Joe Balsis' story isn't very well known, but it is quite unique.
After being one of the greatest junior players ever in the late 1930's and early 1940's and believed by some ready to be one of the game's true susperstars, Joe opted not to play pool professionally, instead going into the family business, the meat business, which later earned him his nickname "the meatman". It wasn't until the early 1960's, at the age of about forty, that Joe got back into serious tournament pool, but he made his mark quickly and won many titles, becoming ne of the game's true superstars.
Irving Crane had enormous respect for Joe, and John Ervolino once told me that he considered Joe to be the best staight pooler of the late 1960's. Who knows what kind of legacy Joe might have left if he'd played pool for his entire life? His name would, probably, be right there with names like Mosconi, Greenleaf, Crane, and Sigel.
And speaking of Sigel, when Mike won his first world striaght pool title in 1980, the guy he had to beat in the final at the Roosevelt hotel in NYC was none other than Joe Balsis, who must have been about sixty years old. I remember it well, as I was there sweating it.
