military pool players

Arthur “Babe” Cranfield, Army Air Corps (WWII).

Babe was the only person ever to have won the US Junior, the US Amateur Championship three consecutive times (1938, 1939, 1940) and the World’s Professional Championship (1964).
 
Yukon Ed said:
I've been around quite a few:

Lee Heuwagen is a "dependent son" of an Air Force retiree. Started playing seriously in...you guessed it, Clark AB, Philippines!

Roger Griffis (AZ) was in the Air Force.

The best military player I've I've ever seen (and one of the nicest guys I've ever met) is Pete Lhotka from AZ. Great straight pool player who once beat Earl 9-0 in a Reno 9-ball event.

Stanley Miller & "Vegas Dave" Hamilton are two legends of the Clark AB/Philippines/Angeles City Pool League scene.

Ric Stoneburner & Dave Nelleson (sp?) were two great AF players in the Phoenix area (late 80's). They brought Dana Hallet on-base to look for action.

Is there an Angel Garcia in the Colorado Springs area? I heard he was in the Army and the players in Panama (the country) still talk about him.

I'll think of a few more later today.

Yukon Ed
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Pete Lhotka lived a block from me in San Antonio for a number of years. I used to go up to his house, he had a 9 foot Gold Crown in his garage (converted). He would give me some lessons! Pete put himself through college and supported his family playing pool. If I remember correctly, he played in the PBA back when. He's a great guy, and, a great player.

CD
 
Nate "Okinawa Slim" Bryant is a former US Military Champ in the mid 80's as best I can recall. He is currently (or recently) the president of the WPA Artistic Pool Division.

I had a friend who told me stories about playing with Grady while in the service. My friend was in the Air Force and I believe he mentioned the San Francisco area in the 60's as the timeframe.
 
Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant enlisted and served in the US Army.

He used to live with me and he showed me pictures of himself in uniform.

Very cool.:smile:
 
Thorsten was in the Army from 1998-2003.
After the 3 months basic training every soldier has to do he joined the Army Sports Support Unit

Right now 21 years old junior player Philip Ruethemann is in the sports support unit

This is a very good thing here in Germany. Sportsmen and sportswomen who compete in lesser known sports can join this unit where they spend most of the time practicing their sport and earn money like a normal soldier.
That unit is a mix of all kinds of sports like sailing, rowing, judo or women soccer.
 
DTL said:
Buddy was in the Air Force.

I did 24 1/2 years in the military.....retired Oct '06. My first 4 years were in the Air Force. I did 2 years in Germany and was the Armed Forces European Straight Pool Champion '82 & '83........ran 74 balls in the '82 finals against Rick Tollus. My last 20 years were in the Navy. I lived in the Norfolk, VA area for 12 years and competed in several U.S. Opens.....best finish was 13th in 2001.

DTL
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I think I may have played Rick too -- he was like a SMSgt? -- in the USAF European 14.1 Championship, held in Germany, in 1984. Talk about his bad luck: I think I ran a 52 or 54 and out on him in the finals one year :-)

Lou Figueroa
USAF LtCol, retired
 
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coastydad said:
Pete Lhotka lived a block from me in San Antonio for a number of years. I used to go up to his house, he had a 9 foot Gold Crown in his garage (converted). He would give me some lessons! Pete put himself through college and supported his family playing pool. If I remember correctly, he played in the PBA back when. He's a great guy, and, a great player.

CD
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I played Pete in the finals of the Air Training Command 14.1 Championship, I think in Biloxi, about 1982 or 3. Lost that one.

Lou Figueroa
 
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Yukon Ed said:
Is there an Angel Garcia in the Colorado Springs area? I heard he was in the Army and the players in Panama (the country) still talk about him.
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Never heard of him, but if he's in the Springs, I'll try him out some.

You're all forgetting the greatest of the great military players....
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Russ "The Shortbus" Chewning
 
Willie Mosconi
 

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Jack Rippel from Sierra Vista AZ. Retired CSM and has won many of tournies in Phoenix and fairs well at the Swanee.

Myself as well. I have only cashed in one descent sized tournie thus far but I am improving daily.
 
For those of you up in the New England area, specifically SE CT, Mike Keith was active duty Navy until he ETS'd in 2004 (approx). He would routinely do well in Joss Tour events, to include Turning Stone.
 
