buddy won tourneys in the 70s, as well the dayton ohio all around champion. Facts are they all like to duck the rifleman!
Did you know this about Buddy Hall, The man!!!
- Thread starter Lock N Load
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buddy won tourneys in the 70s, as well the dayton ohio all around champion. Facts are they all like to duck the rifleman!
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I've always suspected that Buddy Hall was showing respect to his elders
when he said Wimpy was the best. Lassiter has said the opposite.
Here is a clip from '99....Buddy is 54 and at least 100 pounds over weight
but still shows that golden stroke.
I first saw him in the 70's when he was fit...in this video he looks like he's
gasping for air...and still hits the ball so well it makes you want to cry.
..notice when a ball is bothering his bridge, Buddy always goes to the
short bridge...looks much more stable that jacking up from the other side
of the ball.
..http://www.google.ca/url?url=http:/...p+hall&usg=AFQjCNHIyHtcDDX76dUgC5oA02Nu52P9Kw
The book by W.W. Woody "Buddy Hall: Rags to Rifleman, Then What?" is by far the best pool book I have ever read and it took me about a month to get thru it. It was long and in small print and I simply did not want it to ever end. I was going to take some lessons from him a few years ago but he ended up getting sick and going to the Hospital back then and I am truly sorry that it never happened. He is a legend in his own time and that stroke is the best in pool and will never be duplicated.
Spot on Neil.
Can't eat trophies when your 80 yrs. old and you don't play World Class Pool any more. Trophies show nothing but an accomplishment you achieved sometime in your life, you can take money to the bank.
Hey Double HemLock, you are representing the Lock Society!!
I really enjoyed the link you posted on AZB. Buddy Hall was showing off. I did not tlk to Buddy today yet.
Many Regards,
Lock N load.
I really enjoyed the link you posted on AZB. Buddy Hall was showing off. I did not tlk to Buddy today yet.
Many Regards,
Lock N load.
You can't take money to the grave and a big score you made 40 years ago was gone 39 years and 51 weeks ago. On the other hand winning the US Open sticks around long after you are gone. Nearly 58 years ago Willie Mosconi put up his high run for free (well during an exhibition). How many big money games can you talk about from 58 years ago?
If a person has never seen Buddy's stroke in person then they can't really appreciate how smooth it really is.
I have played him a couple times and the best way I can describe it is that it looks like he barely hits the ball but the cue ball will then float to position. It's just amazing.
Even with a jump cue it's the same way. He stopped by my booth one year to try out a jump cue and he hits a few and declares that he knows how the cue deflects and then puts on a quick jump exhibition that was nothing short of incredible. Laughing all the time in his unique way. Using the jump stick with it's phenolic tip he hit the cue ball so quietly you would think it was a normal leather tip. After Buddy left we all tried to duplicate his stroke and no one could. Compared to buddy we looked like we were trying to stab the table to death. Buddy has the touch to drive penny nails with a sledgehammer.
If anyone wants to get a truly world class stroke then they should buy everything with Buddy on it and study it Clockwork Orange style until it's infused in their soul.
Buddy always says that the younger players hit the ball too hard. I agree.
First saw Buddy when he won the 1st Clyde Childress tournament in 1982. Had heard of his prowess even before then. Saw him play many times through the 80s and 90s. Like another poster pointed out, he won many tournaments before the 80s. He was amazing and his stroke was classic. As a player once said....he was slow death!
Another testament to his level of play was that I never saw anyone ask him to play for the cash. He was always the favorite in about every tourney I saw him at and he delivered. A lot of times these were pool room events under less than stellar equipment and conditions. Sure glad I got to see Cecil Paul Hall play in his prime! Just ask the pros of the last 30 years who they think was the best money nine ball player and I bet you Buddy's name is mentioned most often.
Another testament to his level of play was that I never saw anyone ask him to play for the cash. He was always the favorite in about every tourney I saw him at and he delivered. A lot of times these were pool room events under less than stellar equipment and conditions. Sure glad I got to see Cecil Paul Hall play in his prime! Just ask the pros of the last 30 years who they think was the best money nine ball player and I bet you Buddy's name is mentioned most often.
