Houston legends

Hungarian

Beep Beep!
Silver Member
Sorry to hear that he passed. First met him at the old LeCue on Fannin and Rusk. I was in my early 20's and had no idea who he was. I lost a few bucks to him, and my cue stick. It wasn't much money, I think he was just amusing himself because nobody else would play him. Every time I saw him after that he would jokingly remind me of that cue stick. Last time I saw him he said he had given it to his nephew. Some of the regulars around LeCue were Misty, Jug, Little John, Whitie, and Little Eddie...real cool bunch of guys.
What about Duke? I met Duke after his hay day at the Cue and Cushion. Great one pocket player. What about Chinese Billy. Greatest beer drinking player. He could drink 30 beers and play great. Do you remember Isa Ankar, the Palestinian table mechanic? Super nice guy. He told me he was the guy who set up and took care of the tables at LeCue. Never was there, before my time. I think it was downtown and upstairs with a view.
 

Hungarian

Beep Beep!
Silver Member
You named a bunch of the crew, I knew them all and those were some great times! Little John and I still talk all them time, he golfs more than he plays Pool, but he's always around the game. Whitie moved to New York, we lost Little Eddy and Jug, Misty is back and playing pretty good.

Yeah Cannonball and Bugs played a lot when Cannonball was in Chicago, but I wasn't there at the time so I dont know how that came out, he did tell me they were good friends so the games might have been cheap. But I know they games would have also been very close!
When you say Whitie, you talking about a tall guy, kind of goofy played barefoot? There was a guy like that at the Cue and Cushion who bet it up.
 

Hungarian

Beep Beep!
Silver Member
Cannonball was Johnny Chapman. The last guy you mentioned in your original post is Phillip Hyde. He was from Groves, Texas, he told me he did live and play in Houston for a few years. Once upon a time he was a very good player. I'm from Beaumont, and went to several poolrooms in Houston, in the 70's and 80's. Le Cue, Goofy's , Grand Central Station, Cassidy's. Playoffs. Jersey Red could usually be found in whatever was the action poolroom at the time. Richie Ambrose played at Goofy's, originally from NY, as was Red. Gabby's real name is Mouise Pouncey, he passed away last year. Jerry Brock was a top player for a long time, mostly bar tables IIRC. He won a tournament near Toomey, Louisiana, one time, held at a bar at a horse training facility owned by Jimmy Wimberly, lots of good players were there. There was a bar near there called The Spur that had two or three bar tables and pretty much non stop action. The owner was Mackey Fusilier. Saw Phillip play there many times, he matched up several times with Tommy Sanders. Over the years a lot of top players came through. I saw U.J. Puckett there once, he came in with Bobby Pitts who usually staked players at that time. Danny Jones used to come in after betting the ponies, as did the infamous Joey Torma. Flyboy Jimmy Spears made an appearance or two. Fly later owned a room in Baton Rouge and The Sports Palace in New Orleans.... By the way Cue Stick did you know Joe MacNamara?
Joe Mac was a cool ass guy. Goofy looking stroke. Acted and dressed like a hobo but was a very smart guy. Fun to talk with. I used to get lessens from Willie Elder when I was just starting out. I was there one day at his house getting some lessons. His wife was always nice and she'd always make me a sandwich. I'm sitting there eating a sandwich and out walks UJ Puckett from the hall way. That big dude kind of scared me until he started talking. Him and Willie gave me lessons for a couple hours.

Willie ran tourneys all over town and I played in them. UJ must have been in town for a while and he was always there. Always liked bullshitting with him and Willie.
 

Hungarian

Beep Beep!
Silver Member
Any of you guys remember the Slick Willies that was in Alief on Bellaire? Or the Rack and Roll a little further down the road next to Sally's BBQ? What about Bill Heath? Played pretty sporty golf on the snooker table back in the day. He was friends with my step dad. Bill used to do my taxes.
 