Buddy Hall was in the Army not the Air Force.

here is a picture straight out of his book.
 

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5ballcharlie said:
Buddy Hall was in the Army not the Air Force.

here is a picture straight out of his book.
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Tap, Tap and if that doesn't end the question maybe the caption "Buddy in the army" will seal the deal. "Rags to Rifleman" says he didn't stay long.

I was in the Marines for 25 years and the only player I ever saw that was "pro" quality was Scott Richardson (navy corpsman) in Ca. A few were "A" players, but Scott was the best.

If pool is a passion the military is not the place to pursue it. Unless you have a "skate" job where you never deploy and go home every night good luck on a schedule that permits you to have any time for serious pool.

I will say the bases promoted pool a lot better than they do now. Places with 15-20 quality 9 ft tables and maybe a snooker table weren't uncommon. Now they might have a handful of bar tables and the rest is video games.

I did find that if you are a pool addict who has to endure frequent breaks (a month here, 6-12 months there) and want to play at a high level you better spend money for a instructor who can make you understand the fundamentals of a stroke otherwise you start over after every break.

On the plus side the military allows you to play pool in countries you probably wouldn't get the chance. I hear about pool tables in Iraq, but I never saw any.
 
Military Players

Hey Center Pocket,if you see Jack "the Ripper " Rippel,tell him Carl says Hi.
I was fortunate to have directed both the Army and Air Force championships in the mid 80's. I'll have to do some digging for more specifics,but guys like Jack, Chance Chin, Gary Urinowski, Chris'lucky' Lorenz,and Roger Glenn were all top notch pool players back then. Couple other guys Keith Hebert and Frank Kischbaum from California were darn good players. There have always been good players in the military.The recreation centers had old 9ft Sport Kings,sometimes a Gold Crown,and a few Centennial Table sprinkled in to give us G.I.'s some practice.
Duane,I think Nate won it in either 83 or 85,can't be positive off the top of my head. For Gosh sakes, I'm not Jay Helfert!!!:grin:
Col. Figueroa,did Rick play over in Europe in the 85-87 time frame? His name sounds so familiar!!
If i recall Chance was a notch above everyone at that time. Thanks for thinking about our servicemen.
 
cajunfats said:
Hey Center Pocket,if you see Jack "the Ripper " Rippel,tell him Carl says Hi.
I was fortunate to have directed both the Army and Air Force championships in the mid 80's. I'll have to do some digging for more specifics,but guys like Jack, Chance Chin, Gary Urinowski, Chris'lucky' Lorenz,and Roger Glenn were all top notch pool players back then. Couple other guys Keith Hebert and Frank Kischbaum from California were darn good players. There have always been good players in the military.The recreation centers had old 9ft Sport Kings,sometimes a Gold Crown,and a few Centennial Table sprinkled in to give us G.I.'s some practice.
Duane,I think Nate won it in either 83 or 85,can't be positive off the top of my head. For Gosh sakes, I'm not Jay Helfert!!!:grin:
Col. Figueroa,did Rick play over in Europe in the 85-87 time frame? His name sounds so familiar!!
If i recall Chance was a notch above everyone at that time. Thanks for thinking about our servicemen.
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I won the 14.1 in '82 and '83. My name is Duke Laha. Was stationed at Zeiwbrucken Air Base.
 
Hierovision said:
I think AF has the best players. I'm a little partial though :)

Eventually I'll make a name for myself but I'll probably be out of the military by then.
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I just moved to Newport News. We should have a little AF vs Navy match:wink: You would have the advantage, I've only played very little since I moved 2 months ago.
 
Thanks Duke

I remember seeing your name in the Tournament Program when I directed the AF tournament. Who were some of the other guys you remember. There was this one guy I think from Bitburg or Weisbaden who was real good. I left active duty in Feb 83 and came back to the States for a year,went back in 1984 until 1987 to work for Army MWR. I really need to dig out my old stuff. The Tournaments were 14.1 most years,but I think possibly late 70's we played 8 Ball. I remember playing in one around 1976or77. When I was there from 80-83,didn't play much away from the kaserne,TDY most of the time!! Glad to see you are still involved after all these years.
 
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