Have you ever met a big name player???

As said earlier, pool is pretty unique in that the public get to rub shoulders with the elite.

I've met/ played Reyes, Parica, Feijen, McCready, Mike Davis...likely forgetting a few whuppins too:embarrassed2:

Strickland had a 30 min conversation that I was the primary witness to...

Kiamco too. I like that guy. Bobby Pickle is a card.
 
I come from a very small city in Canada. Well, big for me, small by USA cities.
Man, I think you guys have malls that are bigger than where I live.

Once upon a time, there was a pretty good snooker player. This player traveled across Canada a bit and settled upon our city for a while. Two different stories surround him. One was that he was honing his skills before he went on to win several world titles. The other is that he already had a couple of titles on his belt. Either way, I guess it doesn't matter much.

Some of the locals that are still around and had befriended him all tell different stories. As in, he wasn't a very good player at the time, "Yeah, I beat him all the time at the snooker table". Those stories are bound to happen no matter where you go.

One of the local players who had owned a pool hall was a friend and had brought him in a 9 ball tournament in his honor.

His name was none other than Cliff Thorburn. He is a very nice well mannered gentleman and a pleasure to meet. Very humble.

I had my picture taken with him, both holding our pool cues.

After Cliff had taken down the last player to win the tournament, I asked him what kind of cue he was using. He pulled the butt back out of his case, handed it to me and said, "just some cheap piece of Chinese junk".

And you know, he was right, it was. He took out an entire field of pretty tough players with it. I thought it was kind of funny.
 
I actually met quite a few pros back when my parents owned their pool room. The problem is that I wasn't really into pool like I am now so I didn't appreciate who it was I was meeting. We held a few big tournaments that they sponsored Ismael Paez, Robin Dodson, King Kong, and Darlene Stinson in so I met all of them. They are all very nice down to earth people that I'm happy I got to meet. After my dad passed in 2002 I went to the 2003 BCA in Vegas with my mom and met a bunch of other pros that I can't even name now. The coolest thing about the BCA trip was that alot of people knew my mom through my dad so alot of people approached us to give condolences and tell stories about my dad. Every single one of them wanted to know if I was "really little Vaughn" meaning did I play like my pops. No, I didn't and still don't but I'm trying to get there now. Anyways, it was a great time and like others have said, most pro pool players are pretty cool. Also met Ernesto Dominguez once with my dad, he worked on pool tables and had to meet up with him for something, I was young and not interested in what they were doing. What I wouldn't give to go back and pick their brains about everything from pool to working on tables. Pool is definitely one of the most fan friendly sports there is in my opinion and that's what makes it cool to me.
 
As others have said, the great thing about pool is that the pro players are so approchable. It's the silver lining to the lack of money in the sport.

One time I was playing straight pool against AZB's own Steve Lipsky. Steve was whupping me up and down the table, which is to be expected. There must've been a tournament in town because a number of big players were in the area. During Steve's inning, none other than Nick Varner wanders over to watch the game. Nick stands there, chewing and watching, watching and chewing, while Steve runs out the last 35 or 40 balls and takes the set. Now, Nick hasn't seen me touch a cue, so for all he knows Steve and I are at the same level! I don't want to do anything to prove him wrong, so I quickly break down my cue and beat it away from the table.
 
prulhiere cues said:
In 1989, I was just a young punk who thought he new how to play pool. I was playing at a local bowling alley that had a pool room with about 8 full size tables with orange cloth. It was the spot to be back then. I was playing for about $5 a rack(Big money then) I had no good shot, so I was going to play safe and hide the cue in tight on the object ball. I had one of those spasms that you get and hit it way to hard. Well, I hit the object ball on the kick which grazed off of another ball and slid over and just barely tapped the nine ball into the corner. Of course, I had to act like I meant to do it(we didn't call our nines).....then I heard a mans voice say "nice shot." I turned to look, and it was none other than Buddy Hall. I was stunned, and just said "uhhh, thanks" I later found out he was friends with one of our locals who played in some of the pro events and was in town for a visit. We all stood around that night and watched them play a few racks and listen to a lot of good BS. It was a cool night for me, and up until this post, not even Buddy realized I hacked it in the corner.....[/QUOTE]

Buddy knew.
:p
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First big name player I met in person and shook hands with was Johnny Archer and that was at my first SBE years ago.

Now I hit up the USOpen and SBE every year and get to talk with them and shake hands a couple times a year. Plus you always seem to take something away with you when you watch them play in person, just different then watching them on TV.
 
I met my 1st pros around 1990. The 1st one I met was Wade Crane followed by Archer,Strickland,Vickery and Tony Ellin .Ellin and Crane by far were the friendliest .
 
Met quite a few people briefly over the years, either introductions via a mutual friend, brief conversations at tournaments, or playing a few games. Pool is like that, tends to be more accessible than some other sports.

Most memorable was hanging out with Efren, Busta, Thorsten, and Tony Robles during one of the Predator Pool Schools. 2 days of learning and playing with each of them (about 4 hours with each one), plus conversations and fun at lunch and dinner both days. And later spending half a day with Varner and Archer, both were great.

Scott
 
inside_english said:
I have had dinner with Ralf Souquet on a couple of occasions as he is a friend of a friend.
I have played against Keith McCready in a weekly tournament in Laurel, MD, years ago.
I have had dinner with Dennis Orcullo and Ramil Gallego at the US Open. They are buddies with a pool-playing Filipino friend of mine. We ate at Maymar in Chesapeake, which was cool.
I once had Neils Feijen ask me to gamble, which I declined.

