Johnny Irish Stories Please!
- Thread starter RobDeBank
- Start date
I will only say this. In a poolroom full of champions, "Irish" was the Professor Emeritus of the group. They all looked up to him. I'm talking about the infamous 7/11 in New York. The murderers row there included Johnny Ervolino, New York Rex, Jersey Red, Boston Shorty, New York Blackie and Richie Ambrose. No one could fade that line up.
P.S. I played Irish in there as a 22 year old, having no idea who he was. He carried me along for a while at $2 a game until I blew twenty bucks to him. :smile:
P.S. I played Irish in there as a 22 year old, having no idea who he was. He carried me along for a while at $2 a game until I blew twenty bucks to him. :smile:
I think the magazine i read was inside pool or maybe pool and billiards digest,not sure its been awhile.The magazine was doing stories on the legends of the road,any how they was saying johnnny always had to be coaxed into playing and that when he broke people had to hold the light off to the side cause his cueball would fly up in the air!
Johnny Ervolino used to refer to Johnny Irish a lot. Wish I could remember some of his stories. But one thing is certain, Ervolino had the world of respect for Johnny Irish, as did everyone else I ever talked to. Never met the man, nor saw him play. Wish I had.
Read about Irish
Tom Shaw wrote about Johnny Irish in his Legends of the Road series.
It's in the Dec. 1996 issue of Pool & Billiards magazine.
EW
Tom Shaw wrote about Johnny Irish in his Legends of the Road series.
It's in the Dec. 1996 issue of Pool & Billiards magazine.
EW
I have an Irish joke.
Whats green and sits on your back deck?
Pati O' Furniture.
Whats the difference between and Irish wedding and an Irish Wake?
One less drunken Irishman.
Hey, did you hear about the suspicious Irish family?
The O'Learys
Whats green and sits on your back deck?
Pati O' Furniture.
Whats the difference between and Irish wedding and an Irish Wake?
One less drunken Irishman.
Hey, did you hear about the suspicious Irish family?
The O'Learys
Last edited:
:lol: now that's funny!
THATS THE ONE ED,I enjoyed reading those articles!!!
who is on the cover?
http://www.josswest.net/goff.html
"I was traveling by Greyhound and Trailways," he said, "learning One Pocket as I went. By the time I got to Ft. Worth, I had my first big One Pocket win, about $700. I did okay with the money on that trip, mostly from winning 9-Ball."In Tampa he started rooming with the famed Johnny Irish. "Johnny was a fanatic for playing the dogs. He was good at any game: bowling, One Pocket, very excellent Straight Pool player and 3-Cushion Billiards player, just any game. He taught me a lot about One Pocket.
johnny Irish
of P&B Mag. Hope I hav'ent lost it or give it away. john
Yes that was a very good story on Johnny I. I had that issue
of P&B Mag. Hope I hav'ent lost it or give it away. john
Tom Shaw story
I scanned the cover, but don't think it would be kosher to copy the complete article.
It may be available in the archives of P&B
http://www.poolmag.com/
Or you might contact Tom Shaw:
tom@poolmag.com
843-875-5115
Ed
I scanned the cover, but don't think it would be kosher to copy the complete article.
It may be available in the archives of P&B
http://www.poolmag.com/
Or you might contact Tom Shaw:
tom@poolmag.com
843-875-5115
Ed
Attachments
some johnny irish stories n whitey stone
back in the day-hah- i played in tumas pool room with nothing but old timers, one was buddy wallace, he could make any shot and run a hundred balls at will, trick shots but could not play for money.He told me stories of johnny irish that are amazing.other players were steve martin,chuck morgan,stouffer,lombardo and the best was whitey stone,aka the gasman as he worked for the gas co. and always had his uniform on. he was on the road with irish and said he learned the games (and i emphasize all the games) snooker, billiards.nine ball,jack pool, and excellent one pocket. ive only seen 3 people who cud stroke a ball with low english shoot at the end rail and before it hits the rail the english makes the ball come back. anyhow buddy told me the story of when irish went to wurst, who had just won the billiard championship, on the way up on the train he said irish slept all the way, when they got to wurst house irish got up played 5 games and wurst only shot 3 times. on the way home irish wanted potato chips to eat fell asleep, went to the track (they all loved the ponies) and dumped the cash there. it was also said he could shot a silver dollar from the head spot(they would put a silver dollar between two balls,open them up just enough to free the coin) shoot the coin to the bottom rail and have come back between the balls. another story was that legs diamond (ya the gangster) was at a gamblin house heard of irish and kinda made a bet with irish that irish would put an orange on the spot with the cue ball on the head spot and only with a stick match pocket the orange, he made it 3 outa 5 times to win the bet, wutta wrist stroke he musta had. whitey was one of those cold,cold hustler take money from anybody, he could spot 2 and stop, 3and stop with a safety, he always said if he could make 20.00 a day that would make his expenses. i saw him drill rempe right after he won the nationals, also when mizerak won the title whitey said" you just ran 150, can you run 9 ?" 250 dollars later steve quit. well thats all for now i could go on n on but im older now and getting tired.
