George Rood, one of the great unknowns

[Bob Jewett]

The following article is from the free archive of the Dayton Daily News. I'm not sure that the date is right since that would put George turning 83 years old in November, 1997, and I had the impression he was slightly younger than that. I met him in early 2007 at DCC and I don't think he was 92 then.

ROOD A TRUE POOL SHARK
PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
SECTION: SPORTS
Tom Archdeacon
SPORTS FEATURE COLUMNIST
DATE: August 17, 1997
EDITION: CITY
Page: 1D

As he sat in a quiet corner of the Airway Billiards Bar and Grill, George Rood told the story of the day Minnesota Fats got a little bit skinnier:
"I'd left home at 15 because of my stepfather. The old man would whip me, curse me, it was bad. The only place I could go to keep warm and find something to eat was the local pool hall we had in Marietta. Called it the Smoke Shop and I began running errands for the gamblers, the card players and bootleggers there.
"Well, I also was pretty much a natural on the pool table and after I got to where I could play well, I was going across the (Ohio) river to West Virginia - Parkersburg, Huntington, Charleston - and playing for money. I was real young looking - looked like a little boy - and I got plenty of action.
"After I graduated high school, I worked at the pool hall. One day this big 16-cylinder LaSalle pulled up out front. Out stepped Fats. He had two ladies in tow and they were both dressed to the nines. Back then Fats called himself New York Fats or Double-Smart Fats. He was loud and obnoxious and self-indulgent. Bragged all the time, but that made him great at stirring up a game.
"He'd heard of me, but never seen me and when he walked in, he said, `Sonny, I'm hunting for Rood.' I said, `He's not here, but I'll play you.' He just laughed, `Kid, you don't have enough money!'
"I ran next door to the bookmaker and came back with a fist full of cash. Fats laughed and we flipped a coin to see who'd break. I won and while he was still over there opening the case of his pool cue, I ran the first rack of nine-ball. While he was dressing the cue tip, I ran the second. He was powdering his hands when I ran the third. I did four and five, too, and that was it. He never got a shot."
As Fats waddled back to his car and headed out of Marietta - his wallet a little thinner, himself quite a bit smarter - he realized whom he had just met. And the lesson the legendary hustler learned that day more than 60 years ago is still being taught around Dayton and Springfield today. When you're shooting pool with 82-year-old George Rood, you better win the flip. That, or keep your car in short-term parking. You won't be staying long.
Nobody knows that better than Todd Recher, who along with Hal Johnson, owns Airway Billiards on Needmore Road. The 43-year-old Recher shoots pool - nine-ball, straight pool or one-pocket - with Rood five, sometimes six hours, every Friday afternoon at Airway.
This past Friday they played on a back table beneath a picture of a pool-playing Mark Twain. On the wall behind them was a large colorful mural showing many of the great champions of the past. It was a perfect setting. Rood not only belongs in the mural, but in a Twain tale. He's got something in common with the best of those riverboat gamblers and confidence men that Twain found on his beloved Mississippi.
"George is from a by-gone era. When you look back at the famous players, he not only has played most of them, but beaten quite a few," said Recher, who held a 1950s newspaper clipping of just such a feat. "His stories are classic. And what's remarkable, he was world-class while only playing part-time. He had a full time job and another life."
That other life included more than 55 years as a nationally-known dog handler. Today, he still judges dog shows across the country, as well as in China, Japan, Colombia and England.
But that's the world of bark and this is a story of George Rood's bite. It comes when he picks up a pool cue.
Like the time he and two pals went to southern Indiana looking for Hubert Cokes, the millionaire oilman and pool hustler, who hung out with Titanic Slim Thompson, a man of such imaginative con, he'd waltz a guy outside the pool hall and lay him $3 to $2 odds that the sparrow on the left would take flight before the one on the right. Turns out Slim had studied sparrows, could tell a male from a female and knew a male almost always flies away first.
Well, Rood was something of a birdman himself. He liked pigeons.
"On the way, we stopped in some little Indiana farm town," he said. "We were just sitting there in a pool room when some bookie walked in and said, `Any you farmers want to shoot pool?' I shook my head, but when he said nine-ball for $50 a game, I said I'd try."
On this day, Rood had to shade his game just enough to barely win and yet make it seem like he was giving his all: "I had to play so bad. I couldn't draw the cue ball, couldn't make spot shots or he'd quit. Ended up winning $2,000 that day and another $2,500 the next night. Never did find Warbucks or Slim."
Beneath the shoeshine and the smile, a money player like Rood is all savvy and skill. He had the latter in reserve as evidenced by his other athletic pursuits: "When my stepdad used to chase me, I'd always go to the river. He couldn't get me there. I could swim that river without breaking stroke. Sometimes, I did it four and five times a day."
Rood became a good enough swimmer that he made it to the Olympic swimming and diving trials in 1936 before being hurt in a diving-board accident. He also played football at West Virginia Weslyan and had a brief minor league baseball stint in North Carolina.
Pool, though, is his first priority. He came to Dayton in 1939 and over the years he owned two pool halls, the Cue and Bridge in the Northside Shopping Center and East High Billiards in Springfield. It was there in March of 1954 that the great Willie Mosconi - whom Rood would beat two years later in an exhibition - set the world record when he ran 526 balls without a miss. The record still stands.
Rood was the nine-ball champion of Ohio for a dozen years and played all the greats - from Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter and Jimmy Caras to Fats again - when they visited Dayton.
"At one time George was one of the 10 best players in the world," said 68-year-old Deeno Gounaris, another of Dayton's legendary players and himself a state nine-ball champion. "He's a guy who's seen and done it all."
Rood can tell you of the time in 1947 he went to Norfolk and won $9,200, only to lose it again when he played Rags Fitzpatrick. He can tell you about calling the bluff of three West Virginia brothers who threatened to shoot him for his pool table deeds and, with prompting, he'll of the time he touched up a guy's nose with a pool cue in Hazzard, Ky.
Although three months shy of 83, Rood still looks as if he could hold his own. He said he eats a handful of vitamins, garlic pills and ginseng every morning, followed by a slug of vinegar "for muscle tone." His only problem, he said, is his eyes. He had cataracts removed, but he said the implants have messed up his depth perception.
"If I could see, I still could play," Rood said.
Recher shook his head and later whispered, "He still can play." That's evidenced by Rood's trips to Springfield - sometimes three a week - to play a guy half his age for $200 a game.
"I wouldn't bet against George in anything, even if it was arm wrestling," said Recher.
That's what a guy in Beckley, W.Va., once learned: "Went to play Bud Hypes, nine-ball, $100 a game. He had me down 15 games. By the next day I was even. Then from midnight to 6 a.m. I ended up winning $6,600 and a Buick Roadmaster.
"Spectators were betting heavy on the side and one guy said, `Alright, now I'll run you a race for $500'. I said, `No, I don't run.' Then I figured whatever I'd suggest he wouldn't go for. That's why I brought up horseshoes and ping pong - I knew nothing about ping pong. The guys said to forget that stuff. Finally, he said, `I'll swim you across the lake out there.' I couldn't get my shoes off fast enough. It was like stealing candy from a baby."
Rood was still laughing at the memory as he returned to his game with Recher - and promptly ran the table.
* CONTACT Tom Archdeacon at 225-2156 or e-mail tom_archdeacon@coxohio.com