I have not officially "met" any other pros, except maybe for a passing comment in a group conversatoin at a sanctioned event.

John Schmidt played in the Maryland 14.1 last year at Big Daddy's Billiards in Glen Burnie, MD. That guy talks to everyone...and he is a very nice man...and funny too.

Archer was there as well, but who cares about him? LOL
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Since I have met you Curtis, I am by association linking to all of the mentioned players! Thanks
 
When I went to high school, we had a physical education class at a pool hall every Monday to Friday. You were allowed to stay for 1-2 hours after class ended to practice/play.

One time, I saw Jose Parica practice in a pool room. I didn't want to bother him because the owner told me he was waiting to play his partner for some money. It was fun watching him run out since not a lot of people could do that in the pool room!

Another time, I saw Stevie Moore incognito. Weeks later, the owners had brought in Stevie Moore to teach us kids some fundamentals and some drills he liked. He went around the room correcting our fundamentals. I was able to ask him a few questions and what not. That was a good day. :cool:
 
Pool is an awesome sport with very accessible pros and lots of very friendly people at all levels. How can you not love being able to meet or play with the pros without having a special challenge match fan venue setup. Name another sport where that happens often.

I've played with and met quite a few big players or pros over the years and will list what comes to mind. I'm sure I have to be forgetting a few with the hot beds of champions I used to be around and I'm much better with faces then names which works against me on lists. I won against some, lost against others, held my own with all but most of all learned a lot and at all times really had a great time.

Played 9ball with Jeannette Lee on a few occasions on her challenge table at Howard Beach Billiards in Queens, NY.

Played straight pool with Bob Neal, local house pro, cue maker Richard Hsu and the Rev(never did get his real name) at a place that when it opened was called the Felt Forum, in Brooklyn.

Played straight pool and 9ball with Jean Balukas at her place, Hall of Fame Billiards. That was a fun few hours of pool. Hope to make it over there again this new year.

Played in NY upstate tournaments, various LI locations or Masters in Queens tournaments the standouts in my memory were Joey Korsiak, George"Ginky" SanSouci who is sorely missed and Nick Varner who I played in a large 8 ball tournament upstate NY. I somehow missed playing a lot of the other widely known better players in tournaments that reside in NY. Luck of the the draw I guess.

Played with Robin Dodson who was visiting the area, Manuel Gonzales Jr, Manuel Gonzales III, Jamie Hilzer and Shawn Hallock in local weekly tournaments at a pool room called The Break in Greeley, CO which sadly like a lot of other fun places is no longer open.

Played in tournaments around Colorado basically up and down I25 with...Cheyenne Pete, Dave Black, Tony Piazza, Danny Medina, Bill Skinner, Dave Gomez, Willie Alvarez, Rich Cunningham, Bill Meacham, Kevin Satterfield, Warren Woodson, Dean Deluca, and Damen(can't remember his last name). I know there are more great players to mention but I'm drawing blank at the moment. That Denver area like NY was packed full of very talented players and would take a seriously long post to name them all.

As for people I met but didn't get to play with, Johnny Archer, Earl Strickland, Wade Crane, Tom Rossman, Mike Sigel, Mika Immonen, Tony Robles, Rodney Morris, Allen Hopkins, Steve Mizerak, Mike Massey and Danny Diliberto. I'll bet my list would be longer if I could ever find a way to make it to an SBE. Maybe this year. One can dream!
 
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Hello Jay, did you beat him when you played him?

jay helfert said:
Where I grew up the first name I heard was Joey Spade (Spaeth), the best player around. One day he came into the poolroom where I hung out and tried to get a game. In a room full of players, no one would play him. I wondered how good he must be that everyone is afraid to play him. Little did I know that ten years later I would be playing him - FOR MONEY! ;)
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I like to hear all when you tell it Jay! Let me know what happened? Thanks.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
Jimmy Matz

When I was 17 (1971) and for the next 10 years I had the privelage of playing with Jimmy Matz (RIP). Jimmy was not well known on the tournament circuit but was a stone killer as a road player.

I have met many Pro players since and I can honestly say the nicest one I have talked to a few times at tournaments was Jose Parica!

Wedge
 
Ive played, Frost, Grady, Mark Wilson, Richie Richeson, Matlock, Parica,Harriman, Pete Truillo, Danny Medina, George Breedlove, Paul Gerni, Mike Massey,John Kucharo, Darren Everritt and I am sure a few others along the way...most were really great. I met Gerni when I was in college and he spent 6 hours showing me stuff...it was a pretty cool experiance for a 18 year old kid.
 
Willie Mosconi-played an exhibition match with him in 1964
Joe Russo-old time great NJ player
Johnny Ervilino
Ernie Lager-another old time NJ player
Doc Hazard -another old time NJ player
Sam "one poke" Fauver-another old time real good NJ player
Allan Hopkins
Neptune Joe Frady
Rodney Morris
Hawaiian Brian
Grady Mathews
Jimmy Fusco
Tom Storm
Jack Colivita
Danny Medina
Mark Haddad
Earl Strickland
Richie Ambrose
Probably forgot some,I go back 50 + years.
Some of the names are back some years but in their time they were all name players.
 
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