Frank Tullos- How Strong Of A Player?

Fast Davie NC

Fast Davie NC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know Frank and have been to his pool rooms for some years now. He is a nice guy and has taught me some things. Anyone who knows him... Knows that he has the "Gift Of Gabber"! Frank still plays good at this stage of his life, But what was his TRUE speed "Back In The Day"? Jay, Please Chime In!:cool:
 
Frank played GOOD! He could play for the dough too. It took a champion to beat him back in the day. And Frank always played on the natch, no artificial sweeteners needed! :rolleyes:
He could play a lonnnng time and take down the cheese. Saw him beat some pretty fair country players like Lisciotti, Massey, Eddie Burton and others. Of course today, he probably can't make a ball in the ocean. :smile:
 
Fast Davie NC said:
I know Frank and have been to his pool rooms for some years now. He is a nice guy and has taught me some things. Anyone who knows him... Knows that he has the "Gift Of Gabber"! Frank still plays good at this stage of his life, But what was his TRUE speed "Back In The Day"? Jay, Please Chime In!:cool:
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I don't know about his speed but I have a great Frank Tullos story related to cue protection.

It was about 1997/98 and I was on a cross-country road trip in a Dodge minivan that I had retrofitted to hold more than 100 Instroke cases. Someone told me about a Viking Tour stop in Charlotte and I got ahold of Mike Janis and asked if I could come and display cases and he said sure. So off I went. Get there to the Smokin' Cue which is still in the same strip mall today with the same pizza place next door and it's a rainy weekend.

Well I bring in 20-30 cases and lay them on the table and Frank comes over and starts looking at them and I give him the "protection" speech about my cases are made to prevent the cues from falling out and not rattle.....Frank stops me just as I am hitting my stride and says, "I don't care about that, they look good, they are new and I will sell them well in my poolroom, give me the price." - So he buys 10.

Then a few hours later Frank comes over to me and opens his It's George case and shows me a beautiful custom Pechauer with holly inlays that has dings in it. He says, 'I didn't care about what you said earlier about cues falling out but just now I was walking out to go get some food and I forgot to latch the case. I slung it over my shoulder upside down and the lid popped off and my cues hit the asphalt.'

I was really sorry to see such a beautiful cue marred like that but inside I was secretly vindicated and I know that Frank was able to use that example to sell a lot of my cases from that point on.

I didn't know how good he was at the time but I have heard that he can certainly hang with the best of them.
 
I saw him play some expensive one pocket 10 or 12 years ago. Jay is right, (as usual :smile:) it took a helluva player to beat him. He could play for days.
 
Fast Davie NC said:
I know Frank and have been to his pool rooms for some years now. He is a nice guy and has taught me some things. Anyone who knows him... Knows that he has the "Gift Of Gabber"! Frank still plays good at this stage of his life, But what was his TRUE speed "Back In The Day"? Jay, Please Chime In!:cool:
Click to expand...

He traveled up here from North Carolina and competed in a Planet Pool regional tour event. I can't remember the year, but I want to say 2004 or 2005.

I had never heard of him before, but those in the know were well aware of who he was. Well, to make a long story short, he rose to the top and won the tournament in a field of some pretty tough local dogs and pro players. ;)

He was a quiet, unassuming-type gentleman. Didn't socialize much. Just played pool and got the job done! :D
 
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