Well, DM, let me state my case. I began going to the Golden Q poolroom in Queens, NY, in 1966 as the ripe old age of eight. My father played pool with his friends once a week, and he took me with him. Still, I didn't hang with my dad and his pool buddies, as my dad depositied me in the bleachers by the two exhibition tables, leaving me to sweat the action until his game was finished. Straight pool was usually the game played on the always-in-use exhibition tables, and the rest was one-pocket. Many of the legends frequented the Golden Q from time to time, including Onnofrio Laurie, Gene Nagy, Mike Eufemia, Steve Mizerak, Jack Colavita, Joe Balsis, Pete Margo, Ray Martin, Luther Lassiter, Irving Crane, John Ervolino, Eddie Taylor, Cornbread Red, and Frank McGowan. I saw all of them play.
By the time I was eleven, though I had yet to hit my first ball as a pool player, I had watched the old timers and stars of the day light it up for three years, and had learned to understand and appreciate what they were doing.
I began playing pool at age eleven in 1969 when my father bought his dream house with a pool table. I wasn't particularly talented, but I played straight pool and felt somewhat knoweldgeable because I had watched the masters so much. Over the next fifteen years, I attended nine world straight pool championships and always knew a lot of the players, as they remembered me as the kid that watched them play at the Golden Q. Sometimes, I'd sweat the matches with them, and some, Irving Crane in particular, were happy to explain some of the play to me. I'm not and never have been a top player. I've run 91 balls in straight pool and once ran a six-pack in nine ball, but more than a few in NYC can beat me comfortably.
I guess it's because I had so much exposure to the old school players as a youth growing up in New York City that I always reckoned that I was the youngest old schooler on the planet.
Seems safe to say that I'm among the younger old schoolers, though at the ripe old age of 46, I'm not so young anymore. Still, you'd be hard pressed to find a lot of people younger than 46 that have seen more of the old schoolers than I have.
Well, DM, that's my story. Hope it didn't put you to sleep.
I was raised in Auburn, Alabama and one of the first out-of-state women's tournaments I traveled to was the Steve Gumphrey Memorial in Jackson, MS about 1989 or '90. But unfortunately I never knew Steve or much about him. How good did he play? What happened to him? Do you have any cool stories?
LOL . I would like to get better.
And Willie, if you say anything about where I stand in line...I'll be sending my good pal Bubba up there to pay you a visit.