I’d like to thank the posters who remembered and appreciated the play of Johnny Drane.
Somebody made note of Weldon’s one handed talents, which reminds me of an interesting match. Weldon and I were in Denver where we had both bested a young Danny Medina on the bar table in a tough Mexican joint. Eddie “The Hat” Burton had insinuated himself into our company, not something we really wanted, so Danny got all his money back playing Eddie even up bar pool.
After some good natured matching up, Danny spotted Weldon the five and the break with Weldon having to shoot one handed. It was no contest. It actually looked almost as if Junior played as good as Danny. This isn’t meant to denigrate Danny’s game. He was very young and within a couple of years he played about as good a game of 9 Ball as anybody.
Dennis Porterfield, from a well to do family in Albuquerque, was good and tight with Weldon and me and oftentimes would accompany us on our expeditions. He’s a sharp guy who moves real well although his pool game was suspect. Dennis was the most straight guy I ever knew then, the most unlikely individual to ever drink, smoke, or take drugs. Then I found out that he found his way to Seattle where he had married a wonderful woman who took real good care of him and he’d quit the bad habits entirely. He still loved pool and it happened that he was getting some decent action in a local bar, but Dennis’ game had not improved. After about a three month period he found himself $10,000 loser. He discovered that I was going to be in town for an exhibition. He got my phone number, called me, and arranged for me to come out a couple of days early. “I don’t care about the money, Grady” he said, “I just want to see this guy beat. He’s really a creep”.
I do a really first rate job of “lemoning” this guy and after a couple of nights, I’m $4,000 winner. He doesn’t know that Dennis has anything to do with this play but he’s suspicious, even though I really laid it down good. When he had Dennis $10,000 stuck, everything was hunky dory, peaches and cream, laughs and giggles, etc. He didn’t like being stuck one little bit. His recourse was to contact the bunco squad. Like Dennis said, a real creep.
I made reference in my last post to a near being tarred and feathered incident. This took place in Lamar, Colorado, home of a man-made lake in Two Buttes reservation. I got slapped one night for telling a young lady that she had two beauts. We found a tavern in Lamar where the activity seemed lively and the place had a pool table and a bowling machine. After introducing ourselves, Dennis, Weldon, and I began trying to drum up some action. The owner of the place was present and he said “I’ll play any of you on this bowling machine”. We responded by offering him a pool game. He declined that offer and it looked like nothing was going to happen. Dennis called us off to the side and said “I can bowl pretty good on that machine. Why don’t we have either one of you guys play him 8 Ball while I bowl against him? I’ll win at least one game out of five on the machine, and you’ll have to hold him scoreless at pool”. So, that’s what we did and after we were about $500 winner, the owner said to the tough looking crowd in attendance “Didn’t we say we were going to tar and feather the next pool hustlers that came through town?” Another of Dennis’ talents emerged and he talked our way out of there, with the losers liking us and with us keeping the money.
One time in Cochrun’s, Weldon had come all the way to the west coast mostly to spend some time with me. As we were sitting at the counter, somebody eased up and snuck Weldon’s Balabushka out from between his legs. That really broke my heart, and his, because that was a much prized cue.
All this talking about my old friend has made me miss him more than usual but my old numbers for him are no longer good. If anybody has a good phone number for him please pass it on to me at grady101@sc.rr.com.
Somebody made note of Weldon’s one handed talents, which reminds me of an interesting match. Weldon and I were in Denver where we had both bested a young Danny Medina on the bar table in a tough Mexican joint. Eddie “The Hat” Burton had insinuated himself into our company, not something we really wanted, so Danny got all his money back playing Eddie even up bar pool.
After some good natured matching up, Danny spotted Weldon the five and the break with Weldon having to shoot one handed. It was no contest. It actually looked almost as if Junior played as good as Danny. This isn’t meant to denigrate Danny’s game. He was very young and within a couple of years he played about as good a game of 9 Ball as anybody.
Dennis Porterfield, from a well to do family in Albuquerque, was good and tight with Weldon and me and oftentimes would accompany us on our expeditions. He’s a sharp guy who moves real well although his pool game was suspect. Dennis was the most straight guy I ever knew then, the most unlikely individual to ever drink, smoke, or take drugs. Then I found out that he found his way to Seattle where he had married a wonderful woman who took real good care of him and he’d quit the bad habits entirely. He still loved pool and it happened that he was getting some decent action in a local bar, but Dennis’ game had not improved. After about a three month period he found himself $10,000 loser. He discovered that I was going to be in town for an exhibition. He got my phone number, called me, and arranged for me to come out a couple of days early. “I don’t care about the money, Grady” he said, “I just want to see this guy beat. He’s really a creep”.
I do a really first rate job of “lemoning” this guy and after a couple of nights, I’m $4,000 winner. He doesn’t know that Dennis has anything to do with this play but he’s suspicious, even though I really laid it down good. When he had Dennis $10,000 stuck, everything was hunky dory, peaches and cream, laughs and giggles, etc. He didn’t like being stuck one little bit. His recourse was to contact the bunco squad. Like Dennis said, a real creep.
I made reference in my last post to a near being tarred and feathered incident. This took place in Lamar, Colorado, home of a man-made lake in Two Buttes reservation. I got slapped one night for telling a young lady that she had two beauts. We found a tavern in Lamar where the activity seemed lively and the place had a pool table and a bowling machine. After introducing ourselves, Dennis, Weldon, and I began trying to drum up some action. The owner of the place was present and he said “I’ll play any of you on this bowling machine”. We responded by offering him a pool game. He declined that offer and it looked like nothing was going to happen. Dennis called us off to the side and said “I can bowl pretty good on that machine. Why don’t we have either one of you guys play him 8 Ball while I bowl against him? I’ll win at least one game out of five on the machine, and you’ll have to hold him scoreless at pool”. So, that’s what we did and after we were about $500 winner, the owner said to the tough looking crowd in attendance “Didn’t we say we were going to tar and feather the next pool hustlers that came through town?” Another of Dennis’ talents emerged and he talked our way out of there, with the losers liking us and with us keeping the money.
One time in Cochrun’s, Weldon had come all the way to the west coast mostly to spend some time with me. As we were sitting at the counter, somebody eased up and snuck Weldon’s Balabushka out from between his legs. That really broke my heart, and his, because that was a much prized cue.
All this talking about my old friend has made me miss him more than usual but my old numbers for him are no longer good. If anybody has a good phone number for him please pass it on to me at grady101@sc.rr.com.
