Dave,
Reminds me of a similar story, even more dramatic. I was visiting Snookers in Tallahassee back in 1996. It was owned by my friend Larry Knox. He was helping out an old time player named Howard Barrett, who used to be a top roadman in the 60's. Howard was now an old man, maybe 80 years old and in bad health. He kept an oxygen tank by his side, and just hung around and fixed tips for players.
I was there several days and never saw Howard pick up a cue. John Amis (a great Banker) and I were kibbutzing at Banks, and trying difficult shots. John set up the shot with the object ball on the side rail and the Cue ball a foot below it and just off the rail. The idea is to bank the ball off the other end rail and back into the corner. A very hard shot. We both tried it several times with no luck.
Howard says we're not shooting it right. He slowly stands up, borrows my cue, and says "You've got to hit it like this". He puts my cue in his massive hands and slowly gets down on the shot. He frams the shot about 100mph straight back into the pocket, hands me my cue and sits back down. I almost fell to my knees.
I think Howard has passed since then.
