Minnesota Fats

[Island Drive]

Fats didnt really seem like the "save money for retirement" type.

Well, he owned his own home in Dowell IL, had a TV show, I'd have to look back, but at least a dozen, possibly 20 shows were made, I do have that number. He also had Minnesota Fats billiard stores, he played almost every famous person and celebrity back in his day, his wife Evelyn was getting her social security checks even after their split up when he moved to TN, she showed me them. He got more out of the moment that most anyone I ever met, I think retirement and Fats are opposites, he "lived" he would never consider retiring, it wasn't in em, he probably would of said retiring is putting new rubber on your cadillac.:grin:

 

[Scott Lee]

Whoa there, Island Drive...you've got some mixed up statistics. Fats never owned a home. The home in Dowell was owned by Evelyn's mother, and she hated the fact that Fatty never paid one dime into the place. The t.v. show was produced by others...they just used Fatty, because he had a recognizable name. He never owned any rights, nor got any royalties. The billiard stores were somebody else's invention and investment. They did pay Fatty to use his name.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Well, he owned his own home in Dowell IL, had a TV show, I'd have to look back, but at least a dozen, possibly 20 shows were made, I do have that number. He also had Minnesota Fats billiard stores, he played almost every famous person and celebrity back in his day, his wife Evelyn was getting her social security checks even after their split up when he moved to TN, she showed me them. He got more out of the moment that most anyone I ever met, I think retirement and Fats are opposites, he "lived" he would never consider retiring, it wasn't in em, he probably would of said retiring is putting new rubber on your cadillac.:grin:

 

[alstl]

If you read Dyer's "The Hustler and the Champ," it's not at all clear that he ended up very well. Also, if you read Jon Bradshaw's "Fast Company : How Six Master Gamblers Defy the Odds - and Always Win," which seems to have just been republished, the picture of his latter days is pretty bleak.

I know he was living on charity at the end. How about this? He had a good enough hustle that he never had to punch a clock.

 

[Danny Kuykendal]

In one of Dyer's books, Fats is playing cards I think in Johnson City with several pool players and gamblers including Hubert Cokes, when several armed masked men walked in and demanded that they all lay on the floor face down and hand over all their money.

Fats says to one of the crooks "Do mind if I pay Cokes the five grand I owe him before you rob us?"

He had an unlimited amount of gaul (sp).

 

[George Fels]

He was just about unanimously considered very good but well removed from great; it was nearly as unanimously felt that his long suit was banks. He was rated about the same at three-cushion. You didn't ask this, but he was regarded as an unusually generous man, and while his idea of humor was frequently bewildering to those outside the cue-games world, he was apparently extremely well-liked within it. GF

 

[av84fun]

none of us will end up very well ! but he was a wonderful guy with a big heart, who did many nice things in his life. if he was broke when he died, and i don't know if he was ? he might have had it worked out perfectly.

I am not inclined to tear down legends and don't mean to here but you would have gotten an argument on your opinion from a lot of people including his first wife and Mosconi just to name a few.

Regards,
Jim

 

[freddy the beard]

Roy Acuff

Roy Acuff the Hall of Fame, billionaire country music producer from Nashville would have given Fatty anything he needed. He loved Fatty and doted around him like a schoolgirl. This I garnered from Roy's chauffeur, Joey Bowman (also a pool player from Johnson City, Tenn.). Roy probably put Fatty up and paid for his lodging and expenses at the hotel he wound up living in in Nashville. Years earlier there was a tournament in Nashville, Joey Bowman was there and so was Fats. Fats told Joey to go to Roy's office and tell him to get his a-ss down to Fat's hotel room, right now! When Joey went back to Roy's office (it was in a building he owned, which was like a block square) and told him what Fatty had said, Roy's reply was, "Fatty wants to see me?" and giggled like a kid. Roy closed up the whole operation and zipped downtown to see Fats. When he went into Fat's hotel room, and naturally it was crammed with other people, all Fats did was get Roy to "second" about 20 of Fat's lies. Fats even told stories about when Roy was broke with no place to sleep and Fats would give him money to eat and get a room. When Fatty asked Roy to confirm that he was telling the truth, Roy Acuff just shook his head up and down and said, "Yes, Fatty, yes Fatty."

