Fats wanderone

[cuejoey]

I seen Fats back about approx in 1962...It was after the movie The Hustler...He was on a tour promoting pool tables being sold by the Montgomery Ward store..It was in the basement of that store in a town near chicago...I had heard of his reputataion and went to see a seminar by him...There was quite a crowd gathered around the table...He played and made great shots and was constantly talking and joking for at least an hour...He was a great entertainer...One story i remember he said he just came back from playing pool with the Eskimos..He told us how they didn't have pool tables in Antartica so they drilled out some holes in the ice on a lake and played pool for hours with the Eskimos!
Everybody had a good laugh and a good time...I am glad i got to see a part of billiard's history by seeing Fats that memorable day.

 

[Island Drive]

NY City 40's

Fatty would drive thru the city and at times stop the car, shut off the engine and ''listen'' for the sound of pool ball collisions, then find that table and work a game.

 

[SLIM]

What was the point???????

i would still like to know what the purpose of this thread was.
The original poster has not chimed in since the begining.

Slim

 

[Pushout]

i would still like to know what the purpose of this thread was.
The original poster has not chimed in since the begining.

Slim

I'm not sure anyone really knows

 

[jay helfert]

Actually Jay, "Chris" was McGehan's nickname. His real name was Eddie "Chris" McGehan. (However, I didnt know Schriever's nickname)

Beard

He ALWAYS wore alligator shoes and Cokes hit him with this name at Johnston City. "Here comes Alligator Earl," he said and after that a few guys (Danny Jones, Cornbread, Whitey) started calling him that. Of course I think Cokes was also using that name to refer to Shriver's carnivorous approach to making games and winning money, i.e anything goes! Earl was awfully slick, with more moves than just about anyone else back then. :wink:

P.S. Fats claimed to have finished second in that first JC tourney, and most everyone (including me) believed him. I guess it's like a lot of his stories, "the truth slightly embellished."

 

[Tramp Steamer]

i would still like to know what the purpose of this thread was.
The original poster has not chimed in since the begining.

Slim

Sometimes there are those who will take a convoluted approach to a subject thinking they have discovered something new that might help them be more easily accepted into a group. It seldom works and usually has quite the opposite effect. It is entirely possible that this fellows intentions were perfectly honorable but shot himself in the foot by his lamentable presentation. In short, he screwed the pooch to the tune of about a hundred thousand red reps.

 

[cigardave]

I made it to Johston City for one very brief night back in '72, which is the last year they played at Jansco's... and the year that the FBI raided the place.

I was recently out of the Army (11/69 - 11/71) and was just about to start attending school at Southern Illinois U. at Carbondale, some 20 or so miles to the west of Johnston City. I had moved down from Chicago in July of '72. School was to start in September.

In '72, I was 23... just a young pup who enjoyed banging balls with his buddies. Those were care-free years.

I don't remember much of that night except that I rode my motorcycle there with a couple of buddies. It was pretty hot as I recall. The place was packed. We didn't stay long at all... no place left to sit.

Just wish now that I was more in tune with the pool world at that time... to fully appreciate what I had briefly walked into.

Unfortunately, the Johnston City tournaments became a thing of the past... and I was to continue to stay in Carbondale for the next 9 years. If only it had continued during that time... <sigh>

 

[3kushn]

Here's my Two thoughts on your above statement. If I were to pick ANY player to represent Fats in a movie it would be Rocket Roger Griffis. His nature and personality/size is near identical to Fats, second I would supply the biography that I did with Evelyn just 6 weeks after Fats died. I drove to Dowell, she put me up for the night, made me cook her dinner and I did a two hour documentary from the time they met, to when his dad passed, getting married on a landing and that Fatty used to put his cue tips in his pockets for months to age/cure/sweat/oil up the leather to make it better. Was fun spending time with her that week learned allot, what a gal, what a life.

Bill

I'm reading through all this and great point by those who knew him. Wanted to respond several times but no time for that.

A comment on his tips. He came into Ichy's (Stardust) and handed me a box of tips. They looked terrible. He told me he pulled them off of some cue racks and were really good. I picked one out which really looked like crap in the box but once put on and cleaned up it was awesome..

Fats was a great player especially when the $$ got interesting.

I'd bet on him in One Pocket, Banks and for those that don't realize 3-Cushion was supposedly his best game.

Thanks Fatty for those shots.
"Ya Can't Lollipop this one."

 

[3kushn]

I'm going to do something with the video in the next 12 mths.

I'm still on your list right?

 

[BillPorter]

My favorite Fats quote

Fun thread to read, despite the rather inauspicious beginning. Alfie Taylor, a long-term road player for near twenty years tells of how Fats helped him meet the woman who became his first wife. He had been trying to start a conversation with this attractive young woman who was hitting balls on a pool table in Cotton Bowling Palace (Dallas, Texas) around 1965. She was not responding to his efforts. Fats was in Dallas and, in fact, was there at the bowling alley that night. Alf had met Fats at a Johnston City tourney and ask Fatty if he would help him out with the young lady. Fats went over to the table where she was hitting balls, showed her some trick shots, and generally charmed her with his stories and BS. Then he told her that Alfie was "his agent" while he was in Dallas. That's all it took; Alf's stock had hit an all-time high with her. The two of them hit the road together and eventually married.