 

[book collector]

He was born in 1913 so he was 94 in 2007. I met him when he was 83 and he played A speed. Despite having not played for over 25 years, because of the cataracts, and being busy judging and raising show dogs. I was 45 and in great shape and couldn't keep up with him.
I remember talking to Eddie Robin about George, and he told me a story about going to look for him one time to hustle him.
He said he and his partner walked in the pool room, and there was a big game going on in the back , they went and sat down and the guy at the table just kept running out . After 5 racks Eddie said he leaned over and asked the guy beside him if that was George Rood , the guy said heck no , George is giving this guy the 7 ball and killing him.
Eddie said he and his partner looked at each other, then got up and left right after that.
We both had a pretty good chuckle.
I think this is in one of the interviews done on George, but he had won a spot to swim in the Olympics in 1936, but he broke his neck in a diving accident and couldn't go. He learned to swim in the Ohio River, because he had 2 stepbrothers who were several years older than him and a lot bigger, and they would tag team and beat him up. He said the stepfather always blamed him and never did anything .He found out he was a better swimmer than either of them and he would just jump in the river to escape.
George got about as much spin on the cueball as anyone I ever watched play, and he did it with a very short bridge, Maybe 4 or 5 inches for a regular shot and many times he just used a little nip stroke. It was beautiful to watch when he was on.

 

[jay helfert]

I grew up in Dayton and George was a legendary player who everyone gave deference to. When I was 20 I got a job working the counter at the Cue and Bridge. This was after George had sold it to Don Nicholas, but he still came in and practiced every afternoon on the front table for maybe an hour or two. The local players all left him alone or just sat and watched him play.

One day in walks New York Blackie. I knew him from Johnston City. He asked me if George Rood played there and I said yeah, and he would probably be in soon. Blackie just sat there and waited. Soon enough here comes George and gets the balls and heads to table one where Blackie is sitting. George racks the balls and runs a couple of racks of Straights, and then Blackie asks him if he’d like a game. George seemed surprised but said sure. Blackie asks him if he likes to play 9-Ball and George says sure again. Blackie asks him if he would a little bet, like ten or twenty a game. George’s eyes got big and he said suit yourself.

