I met a man....

[Tommy-D]

> I can see more people not recognizing Buddy Hall,than I can Nick for one reason. For over 20 years,Nick's name was on the outside wall of the Rack and Cue,advertising him as World Champion. How anyone that lives in Owensboro missed that when all you had to do was drive down Triplett is beyond me,LOL. Tommy D.

 

[JimS]

The local paper did a nice spread on Brad Simpson when he authored the Blue Book(s).

Currently the Quad Cities papers need to monitor Christ Aiardo. He'd make a great human interest story as his pool prowess grows. His dad would be thrilled as the kid would be able to take him down now-a-days.

I entered the pool world in 1999 and at that time, at age 55, I had never heard of Earl, Buddy, Miz, Greenleaf (Monmouth is 16 miles away and also my former hometown), DD, Wimpy, or Archer. I had seen Nick and Hopkins on TV or I'd not have heard of them either.

The ONLY names I knew were Fats, Fast Eddie, Balabuska and Brad Simpson. I read the paper :groucho: When Brad took me to the basement of his shop and let me touch his Buska I had to admit I'd never heard of Gus. Jeez I hate that! I can't like being the puppy.

The word just don't get around unless you're on the inside. Thanks for the thread Terry... good stuff .... as ALWAYS! :groucho:

 

[bchilton]

I grew up in a very msmall Arkansas town!! The closest city of any size was Shreveport La, only about 60-9- ,il;es away!!
One day while in my early 20's I opened the Shreveport Times and trurning to the sports section was a 2 full page article on Buddy Hall who at the time was living in Shreveport and was literly unbeatable at Guys and Dolls Billiards, downtown.
I loved the game. I sleps and dreamt of the game, totaly consumed by it!
I couldn't wait to get to Shreveport and watch this guy play, so that weekend a friend and i drove down there
The pool room was in the basement of a high rise building downtown. To the side of the building was an old barber shop holding 2 God Crowns and a frame aticle or adertaisemant on the wall which read {as closely as I can remember}, T"this room is dedicated to Budddy Hall, the greatest 9 ball p;ayuer living and the greatest 9 ball player ever!" Red Boxx!
I thought at the time I had met a myth!!
I had since met Terry Bell in Texarkana and he called one day and said, I might be intrested in a match taking place In Shreveport between Buddy and St Louis,"Louie"! Well, yes I was.
My friend and I drove back dow there again on Friday night and the match is all oanyone was thinking about or talking about and it began at 1 PM on Saturday.
To this day it is the greatest match I ever sawq with Louie getting the call 7 and bar b Qued to the tume of 4 7 ahead sets.
My point being, the dam Shreveport Times about Buddy, ruined my life,,,,,,but I wouldn't change a thing!!!

Isn't Scotty Townsend originally from Shreveport?
Probably the best player "FROM" there.

 

[gpeezy]

if your talking about allen hopkins, my local newspaper did a article on him in 1990 or 91 10 ball tournament i think they called it the rocket city open. Huntsville alabama. I watched him play some straight pool in one pool room, he won that event.

Which was the last tournament of its kind in our area. I heard the promoters (from what I understand were locals) lost their butts on it.

 

[JesPiddlin]

Here's one for ya, Terry.

When Gene first started building cues, we were getting more and more active in the pool circles, around here. We're not bar-hoppers, so we didn't do league play, much. We liked to stay where we could be around our youngest son's friends, or take the granddaughter to the pool hall with us. We lived only 3 doors down from the lady who ran the local BCA pool leagues.

When Gene was finally ready to sell some cues (it takes a while to make them), we sold a few locally to folks who knew us pretty well. Not very many, though, because Gene didn't have a lot of time to build cues. So, coupled with the time it takes to make them, he didn't have very many available.

By the time Gene had some cues available, we were buying a house and I had heart attacks. I wasn't recuperating very well and our little granddaughter was living with us, so Gene stayed home with us, when he wasn't working. No time or ability to go play pool or sell cues, especially with all the medical bills that came up. He did, however, spend a good deal of time in the workshop.

In early 2006, we started selling the cues on eBay. They did so well and we had a lot of interest, so we started a website and sold cues from there. We sold anywhere in the USA only, for a while. Now, we sell and ship internationally.

In 2007, I hadn't recovered from the heart attacks like we thought I should have done and we later found out I had colon cancer. So, no pool. Just more bills to pay and more staying home to deal with it.

Here we are in 2009. There are less people in Oklahoma who have a clue who Gene La Viness or Crown Cues are, than any other state. There are very few owners of any Crown Cues in Oklahoma, too. Why? Because I was recovering from illnesses that took up our time and our money and the only way we were able to sell cues was to do it online. Crown Cues was "built" almost exclusively online.

Because we've been really public people in the past and we know how little privacy or alone time you get when you are so well-known, and because health issues sometimes make it tough to be active, we have no problem with being unknown in Oklahoma. We have nothing to prove.

