Luther Lassiter S.I. article

He played better sick than well. Kinda like the Mexican when he is bleary eyed and says "I tired". Just give him the money.
 
Thanks for the link.

I can only speak for myself, but when I miss it's usually from overcutting the ball.

-matthew
 
Cool article thanks for posting. This pool thing sounds like an easy game; guess I'll try it ! :)
 
I believe he won Fifteen times at Johnston City with Shorty next at Three!! It pretty much says it all there.
 
People forget that Wimpy held the title of most feared 9ball player for about 25yrs. A lot of people seen him play in the early 70s when he was on the decline his best pool was pre Johnston City from the time my grandfather hooked up with him in Norfolk till they parted ways (Wimpy set up base with my grandfather for about 10 years in Canton) Mr. Lassiter was unbeatable. He was defintly the most feared 9ball player of his era only one person ever from around 1948-1970 sought out an even 9ball game with Wimpy pretty solid reign
 
huckster said:
People forget that Wimpy held the title of most feared 9ball player for about 25yrs. A lot of people seen him play in the early 70s when he was on the decline his best pool was pre Johnston City from the time my grandfather hooked up with him in Norfolk till they parted ways (Wimpy set up base with my grandfather for about 10 years in Canton) Mr. Lassiter was unbeatable. He was defintly the most feared 9ball player of his era only one person ever from around 1948-1970 sought out an even 9ball game with Wimpy pretty solid reign
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I probably should know but, who was that player?
thanx,
thom
 
macguy said:
With the threads on the Lassiter cue I was prompted to do some looking on the net to see what I could find.

I feel privileged to have seen him play in person quite a few times.

Kind of a nice read I think from around 1967
Be sure to read the last paragraph, what to you think of his advice?


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080434/index.htm
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That last piece of advice is interesting because missing on the pro side usually involves over-cutting the ball.

I wish he had gone into more detail but I suppose the idea is if you over cut the ball it has no chance but if you undercut it a little it still just might go in anyway. Similar to the idea of playing enough break on a putt in golf.
 
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DogsPlayingPool said:
That last piece of advice is interesting because missing on the pro side usually involves over-cutting the ball.

I wish he had gone into more detail but I suppose the idea is if you over cut the ball it has no chance but if you undercut it a little it still just might go in anyway. Similar to the idea of playing enough break on a putt in golf.
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I think he's using the term 'overcut' to refer to the excessive application of spin rather than a cut shot:

"Never, ever overcut the ball. It is as easy as that, but it is the key to winning pool. Everybody has this natural tendency to overcut. They put on a little too much English, a little too much top spin, too hard of a draw. They make the cue ball go all curly and they lose control of it. So don't overcut. Just play steady, and play conservative."
 
Great article.

Macguy,
I've glanced at this thread several times since you started it and I never clicked on the link to article authored by Luther Lassiter. It was a mistake on my part of not checking out the link.

I found out that Luther was not only a great pool player but he could write the way I like. He had a great sense of humor and I liked that too.

The last paragraph of advice was good stuff and I think he was suggesting that you stay closer to the center of the cue ball when using English and also suggesting to play conservatively rather than flamboyantly.

His candor was appreciated as well. It takes a real man to admit the reality of his world and Luther put a spotlight on his.

My only regret was not seeing the photos that Luther alluded to in the article.

Thanks again.
JoeyA
 
MSchaffer said:
Joey...
You can see all the photos in the viewer:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/edb/reader.html?magID=SI&issueDate=19671016&mode=reader_vault

The photos are much better than you think, too...action shots done very informatively. (starts on page 54)
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Thanks very much. The photos are quite nice, however I think they are merely poses, poor ones at that, unless Wimpy had the most unique grip hand position in the world. Maybe he was trying to portray the stance illustrating his weight on his left foot then his right foot. That may be well and true but the position of his grip hand leads me to believe it was poor choreography as far as the grip hand is concerned......but I could be wrong.
 
macguy said:
With the threads on the Lassiter cue I was prompted to do some looking on the net to see what I could find.

I feel privileged to have seen him play in person quite a few times.

Kind of a nice read I think from around 1967
Be sure to read the last paragraph, what to you think of his advice?


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080434/index.htm
Click to expand...


I've read this article once before, and I must say the second time around was just as intriguing.

I think Wimpy's advice about how to make different shots and getting the most out of the cue ball was spot on, placing your hand on the table a certain way/raising and lowering it and using your fingers on certain shots for leverage go a long way of becoming a good player or a great player.


David Harcrow
 
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