They start right out for 20 a game and George just keeps running out every time he gets a shot. Blackie is congratulating him at first but after awhile he begins to get frustrated. He asks George when will he get a turn and George just smiles. After maybe twenty games Blackie quits. He has only won a game or two. He says, “That’s enough for me.”

Blackie puts his cue away and leaves quickly. George goes back to practicing Straights as if nothing had ever happened. Frank Reeves, a local player, tells George that guy is a hustler from New York. George says, “I knew he was a hustler. “

 

[jay helfert]

A couple of weeks later in comes Eddie Kelly. He parks his Caddy out front and walks in with a fancy case and dressed real sharp. I’m thinking Blackie sent him, because I saw them hanging together in Johnston City. Eddie was supposed to be the best young player in the country.

Kelly gets the balls from me and starts practicing on the front table. After 30 minutes or so in comes George. He asks me why I gave out his table and I told him the guy asked for it. So George goes and sits down to watch Kelly shoot. Right away Kelly asks George if he’d like a game. I could tell he knew who George was, Blackie probably gave him a description.

Eddie says how about some 9-Ball for ten a game and George says okay. Same thing happens and George is running out rack after rack. Kelly asks George to raise the bet and he says no. This goes on until George is maybe 200 ahead. Now Kelly is mad and asks him one more time to raise the bet. George looks him in the eye and says, “You’ll have to win it back the same way you lost it!” They play one more game and Kelly quits. And then he’s gone.

A month or so later Lassiter comes in and takes a seat by table one. He says hi to a couple of guys who recognize him. Soon enough in walks George. I’m thinking we are about to have a big game, but George walks right over and greets Luther. They shake hands and sit there and chat for the next hour or so. They never hit one ball! Eventually they leave together to get a bite to eat.

 

[tomatoshooter]

You’ll have to win it back the same way you lost it

That's a good one

 

[book collector]

A couple of weeks later in comes Eddie Kelly. He parks his Caddy out front and walks in with a fancy case and dressed real sharp. I’m thinking Blackie sent him, because I saw them hanging together in Johnston City. Eddie was supposed to be the best young player in the country.

Kelly gets the balls from me and starts practicing on the front table. After 30 minutes or so in comes George. He asks me why I gave out his table and I told him the guy asked for it. So George goes and sits down to watch Kelly shoot. Right away Kelly asks George if he’d like a game. I could tell he knew who George was, Blackie probably gave him a description.

Eddie says how about some 9-Ball for ten a game and George says okay. Same thing happens and George is running out rack after rack. Kelly asks George to raise the bet and he says no. This goes on until George is maybe 200 ahead. Now Kelly is mad and asks him one more time to raise the bet. George looks him in the eye and says, “You’ll have to win it back the same way you lost it!” They play one more game and Kelly quits. And then he’s gone.

A month or so later Lassiter comes in and takes a seat by table one. He says hi to a couple of guys who recognize him. Soon enough in walks George. I’m thinking we are about to have a big game, but George walks right over and greets Luther. They shake hands and sit there and chat for the next hour or so. They never hit one ball! Eventually they leave together to get a bite to eat.

George told me he played Lassiter 3 times , George won once and lost twice , he said Luther was a great player, then I asked about Don Willis, he said they also played three times and Willis never won. He told me Willis was a really good player for getting the money, but he was not Lassiters calibre of player He also surprised me when he told me Jimmy Moore was one of the best nine ball players he ever played. He said he played Moore in the late 1940s in Norfolk and he never missed. Then he told me about an old man he also played in Norfolk in the late 40s that he finally beat , but he said, I was in dead stroke and the guy was really old, and beat up, from a tough life, but he still played great .
I went through all my pictures with George, late one Christmas eve, and he picked out Thomas Hueston as the guy. I had about 20 different photos of him from old tournament posters and articles over the years and George was 95% sure it was him. Hueston would have been 67 in 1949 ! Imagine someone running into Efren Reyes tomorrow that has no clue who he is , and Efren catches that gear on you? lol
George told me he had never known who the guy was, but that when they were playing, he had wondered how good this guy must have been in his prime.
I know there are a million stories in the Naked City and there have been a lot of people say things that were not true or fudged a bit to make them sound better, but I never have had anything he told me , not turn out to be truthful. He never really started out to become known later in life. I started taking him to the DCC and he met Steve Booth and a few other people and they were all very kind to him. They welcomed him into their circle and heaped praise on him , who doesn't like that? But he had already been famous in the dog breeding and judging world, I 'm not sure which one of them gave him the greatest satisfaction , but I know he embraced both. He had a great long full life, I hope to see him again, I miss him a lot.

 

[obe1]

Thank you for these stories!!

