Great players from my youth

know it all said:
You guys forgot Steve Cook ,lima ohio.Herbie Cue ,was Carmen Colangio, and Tommy Harwood played out of the same place. Buddy wallace and leo wineburger were the house men at northfield lanes.Chuck Morgan played out of Lacues pool room and resturant on west 25 and clark. In twinsburg,hudson township you had the hill top motel resturant ,bar,truck stop and apartments.It had 2 bar tables and 1 9ft gold crown that was iron jaws.Mike Gulyassy lived there and he was the house mouse.Many money games there,u never knew who would show up ,like hopkins,wade crane fly boy jimmy spears,jim marion,james brock,buddy hall,mighty mouse,from detroit,and marvin henderson,who got beat like a drum by chuck morgan playing,9 ball ,banks and 1 pocket.EVEN..Also at lacues on west 25 was porturican mike and Angelo.The air barrell kings.And Billy Stouffer, Billy Dripron.Hard action in cleveland in the 60s and 70s.And well into the 80s.Akron ohio had Starchers Billiards.open 24 hrs off waterloo rd, no longer there..Dottie starcher owned it.It had the best chicken wings in the state.It was the home of the akron open which earl stricland won 8 or 9 times,and always gave away a meucci cue to some young boy or girl in the stands.Dotie would order about 600 lbs of chicken for the open.Joe Kerr was the big promoter at the time,and he was always in action or had someone in the box.Also at the hill top and any bar you had Joe the hat.And right down the road from starchers billards you had joes truck stop.On rt 24 or 224 ?The good ole days.Also at starchers you had mario stletilli, Preacher don eddy who also drove truck.He always had a champiom with him ,Brock,wade crane.Curly moon from akron was the same always had a champion like mexian joe slalazar, 2 bars in akron off kenmore blvd were the tourch club and house of doubles,side by side owned by the same person.Champions were always in there,like joey speith playing a race to8 for 500 with mexian joe and winning 7 to 1 or 7 to2 ,and joe ran the set out,on a 7 ft bar box. Rich aka the skunk.
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Great post!
Brings back great memories for me. I lived in Cleveland 1967-70, then moved to Akron. Played at Northfield Lanes and at Starcher's hundreds of times before I moved to Canton. I played with Joe Kerr a lot, a friend of his called 9-ball Paul, and became great friends playing straight pool with Jerry Wolf at Starcher's and in Canton at the College Bowl. All were on Gold Crowns.

The Hilltop was a special place, full of action and history. You're right about the chicken wings at Starcher's. There were great wings all over Ohio in poolrooms, bars, bowling alleys.

Again Rich, great post with some old school great names and places. Thanks. :smile:

And Jay, thanks for another great thread!:smile: :smile:

Will Prout
 
confessions of a pool hustler

I was at Richie Austins poolroom in 1966 and Clem came in and I gave him $20 for gas lol !
 
I knew Teddy Elias also and he was a damn good player and a very nice guy. I remember when Johnny Ervolino came to Ohio for the first time and got steered into Ted. They played a monster match for $7,000 that everyone in Ohio heard about. One 200 point game, and it was all the money that Johnny and his backer had with them. Johnny ran something like 80 and out to win the game, with Teddy in the lead. Johnny was a seasoned gambler already from the NYC 7/11 school of killers.

Everybody knew Steve Cook around my way (Dayton). He was the kid from Lima that was beating everybody. He moved down to Tampa also, I think for his health. One of the best One Pocket players of his time, but he could play all games.
Stigall got in trouble in Dayton at Winks Pool Hall (later to be Forest Park Billiards under Joe Burns). He mouthed off in the wrong place and got himself heisted. I got face slapped there myself at the age of 18 for talking behind someone's back. :eek:

I was around Chuck Morgan in Dayton but I never really got to see him play. He was a legend around the Midwest. As far as Clem was concerned, no less than Ronnie said that he was the best One Pocket player before he came along. A few years in the joint didn't do Clem's game any good though. I spent a lot of time around him at Mergards in Cincy and he rarely played anyone. Joey Spaeth played all the hustlers that came through and I only saw Rempe beat him. I thought his name was Jimmy Rippy, that's what we all called him.

Ridgeway was a good player and gambler but no match for Joey or Chuck. By the way NO ONE would mess with George Rood! He was off limits to pool hustlers, just a little too good. George used to spar with Don Willis (watched them show each other shots and challenge the other guy to make it) and Lassiter (they played Straights and George won his share) when they came to town. He was friends with Eddie Taylor too. Don Willis was the other Ohio legend, maybe even considered better than Morgan. George Rood laughed at Buddy Wallace's claim to be the many times Ohio state champion. George would say that he would play him Straight Pool anytime for whatever amount he wanted. He publicly challenged Wallace to come to Dayton and play but it never happened. When Ed Kelly was thought to be the best young player in the country I saw (yes I was a witness) George spank him at 9-Ball. Even Lassiter said that George was the best player he knew. They were good buddies and old road mates when they were kids. P.S. When the great Joey Spaeth came to Dayton and beat Dino and a couple of other guys they went and got George. Joey refused to play him!

I remember Herbie Cue because he got my money on my first trip to Cleveland. I had won money in Springfield and Columbus on my way up there, but he emptied me out. I asked for $10 to get home on and got it. I slept in the car that night and bought gas and drove back to Dayton the next day, my tail between my legs.