One day, the people in Oklahoma will wake up. I'd just as soon not have that day be tomorrow. Is that awful? After being so ill for so long, I really treasure my private time in my home, where I can relax and even be lazy, if I want to (although I seldom have time to slow down and relax).

I know Gene is not a pool champion, or even a cuemaker who's been out there for 30 years. But, we do have an international presence online and we appreciate everyone who has helped us become so well known for the cues Gene builds. Almost everywhere we go (outside Oklahoma), we have customers or potential customers who come to meet us or to see us, again. That always makes us happy.

 

[JoeW]

I took my wife to Mountaineer Race Track (in West Virginia near Pittsburgh) last night for her birthday. We dined at le Bonn Vie (the expensive restaurant). This was a nice but expensive place to eat. The décor is leather and stainless steal. It had a real gambler’s flavor to it with elegant staff and who matched the gambler ethos. Give it a try Terry, I recommend it highly and know that you live “nearby.”

Anyway after reading Terry’s thoughts it occurred to me that this would be a good place to have a pool hall in or near the track. There are lots of gamblers and like in many other places tournaments could be set up to give the sport some exposure. The casinos have been among the better supporters of pool for their own reasons and now there are many casinos around the country. I wonder if rather than try to make pool acceptable to the main stream, perhaps we should be catering to the gambling crowd with rooms that extol the virtues of the players past and present. There were approximately 500 people on a Tuesday night in a little casino in WV so there is plenty of exposure plus the 1,000 or more at the track.

I suspect that casinos do not want pool tables on site because they would take away from time at the gambling machines and tables. None-the-less there are places “next door” and these types of establishments could help with exposure, tournaments, etc.

Kay and Joe at Le Bonn Vie, the gambler's restaurant and dressed for the occassion

 

[Roy Steffensen]

And to further that, I was on a small job a couple of months ago and there was a Filipino guy who just arrived in Canada. We started talking about pool and there wasn't a Filipino player whom he didn't know of. In school we learn
our national anthems at an early age and its like these guys learn who the nations great players are. He said its a way of life so to speak and there aren't too many Filipinos who don't know whats going on in the pool scene. I'm sure thats a bit stretched but maybe not too far. He told me that their work weeks consist of 10 to 12 hour days and 6 days a week, and when alot of them get the day off, they try to get a few games in. He also said, "pool halls everywhere".

I've been to Philippines three times now and I have yet to meet someone who does not know the name of Efren Reyes and Fransisco Bustamante, or Django, as they all call him. Efren and Django.

During my first trip to Philippines I got to play Efren the first night at a poolhall named Side Pocket in Quezon City, just outside Metro Manila. In the taxi on my way home the taxi-driver went crazy and was so happy since I had just played his idol Efren Reyes. It was almost as if that made his day, and he talked non-stop about Efren.

Walking in the Philippines with a cue case on your shoulder is an experience of joy. A lot of people will point at you and smile, and then say "Efren Reyes"!

On my way to Philippines the second time, I travelled alone and got a seat on the plane between two Filipinos on their way home after months at work overseas. After a while we started to talk, and when they heard that I was going to play pool they named like 6-8 players that they knew of, and they talked about the World Cup of Pool that Efren and Django won in 2006, and about Alcano's two world titles. Neither of these guys knew each other and they had never touched a cue. They didn't play, but they liked to read about the Filipino poolplayers in the newspapers.

Jasmin Ouschan told me that when she was there during the World Ten Ball last year, the taxi-driver always knew who she was, and because they covered the championship even on radio the taxi-drivers almost always knew how she had did in the match she had just finished.

Pool in the Philippines is really different compared to the rest of the world.

Manila is a dangerous city to walk in, especially alone being a foreigner, but if you walk around with your cue case you will get smiles and laughter on your way wherever you go. I've never felt more safe and welcomed than during my walks to the hotel late at nights in Manila.

 

[Roy Steffensen]

At physical therapy, there was a group of 3 men taking a physical test as a condition of employment for one of our local mines. I overheard him say he was from Kentucky. He seemed to be about 30 years old.

During a break, we spoke and I asked him where at in Kentucky he was from. He replied "A little town that nobody ever heard of called Paducah."
Well, EVERYBODY knows who hails from Paducah, Kentucky....Buddy Hall!

So I said I've heard of Paducah, it's right across the river from Metropolis, Il. And then I asked him if he knows Buddy Hall. He said "Who?" I repeated, "Buddy Hall, one of the greatest 9 ball champions who ever lived. He's a past World and U.S. Open 9 Ball Champion." And this guy said "No, I never heard of him. I don't follow pool."

I have some retorical questions that can't really be answered....