 

[jay helfert]

George told me he played Lassiter 3 times , George won once and lost twice , he said Luther was a great player, then I asked about Don Willis, he said they also played three times and Willis never won. He told me Willis was a really good player for getting the money, but he was not Lassiters calibre of player He also surprised me when he told me Jimmy Moore was one of the best nine ball players he ever played. He said he played Moore in the late 1940s in Norfolk and he never missed. Then he told me about an old man he also played in Norfolk in the late 40s that he finally beat , but he said, I was in dead stroke and the guy was really old, and beat up, from a tough life, but he still played great .
I went through all my pictures with George, late one Christmas eve, and he picked out Thomas Hueston as the guy. I had about 20 different photos of him from old tournament posters and articles over the years and George was 95% sure it was him. Hueston would have been 67 in 1949 ! Imagine someone running into Efren Reyes tomorrow that has no clue who he is , and Efren catches that gear on you? lol
George told me he had never known who the guy was, but that when they were playing, he had wondered how good this guy must have been in his prime.
I know there are a million stories in the Naked City and there have been a lot of people say things that were not true or fudged a bit to make them sound better, but I never have had anything he told me , not turn out to be truthful. He never really started out to become known later in life. I started taking him to the DCC and he met Steve Booth and a few other people and they were all very kind to him. They welcomed him into their circle and heaped praise on him , who doesn't like that? But he had already been famous in the dog breeding and judging world, I 'm not sure which one of them gave him the greatest satisfaction , but I know he embraced both. He had a great long full life, I hope to see him again, I miss him a lot.

Thanks for this info. I looked up to these guys and knew not to ask them any personal questions. To do that would be disrespectful.

I feel fortunate to have seen many of these greats while still in their prime, even if it was near the tail end. I became friendly with only a few. Fats, Jimmy Moore, UJ Puckett, Don Willis, Joe Balsis, Cisero Murphy, Cornbread and Danny D. of course, all opened up to me from time to time. Willie to a lesser degree.

The player I heard so much about but died before I came along was John "Rags" Fitzpatrick, who passed away in 1960 at the age of 40. They all said he, along with Lassiter, were the two best of their era. No one could beat Rags for the cash! I wish I knew more about him.

I may have said this before, but it bares repeating. To a man all the old timers who had seen and played with both said that Greenleaf was the greatest player of all time! I heard this same sentiment many times.

 

[book collector]

Thanks for this info. I looked up to these guys and knew not to ask them any personal questions. To do that would be disrespectful.

I feel fortunate to have seen many of these greats while still in their prime, even if it was near the tail end. I became friendly with only a few. Fats, Jimmy Moore, UJ Puckett, Don Willis, Joe Balsis, Cisero Murphy, Cornbread and Danny D. of course, all opened up to me from time to time. Willie to a lesser degree.

The player I heard so much about but died before I came along was John "Rags" Fitzpatrick, who passed away in 1960 at the age of 40. They all said he, along with Lassiter, were the two best of their era. No one could beat Rags for the cash! I wish I knew more about him.

I may have said this before, but it bares repeating. To a man all the old timers who had seen and played with both said that Greenleaf was the greatest player of all time! I heard this same sentiment many times.

George knew Rags very well, he was the only player he ever spoke reverently of. Rags was the only player that George said he was sure he couldn't beat, if he had played full time. When we went to the Derby ,he would watch Efren every chance he got and he said Efren was like Rags , an innovator and always found a way, or a shot , others had not played, to win . But he said, Efren misses a lot , compared to Rags ,lol
Rags daughter actually reached out to George a few years before he passed and they got together and George told her everything he knew about her dad. I know she was extremely happy to find someone that really knew him and understood that life.
George was not easy to get to know, or even very friendly with most people. He was old, old school, and if someone stepped on his toes , they would get an earful and he did not care if you were twice his size or half his age.
The same thing was true of Joe Burns, I wanted to go talk to him and everyone told me "no you don't " but I asked George and he said . tell him George said your ok and he will either treat you good or tell you to get lost depending on how he feels, lol.
I went to his pool room and we started talking and he said "what do you want" I told him I had heard he had pictures from all his Dayton tournaments and I would like to copy them, and if I ever did anything to make money from them I would figure out a fair amount for their part and send it to him. He told his son in law to go get a big box and said here , bring it back when your done. I told him I didn't feel comfortable taking them with me but if I could have a 5 x 5 place in the corner I could do it there. That really made him at ease and he could not have been nicer to me any of the times I saw him before he passed.
One day he payed me a huge compliment, I had started shooting balls on the snooker table he had up front and he was at the desk doing paperwork not paying any attention. I quit after about an hour and he said , you play pretty good , and I thought he was just blowing smoke and he says no, I was listening, he said you were making a lot of cross sides and multiple rail and long shots at first and there at the end you made some cross corners and that there is one tough table, You have to be playing good to do anything at all on it . He was right, that was exaxtly what had happened and I did not think he even knew I was in the building. I wish I had been able to get his story also, I went to Cincy to meet Clem Metz several times but kept just missing him. George ran with a more genteel crowd at times but they were all from the same cloth.
I would have rather spent time with them, than any president or big shot in the world.
George really never talked about Greenleaf , he never said anything bad or good about him , I'm sure i brought his name up several times but the conversation never stayed there.

