Ever Heard of Magnolia Red? (Old-Time Hustler)

[RabbiHippie]

Magnolia Red outed! Don't be fooled by this cue hustler! (Just kidding - Red has probably gone on to that big pool hall in the sky by now.) Puckett was 73 when this video was made, allegedly, but his birth year is questionable - Puckett claimed to not know his true age.

Yeah, Magnolia Red's cover is blown for sure but it's safe to say it doesn't matter anymore. I like to think we're preserving his memory through these stories.

Some of the old greats are shown on YT, both in their prime and during their later years. People who might never have seen Wimpy Lassiter play in person can see him on grainy old black and white videos. UJ Puckett himself was never filmed during his prime, but he can be seen in his sixties or later playing the great gambler and tush hog Cowboy Jimmy Moore, plus Minnesota Fats, Luther Lassiter, and others. Boston Shorty made it to one short video. I’ve seen Machine Gun Lou Butera play in person, and he played just like he does in the video of him – bang bang one shot after another with no hesitation. Even the great straight pool champion of many years,

Tush Hog--what a great old turn of phrase you don't hear much these days. For those who don't know, a "tush hog" was a brawler, someone you wouldn't want to get in a fight with. Picture the guy that a bookie or loanshark sent to collect on bad debts.

But I never heard anything like that mentioned before in connection with "Cowboy" Jimmy Moore. Obviously, Moore was a big guy (the cowboy boots made him seem even larger) but did he really have a reputation for getting rough? Certainly a few old time hustlers could be called "tush hogs," Hubert "Daddy Warbuck" Cokes and Titanic Thompson being prime examples.

I'm curious to hear any stories about how "Cowboy" Jimmy Moore got a reputation for being a "tush hog."