First time I met Don Willis was the summer of 1965 or 1966 as an impressionable youngster of 13 or 14 that had just started hanging around the pool room. Forgive me for not remembering exact dates as it was over fifty years ago.
First a little background:
The place was a pool room that went by the name "OLE'S" owned by Virgil "Ole" Pope located in Madison WI.
Ole, I would describe as an upper echelon short stop pool player, that would gamble with any of the road players that came through town. I had witnessed Ole run over 150 balls playing 14.1 and 8 racks of 9-ball which made him a hero to me. I saw him play, with mixed results, Dallas West, Willie Munson, Jim Rahlihan (the original Springfield Rifle), Frank "Sailor" Stellman, Bill Cress, Al Miller, Jerry Brieseth and others that a failing memory will not bring to mind.
If you were to walk down a long flight of stairs and leave OLE'S there was a bar located several doors to the right called the Velvet Swing, in which many of the older clientele where known to imbibe.
Now one late afternoon a traveling salesman stops in the Velvet Swing to enjoy a few refreshments before retiring for the evening. He has a wonderful gift for gab and after purchasing several rounds of drinks gets to bragging of his feats and accomplishments, including how at one time he was a champion pool player.
I would describe the salesman as medium height, stout and senior of age, although he was probably in his mid fifties, I as a 14 year old kid thought him to be short, fat and old.
On the second day the salesman repeated his visit to the Velvet Swing and after a fifth of Crown Royal made a visit to Ole's and made sure he was heard. Third and forth day of his progressively earlier visits to the saloon were followed by loud boisterous visits to the pool room.
On that fourth day Ole inquired of the boisterous stranger what it would take to display his wares? The game was made and the old geezer only had to make the six ball in the game of nine-ball to win. Before the evening was over this stranger was the one giving the weight and everyone that bet against this fat drunk left with either a lighter or not existent bankroll.
That was Don Willis
Don Willis stopped by Madison twice more over the next 4 years, but those are different stories.
First a little background:
The place was a pool room that went by the name "OLE'S" owned by Virgil "Ole" Pope located in Madison WI.
Ole, I would describe as an upper echelon short stop pool player, that would gamble with any of the road players that came through town. I had witnessed Ole run over 150 balls playing 14.1 and 8 racks of 9-ball which made him a hero to me. I saw him play, with mixed results, Dallas West, Willie Munson, Jim Rahlihan (the original Springfield Rifle), Frank "Sailor" Stellman, Bill Cress, Al Miller, Jerry Brieseth and others that a failing memory will not bring to mind.
If you were to walk down a long flight of stairs and leave OLE'S there was a bar located several doors to the right called the Velvet Swing, in which many of the older clientele where known to imbibe.
Now one late afternoon a traveling salesman stops in the Velvet Swing to enjoy a few refreshments before retiring for the evening. He has a wonderful gift for gab and after purchasing several rounds of drinks gets to bragging of his feats and accomplishments, including how at one time he was a champion pool player.
I would describe the salesman as medium height, stout and senior of age, although he was probably in his mid fifties, I as a 14 year old kid thought him to be short, fat and old.
On the second day the salesman repeated his visit to the Velvet Swing and after a fifth of Crown Royal made a visit to Ole's and made sure he was heard. Third and forth day of his progressively earlier visits to the saloon were followed by loud boisterous visits to the pool room.
On that fourth day Ole inquired of the boisterous stranger what it would take to display his wares? The game was made and the old geezer only had to make the six ball in the game of nine-ball to win. Before the evening was over this stranger was the one giving the weight and everyone that bet against this fat drunk left with either a lighter or not existent bankroll.
That was Don Willis
Don Willis stopped by Madison twice more over the next 4 years, but those are different stories.
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