 

[jay helfert]

George knew Rags very well, he was the only player he ever spoke reverently of. Rags was the only player that George said he was sure he couldn't beat, if he had played full time. When we went to the Derby ,he would watch Efren every chance he got and he said Efren was like Rags , an innovator and always found a way, or a shot , others had not played, to win . But he said, Efren misses a lot , compared to Rags ,lol
Rags daughter actually reached out to George a few years before he passed and they got together and George told her everything he knew about her dad. I know she was extremely happy to find someone that really knew him and understood that life.
George was not easy to get to know, or even very friendly with most people. He was old, old school, and if someone stepped on his toes , they would get an earful and he did not care if you were twice his size or half his age.
The same thing was true of Joe Burns, I wanted to go talk to him and everyone told me "no you don't " but I asked George and he said . tell him George said your ok and he will either treat you good or tell you to get lost depending on how he feels, lol.
I went to his pool room and we started talking and he said "what do you want" I told him I had heard he had pictures from all his Dayton tournaments and I would like to copy them, and if I ever did anything to make money from them I would figure out a fair amount for their part and send it to him. He told his son in law to go get a big box and said here , bring it back when your done. I told him I didn't feel comfortable taking them with me but if I could have a 5 x 5 place in the corner I could do it there. That really made him at ease and he could not have been nicer to me any of the times I saw him before he passed.
One day he payed me a huge compliment, I had started shooting balls on the snooker table he had up front and he was at the desk doing paperwork not paying any attention. I quit after about an hour and he said , you play pretty good , and I thought he was just blowing smoke and he says no, I was listening, he said you were making a lot of cross sides and multiple rail and long shots at first and there at the end you made some cross corners and that there is one tough table, You have to be playing good to do anything at all on it . He was right, that was exaxtly what had happened and I did not think he even knew I was in the building. I wish I had been able to get his story also, I went to Cincy to meet Clem Metz several times but kept just missing him. George ran with a more genteel crowd at times but they were all from the same cloth.
I would have rather spent time with them, than any president or big shot in the world.
George really never talked about Greenleaf , he never said anything bad or good about him , I'm sure i brought his name up several times but the conversation never stayed there.

Thanks Book Collector! That sounds exactly like George. I never really had a conversation with him as a youngster. Basically, don't speak unless spoken to. First time I ever really spoke with him was like 40 years later at DCC when I reminisced with him about people we both knew from Dayton, Russ Maddox his old partner and Jake Spitler an old time player and mentor to many players around the Dayton area.

Joe Burns is another story. My father treated him for prostate problems and Joe looked out for me. As a young aspiring pool player I spent many a night in Forest Park Billiards, Joe's poolroom. Joe made sure no one messed with me while I was in there. And there were some real badasses who hung out there.

Joe always carried a stash of thousand dollar bills, maybe ten or twelve of them in his pocket at all times. When he got old and very sick he gave one to me. That one gesture blew me away. I kept that bill for over 20 years until a moment of short money led me to sell it to a collector.

Joe was a high speed Bank Pool player, only a couple of balls under Taylor. They actually played a few times in Dayton, Joe getting 9-7 and it was a close match up. I saw him play Cannonball with 8-7 and win, but Johnny looked a little under the weather that day (maybe hungover).

Joe had other talents that you may have known about, like the ability to open safes, lol. But we won't go into that here. I had a great affection for the man!

I also knew Clem from my time in Cincy at Mergards. He had recently done some time and was not prone to talk to strangers like me. I watched from a distance as he and Joey Spaeth fleeced the unsuspecting who came in looking for a game. Clem was also handy with a deck of cards and spent his senior years in Vegas playing low limit poker. To his credit he was considered second only to Rags when it came to One Pocket. But that was before my time. I never saw him play, other than gambling on proposition shots. He had a lot of them that he made money on.