back in the day-hah- i played in tumas pool room with nothing but old timers, one was buddy wallace, he could make any shot and run a hundred balls at will, trick shots but could not play for money.He told me stories of johnny irish that are amazing.other players were steve martin,chuck morgan,stouffer,lombardo and the best was whitey stone,aka the gasman as he worked for the gas co. and always had his uniform on. he was on the road with irish and said he learned the games (and i emphasize all the games) snooker, billiards.nine ball,jack pool, and excellent one pocket. ive only seen 3 people who cud stroke a ball with low english shoot at the end rail and before it hits the rail the english makes the ball come back. anyhow buddy told me the story of when irish went to wurst, who had just won the billiard championship, on the way up on the train he said irish slept all the way, when they got to wurst house irish got up played 5 games and wurst only shot 3 times. on the way home irish wanted potato chips to eat fell asleep, went to the track (they all loved the ponies) and dumped the cash there. it was also said he could shot a silver dollar from the head spot(they would put a silver dollar between two balls,open them up just enough to free the coin) shoot the coin to the bottom rail and have come back between the balls. another story was that legs diamond (ya the gangster) was at a gamblin house heard of irish and kinda made a bet with irish that irish would put an orange on the spot with the cue ball on the head spot and only with a stick match pocket the orange, he made it 3 outa 5 times to win the bet, wutta wrist stroke he musta had. whitey was one of those cold,cold hustler take money from anybody, he could spot 2 and stop, 3and stop with a safety, he always said if he could make 20.00 a day that would make his expenses. i saw him drill rempe right after he won the nationals, also when mizerak won the title whitey said" you just ran 150, can you run 9 ?" 250 dollars later steve quit. well thats all for now i could go on n on but im older now and getting tired.
Irish was well-known for his ability to play well on virtually no sleep.
His backers, I was told, would call him and wake him up from his sleep when good action was in town and, it was said, Irish found a way to get to the poolroom in a flash.
Yup, action mattered a lot more than sleep to Johnny Irish.
Hey, we all have our priorities.
His backers, I was told, would call him and wake him up from his sleep when good action was in town and, it was said, Irish found a way to get to the poolroom in a flash.
Yup, action mattered a lot more than sleep to Johnny Irish.
Hey, we all have our priorities.
Thanks for the story. Johnnyt
Funny sh_t!!!
You must be from around Cleveland. You're right about Buddy Wallace, who was many times Ohio State champion. George Rood challenged him to play Straight Pool for any amount and offered to play him on his own table. Wallace refused. Chuck Morgan and Whitey Stone were legendary hustlers in Ohio back in the 60's. Steve Martin was originally from the New England area and played good for the cash. I'm trying to remember what I knew about Stauffer. I remember the name but just can't place him right now. Herbie Score was gambling up there around that time too. He would play just about anyone.
Of course none of these guys wanted to mess with Don Willis either. He and Rood were in another league, just like Irish. They all knew each other and probably had played at one time or another. Three of the best in that era. Worst matured as a money player and would play anyone when he got older. Irish caught him when he was in his 20's and didn't have much money. Ten years later it might have been a different story. Of course by then Irish was getting old. When I played him in 7/11 in the mid 60's he must have been in his 60's as well. He still toyed with me playing $2 9-Ball.
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
I may have my stories a bit mixed up but wasn’t it Irish who was sleeping in one of the rail bird seats with his hat pulled over his face when someone rushed over to him and said that Nixon had just won and Irish reported pullled the hat up from covering his eyes and said: “Well what do you know about that , the guy can’t run four balls and he gets elected president!’ Then he pulled his hat back over his eyes and went back to sleep.