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PS. Buddy won PLENTY of tournaments in his life. At one point he won 8 pro events in a row and each one of them was won with a different Bludworth cue. Buddy would win the event and someone would want to buy his cue so he sold it and Blud shipped a new one.
At one time on the pro circuit it was the Buddy Hall/Mike Sigel show as they ended up in the finals most of the time.
At one time on the pro circuit it was the Buddy Hall/Mike Sigel show as they ended up in the finals most of the time.
One of my proudest beatings I ever took was from Buddy back in 1991 in Las Vegas, battling him for three days or rather afternoons in a row, sixteen and a half hours total of playing him 9-Ball, or rather, as it seemed to me, sitting on my bum watching him. When the dust settled and I paid him off (we played per game, and he was such a gentleman and full of trust, he refused by the end of each of the first two afternoons when I offered to pay him off for the day, offering to meet up and continue the next day - and he was so good-humoured about it, he even took me and my then-girlfriend out to catfish dinner one night!), he cheered me up saying I got a well-priced lesson, and that I should be proud of myself to be only nineteen games behind playing him even. I was still too young and self-involved at the time to see it that way (and playing with an unfamiliar cue I'd just bought new the day before), but of course, in his light-hearted, juvenile yet assertive joviality, he was right. His 9-Ball was the simplest in appearance, thus most perfect I'd ever seen. Given the consistency, his stroke (that beautifully light slow back swing), and not least physically, the steadiness of his stance and the way he'd stay down after every shot for all these hours, I was fully aware I'd witnessed one of the greatest players ever (he was then #1 on the pro tour, practicing for the ESPN World 9-Ball which took off that same week), but let me tell you, the most vivid memory of those three days I have is of the pain in my tailbone - I could hardly sit comfortably for at least a day or two, LOL! Nor will I ever forget a hilarious, if slightly awkward moment during catfish dinner, when my girlfriend asked him if he had any children, and after his answer in the affirmative, how many, when he had to correct himself after a while (of merrily munching away on his dinner, that is), making her wonder how much time, if any, a professional pool player gets to spend with his family if he's eternally on the road…
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
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These tournaments he won with a different cue were on the Florida tour. I guess you could inflate their importance and call them pro events.
I watched a ton of Buddy Accu-stats tapes from the 80s and the 90s. I also firmly believe his reputation is overrated. Of the tapes I own, he was rarely the favorite to win the match, let alone the tournament. When he won the U.S. Open, it was an upset. Sorry.
You are entitled to say what ever you like. The Florida Tour was always filled with top pros from around the country so winning one is always an accomplishment and winning 8 in a row is super strong no matter what. If Buddy was so overrated then he would never win 8 of them in a row.
Yeah it was an upset alright when Buddy won the US Open. Guess he upset all the players he beat to get to the finals as well.
You can call him overrated if you want to but his accomplishments speak for themselves. You won't find any professional player who will tell you they LIKED to be facing Buddy Hall in a tournament or for the money. Even now if we polled the top 100 players about how they feel about playing Buddy in a tournament match I doubt any of them feel Buddy is an easy draw.
This statement tells you how strong Buddy use to play I heard or read this some where I think maybe from Jay Helfert, but once at a tournament and this was back when Jose Parica was gambling high and barring no one, but Jose walked in the back room where all the gambling was taking place and Jose said the building has got the 8 ball except Buddy Hall or Johnny Archer.
And I'm sure there was plenty of World Champions there.
And I'm sure there was plenty of World Champions there.
Ummm, correct me if I'm wrong, but with those big old US Open trophies, and the dozens and dozens of others tourneys he won, they also threw Buddy a check for each one, right ? And I'm assuming he took that money to the bank....
True, but you can't buy pride either. In the end, all you have in life is your accomplishments and the memories that they provide. That is a pretty harsh reality. Personally, I'd rather have the memories of a job well done and a life well lived than have "money that you can take to the bank". But to each their own...
green with envy here, i'd love to have had an experience like yours. thanks for sharing.
Winning the events on the FL tour (8 in a row) is amazing! On the pro tour during the 80's and 90's, Buddy was never the favorite to win any particular event. For a player with his fabled reputation, you'd think he was the odds on favorite to win every event--he wasn't. Backroom stories of his multiple "packs" put on great players are interesting reading; however, I've never seen anything close to that on video.