New to Forum/ Interesting story about Wimpy Lassiter

Halsey said:
Hi my name is Tom. I'm from Elizabeth City NC. I've played pool all my life and Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter was a very dear friend of mine. I spent time with Wimpy in the 70s and 80s. I moved from Elizabeth City NC to Cincinnati OH in 1987. I recieved a phone call from a family member sometime in 1988 and was told that Wimpy had passed. I loved him very much and miss him a lot.

I had been doing some reading on the forums and would like to make a correction regarding his personal pool table. Someone said Wimpy had a 4.5 foot x 9 foot Goldcrown table, but he actually had a 5 foot x 10 foot Gandy (of which I've played thousands of games on). It was in a building behind his and his brother's house on Pearl St in Elizabeth City.

I also read that someone wanted to hear an interesting story about Wimpy. Here's one that comes to mind. Wimpy played with a high end Meucci cue that Meucci gave him. He took a long drill bit and drilled down through the shaft, poured birdshot in it from a shotgun shell. I forget what he plugged it with. When he was stroking the stick you could hear the bird shot shifting in the shaft. He told all of us "it was just to hock people." Even though he was almost 40 years my senior he was more like a pal than an older gentleman to me. Again, I miss and love him very much. What an honor it was was to know Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter (who we called Louie Louie).

By the way, I really enjoyed seeing the pictures that someone posted of Colonial Billiards (which was City Billiards back in the day). Seeing the bench we all sat on and the table that Wimpy and I played on brought back a lot of memories. In my humble opinion and many others Wimpy Lassiter is the GREATEST 9 ball player that has ever stroked a cue.

I would love to hear from some of the old pool hall gang from back in the day.
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http://archive.org/stream/millerselizabeth08mill#page/188/mode/2up/search/pearl+st

406 Pearl St. listed in '42 as being in the coast guard.
 
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Scott Lee said:
WildWing...Red Jones had the distinction of being one of only two poolplayers to ever do a show for the President of the United States. The other one was my mentor Jack White.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Thanks for your post. In the late 60s timeframe, it was so rare to be able to see championship level pocket billiards anywhere. So you can imagine how thrilled I was watching Luther Lassiter and Eddie Taylor, with Weenie Beenie as well.

With regard to Red Jones, it wasn't until decades later in Pool and Billiards Magazine that I found out that Red Jones was the one who put that exhibition on in Oxon Hill High School. The article went over Red Jones' life, and showed several pictures, both past, and present at the time.

If not for Pool and Billiards magazine, I never would have known who actually organized that exibition between Lassiter and Taylor. So here's to the champions of old, as well as Pool and Billiard magazine, for dipping into the past.
 
Halsey said:
Cuesmith: I have lived alot of life in the past couple of decades and recently purchased a Goldcrown. At this point I'm not playing any where but home. I'm trying to get used to the balls not falling when I hit them now, but I do feel it coming back. :wink: Bob told me he was going to get a shaft made. How did it turn out?

Like the rest of you I'm enjoying the stories that you guys are sharing about my hero and friend.
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Tommy,
Welcome to the area and to AZ billiards. If you ever need any cue repair, I'm on the east side of Cincy down by the river and my old partner and buddy, Dick Neighbors, is in Elmwood off Vine street near the center of the Cincy area. I also have some good friends in the table service business if that Gold Crown ever needs any service. Glad to hear you're getting back into the game. Maybe we can get together sometime and play some pool, that is if you play one-pocket? I can't get too interested in the other games any more, except as a spectator.

Sherm
 
Sherm,

Thanks for the kind words. I will definetly keep your services in mind. I can't get interested in anything but 9 ball. Maybe we can get together sometime and watch some 9 ball and 1 pocket :wink:. Oh, by the way you didn't tell me how the Joss West turned out...man I miss that cue!!!
 
The one that sticks out in my mind about Lassiter was the one where he was playing a good player giving him 40 balls in a 100 point 14.1 game for 5000,which was SERIOUS cash in the Depression.

