Keith and the Szamboti
An old roadie of mine Gary Pinkowski, hooks up with the cartoonist that wrote the B.C. Cartoon, Johnny ?, who agrees to sponsor a major pool tournament in conjunction with the PGA Golf tourney (The B.C. Open is still held every year). Naturally, it is called the B.C. Open and they offer a guaranteed purse of $100,000 in 1985, with a $25,000 first prize. Big bucks back then. I can't go because I am raising my daughter Heather on my own, and she is in school.
But I summon Keith to my home in Venice and ask him how he'd like to go. We had made some scores in the past and Keith always seemed to play well when I was in with him. So I send in the $500 entry and make hotel and flight arrangements for Keith. One problem, he has no cue. So I tell him he can take any of my cues (maybe I had 5 or 6) except the Szamboti. Naturally the only cue he likes is the Szam. Reluctantly, I part with it.
Keith is off to Binghampton and agrees to call me each day with an update. Day One, he beats Rempe, day two - Varner and Mizerak, day three - Sigel and Hopkins. Keith is beating one champion after another and makes it to the finals on the last day. He has to play Mike Lebron, the current U.S. Open Champion. Back then, everyone feared Keith and Lebron wants to make a deal. It is 25K for first and only 10 for second. He wants to save 5K. It would make it 20 for first and 15 for second.
So Keith calls me and tells me the offer. I ask Keith what he wants to do. He says he'd like to play for the whole 35K. That's how confident he is. I tell him to go ask Lebron to play for the whole thing and see what he says. Keith calls me back in a few minutes and is giddy. He uses a few choice words to describe Mike's reaction to our "offer". Now, they play the match and Keith bombs him 11-3 in the finals, and we win the 25K. All good so far.
There is a hustler called the Whale, from New York, who is like 6'5" and 350 pounds. He had some previous doings with Keith and wants 1,000 from his winnings. Keith is not giving up a dime. I had already told Pinkowski to give Keith 12,500 and send me the other 12,500. So while he is having a celebration party in his room, the Whale makes off with my Szamboti.
Keith goes over to Philadelphia and blows all his money to the Fuscos, giving up weight. He flies home broke and I pick him up at the airport. One problem, no Szamboti. He tells me the Whale got it and took it to New York. Looks rather bleak at this point. I give Keith 200 and take him home to Orange County.
I'm glad he won and I came out about 10K to the good overall, but I'm sick about losing the Szamboti. Maybe it was worth 800 back then, but I loved the way it played. A couple of day later, I get a call from Brooklyn Butch, a notorious New York tuch hog. We are friends, because I helped him get his business started. He first congratulates me on Keith's win. And then, from out of the blue, he says "I heard you lost your Szamboti".
How do you know, I ask him. He just laughs and says he hears about everything. I tell him about the Whale and how he stole it from Keith. Butch says, "Do you want it back"? Of course, but how. He says to come to his shop the next afternoon. Okay, I go over to his shop in Glendale, and he tells me he knows the Whale for years from New York, and he is in the Golden Cue in Queens every day. He says the Whale is deathly afraid of him.
Butch calls the Golden Cue and asks for the Whale (Jerry ?) and sure enough, he comes to the phone. They chat a moment and then Butch asks him if he took Keith's cue. At first he denies it, but rather quickly owns up to it, stating that Keith owed him money. Butch tells him that the cue belongs to a friend of his, Jay Helfert. The Whale does not know me and could care less. Butch goes on to explain that he wants the Whale to ship the cue back immediately UPS.
I'm listening to this conversation, thinking this is useless. Of course the Whale doesn't want to send the cue back. Butch then tells him that if he doesn't, he will personally fly to New York and come to the Golden Cue, and pay the Whale a visit. And he asks him, "Do you want me to have to do that"? There is silence on the other end of the phone. Butch adds that he would be very mad if he had to do that, and the Whale would be very unhappy when he got there.
After a moment or two Butch gives the Whale the address of his shop and hangs up. Butch smiles at me and says the cue will be here in two days. Somehow, I find this hard to believe. Two days later, Butch calls me and says to come out and pick up my cue. Amazing, yes. True, also yes.