But what about the title of this post? OK, my all-time favorite quote from the Fat Man: "When I played pool I was like a good psychiatrist. I cured 'em of all their daydreams and delusions.” – Minnesota Fats

 

[KRJ]

OP Replies

The OP did finally speak again regarding his thread, only he started another thread rather than face the experts who know about 100 times more than he does about Fats. Me thinks he lacks a ball or two. Here is his rant from his NEW thread about the posters here;

Quote: "Dogassokie" AKA: the Original Poster:
man, i wrote about a tale concerning fats wanderone and wimpy lassiter, and i got some of the craziest retorts that i have ever heard. one guy, jay hefert, even has his own web site. just like rush limbaugh, glenn beck, michelle bachman, and sharon angle. one said that i should be ashamed for disparaging lassiter because i wrote about him swearing.to this person, if you think lassiter didn't swear, you've never seen him anywhere except network tv.

another said i didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground because of bentivegna's book about fats. the author rates fats as one of the best. who doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground? and i hope "island drive" bill meachum reads this again because i think i used to know him pretty good if he's tall, better pool player than i am, had his cue wrapped in electrical tape, played a lot with denny geiske and jon russo at siu, and was generally a nice guy. if you are the bill meachum that i knew in carbondale, ISN'T GETTING OLD NO GOOD?

and i'd like to get it straight that i liked fats just fine. he, rightly or wrongly, was a celebrity that always had time for the kids at the cue carom. fats, it might be mentioned, never went to crazyhorse because that was where gieski and dave malane(sp?) played. and fats did love animals as someone pointed out, so that is good. and i certainly never said he wasn't smart.

all i said was his fame was a sham because "the hustler" was not about wanderone. he took advantage of the sham. more power to him. but he claimed on many occasions to be the best player in the world and that was a blatant lie. he wasn't even in the top five in southern ill. i hope you guys get just as up in arms when some batshit crazy right wing nut calls the president a nazi.

 

[hunger strike]

tips off house cues.....

Bill

I'm reading through all this and great point by those who knew him. Wanted to respond several times but no time for that.

A comment on his tips. He came into Ichy's (Stardust) and handed me a box of tips. They looked terrible. He told me he pulled them off of some cue racks and were really good. I picked one out which really looked like crap in the box but once put on and cleaned up it was awesome..

Fats was a great player especially when the $$ got interesting.

I'd bet on him in One Pocket, Banks and for those that don't realize 3-Cushion was supposedly his best game.

Thanks Fatty for those shots.
"Ya Can't Lollipop this one."

Bennie Allen's grandson, Bill, told me that Willie Hoppe himself went around Kling & Allen's taking tips he liked by cutting them off with a knife ~ I wonder if Fats learned that from Hoppe. We'll probably never know. I do know that Allen did not like Fats. Bill says that Fats came into Kling's trying to hustle. Bennie approached him and they talked because Bennie didn't want him hustling out in the open in Kling's. Fats wanted to gamble with Bennie for some small money and Bennie told him that he wouldn't play his kind in Kling's but that if he wanted to go down the street and gamble (at Miller's Rec I believe) he would play him for ANY amount he wanted. Fats turned him down.
Allen died before The Hustler but beyond that the year is unknown. Allen played ALL GAMES. I have his Rambow-conversion Brunswick #36. He shot so many millions of shots that his hand wore down the pearl triangle edges.

 

[hunger strike]

great quote...

Fun thread to read, despite the rather inauspicious beginning. Alfie Taylor, a long-term road player for near twenty years tells of how Fats helped him meet the woman who became his first wife. He had been trying to start a conversation with this attractive young woman who was hitting balls on a pool table in Cotton Bowling Palace (Dallas, Texas) around 1965. She was not responding to his efforts. Fats was in Dallas and, in fact, was there at the bowling alley that night. Alf had met Fats at a Johnston City tourney and ask Fatty if he would help him out with the young lady. Fats went over to the table where she was hitting balls, showed her some trick shots, and generally charmed her with his stories and BS. Then he told her that Alfie was "his agent" while he was in Dallas. That's all it took; Alf's stock had hit an all-time high with her. The two of them hit the road together and eventually married.

But what about the title of this post? OK, my all-time favorite quote from the Fat Man: "When I played pool I was like a good psychiatrist. I cured 'em of all their daydreams and delusions.” – Minnesota Fats

This is the best Fats quote I ever heard of. He must've been hilarious.

 

[billy bones]

fatty

To me Fatty being a good player or not was irrelivent. I would pay him money just to keep him talking. What a story teller! He lived in my hometown of Nashville at the end of his life. He was totaling engaging and absolutely entertaining. Let us not forget that his antics brought national attention to our beloved game that was sufering from shall we say Bad Press in those days.

 

[demonrho]

...One story i remember he said he just came back from playing pool with the Eskimos..He told us how they didn't have pool tables in Antartica so they drilled out some holes in the ice on a lake and played pool for hours with the Eskimos!

