How Good Did Keith McCready Really Play?
- Thread starter hemicudas
- Start date
LastTwo said:
Yes, Last two. In fact, Dan won the NCAA Collegiate tournament in 73 & 74. I think he is about Keith's age. He played for Washington State U. A good friend of mine, Jim Gray, finished second in that tournament, playing for S. Illinois.
In fact again, Dan Louie Busted the whole town of Baton Rouge in the late 70s playing Buddy Hall even on the big table using a white bowling ball Dan hid in his glove compartment. Dan was a master of the big cue ball. Lunchmoney was there when it happened, as was I.
This photo was taken recently, courtesy of Lunchmoney, of Dan and Rich Geiler.
Last edited:
who said no heart?
Whoever said Keith has no heart, doesn't know what they are talking about. I have never heard that said, and I have seen very few players who had as much heart as Keith. He would give outrageaus spots to great players and simply outrun them. I have personnally seem Keith give top notch players spots like the 6 ball and then just string racks together like it was nothing. Whwn Keith Mc Cready is on his game, there is nobody better.Gerald said:
LastTwo said:
It is the same guy. Dan, who is chinese, was definitely around in the 70's. He won the national collegiate championship two years in a row in straight pool. I am not sure of the years but I believe it was '73 and '74. He won the world championship in Bend, Oregon in '75 and was beating everyone in the late 70s. Health problems really hurt his game. He eventually had a kidney transplant and is now the picture of health. Dan is 52 years old and looks 20 years younger. He still enters a lot of tournaments and wins his fair share of them. He went to the Derby City Classic last year and placed fairly high in the 9 ball division. He can still play.
Lunchmoney
hemicudas said:
$Bill,
Something I didn't know until recently was that Rich Geiler knew Dot and made a trip or two to the Greenway. I also saw Rich do an exhibition recently and he was great despite the fact that he stutters except when he sings (shades of Mel Tillis). He made fun of himself and has some really funny stutter stories. Also on the bill were Mike Massey, Buddy Hall, Dan Louie and Johnny Archer. Rich stole the show, it was a benefit he had put together to help out his neice who was severly injured in a traffic accident.
Lunchmoney
lunchmoney I read about that event in the Northwest pool newspaper. Tragic to hear what happened to Rich's niece. It was very nice of the other pro's to support that benefit. Says a lot about professional pool. Those guys look out for each other more than any other sport I can think of. Most anyways. I saw Rich at the BCA open on the action tables and he was shooting very well on the bar boxes.
DeadPoked said:
Deadpoked,
It was a great two day event, it was held in a high school gym. All the players were very accessible and available to answer questions and sign autographs. They didn't receive any compensation either. They had taken a group photo of the players and sold them. I bought one and all the players signed it for me. Rich told me that they raised nearly 30K. There was a write up about it on this web site. It may be in the archives somewhere.
Rich is fun to watch isn't he. He has got to have one of the smoothest strokes I've seen.
Lunchmoney
I can remeber being at Santa Anita with you, Tony Banks & a couple of other guys after you booked a big winner at Hard Times the night before. It was a rough day, you had 8 or $900 left by the last race. I asked you who you liked how much you were going to bet & you looked at me like I was retarded. I am still feeding the horses out here, hope your holding up your end back there. John HendersonKeith McCready said:
hemicudas said:
I was in Lexington, Ky back in the late 80's/early 90's for a bar table tournament. Kieth was playing Paez(sp?) in the finals. The race was to 13 and Kieth was down 9-2. When Kieth got his next shot, he ran 9 racks to get the score to 11-9 before coming up dry on the next break. Kieth won the tourny, but I'm not sure of the final score. It was fun to watch.
lunchmoney said:
I've seen Dan Louie play in Vancouver Canada twice as he comes up from Seattle for some of our bigger tourneys to compete against local pros John Horsfall, Paul Potier and others.
I was really surprised that he is 52 as well ,because I'll have to agree he does look much younger. Although he can still play good, I had no idea that he was so dominant in the 70's going head to head with the heavyweights like Buddy Hall.
He's very methodical in his approach and won't hestitate to feather the cue an extra 5 or 6 times and only pull the trigger until he is entirley ready. I seen him win a tournament here with good shooting and wearing his opponents out with his mental game.Hopefully he'll drive up from Seattle so I can see him play again.RJ
& Dan Louie wanted the 8 from Keith?
Yes, Dan Louie was a master of the big cueball and the bar table. Yes, he beat Buddy Hall on the big table using the big cueball. And, yes, he beat every player in the south when he was there in 1977.