An old roadie of mine Gary Pinkowski, hooks up with the cartoonist that wrote the B.C. Cartoon, Johnny ?, who agrees to sponsor a major pool tournament in conjunction with the PGA Golf tourney (The B.C. Open is still held every year). Naturally, it is called the B.C. Open and they offer a guaranteed purse of $100,000 in 1985, with a $25,000 first prize. Big bucks back then. I can't go because I am raising my daughter Heather on my own, and she is in school.
But I summon Keith to my home in Venice and ask him how he'd like to go. We had made some scores in the past and Keith always seemed to play well when I was in with him. So I send in the $500 entry and make hotel and flight arrangements for Keith. One problem, he has no cue. So I tell him he can take any of my cues (maybe I had 5 or 6) except the Szamboti. Naturally the only cue he likes is the Szam. Reluctantly, I part with it.
Keith is off to Binghampton and agrees to call me each day with an update. Day One, he beats Rempe, day two - Varner and Mizerak, day three - Sigel and Hopkins. Keith is beating one champion after another and makes it to the finals on the last day. He has to play Mike Lebron, the current U.S. Open Champion. Back then, everyone feared Keith and Lebron wants to make a deal. It is 25K for first and only 10 for second. He wants to save 5K. It would make it 20 for first and 15 for second.
So Keith calls me and tells me the offer. I ask Keith what he wants to do. He says he'd like to play for the whole 35K. That's how confident he is. I tell him to go ask Lebron to play for the whole thing and see what he says. Keith calls me back in a few minutes and is giddy. He uses a few choice words to describe Mike's reaction to our "offer". Now, they play the match and Keith bombs him 11-3 in the finals, and we win the 25K. All good so far.
There is a hustler called the Whale, from New York, who is like 6'5" and 350 pounds. He had some previous doings with Keith and wants 1,000 from his winnings. Keith is not giving up a dime. I had already told Pinkowski to give Keith 12,500 and send me the other 12,500. So while he is having a celebration party in his room, the Whale makes off with my Szamboti.
Keith goes over to Philadelphia and blows all his money to the Fuscos, giving up weight. He flies home broke and I pick him up at the airport. One problem, no Szamboti. He tells me the Whale got it and took it to New York. Looks rather bleak at this point. I give Keith 200 and take him home to Orange County.
I'm glad he won and I came out about 10K to the good overall, but I'm sick about losing the Szamboti. Maybe it was worth 800 back then, but I loved the way it played. A couple of day later, I get a call from Brooklyn Butch, a notorious New York tuch hog. We are friends, because I helped him get his business started. He first congratulates me on Keith's win. And then, from out of the blue, he says "I heard you lost your Szamboti".
How do you know, I ask him. He just laughs and says he hears about everything. I tell him about the Whale and how he stole it from Keith. Butch says, "Do you want it back"? Of course, but how. He says to come to his shop the next afternoon. Okay, I go over to his shop in Glendale, and he tells me he knows the Whale for years from New York, and he is in the Golden Cue in Queens every day. He says the Whale is deathly afraid of him.
Butch calls the Golden Cue and asks for the Whale (Jerry ?) and sure enough, he comes to the phone. They chat a moment and then Butch asks him if he took Keith's cue. At first he denies it, but rather quickly owns up to it, stating that Keith owed him money. Butch tells him that the cue belongs to a friend of his, Jay Helfert. The Whale does not know me and could care less. Butch goes on to explain that he wants the Whale to ship the cue back immediately UPS.
I'm listening to this conversation, thinking this is useless. Of course the Whale doesn't want to send the cue back. Butch then tells him that if he doesn't, he will personally fly to New York and come to the Golden Cue, and pay the Whale a visit. And he asks him, "Do you want me to have to do that"? There is silence on the other end of the phone. Butch adds that he would be very mad if he had to do that, and the Whale would be very unhappy when he got there.
After a moment or two Butch gives the Whale the address of his shop and hangs up. Butch smiles at me and says the cue will be here in two days. Somehow, I find this hard to believe. Two days later, Butch calls me and says to come out and pick up my cue. Amazing, yes. True, also yes.
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