Luther runs 8,his opponent runs 58,and with all the cash riding on ONE bad roll,or mistake,he runs 92-out to get the cash.

Like George Fels said best,that's the best pool-related example of HEART ever seen. Tommy D.
 
Jansco's Place

Island Drive said:
Weren't the 2 two 9' tables in the pit at Janscos @ Johnson City Gandys?
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I believe you're correct . . . Big G's in the pit.

Here's a couple of pic's of Wimpy and his main hangout (Colonial).
 

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Great Stories, 49 years ago in Northern New Jersey I would go to the local bowling alley every Sat. mourning and when I got done I would go in the back room to watch the old guy's play 14:1 for about an hour or two. I would then go home and practice what I had just watched. I was 8 then and learned alot in that back room just watching (free Lessons). Thanks for the great story's about Wimpy. I really like those old photos,it reminds me of the back room of the bowling alley. There were 4 - 9ft brunswicks there and I was not allowed to play on them until I was 16. I did master the 10 cent bumper pool table in the bowling area though.
 
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Dan White said:
I thought the thing about the break shot was interesting. Do any of you ... have any comments about this break shot?

He explained that his technique was to put the cue ball near the string (2nd diamond) on the right side of the table, near the rail. He would then aim at the one ball, hitting it nearly flush, but slightly to the left of center, with just a little right English and follow. When it worked, the cue ball would carom to the left rail and come right back to the center of the pack, which was now exposed by the other balls having been knocked out of the way by the initial hit. If things were working correctly, he said, the 9 ball would still be sitting there, and could be made in the far right corner of the table. He claimed that when he was really practiced up, he could make this shot 3 times out of 10.
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Great thread by all. Thanks to Tom for starting it.

Dan, I didn't know Wimpy, but I tried the break shot about 10 times. I havn't made the 9 yet. But when I follow the instructions, the 9 always sits alone in the rack unmoved and one of the wing balls goes in. I need to work with it more. It is intersting. Thanks for the post.

Greg
 
Sealegs50 said:
Great thread by all. Thanks to Tom for starting it.

Dan, I didn't know Wimpy, but I tried the break shot about 10 times. I havn't made the 9 yet. But when I follow the instructions, the 9 always sits alone in the rack unmoved and one of the wing balls goes in. I need to work with it more. It is intersting. Thanks for the post.

Greg
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This shot was common for a player in Denver with the big ball, many times he'd bank the 9 cross corner, and he hit the nine probably 5 out of ten breaks, but the big ball and the smaller table made this more feasable.
 
Year

Do you know what years he played with the Meucci? Do you know if he played with a Balabuska in the 70"s? Thanks for your post.
 
He played with the meucci for probably the last decade of his life, once in a while he would take the balabuska out of the rack and hit a few balls with it. I know the balabuska was a very special cue to Wimpy and I always felt he was trying to preserve it.

Something I always thought was really cool was that Wimpy was a friend of Jackie Gleason and would visit him occasionally. Wimpy said that he was a very good pool player and a really nice man.

Another thing that comes to mind about Wimpy is what he did to his rack that I am going to do to mine. He had a peice of cloth attached to the back of it. He would hold the rack maybe a foot from the back rail and pull it towards him which would cause the cloth to go under the rack, place the balls in the rack that would be sitting on the cloth protecting the felt. When you push the rack forward the cloth slides out.

One more thing I would like to say to all the younger players out there who love this game as much as I do. I started playing when I was five years old and I was hooked. I have seen a lot of players in my life and there are lots of great players in this world, but I have never seen anyone with a stroke like Wimpy. It was as smooth as silk. I had the privledge of playing thosands of games of nine ball with Wimpy on his five by ten Gandy in his back yard pool room. The GREAT thing is I knew I was Blessed to be doing that even then and and did not take it for granted.
 
Sealegs50 said:
Great thread by all. Thanks to Tom for starting it.

Dan, I didn't know Wimpy, but I tried the break shot about 10 times. I havn't made the 9 yet. But when I follow the instructions, the 9 always sits alone in the rack unmoved and one of the wing balls goes in. I need to work with it more. It is intersting. Thanks for the post.

