Gerry 'The Ghost' Watson moves to Manila!
- Thread starter Snapshot9
- Start date
hint....hint.....hint....HINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Ghost of the Philippines; Pool legend Watson making permanent move to Manila
Posted By Todd Hambleton
Updated 2 days ago
There are, apparently, second acts in pool.
Like he's done hundreds of times, Cornwall native Gerry Watson, "The Ghost'', is heading out on the road again . . . but this time he's not coming back. Consider it a permanent move, to Manila, in the Philippines.
"To sell everything you own - it's not something I'd want to do again,'' Watson said during a visit to the Standard-Freeholder boardroom. "It's a big equation, a very complicated thing (to move to the other side of the world).''
He's Canada's premier billiards showman, and he's been performing his act for 25 years, a fact he finds "kind of amazing''. As a pro, Watson has won three Canadian championships, including a pair of nine-ball titles.
But that's his former life.
He's even sold his 1-800 number of 12 years. Bosley Hair Replacement, of tony Bel Air, California, has it now.
Watson's $8,000, 1,500-lb. Diamond pool table at his Cornwall apartment - gone.
Why?
There are a few reasons. Watson has an older brother, Pat, who lives in the Manila area. Pat two years ago started working on his brother, telling Gerry "this is a heckuva pool area, you outta think about coming over here''.
It's too complicated a move, Gerry thought.
But a back-burner idea percolated for a while. And Gerry, eventually, decided on a move to "the heart of the pool world'', as he calls it; he sees it as a good career and life decision. He'll be close to Japan, China and Korea - all billiards hotspots.
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His age? Watson won't say. His only hint is, "close to 50'', and he says it with a laugh, and it isn't much of a hint, really. Put it this way, he said: if he were ever going to do this move, now was the time.
He used to have an exceedingly-busy travel schedule, often performing hundreds of shows a year. Things slowed down, and six years ago Watson sold his home in Toronto and moved back to Cornwall.
"The game is not on an upswing (in North America),'' Watson said this week, offering more insight into his decision.
The Ghost and his demons -Watson often has opened a window, allowing people to look in at his career concerns. Even legends worry about the next gig, and Watson once confided that for about 15 straight years, he wondered if it would be his last season of touring.
Watson worried about pool becoming too all-consuming for him, and for good reason: it was. This break, this move, will be good for him, he expects.
"People said I'll really be upset when I sell (the table),'' Watson said. "Well, I don't miss it . . . I'd wake up, it was there. It's 1,500 pounds, it's right front and centre at my place, you know? That all-consumed mental state . . . man, it was in its full blossom. It's not healthy. I don't know if that allows for (personal) growth.''
Watson will miss Cornwall. He'll always have fond memories of the place.
"The drive to win was instilled in me here, in the competitive world that was Cornwall (pool),'' he said. "Everybody played pool back in those days. Obviously, Cornwall has been really good to me.''
He will be back. Watson plans to each fall have a condensed seven-to-eight-week Ontario college tour. That would dovetail well with a restructuring International Pool Tournament major tournament in Las Vegas, then it would be over to L.A. for the trek back to the Far East.
As complicated as the move is, Watson used to be a citizen of the world; he expects to adapt well, and, besides, he's missed the quick pace of the Eighties and early Nineties.
"I've been here, semi-retired, doing my shows, but I really did miss all of that (world travel),'' Watson said.
He'll stay with his brother Pat probably just for a short time, before getting his own place in Manila, the capital of a 7,000-island archipelago in the western Pacific. The ocean, the new backdrop, might inspire some new shots for Watson, who in Canada used to have visions of them while driving his car.
He expects there'll be enough new shots and experiences to eventually produce another DVD in the Philippines, and to pen another book.
"It's all geometry, and you never know when it's going to come to you,'' Watson once said.
Geometry and geography have always dominated Watson's life. He'll still be waking up at odd hours with new pool-shot angles in his head, but it'll all be coming to him in Manila, a world away from his former home city of Cornwall.
