More history

ideologist

ideologist

I don't never exaggerate
Silver Member
Continuing to clear out the historical items, here are a couple of significant photos:

1964 World Championship barred CiSero Murphy, even though he won a qualifying tournament. When the proprietors realized he was getting in, they added another requirement days before the Championship to prevent him from getting in. Very sad time in America.

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Johnston City tournament room, late 1960s. The little spot that helped kickstart roaring pool tournaments for two decades. Paulie Jansco is in this shot.

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Easy Tables?

In close up, those table look quite easy. I don't really see any shelves on them. Also, the corner pockets seem to lack sharp points and appear rounded at the edges. Anyone who was there to confirm?
 
That’s a great picture of Mr. Murphy and Company I would love to get a copy of that PM me to see how we can work out the details thanks D Nixon
 
I saw him in exhibition about 1974-5. Not real "chatty". He let his cue do the talking.
This was at Bowling Green State U.
 
Racism in America in the 1960's

Cicero won the Eastern States 14.1 Title six straight times.He beat Joe Balsis, Jimmy Moore, and Luther Lassiter in the Burbank World Invitational14.1 tournament in 1965, and won the title. Who did he beat for his second World title?
 
EASY tables? They were just pool tables. Nobody sat around and talked pocket size, angles, or shelves back then. Those appear to be Macon/Gandy tables and most likely had at least 4.5 if not 4.75" corners.
 
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The photos were kind of misleading. I don't think Cisero was barred from playing in Johnston City. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong. JC was all about action and if you had the money and desire you could get a game there.

P.S. Cisero was a friend of mine and he was a helluva man. Maybe the player I most respected along with Harold Worst. Cisero worked for the New York Parks Department putting on exhibitions for the kids, often setting up a pool table right in the middle of the street and entertaining them with trick shots etc. By the way, he may have been the toughest guy in pool after Danny Diliberto. Cisero was no one to trifle with, maybe 5'9" and 180 pounds of solid muscle. Don't mess with those "little" guys!

The prejudice in pool did not go the other way. I can tell you that for sure. I played in all-black poolrooms from New York to California and never had a problem. At first they were surprised to see this lone white guy coming in there but when they saw I was there to play some pool they accepted me. I may have had more fun and laughs in black poolrooms then anywhere else I went. Heck, my last poolroom was in Inglewood, CA, a predominately black community. Had a great time in there as well.

For me the best part of my pool journey was not all the pool tournaments I worked on, but all the experiences I had in poolrooms from New York to California to China, the Philippines and Europe. A lot of good memories of the fun and often exciting time spent in these habitats of humanity. I actually played pool with a Chinese diplomat in a casino/hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. I have a feeling not many American pool players have been up that way. :rolleyes:
 
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jay helfert said:
The photos were kind of misleading. I don't think Cisero was barred from playing in Johnston City. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong. JC was all about action and if you had the money and desire you could get a game there.

P.S. Cisero was a friend of mine and he was a helluva man. Maybe the player I most respected along with Harold Worst. Cisero worked for the New York Parks Department putting on exhibitions for the kids, often setting up a pool table right in the middle of the street and entertaining them with trick shots etc. By the way, he may have been the toughest guy in pool after Danny Diliberto. Cisero was no one to trifle with, maybe 5'9" and 180 pounds of solid muscle. Don't mess with those "little" guys!

The prejudice in pool did not go the other way. I can tell you that for sure. I played in all-black poolrooms from New York to California and never had a problem. At first they were surprised to see this lone white guy coming in there but when they saw I was there to play some pool they accepted me. I may have had more fun and laughs in black poolrooms then anywhere else I went. Heck, my last poolroom was in Inglewood, CA, a predominately black community. Had a great time in there as well.

For me the best part of my pool journey was not all the pool tournaments I worked on, but all the experiences I had in poolrooms from New York to California to China, the Philippines and Europe. A lot of good memories of the fun and often exciting time spent in these habitats of humanity. I actually played pool with a Chinese diplomat in a casino/hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. I have a feeling not many American pool players have been up that way. :rolleyes:
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He was barred from the 1964 World Championship in NYC. Not Johnston City
 
jay helfert said:
That being the case, why did you link the two together in your original post? It was kind of misleading.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I put descriptions with each photo, the time frames are definitely separate.

AZ doesn't resize images, I'll shrink them to help the readability
 
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