He was an old timer from the day I first met him.--Slim was around all the action pool halls in Buffalo New York...----He knew Grover --Crazy Frank --Jerry---I used to pick him up and ride him to different pool halls before I left for New Orleans to live.-----The last time I saw him I was putting him on the greyhound in New Orleans so he could return to Buffalo after a month long unannounced visit....He is dead by now of course --unless he is like 115 years old...I wrote story about him on my Buffalo's Billiards face book and was just wondering how he made out . ... I am afraid it might not have been good.....I guess I am feeling guilty because he wanted to stay but I vetoed that vote... I was told he had the lease on the Hippodrome years back but lost it.....
I knew Slim a bit....like you, I gave him many rides home or to pool halls.
He was quite fond of Jean Balukas.....
...I believe he went to Japan with her when she was a teenager.
Many of us AZers don't do FaceBook....
....how about posting your article on Slim over here?
"Buffalo Slim was what he was called ---mostly just Slim.... Geez --he must have been 70 years old the first time i met him.-- Whenever I went to the Buffalo pool halls his apartment on main street was the first stop..I actually lived 50 miles outside of Buffalo by the way.... I would have to beat on the door at the bottom of the stairs ---or yell at the 2nd floor windows to get his attention.... Finally he might emerge --- down the stairs --in the car and away to ---some tournament .(his apartment more resembled a pawn shop than anything else ). ..... Leipolds in West Seneca---the Hippodrome( the greatest ) upstairs.... downtown---Phil's over the bowling alley---or to the Side Pocket Billiards ---which Glenn ran....What a place that was....pit bulls and cats running around----bails of hay with targets on them 3 high in between the gold crown pool tables...----Glenn practiced shooting his bow and arrow----there even was a prayer meeting twice a week there for a while----Slim said that was like part of Glen's probation---don't believe it kid ---he would tell me..-Slim always seemed to have money..--He was supposed to have had the lease on the Hippodrome but lost it----he ran a coin laundry for a while but said he made the mistake of whipping out a bankroll big as a head of lettuce to pay the bill when he and the laundry's owner went to eat one day....The owner told him --I think i might take the keys back .Thank You...---He said --I got greedy kid---I should have just took a little from each one...( washer and Dryers)---.Willis the painter who usually went on these Buffalo Pool Hall trips with me... said he got his mail one time and there was like 4 social security checks with his address but different names....;----when Willis mentioned it ---he said --You ask too many questions....More than a few times he gave me the same advice on the best and easiest way to rob a bank---You have to get the manager kid,---THE MANAGER...---by this time he was almost yellin at me....the MANAGER...get him in the side door....I mean who did he think I was?----I got nervous gambling for $5 a game.---did he really think I had the nuts to rob a bank....-----So in 1979 -80 ish I move down to New Orleans---been down here 5 -6 years....Part owner in the Sport Palace with Earl Heisler..the phone rings one day....the bartender says It's for Jimmy Malone---Now I know right there and then---not another word spoken who it is----SLIM----He never got names quite right. ---It was an employee of the New Orleans bus terminal---Slim had taken the greyhound from Buffalo to New Orleans ---he didn't know the name of the pool hall i was at----he made the employee look up pool halls in the yellow pages----Sport Palace had the biggest telephone ad ---call that one ,--he told the guy....Ask for Jimmy Malone----I get on the phone ,---the guy puts Slim on----Jim Kid he says ---Yeah Slim---I am at the bus station---come get me...bam -he hangs up.---i went and got him----it was August----he had slippers , no socks---worn out t-shirt----old fur coat ( in Aug)---no money---no luggage. ---He stayed for about a month but had in his mind to move here....Looking back at it ---He had nothing to go back to----I should have let him stay....But he went back on the bus----new shoes and socks --new pants new sweaters ---shirts --boxers --new luggage ---paid for his ticket --gave him a couple hundred traveling money------I never thought that he might have lost his apartment-----That was the last time I ever saw him----never even heard from him again.......always wondered what happened to him---I guess I should have let him stay....."
I knew Slim a bit....like you, I gave him many rides home or to pool halls.
He was quite fond of Jean Balukas.....
...I believe he went to Japan with her when she was a teenager.
Many of us AZers don't do FaceBook....
....how about posting your article on Slim over here?