 

[jay helfert]

George knew Rags very well, he was the only player he ever spoke reverently of. Rags was the only player that George said he was sure he couldn't beat, if he had played full time. When we went to the Derby ,he would watch Efren every chance he got and he said Efren was like Rags , an innovator and always found a way, or a shot , others had not played, to win . But he said, Efren misses a lot , compared to Rags ,lol
Rags daughter actually reached out to George a few years before he passed and they got together and George told her everything he knew about her dad. I know she was extremely happy to find someone that really knew him and understood that life.
George was not easy to get to know, or even very friendly with most people. He was old, old school, and if someone stepped on his toes , they would get an earful and he did not care if you were twice his size or half his age.
The same thing was true of Joe Burns, I wanted to go talk to him and everyone told me "no you don't " but I asked George and he said . tell him George said your ok and he will either treat you good or tell you to get lost depending on how he feels, lol.
I went to his pool room and we started talking and he said "what do you want" I told him I had heard he had pictures from all his Dayton tournaments and I would like to copy them, and if I ever did anything to make money from them I would figure out a fair amount for their part and send it to him. He told his son in law to go get a big box and said here , bring it back when your done. I told him I didn't feel comfortable taking them with me but if I could have a 5 x 5 place in the corner I could do it there. That really made him at ease and he could not have been nicer to me any of the times I saw him before he passed.
One day he payed me a huge compliment, I had started shooting balls on the snooker table he had up front and he was at the desk doing paperwork not paying any attention. I quit after about an hour and he said , you play pretty good , and I thought he was just blowing smoke and he says no, I was listening, he said you were making a lot of cross sides and multiple rail and long shots at first and there at the end you made some cross corners and that there is one tough table, You have to be playing good to do anything at all on it . He was right, that was exaxtly what had happened and I did not think he even knew I was in the building. I wish I had been able to get his story also, I went to Cincy to meet Clem Metz several times but kept just missing him. George ran with a more genteel crowd at times but they were all from the same cloth.
I would have rather spent time with them, than any president or big shot in the world.
George really never talked about Greenleaf , he never said anything bad or good about him , I'm sure i brought his name up several times but the conversation never stayed there.

That snooker table you practiced on was home to some legendary Pay Ball games where only the best of the best played in them. Denny Searcy won all the money two years in a row, very big scores! He made shots on that table that no one else could make. I watched him caress balls down the rail that fell softly into the corner pockets. I tried to do it later with BIH and couldn"t. That was one tough table so I'm impressed too.

 

[book collector]

That snooker table you praticed on was home to some legendary Pay Ball games where only the best of the best played in them. Denny Searcy won all the money two years in a row, very big scores! He made shots on that table that no one else could make. I watched him caress balls down the rail that fell softly into the corner pockets. I tried to do it later with BIH and couldn"t. That was one tough table so I'm impressed too.

I had heard about the Denny Searcy legendary games , but didn't know that was the table they were played on . I did wonder though. Joe said he had sent for Denny and they were partners in that game lol. I also knew about Clem , I met his ex son in law in Arizona and we shared some road stories of another kind. Fascinating guy in his own right. I actually played in Mergards one time , I had no idea how many champions were in there or I would have went the other direction, I won 90.00 playing 2 dollar nine ball. Man did I dodge a bullet, I found the only non champion in a room full of them, lol.
I also knew the story of Clem winning all Joey Spaeths money when he won the world tournament in 1964 in Georgia .and when he came home Clem was waiting for him. Joey was the champion at one pocket and Clem gave him 9 to 7 and got his prize money.

 

[jay helfert]

I had heard about the Denny Searcy legendary games , but didn't know that was the table they were played on . I did wonder though. Joe said he had sent for Denny and they were partners in that game lol. I also knew about Clem , I met his ex son in law in Arizona and we shared some road stories of another kind. Fascinating guy in his own right. I actually played in Mergards one time , I had no idea how many champions were in there or I would have went the other direction, I won 90.00 playing 2 dollar nine ball. Man did I dodge a bullet, I found the only non champion in a room full of them, lol.
I also knew the story of Clem winning all Joey Spaeths money when he won the world tournament in 1964 in Georgia .and when he came home Clem was waiting for him. Joey was the champion at one pocket and Clem gave him 9 to 7 and got his prize money.

I spent most of 1965 there. Sorry I missed that match. Was still in Oklahoma at the time.

 

[book collector]

I spent most of 1965 there. Sorry I missed that match. Was still in Oklahoma at the time.

I reread my posts and I'm sorry if I gave the impression I thought I was anything besides a mid level player at best, I had some moments like everyone, but they were very few and far between. That day on Joe Burns snooker table I just felt like I couldn't miss for some reason.

 

[jay helfert]

The following article is from the free archive of the Dayton Daily News. I'm not sure that the date is right since that would put George turning 83 years old in November, 1997, and I had the impression he was slightly younger than that. I met him in early 2007 at DCC and I don't think he was 92 then.