Greg
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Just thinking, can you imagine how often Wimpy would have snapped the 9 if he had the Magic Rack at his disposal? :eek:

Tom, interesting story about Wimpy using a rack cloth. I've no idea how far back it goes and I wonder if he was the first to do this. I'm cognizant of cloth wear also and always put the rack in place first then set the balls to minimize the wear on my bed cloth.
 
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Sealegs50 said:
Great thread by all. Thanks to Tom for starting it.

Dan, I didn't know Wimpy, but I tried the break shot about 10 times. I havn't made the 9 yet. But when I follow the instructions, the 9 always sits alone in the rack unmoved and one of the wing balls goes in. I need to work with it more. It is intersting. Thanks for the post.

Greg
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No problem. I never tried the shot much as I mostly play 14.1. I know the shot can be made though.
 
Welcome aboard Tom. And, thank you for the very interesting information
about Luther. He was and always will be one of my pool hero's. I consider myself very fortunate to have seen him play many, many times in the 60's and early 70's.
 
Halsey said:
Hi my name is Tom. I'm from Elizabeth City NC. I've played pool all my life and Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter was a very dear friend of mine. I spent time with Wimpy in the 70s and 80s. I moved from Elizabeth City NC to Cincinnati OH in 1987. I recieved a phone call from a family member sometime in 1988 and was told that Wimpy had passed. I loved him very much and miss him a lot.

I had been doing some reading on the forums and would like to make a correction regarding his personal pool table. Someone said Wimpy had a 4.5 foot x 9 foot Goldcrown table, but he actually had a 5 foot x 10 foot Gandy (of which I've played thousands of games on). It was in a building behind his and his brother's house on Pearl St in Elizabeth City.

I also read that someone wanted to hear an interesting story about Wimpy. Here's one that comes to mind. Wimpy played with a high end Meucci cue that Meucci gave him. He took a long drill bit and drilled down through the shaft, poured birdshot in it from a shotgun shell. I forget what he plugged it with. When he was stroking the stick you could hear the bird shot shifting in the shaft. He told all of us "it was just to hock people." Even though he was almost 40 years my senior he was more like a pal than an older gentleman to me. Again, I miss and love him very much. What an honor it was was to know Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter (who we called Louie Louie).

By the way, I really enjoyed seeing the pictures that someone posted of Colonial Billiards (which was City Billiards back in the day). Seeing the bench we all sat on and the table that Wimpy and I played on brought back a lot of memories. In my humble opinion and many others Wimpy Lassiter is the GREATEST 9 ball player that has ever stroked a cue.

I would love to hear from some of the old pool hall gang from back in the day.
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Do you know what aiming system did he use? :)
 
this was a great read thread
thanks to all who posted and will post in the future
:thumbup:
 
Wimpy and I were talking one day and I mentioned when I was 5 I would tape cans to my grandmothers kitchen table and use it for a pool table. I would use what ever balls I could find and use a broom for a cue. Wimpy said his mother had a table in her back yard that he used to do the same thing. I was wondering how many other players started that way?
 
Halsey said:
Wimpy and I were talking one day and I mentioned when I was 5 I would tape cans to my grandmothers kitchen table and use it for a pool table. I would use what ever balls I could find and use a broom for a cue. Wimpy said his mother had a table in her back yard that he used to do the same thing. I was wondering how many other players started that way?
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Nope,
But I grew up playing with a clay ball set, the sounds those clay balls made were way different than the phenolics of today. When my dad ''grounded'' me for 30 days, I started playing in our basement, he didn't like seeing me happy when I was grounded so one day when I came home from school, the table was gone, he sold it, that's what drove me to the pool room (as a kid I didn't even know we had a pool room in town), as every town in IL had a pool room in the fifties in IL, EVERY town, and of course that's because it was Brunswick country. Gordon Hart stopped in the pool room once a mth or so, peddling his Viking Cues, and when the Super Joint came out, WOW.....and Ostrich leather wrap, another wow as a teenager.
 
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