I was about 20 years old and working at a used car lot in Dayton selling Suzuki motorbikes (really!). About a block down the street on the other side was a little downstairs poolroom, name long since forgotten. They had a ring game there every day, $1 on the five and $2 on the nine. If you make either ball out of turn it spots back up and you keep on shooting. So one day an acquaintance of mine wanders in and tells me some old man is robbing the ring game. I took a break from my job and went over to see for myself what was going on.
Lo and behold, sure enough it's a chubby Don Willis playing with a crooked house cue, leaning against the wall, looking like a salesman taking a break from work. Pretty soon it's his turn and he fires away at the balls and lucks in the five. It re-spots and he fires again, lucking in the nine. On and on this continues until the rack is over with Willis making four or five money balls and getting paid off by the other four players. One guy turns to me and says that it's the darnedest thing he's ever seen, how lucky this old guy is. I just smile and shake my head in understanding.
Pretty soon I had to return to work and by then the game was winding down, with players dropping out. The next day I went back and everyone was talking about the lucky old man who won over $100 in their ring game. Some of them were actually hoping he would come back. Now that's a damn good hustler in my book!
I saw a video where beirbower(?) tells Max Eberle some stories about Willis. Does anybody else have some?
I saw a video where beirbower(?) tells Max Eberle some stories about Willis. Does anybody else have some?
There is NO WAY that Don ran 45 racks of 9 ball without ball in hand after the break. I will give anyone that game on any 9 or 10 foot table like they had back then if they give up ten to one on the money like the story goes. In order for me to stay even the balls have to get funny one out of 19 racks.
Any pro reading this who wants to try you can beat me out of $20,000 if you freeze up at least $20,000. I love the old time stories but this one is a real whopper imo.
I think it might have been Larry Schwartz who told me about this prop bet while we were sweating a match but anyways...
Don Willis would befriend the owner of an establishment and gain access to the the building while it was closed. He would then start mapping out the floor by rolling a cue ball around. He would find the low spots, speed of floor, and the "rolls". Now the trap was set. He would bet the suckerers that he could jump cue ball off the table and hit said ball laying way off in the distance. People would bite because the shot would look ludicrous, not having a clear path to the ball. Sometimes the cue ball would jump off the table, roll 30 or 40 feet under some other tablles catch a low spot and start to bend while it rolled another twenty or 30 feet and lay snug up against the object ball you couldon't even see from the spot you started the shot from. One shot he jumped off the table, rolled all the way through the building, down a story of stairs, out the front door and hit a ball on the sidewalk.
Actually, it's one in 11. 10 runs and one miss to get back to even.
But the story might not have been re-remembered quite correctly. Willis might have been up 45 when the guy quit. And runouts were not required. And maybe Willis didn't have to make a ball on the break.
The way I heard it is that for a little over 40 racks, every time he got to the table he ran out. He didn't make a ball on the break every time though.
I think it might have been Larry Schwartz who told me about this prop bet while we were sweating a match but anyways...
Don Willis would befriend the owner of an establishment and gain access to the the building while it was closed. He would then start mapping out the floor by rolling a cue ball around. He would find the low spots, speed of floor, and the "rolls". Now the trap was set. He would bet the suckerers that he could jump cue ball off the table and hit said ball laying way off in the distance. People would bite because the shot would look ludicrous, not having a clear path to the ball. Sometimes the cue ball would jump off the table, roll 30 or 40 feet under some other tablles catch a low spot and start to bend while it rolled another twenty or 30 feet and lay snug up against the object ball you couldon't even see from the spot you started the shot from. One shot he jumped off the table, rolled all the way through the building, down a story of stairs, out the front door and hit a ball on the sidewalk.
True Story, I saw it on the internet back in 1973.
A hooker in a truck stop was told the story from a truckers cousin who is once removed 6 times.
Don just finished running 80 racks of 9 ball, 1 handed and blindfolded. He then ran 60 racks of one pocket, no hands, in 60 minutes, with a coffee break.
Here is where it almost gets unbelievable, but true.
This takes place in either Valley Billiards or Airway Billiards, she was not sure, the cousin was high on tranny fluid.
He says he will bet he can shoot an Ivory Billiard Ball to Florida and end up with an alligator; on film.
Of course the birds stack the cash on the light.
Don, with an 85 inch cue, jacks up and lets it fly. It goes right through the front door and rolls up route 70 to Players Billiards in Columbus, obeying the speed limit of course.
The ball lands in the toilet bowl where Willie Mosconi just flushed, and down it goes.Willie says, if I had that cue ball I could run a 1000.
Five minutes later it comes out of a sewer pipe in Lake Okeechobee and hits an alligator on the head and kills it dead.
This part is a little sketchy but true.
Ray Martin was bass fishing and caught it all on camera. Ray said he was going to put it in his book, 99 Critical Shots but that would have been 100 and had to leave it out.
Two weeks later Don was sporting a new Alligator wrapped Bushka, with matching shoes, jacket and underwear.
Whatever fool . Even at the speed of water, you can't get from Columbus to Florida in 5 min. Your full of shit!!