Watson's website will remain in place, and it's www.gerrywatson.com.
The Ghost of the Philippines; Pool legend Watson making permanent move to Manila
Posted By Todd Hambleton
Updated 2 days ago
There are, apparently, second acts in pool.
Like he's done hundreds of times, Cornwall native Gerry Watson, "The Ghost'', is heading out on the road again . . . but this time he's not coming back. Consider it a permanent move, to Manila, in the Philippines.
"To sell everything you own - it's not something I'd want to do again,'' Watson said during a visit to the Standard-Freeholder boardroom. "It's a big equation, a very complicated thing (to move to the other side of the world).''
He's Canada's premier billiards showman, and he's been performing his act for 25 years, a fact he finds "kind of amazing''. As a pro, Watson has won three Canadian championships, including a pair of nine-ball titles.
But that's his former life.
He's even sold his 1-800 number of 12 years. Bosley Hair Replacement, of tony Bel Air, California, has it now.
Watson's $8,000, 1,500-lb. Diamond pool table at his Cornwall apartment - gone.
Why?
There are a few reasons. Watson has an older brother, Pat, who lives in the Manila area. Pat two years ago started working on his brother, telling Gerry "this is a heckuva pool area, you outta think about coming over here''.
It's too complicated a move, Gerry thought.
But a back-burner idea percolated for a while. And Gerry, eventually, decided on a move to "the heart of the pool world'', as he calls it; he sees it as a good career and life decision. He'll be close to Japan, China and Korea - all billiards hotspots.
Advertisement
His age? Watson won't say. His only hint is, "close to 50'', and he says it with a laugh, and it isn't much of a hint, really. Put it this way, he said: if he were ever going to do this move, now was the time.
He used to have an exceedingly-busy travel schedule, often performing hundreds of shows a year. Things slowed down, and six years ago Watson sold his home in Toronto and moved back to Cornwall.
"The game is not on an upswing (in North America),'' Watson said this week, offering more insight into his decision.
The Ghost and his demons -Watson often has opened a window, allowing people to look in at his career concerns. Even legends worry about the next gig, and Watson once confided that for about 15 straight years, he wondered if it would be his last season of touring.
Watson worried about pool becoming too all-consuming for him, and for good reason: it was. This break, this move, will be good for him, he expects.
"People said I'll really be upset when I sell (the table),'' Watson said. "Well, I don't miss it . . . I'd wake up, it was there. It's 1,500 pounds, it's right front and centre at my place, you know? That all-consumed mental state . . . man, it was in its full blossom. It's not healthy. I don't know if that allows for (personal) growth.''
Watson will miss Cornwall. He'll always have fond memories of the place.
"The drive to win was instilled in me here, in the competitive world that was Cornwall (pool),'' he said. "Everybody played pool back in those days. Obviously, Cornwall has been really good to me.''
He will be back. Watson plans to each fall have a condensed seven-to-eight-week Ontario college tour. That would dovetail well with a restructuring International Pool Tournament major tournament in Las Vegas, then it would be over to L.A. for the trek back to the Far East.
As complicated as the move is, Watson used to be a citizen of the world; he expects to adapt well, and, besides, he's missed the quick pace of the Eighties and early Nineties.
"I've been here, semi-retired, doing my shows, but I really did miss all of that (world travel),'' Watson said.
He'll stay with his brother Pat probably just for a short time, before getting his own place in Manila, the capital of a 7,000-island archipelago in the western Pacific. The ocean, the new backdrop, might inspire some new shots for Watson, who in Canada used to have visions of them while driving his car.
He expects there'll be enough new shots and experiences to eventually produce another DVD in the Philippines, and to pen another book.
"It's all geometry, and you never know when it's going to come to you,'' Watson once said.
Geometry and geography have always dominated Watson's life. He'll still be waking up at odd hours with new pool-shot angles in his head, but it'll all be coming to him in Manila, a world away from his former home city of Cornwall.
Watson's website will remain in place, and it's www.gerrywatson.com.