1. How can anybody live in as small a town as Paducah, Ky and "never heard of" a LEGEND like Buddy Hall.

2. You would think that the town would have a sign upon entering it saying something like "Welcome to Paducah, Kentucky, home of the Legendary Pool Champion Cecil "Buddy" Hall.

3. Don't local newspapers cover pool champions? I don't mean a write up every day, but something at least when he was in his heyday?

4. What about the locals who do play pool? Don't they ever talk to their family or friends about the world beater in their midst?

This is not the first time this has happened. I've asked people from Owensboro, Ky if they've ever heard of Nick Varner and they said "No".
One of my daughter's classmates at Valley Forge Christian College lived in Scranton and has never heard of Jim Rempe! The only time I can ever remember having someone answer "Yes" was when a Filipino couple was sitting next to me in a waiting room and after some small talk, I asked them if they ever heard of Efren "Bata" Reyes? "Who?" "Oh yes, the pool player." Then surely, they've also heard of Bustamonte and Parica? No. Luat or Andam? Nope. never heard of them.

It was hard to believe. I had heard over the years that pool players are like superstars in the Philipines. Maybe I just caught two people who had other interests besides pool.

Just an idea here, but when somebody like a Shane VanBoeing wins a major tournament, somebody who is a friend or family member should at least contact the local newspaper and have them write at least a short little story depicting what was accomplished. Somebody from Dennis Hatch's hometown needs to write something to their newspaper. Donnie Mills needs some ink for what he accomplished at this year's U.S. Open.
In other words, let's help make these guys a little more famous. Shannon Daulton, young as he is, is successfully running his own pool tour. His local newspaper should have profiled his winnings at Derby City and his great wins at the L.o.1P by now. I could go on....

And just not the local newspapers, how about local TV stations? If they can cover "punkin' chunking" or "hotdog eating" contests, or chess tournaments, why not pool???

It's too late for Buddy Hall. And Nick Varner. And "King" James Rempe. Oh, I'm sure there are SOME people in their towns that know of them, but for the most part, it's my opinion that a large chunk of fame has passed them by. Grady Mathews, Dallas West, Danny DiLiberto. I could go on, but has any of these great players ever been famous even in their home town? Sad.

Heck, outside of our town, we have a school named for an astronaut (Joe Walker). But besides that name on the school, I never heard of him, so how famous could he have been?

If a town can honor an astronaut, they can honor a pool champion as well!

I have to say that when I read this thread yesterday, it really made me sad. I thought atleast local newspapers were writing about pool events and local champions.

But how can they do it when no one sends them results?

Line Kjorsvik is the Norwegian poolplayer that is getting most media-attention, she has been to several magazines, major newspapers and tv-stations etc. That is because our federation and the poolclub she belongs to sends press-releases to all media when she is playing events.

Apart from Line, it is Ine Helvik and I who are getting the most coverage in Norway. In local papers. I am just an amateur player but I've had atleast 25 articles/interviews/reports about tournaments that I've played in.

Before each event I send them an e-mail telling them where I am going, how many players I think there will be, what kind of event it is, how I did last time I played that event, my ranking and of course my goal with the event.

When the event is over I send them an e-mail with the results, and perhaps some comments, and a picture from the event if I have.

Both me and Ine is living in Stavanger, and we get press-coverage in the local newspapers for all we want that is pool-related. The Stavanger area has a population of 200 000+ with 2 main newspapers.

Because of the connection we have built with the press over the years, people that I haven't talked with since high-school knows that I play pool in National Championships and international events, because that they have read it/seen pictures in the newspapers.

Now we have got a position in Stavanger that if I finish 3rd in an event and Ine 5th, they will write about our performance/get comments from us, and just name the people who won.

When another local guy from Stavanger, the Norwegian Snooker Champion, was going to the World Snooker Championships for seniors, they chose to instead write about me who was going for the National Championship in Norway...

I am of the opinion that it is EASY to get sports-writers to do stories about pool.

What you have to do is to find the person who writes about the "funny" sports like Bowling etc. Get this person's e-mail, and then send him the article as you would like to read it in the newspaper. Include pictures and quotes.

Why do it like that? Because the writer is just a lazy guy like you and me. If he can get an article that is already written, he only needs to sign it with his name and send it to the desk. One article less for him to write that day, but one more article in the paper.

If you could get your salary just by forwarding e-mails, you would appreciate it too, wouldn't you?

I will post a cool picture of Ine Helvik in this thread later, or she will post it herself if she reads this thread before I get the picture It was a banner of 5x3 meters, hanging on the wall outside one of the local papers in downtown Stavanger. ALL the busses pass there, so it was no way that people would not see it.

The banner was a commercial for the local newspaper, saying "we cover Stavanger" or something like that. The banner was a 5x3m big picture of Ine Helvik playing pool That was awesome.

And it only happened because we have been networking with the local newspapers, feeding them with articles.

It works.