ROOD A TRUE POOL SHARK
PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
SECTION: SPORTS
Tom Archdeacon
SPORTS FEATURE COLUMNIST
DATE: August 17, 1997
EDITION: CITY
Page: 1D

As he sat in a quiet corner of the Airway Billiards Bar and Grill, George Rood told the story of the day Minnesota Fats got a little bit skinnier:
"I'd left home at 15 because of my stepfather. The old man would whip me, curse me, it was bad. The only place I could go to keep warm and find something to eat was the local pool hall we had in Marietta. Called it the Smoke Shop and I began running errands for the gamblers, the card players and bootleggers there.
"Well, I also was pretty much a natural on the pool table and after I got to where I could play well, I was going across the (Ohio) river to West Virginia - Parkersburg, Huntington, Charleston - and playing for money. I was real young looking - looked like a little boy - and I got plenty of action.
"After I graduated high school, I worked at the pool hall. One day this big 16-cylinder LaSalle pulled up out front. Out stepped Fats. He had two ladies in tow and they were both dressed to the nines. Back then Fats called himself New York Fats or Double-Smart Fats. He was loud and obnoxious and self-indulgent. Bragged all the time, but that made him great at stirring up a game.
"He'd heard of me, but never seen me and when he walked in, he said, `Sonny, I'm hunting for Rood.' I said, `He's not here, but I'll play you.' He just laughed, `Kid, you don't have enough money!'
"I ran next door to the bookmaker and came back with a fist full of cash. Fats laughed and we flipped a coin to see who'd break. I won and while he was still over there opening the case of his pool cue, I ran the first rack of nine-ball. While he was dressing the cue tip, I ran the second. He was powdering his hands when I ran the third. I did four and five, too, and that was it. He never got a shot."
As Fats waddled back to his car and headed out of Marietta - his wallet a little thinner, himself quite a bit smarter - he realized whom he had just met. And the lesson the legendary hustler learned that day more than 60 years ago is still being taught around Dayton and Springfield today. When you're shooting pool with 82-year-old George Rood, you better win the flip. That, or keep your car in short-term parking. You won't be staying long.
Nobody knows that better than Todd Recher, who along with Hal Johnson, owns Airway Billiards on Needmore Road. The 43-year-old Recher shoots pool - nine-ball, straight pool or one-pocket - with Rood five, sometimes six hours, every Friday afternoon at Airway.
This past Friday they played on a back table beneath a picture of a pool-playing Mark Twain. On the wall behind them was a large colorful mural showing many of the great champions of the past. It was a perfect setting. Rood not only belongs in the mural, but in a Twain tale. He's got something in common with the best of those riverboat gamblers and confidence men that Twain found on his beloved Mississippi.
"George is from a by-gone era. When you look back at the famous players, he not only has played most of them, but beaten quite a few," said Recher, who held a 1950s newspaper clipping of just such a feat. "His stories are classic. And what's remarkable, he was world-class while only playing part-time. He had a full time job and another life."
That other life included more than 55 years as a nationally-known dog handler. Today, he still judges dog shows across the country, as well as in China, Japan, Colombia and England.
But that's the world of bark and this is a story of George Rood's bite. It comes when he picks up a pool cue.
Like the time he and two pals went to southern Indiana looking for Hubert Cokes, the millionaire oilman and pool hustler, who hung out with Titanic Slim Thompson, a man of such imaginative con, he'd waltz a guy outside the pool hall and lay him $3 to $2 odds that the sparrow on the left would take flight before the one on the right. Turns out Slim had studied sparrows, could tell a male from a female and knew a male almost always flies away first.
Well, Rood was something of a birdman himself. He liked pigeons.
"On the way, we stopped in some little Indiana farm town," he said. "We were just sitting there in a pool room when some bookie walked in and said, `Any you farmers want to shoot pool?' I shook my head, but when he said nine-ball for $50 a game, I said I'd try."
On this day, Rood had to shade his game just enough to barely win and yet make it seem like he was giving his all: "I had to play so bad. I couldn't draw the cue ball, couldn't make spot shots or he'd quit. Ended up winning $2,000 that day and another $2,500 the next night. Never did find Warbucks or Slim."
Beneath the shoeshine and the smile, a money player like Rood is all savvy and skill. He had the latter in reserve as evidenced by his other athletic pursuits: "When my stepdad used to chase me, I'd always go to the river. He couldn't get me there. I could swim that river without breaking stroke. Sometimes, I did it four and five times a day."
Rood became a good enough swimmer that he made it to the Olympic swimming and diving trials in 1936 before being hurt in a diving-board accident. He also played football at West Virginia Weslyan and had a brief minor league baseball stint in North Carolina.
Pool, though, is his first priority. He came to Dayton in 1939 and over the years he owned two pool halls, the Cue and Bridge in the Northside Shopping Center and East High Billiards in Springfield. It was there in March of 1954 that the great Willie Mosconi - whom Rood would beat two years later in an exhibition - set the world record when he ran 526 balls without a miss. The record still stands.
Rood was the nine-ball champion of Ohio for a dozen years and played all the greats - from Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter and Jimmy Caras to Fats again - when they visited Dayton.
"At one time George was one of the 10 best players in the world," said 68-year-old Deeno Gounaris, another of Dayton's legendary players and himself a state nine-ball champion. "He's a guy who's seen and done it all."
Rood can tell you of the time in 1947 he went to Norfolk and won $9,200, only to lose it again when he played Rags Fitzpatrick. He can tell you about calling the bluff of three West Virginia brothers who threatened to shoot him for his pool table deeds and, with prompting, he'll of the time he touched up a guy's nose with a pool cue in Hazzard, Ky.
Although three months shy of 83, Rood still looks as if he could hold his own. He said he eats a handful of vitamins, garlic pills and ginseng every morning, followed by a slug of vinegar "for muscle tone." His only problem, he said, is his eyes. He had cataracts removed, but he said the implants have messed up his depth perception.
"If I could see, I still could play," Rood said.
Recher shook his head and later whispered, "He still can play." That's evidenced by Rood's trips to Springfield - sometimes three a week - to play a guy half his age for $200 a game.
"I wouldn't bet against George in anything, even if it was arm wrestling," said Recher.
That's what a guy in Beckley, W.Va., once learned: "Went to play Bud Hypes, nine-ball, $100 a game. He had me down 15 games. By the next day I was even. Then from midnight to 6 a.m. I ended up winning $6,600 and a Buick Roadmaster.
"Spectators were betting heavy on the side and one guy said, `Alright, now I'll run you a race for $500'. I said, `No, I don't run.' Then I figured whatever I'd suggest he wouldn't go for. That's why I brought up horseshoes and ping pong - I knew nothing about ping pong. The guys said to forget that stuff. Finally, he said, `I'll swim you across the lake out there.' I couldn't get my shoes off fast enough. It was like stealing candy from a baby."
Rood was still laughing at the memory as he returned to his game with Recher - and promptly ran the table.
* CONTACT Tom Archdeacon at 225-2156 or e-mail tom_archdeacon@coxohio.com