Korsakoff

AzB Gold Member
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What about Duke? I met Duke after his hay day at the Cue and Cushion. Great one pocket player. What about Chinese Billy. Greatest beer drinking player. He could drink 30 beers and play great. Do you remember Isa Ankar, the Palestinian table mechanic? Super nice guy. He told me he was the guy who set up and took care of the tables at LeCue. Never was there, before my time. I think it was downtown and upstairs with a view.
Yeah, I wondered what happened to Billy Lee, too. He could drink some beer but still get it together to play a little sporty. I was there the very first time Jeremey Jones from Baytown showed up late one night to try the action. He was 18, if I remember correctly, and a few guys had already heard about a teen phenom in Baytown. He played strong and moved well, the best I remember.

I played at both Le Cue and Cue & Cushion. I so miss those places. I joined the BCA league there in the late 80s-early 90s and played for the Korsakoffs. (There was a guy on the team working on a PhD in the Biosciences and suggested the name; Korsakoff was a researcher who documented memory issues among alcoholics and why that happened.) During that time, Willie Elder joined another team and even in his late 70s (or close to 80), he could play very well.
 

Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
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Anyone out there have any interesting or funny stories about Houston pool legends from the '70's, 80's, and '90's? Who was Cannonball? When Buddy Hall and Ceasar Morales matched up at the Red's tournament, what was the outcome? When Gabby and Jerry Brock matched up at the Red's tournament, what was the outcome? What ever happened to Na-Na (Ninety-Nine), and how did he get his nickname? How good was Phillip Hyatt?
From the 60’s…LeCue on Lamar Street and Parker’s on Washington Ave…spent a lot of time at both…the action was all day well into the morning…
 
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ribdoner

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
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Had the pleasure to watch Cannonball practice some in Burlington Iowa 1975. I was only 2 years into the game so very impressionable but he still sticks in my memory. He spent very little time looking at his shots - was freewheeling but as I remember, he didn't miss and the OB was many times airborne when it hit the pocket. Don't remember seeing any shot that didn't travel @ 80mph.

is that the event where the promoter skipped

iirc the event was loaded with top shelf talent

cannonball was living in the dallas area in the mid-nineties, father time caught up with him, still a personality
 

HouTexPlayer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Random names/places I recall from “back in the day”:

Cue-Nique on FM 1960
Goody’s on HWY 6
Rack N Roll
Playoffs
King Curtis
Eugene Browning
Watching David G matching up when he was in town.
Getting the 8 from the Lizard and not liking it.
Northside Mike

I’m sure I’ll come up with a few more - didn’t realize how much fun those years actually were until later in life.
 

Hungarian

Beep Beep!
Silver Member
Random names/places I recall from “back in the day”:

Cue-Nique on FM 1960
Goody’s on HWY 6
Rack N Roll
Playoffs
King Curtis
Eugene Browning
Watching David G matching up when he was in town.
Getting the 8 from the Lizard and not liking it.
Northside Mike

I’m sure I’ll come up with a few more - didn’t realize how much fun those years actually were until later in life.
I virtually lived at Rack and Roll when I first started gambling when I was 14. I lived in Alief. I used to lose my lunch money to an olt timer named Mel. Sallys BBQ was very good.

Wonder what happened to North Side Mike. Very cool dude.

I know all these spots and people.

Eugene great bar box player

Lizard from Dallas known more for One Pocket.
 

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
Dennis and Barry Strickland are pretty well known. There was top water and Charlie Bryant to name couple of others. Always heard of a legendary player that was a world beater in the 80s and died of a drug overdose. Can’t remember his name.
 
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mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
I have been living in Houston for almost 20 years. What strikes me about it is in a place this big you have a bunch of players from 650 to 750 maybe Fargo says different. There are hundreds of dive bars with valleys which has created a landscape where you have really high speed valley box players. You would think this would have created more 800 plus players but it hasn’t. I think it’s the nature of peoples involvement with the game. They like it enough to be short stop speed but also have a regular good paying job they don’t let go of so they never reach the highest level of play.
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have been living in Houston for almost 20 years. What strikes me about it is in a place this big you have a bunch of players from 650 to 750 maybe Fargo says different. There are hundreds of dive bars with valleys which has created a landscape where you have really high speed valley box players. You would think this would have created more 800 plus players but it hasn’t. I think it’s the nature of peoples involvement with the game. They like it enough to be short stop speed but also have a regular good paying job they don’t let go of so they never reach the highest level of play.
I recall a number of rooms in Houston 20+ years ago largely consisted of oversized 8-foot tables, which you’d think is not conducive of grooming the very top level players? Has that changed since then?
 