I will say this again, he was a top player as far as I was concerned and I treasure the times I was around him.

the Beard

 

[alstl]

I am not inclined to tear down legends and don't mean to here but you would have gotten an argument on your opinion from a lot of people including his first wife and Mosconi just to name a few.

Regards,
Jim

I never met the man so I can't comment on his character but there is a video available of Fats playing Mosconi in a challenge match. After all the talk back and forth, if you take a close look at the video when the match ends you will see Mosconi wink at Fats and Fats returning a smile.

When I was a kid I lived in a trailer park in Amarillo Texas for a while and several pro wrestlers lived in the same park. If you are old enough you might remember a guy named Buddy Rogers, he lived there. The same guys who hated each other on television were best friends in private. The trash talk in public was just a way to sell tickets. I suspect that's the way it was with Fats and Mosconi.

 

[jay helfert]

I never met the man so I can't comment on his character but there is a video available of Fats playing Mosconi in a challenge match. After all the talk back and forth, if you take a close look at the video when the match ends you will see Mosconi wink at Fats and Fats returning a smile.

When I was a kid I lived in a trailer park in Amarillo Texas for a while and several pro wrestlers lived in the same park. If you are old enough you might remember a guy named Buddy Rogers, he lived there. The same guys who hated each other on television were best friends in private. The trash talk in public was just a way to sell tickets. I suspect that's the way it was with Fats and Mosconi.

Mosconi's career was going nowhere until he hooked up with Fats on national television. He finally figured out that Fats was his meal ticket. He "learned" to love him. :wink:

 

[Gregg]

Many small niche special interest sports, outside of the mainstream, are ALWAYS looking for an ambassador. A face that the public can recognize.

I used to wrestle all through college an high school, and Dan Gable of course fit that mold, but of course he was one of the very best, an Olympic gold medalist.

But that's not my point.

My point is that you DON'T have to be the very best (nobody says Fats was better than Mosconi) to become the sports ambassador. Finding a way to promote interest in the public eye for your sport is invaluable, you simply can't put a price on these types of things.

The same people who were upset that Fats was getting all of the attention all the while when they could whoop him should have realize he was maybe the best thing that could have happened to them.

Mosconi was a players player, but the fact is his game may have never made it to the level of popular main steam media without Fats.

 

[androd]

I am not inclined to tear down legends and don't mean to here but you would have gotten an argument on your opinion from a lot of people including his first wife and Mosconi just to name a few.

Regards,
Jim

well i wasn't married to him but i knew him pretty well . i agree with every thing freddy says about him.

 

[s'portplayer]

Jay...anybody else????

Mosconi's career was going nowhere until he hooked up with Fats on national television. He finally figured out that Fats was his meal ticket. He "learned" to love him. :wink:

Jay, just wondering if you can imagine anyone else taking up where Fats left off and promoting pool to everyone and being a prominent nationally known figure?

 

[gpeezy]

Regardless of the speed he played. He left a lasting impression on those who met him and ones who only heard of him. I've heard him described simply as "an amazing human being". Everyone loves a story, and loves someone who can tell a good one and from what I've heard he was full of them. One of his quotes I love is "I'll take the castle and you can have the crown". I think in many minds he earned his own crown as one of the greats.

 

[Island Drive]

Whoa there, Island Drive...you've got some mixed up statistics. Fats never owned a home. The home in Dowell was owned by Evelyn's mother, and she hated the fact that Fatty never paid one dime into the place. The t.v. show was produced by others...they just used Fatty, because he had a recognizable name. He never owned any rights, nor got any royalties. The billiard stores were somebody else's invention and investment. They did pay Fatty to use his name.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Sounds like your correct, tho when I did a live autobiography/video/audio of her life with Fatty 6 weeks after his death (I drove 1,000 miles one way to do the interview), I never thought to ask her about the mortgage, the producers of the shows or the backers for the outlet stores, I just figured he was somehow involved, so I expressed what I thought was so. She did have the frig stocked, she had me cook for her, I stayed overnight in her 2nd bedroom in Dowell and off the next day home, neat gal...what a life eh??? Livin' with the Fat man for 44 years, WOW.