Thanks for finding this article Bob. Growing up in Dayton I read the Dayton Daily News every day. I feel fortunate to have seen George play at or near his prime in the 1960’s, when he was only 50ish. Most of these stories I had never heard before. George was not one to brag. He let his cue do the talking.

He is the only person I ever heard of who beat Bud Hypes on his home court in WV. I had always heard he was unbeatable there, so it was cool to read this.

I also knew Dino the jeweler quite well, long time considered the best player around Dayton outside of George. I never saw this two play, but they were often in the same poolroom. I suspect George spanked him once and Dino took a pass after that. He was no dummy.

Thanks again Bob. Never to old to learn something new.

 

[jay helfert]

George told me he played Lassiter 3 times , George won once and lost twice , he said Luther was a great player, then I asked about Don Willis, he said they also played three times and Willis never won. He told me Willis was a really good player for getting the money, but he was not Lassiters calibre of player He also surprised me when he told me Jimmy Moore was one of the best nine ball players he ever played. He said he played Moore in the late 1940s in Norfolk and he never missed. Then he told me about an old man he also played in Norfolk in the late 40s that he finally beat , but he said, I was in dead stroke and the guy was really old, and beat up, from a tough life, but he still played great .
I went through all my pictures with George, late one Christmas eve, and he picked out Thomas Hueston as the guy. I had about 20 different photos of him from old tournament posters and articles over the years and George was 95% sure it was him. Hueston would have been 67 in 1949 ! Imagine someone running into Efren Reyes tomorrow that has no clue who he is , and Efren catches that gear on you? lol
George told me he had never known who the guy was, but that when they were playing, he had wondered how good this guy must have been in his prime.
I know there are a million stories in the Naked City and there have been a lot of people say things that were not true or fudged a bit to make them sound better, but I never have had anything he told me , not turn out to be truthful. He never really started out to become known later in life. I started taking him to the DCC and he met Steve Booth and a few other people and they were all very kind to him. They welcomed him into their circle and heaped praise on him , who doesn't like that? But he had already been famous in the dog breeding and judging world, I 'm not sure which one of them gave him the greatest satisfaction , but I know he embraced both. He had a great long full life, I hope to see him again, I miss him a lot.

Your story reminds me of Mr. Tibbs, an old time pool hustler who spent his later years in Dayton (living with his daughter) after a life spent as a road man and never having a permanent home.

Tibbs was just an old drunk by now, maybe in his 60’s, he just sat in a corner of the poolroom (Forest Park Billiards), pretty much in a stupor all day. You would never see him practice or get on the table for weeks at a time.

But every once in a while some young gun
would come in looking for a game. They would wake Tibbs up, give him some coffee and send him to the table. Magically this old drunk would slowly come around and once again be the true pool player he had been all his life. I never saw anyone beat him, at best they barely held their own against him.

Most of the time Tibbs got the money, was given his cut, went out somewhere to get drunk and returned the next day to his spot in the corner of the poolroom.

Only a few lost souls like me still around who remember Mr. Tibbs.