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
I recall a number of rooms in Houston 20+ years ago largely consisted of oversized 8-foot tables, which you’d think is not conducive of grooming the very top level players? Has that changed since then?
Many of the oversized 8 footers you speak of were gold crowns, medalist and gandys. None of which ever had good cloth. Most were in slick Willie’s locations for which only six locations out of 25 still remain. Fast Eddie’s did away with their 8 foot oversized olhausens and now most places have gone over to diamond bar tables. Legends has 8 foot oversized diamonds. Most rooms have nine footers for one pocket play but the majority of the city is all bar box diamonds and valleys.
 

sneakynito

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I bumped into Nana maybe 10 years ago at Bogies when i was just getting my feet wet in one pocket.
A gentleman and a fantastic player. Can't imagine how good he was in his prime.
We played real cheap but he beat me til my head hurt. That was my first time seeing how mentally taxing the game could be.
I never had a clear shot at my pocket, and every time I came to the table there was another ball near his hole and no way to get to it. Always made sure i was on a rail or bridging over a ball.
He was also a pretty big guy, but had a super sweet stroke. He'd move so slowly, but that cue ball would dance.
Quote I remember from him, after I flubbed a straight in shot with a wide open table on one of the few games i had a chance to win "One pocket is a hard game, you got to make sure you win the ones you're supposed to". Then he ran out.
RIP
 

thenuke

AzB Gold Member
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Silver Member
When you say Whitie, you talking about a tall guy, kind of goofy played barefoot? There was a guy like that at the Cue and Cushion who bet it up.
Yep, Thats him, I heard he moved to New York years ago.
Wilson King - Houston Whitey. Inherited some money and moved back to New York. I remember at Red's tournament

(Ceasar Morales won it), Whitey brought his 70 - 80 year old mother to the tournament and sat her on the front row of bleachers

so she could see him play. Always, always played barefooted.

Someone mentioned Joe McNamara, was a good friend. Of all the good Wichita Falls players that came from Bert's pool room

there, only Dick Lane is still alive.
 

thenuke

AzB Gold Member
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Dennis and Barry Strickland are pretty well known. There was top water and Charlie Bryant to name couple of others. Always heard of a legendary player that was a world beater in the 80s and died of a drug overdose. Can’t remember his name.

You are trying to remember Johnny "Ringo" Morrow. Good player with a bad habit.
 

Hungarian

Beep Beep!
Silver Member
You are trying to remember Johnny "Ringo" Morrow. Good player with a bad habit.
Johnny was a gun fighter, Ringo was a fitting name. I hung out with him and played some with him at the Cue and Cushion. He taught me how to break aiming straight onto the second ball. He'd come in with Jerry Bento for the card game. Super nice guy. People pulled for him. He won a big tourney at Legends, I think beating Jeremy in the finals. They found him dead in the hotel room the next day. Sad ending to a great player. RIP Johnny
 

King T

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Wilson King - Houston Whitey. Inherited some money and moved back to New York. I remember at Red's tournament

(Ceasar Morales won it), Whitey brought his 70 - 80 year old mother to the tournament and sat her on the front row of bleachers

so she could see him play. Always, always played barefooted.

Someone mentioned Joe McNamara, was a good friend. Of all the good Wichita Falls players that came from Bert's pool room

there, only Dick Lane is still alive.

I remember Whitey telling a lot of the Pro's "you give me the 7 and the last two and you got Action" he had gamble for sure.

I think Dick Lane is one of, or was one of the owners of the chain of Clicks Pool halls?
 
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