But, Keith McCready wasn't there at the same time Dan Louie was. How can anyone who beats Buddy Hall, with the big cueball, feel like he needs the 8 ball from anyone who ever lived, on the bar table? Because, my friends, Keith McCready was the greatest bar table player that ever lived and they all knew it.
recoveryjones said:
Yes, Dan Louie was a master of the big cueball and the bar table. Yes, he beat Buddy Hall on the big table using the big cueball. And, yes, he beat every player in the south when he was there in 1977.
But, Keith McCready wasn't there at the same time Dan Louie was. How can anyone who beats Buddy Hall, with the big cueball, feel like he needs the 8 ball from anyone who ever lived, on the bar table? Because, my friends, Keith McCready was the greatest bar table player that ever lived and they all knew it.
hemicudas said:
Keith must have played like he was from another planet, I wish that I could have watched him play on a bar box. Dan Louie is one of the smartest players I've seen and in the '70s had supreme confidence in his game. For Dan to ask for the 8 ball, on a bar table, from anyone just boggles my mind. Knowing Dan, he must have really felt he needed it as he never tried to get weight just to get the nuts.
Lunchmoney
lunchmoney said:
Interesting you should mention another planet, Lunchmoney.
I was at a tournament at Red's in Houston in the mid 70s and Keith draws a kid named Jose Villaponda(sp). Larry Hubbart asks Keith who this kid was. Keith says he doesn't know the guy either. I knew the kid because he had beaten me a week earlier in Jackson. Larry tells Keith, "Well, if they didn't import him from Mars you've got to be the favorte."
He was.
hemicudas said:
Hemi,
It must be nice to be that good. A friend of mine (top road player in the late 80's and early 90's) said once that for him it wasn't really gambling at all because, "If I don't know you, you can't beat me."
Williebetmore said:
That statement could be true of many of the road players of yesteryear, Willie. In fact, when Bill Stack and I traveled the roads we would play anyone that he or I didn't know. If we did know them we were not above matching up with them. Most players knew each other back then and how the other guy played.
Stack played the 7 ball over me. I did most of the playing in the bars. Most of the time I won. If I had trouble, Stack would play. The reasoning behind this was two fold. If I get all the money or the guy quits, Stack can still play the guy, then or in the future, thinking Stack is the stakehorse or at least, the weaker player. Another possibility is they call a local champion. Ok, I'll try the guy. Most of the time the guy they call is just another shortstop like me. If I win, good. If I can't beat the guy, Stack starts bitching and says, I can beat this guy and does.
Now, try this on for size. Keith McCready and Ronnie Allen walk into a bar together. No one in the bar or town know either of them. Multiply, Bill Stack and my money making potential by, oh,,,,20 or more and you can see how much danger that particular town was in. I'm sure, Keith, after taking the bar off, has had someone tell him, "Now, if you want to paly on a REAL pool table let's go to the pool room and I'll play you some on the 9'er." Think of the possibilities for Keith to say...... I don't play on those big tables but my buddy does, lol.
Yes, Keith and Ronnie made road trips together. How in the hell are you going to out run that? Even if they are known in the spot, it's like,,,,,,,,,,,pick a ball and you still can't win, lol.
The only other road team that came close was Larry Hubbart and Mike Segal and Keith already told you what happened with that team. lol.
Hemi,
I agree - there's no way to out run those guys. On typical bar tables or loose equipment, it doesn't matter what they spot you. Once they get to the table (if it's winner breaks), they are the odds on favorite to win over 50% of the games in any race; even if they spot you the 1 and out.
I agree - there's no way to out run those guys. On typical bar tables or loose equipment, it doesn't matter what they spot you. Once they get to the table (if it's winner breaks), they are the odds on favorite to win over 50% of the games in any race; even if they spot you the 1 and out.
drivermaker
Banned
There's no question that Keith was one of the best money players ever, but I think that he would even admit to not being able to beat Vincent Lauria on a good night. 
drivermaker said:There's no question that Keith was one of the best money players ever, but I think that he would even admit to not being able to beat Vincent Lauria on a good night.
Agreed, DM, Vincent gets the cash every time in that one.
How many of you out there realize that the name Vincent Lauria (V. Lauria on the tournament chart in Color Of Money) was a "quiet tribute" to one of the greatest ever handcrafters of pool tables, Verniere Loria, who was always known as V. Loria, and whose New York based company V. Loria & Sons is among the oldest and greatest in the billiard supplies industry?
Here's an interesting article about Keith McCready by Phil Capelle.
http://www.billiardspress.com/newskeith.html
http://www.billiardspress.com/newskeith.html