Wondering how Emil Glocar did against Chuck Morgan? I heard about him too. Glen Knowles was another well known hustler and considered number two after Chuck Morgan in One Pocket. I think they played several times for supremacy of the area. Pete Glenn was the best pool hustler I ever saw until meeting Jack Cooney. He looked and acted like a bank executive and never raised his voice. He usually got weight from guys he should be giving weight too and regularly bet 50-100 a game when that was very big money. I saw him play in Dayton and Cincy several times and never lose. He was a large man and totally unafraid, even in some very rough spots and he was alone. I suspect he was packing under that sport jacket. :rolleyes:
 
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know it all said:
You guys forgot Steve Cook ,lima ohio.Herbie Cue ,was Carmen Colangio, and Tommy Harwood played out of the same place. Buddy wallace and leo wineburger were the house men at northfield lanes.Chuck Morgan played out of Lacues pool room and resturant on west 25 and clark. In twinsburg,hudson township you had the hill top motel resturant ,bar,truck stop and apartments.It had 2 bar tables and 1 9ft gold crown that was iron jaws.Mike Gulyassy lived there and he was the house mouse.Many money games there,u never knew who would show up ,like hopkins,wade crane fly boy jimmy spears,jim marion,james brock,buddy hall,mighty mouse,from detroit,and marvin henderson,who got beat like a drum by chuck morgan playing,9 ball ,banks and 1 pocket.EVEN..Also at lacues on west 25 was porturican mike and Angelo.The air barrell kings.And Billy Stouffer, Billy Dripron.Hard action in cleveland in the 60s and 70s.And well into the 80s.Akron ohio had Starchers Billiards.open 24 hrs off waterloo rd, no longer there..Dottie starcher owned it.It had the best chicken wings in the state.It was the home of the akron open which earl stricland won 8 or 9 times,and always gave away a meucci cue to some young boy or girl in the stands.Dotie would order about 600 lbs of chicken for the open.Joe Kerr was the big promoter at the time,and he was always in action or had someone in the box.Also at the hill top and any bar you had Joe the hat.And right down the road from starchers billards you had joes truck stop.On rt 24 or 224 ?The good ole days.Also at starchers you had mario stletilli, Preacher don eddy who also drove truck.He always had a champiom with him ,Brock,wade crane.Curly moon from akron was the same always had a champion like mexian joe slalazar, 2 bars in akron off kenmore blvd were the tourch club and house of doubles,side by side owned by the same person.Champions were always in there,like joey speith playing a race to8 for 500 with mexian joe and winning 7 to 1 or 7 to2 ,and joe ran the set out,on a 7 ft bar box. Rich aka the skunk.
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They had good tournaments and good food!
I always thought Marios last name was Cilletti or something close to that.
 
Ray Martin now resides in North Carolina and can be found at Brass Tap & Billiards in Raleigh on a regular basis. He's normally there early in the day giving lessons and will come back later in the evenings if there's a tournament or action to be seen. Fascinating to talk to and a real class act.

Keith
 
ribdoner said:
i played a guy in CHI that went by the name of Don (maybe Larry) Watson back in 70 or 71 that played like burning hell.

He was apprx 5'7", stocky, R handed, from OH, played with a fancy Joss or JW cue, clean cut and said he was a sales rep for a large electronics co ( GE?)

imo the only local favored to beat him was Johnny the Mex on a bar table

who was that masked man, he did leave a silver bullet:)
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Larry Snider was the name
 
book collector said:
I remember Chuck Morgan and Pete Glenn coming to Columbus 4 or 5 times each from the late 60s to the 90s, I never got to see Chuck play though.
He had some connections in the card world also and they called him "Chesty"
Pete I saw play Howard Vickery and even as cautious as Howard was with matching up, Pete talked him into giving him some goofy spot.
8 to 5 I think was the game .
It was a heist, and he got Howard to go off for 8 or 9 games which was unbelieveable in itself.
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I have heard some stories of Pete Glenn also. His son, Dell, lives in the Phoenix area. Anyway, I never heard that Pete was a world beater, he just matched up well and would bet it up high if he got the right game.
 
The great players from my youth...

The great players from my youth were, Efren Reyes, Johnny Archer, Kim Davenport, Buddy Hall, Earl Strickland, Jose Parica, Bustamante...

Jaden
 
Wimpy. Jersey Red, Cannonball, Greg Stevens. Used to watch them play at the Le Cue and TJ Parkers in Houston, Texas.

Used to watch Keith Thompson, I think ya'll called him Little Squirrel. I just called him Squirrel. I remember when he was young and Jesse Howard carried him around to the bars, Hustling on the bar tables. In the late sixties.
 
Robert58 said:
Wimpy. Jersey Red, Cannonball, Greg Stevens. Used to watch them play at the Le Cue and TJ Parkers in Houston, Texas.

Used to watch Keith Thompson, I think ya'll called him Little Squirrel. I just called him Squirrel. I remember when he was young and Jesse Howard carried him around to the bars, Hustling on the bar tables. In the late sixties.
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wow who was best out of bunch? i read some where Greg Stevens was top dog? thinking Grady book.
 
RADAR said:
wow who was best out of bunch? i read some where Greg Stevens was top dog? thinking Grady book.
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Greg Stevens was a 9-Ball monster, one of the best there was back in the 70's and 80's. He would spot other good players just to make a game. His weakness was staying up for days and going off after he was too tired to keep his eyes open (and the pills wore off).

Lassiter was probably the best player of his era (late 40's thru the early 70's), the top 9-Ball money player and near unbeatable at Straight Pool. He was a great money player and hustler and later on ruled the tournaments as well. No one would play him even for money until Harold Worst came along.

Cannonball was a great all around player in the 50's, willing to challenge the tournament champions. Most people thought he was only a great Bank Pool player and they were wrong. He may have been the second or third best banker in the country after Eddie Taylor and Bugs.

Jersey Red was also a top all around player, considered second best to Ed Kelly in the 60's and 70's. He was a good tournament player, but rarely finished first. Kind of like Jim Rempe of the succeeding generation. He could play for money, but not for high stakes.
 
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