Funny stuff

 

[Island Drive]

There was quite a crowd gathered around the table...He played and made great shots and was constantly talking and joking for at least an hour...He was a great entertainer...One story i remember he said he just came back from playing pool with the Eskimos..He told us how they didn't have pool tables in Antartica so they drilled out some holes in the ice on a lake and played pool for hours with the Eskimos!
Everybody had a good laugh and a good time...I am glad i got to see a part of billiard's history by seeing Fats that memorable day.

Fats always looked for the humor in life....

 

[book collector]

Someone in an earlier post said that Fats best game was supposed to be 3 Cushion Billiards.
Fats actually had a book about how to play pool and also one titled
Minnesota Fats Book Of Billiards.
I was surprised to find out that from what I heard or read, his father asked him what he wanted to do for a living and Fats said he wanted to be a billiard player.
His father then hired a former billiard champion, Eric Hagenlacher, to teach him.
I've never been able to find out what level he played the game out, I'm curious if anyone knows.
George Rood always spotted him the 7 ball in 9 ball and won, thats why i made the statement earlier that at 9 ball Fats needed the 6 from Lassiter.
Just because I would say that doesn't mean I am a hater , actually that is the opposite of what i thought of Fats.
He was a great entertainer , charismatic and funny and made people laugh and feel good. I wish we had a lot more of that.
From what I have heard about him he was an overall good guy.
I always have to put things in perspective though, at one tournament a guy asks Jose' Parica how another player plays One Pocket.
Jose' says "Oh, he don't play good , he play like Howard" talking about Howard Vickery.
For people who don't know Howard you would say , well he must be helpless, then a lot of people would play him and get their brains beat out.
Howard was / is not a world class player but on a given day he can make a lot of people hate the game of One Pocket.
To Jose' Howard was one of the sheeple but to a lot of players he was Dracula with a cue stick.

 

[Spider1]

The OP did finally speak again regarding his thread, only he started another thread rather than face the experts who know about 100 times more than he does about Fats. Me thinks he lacks a ball or two. Here is his rant from his NEW thread about the posters here;

Quote: "Dogassokie" AKA: the Original Poster:
man, i wrote about a tale concerning fats wanderone and wimpy lassiter, and i got some of the craziest retorts that i have ever heard. one guy, jay hefert, even has his own web site. just like rush limbaugh, glenn beck, michelle bachman, and sharon angle. one said that i should be ashamed for disparaging lassiter because i wrote about him swearing.to this person, if you think lassiter didn't swear, you've never seen him anywhere except network tv.

another said i didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground because of bentivegna's book about fats. the author rates fats as one of the best. who doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground? and i hope "island drive" bill meachum reads this again because i think i used to know him pretty good if he's tall, better pool player than i am, had his cue wrapped in electrical tape, played a lot with denny geiske and jon russo at siu, and was generally a nice guy. if you are the bill meachum that i knew in carbondale, ISN'T GETTING OLD NO GOOD?

and i'd like to get it straight that i liked fats just fine. he, rightly or wrongly, was a celebrity that always had time for the kids at the cue carom. fats, it might be mentioned, never went to crazyhorse because that was where gieski and dave malane(sp?) played. and fats did love animals as someone pointed out, so that is good. and i certainly never said he wasn't smart.

all i said was his fame was a sham because "the hustler" was not about wanderone. he took advantage of the sham. more power to him. but he claimed on many occasions to be the best player in the world and that was a blatant lie. he wasn't even in the top five in southern ill. i hope you guys get just as up in arms when some batshit crazy right wing nut calls the president a nazi.

Where is the other thread?


"Hustler days" talks about Fats being entered in the first two Johnston City events...maybe the OP didn't hear about that, or did it never happen?

 

[freddy the beard]

One tournament, the first

Where is the other thread?


"Hustler days" talks about Fats being entered in the first two Johnston City events...maybe the OP didn't hear about that, or did it never happen?

Fats only played in the first Johnston City tourn in 1961. He played in no more tournaments after that.

Somebody asked about his 3 cushion speed. At the big all around tourn in Mich at the fair grounds -- Harold Worst won top honors -- Fats played national 3 cushion champion Eddie Robbins a 50 pt game for $500. Fats ran 9 and out to win it, leaving Eddie in the one hole. I think Jay Helfert witnessed it.

Beard

 

[risky biz]

Interesting fact.
Willie Mosconi, of all people, did more to establish Mr. Wanderone as "Minnesota Fats", than anyone. While being interviewed by a reporter for the Longbeach Independent-Press-Telegram, about the movie, The Hustler, Willie made the off-hand remark that Gleason's character "was patterned after a real live pool hustler named New York Fats." The reporter asked Willie if he knew him, and Willie replied "Know him? He hustled me once". Wille then said " I broke Fats that day". The quote was repeated everywhere, even though Walter Tevis was denying it, and claiming Fats was a fictional character, he made up.

That is interesting and the first I've ever heard of Mosconi confirming it. That was probably before Fats showed up in the public eye. I've always believed that the Minnesota Fats character was based on Wanderone.