that her father had wanted a few years ago. Put K55's back on all the tables as well, and got rid of the K 66. We live in a private community called Century Village East, CVE in Deerfield Beach. I'm the table mechanic there. Harvey gives private lessons here daily for years, and his skills are revered inside and outside of this facility. Harvey would be a top 5-10 player if there was a senior tour, hands down. His game is rock solid. I know, I've played him. I can shoot. It's called, rack the balls. The guys a pure shooter and strategist. We both follow and watch every match that comes up or is available to view, young or old. We talk a lot about the brilliance of the young players today, their discipline, and their shot making averages. Our conversations, and his insights are what would be of interest to this forum
 
11am said:
I'm sorry for the typo, and I thank you for your kindness in pointing it out, much appreciated, who is Efrem, btw?
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It was supposed to be a joke, I apologize if it wasn't funny. Neither Allum Hopkins nor Earl Strictlin, were ever able to pronounce his name.... My guess is that, they believed if they never said his name correctly, it would somehow diminish his power.
Obviously, it did not work.
 
book collector said:
It was supposed to be a joke, I apologize if it wasn't funny. Neither Allum Hopkins nor Earl Strictlin, were ever able to pronounce his name.... My guess is that, they believed if they never said his name correctly, it would somehow diminish his power.
Obviously, it did not work.
Click to expand...
I thought it was funny.
Reminded me of our own legend the Cowboy
 
11am said:
Well yeah, there's that, but I've been a member here for many years, I'm approaching 69 years, and I see that there are many here that actually are interested in the golden age era that the movie " The Hustler" revived and kick started into what we have now. I'm trying to encourage this tremendous historical living resource to tell guys here, what he tells me over the years in countless informative conversations. It's gonna take a lot of prodding as it is. thank you for your encouragement, and I will pass it on to him. I'm still workin on just how the fuck to do this! Harvey has been in the process of writing a book, so he certainly has the ability to communicate in writing and speaking. He Loves to talk about anything pool related, in detail.
Click to expand...

One option is to record him shooting some pool and telling stories. You could post those videos without much work. CJ Wiley does something similar with good results:

 
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measureman said:
I'll bet he is nice, he seldom posts anything nasty.
Some times his posts are very good other times they are really strange.
He is an AZB legend, I always read his posts.
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Cowboy is top notch. He’s 79 and is allowed to make a mistake or bad post now and then. He’s been my friend here a VERY long time. And I’ll always stick up for him. He’s earned it.

Respectfully
Fatboy🤠🤠
 
Enough about Coco let's get some stories from Harvey.
I am sure the 14.1 forum would be open to some sage advice. Or historical tidbits are always welcome.
 
11am said:
Nearly every morning I stop in the small, 20 table Billiards room in South Florida, that I maintain, and talk with one of the greatest educators of the game, Harvey Mason, who will be practicing one intricacy or another on a 9 by 4.5 table in the back corner of the room. On the back 8 tables, I redid all the subrails to tighten the pockets to 4.5 in the corners and 4.75 at the sides, and clothed the entire room with Simones 860 tournament blue on all tables, with the exception of the Snooker tables that have tournament green Strachan wool. Here in our little community, we take our pool seriously, lol. I did this at Harveys request, btw. Harvey is now 76 years old, and is one of the finest position players and pure ball strikers of his generation. His Daughter, JoAnn Mason Parker, was the 1990 US Open Womens Champion, so as an educator, Harvey's credentials stand pretty firm. In his era, he was ranked 14 in the world in straight pool, knew Willie Mosconi well, and played against him as well. The reason I am writing this, is I have been trying to convince this still brilliant player, educator, and incredible pool historian, to come onto this forum, and AZ Billiards in General, and tell his story, and share his knowledge with people who would actually appreciate it. Problem is, Harvey is old school, and not exactly computer savvy, so I told him, look, you were a close personal friend of the Balabuskas, you own two of Georges Cues, you hung out in his Garage, and you brought him the rosewood table leg, and gold inlays, along with the design, an George made you what became known as Buskas Golden Cue. That Cue was made for Harvey Mason. He was the original owner. He also knew Gus Zambotti very well, although he never owned one of Gus's cues, which he regrets for obvious reasons. His knowledge of that era, and the players of that era, who he competed against, is vast. So, I suggested I would put out a feeler here and see if there was enough interest to hear from the last of a dwindling breed of great old school road men that, have alot to offer the pool world. I want to coax him unto this forum. Help me out here guys!
Click to expand...
I never cared for NYCity to much of it... I pray that the people on this forum will let him, Harvey write his words and as long as I can read I will read all of them... Guy
 
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