Looking for old photo of Earl Schriver.
Old Photo`s
- Thread starter Seneca Steve
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There is an interesting article on OnePocket.Org about Johnston City tournaments from the '60s that has an old picture that was given to OnePocket.Org by Frank Brent. If I have omitted any photo credits, I apologize in advance, but here is the link to the article: Chalk Up article reprint.
Earl Schriver is the second guy, going left to right.
Earl Schriver is the second guy, going left to right.
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![1961-One-Pocket-1-copy[1].jpg](/data/attachments/117/117530-e1a1fd31f5f85036689c437126cdb1f6.jpg?hash=4aH9MfX4UD)
Here is a pool tale written by Tom-Tom, a local D.C. player, on the OnePocket.Org forum: Thread from 2004 on OnePocket.org.
The car painter was Earl Shrive not Shriver. Earl Shriver was a fairly good player but his true claim to fame was in the matching up. Much like Minn. Fats.
I heard a story about Shriver which goes this way. He was in the bleachers watching a match between two talented locals when a gentleman walked in and sat next to him. After the game in progress ended Earl sugested he and this gentleman flip a coin before each game for the choice of players as a sweat bet.
The agreement being made, the coin flipped, and the bet made. The game was underway. Several games and a walet full of cash later, Earl had miraculously won every game! "That's all for me, Earl. I'm broke", The gentleman groaned.
What the gentleman didn't know was earl had planted both players like worms on a hook! With signals from Earl, they new in advance the winner of each game, and so did Earl.
The car painter was Earl Shrive not Shriver. Earl Shriver was a fairly good player but his true claim to fame was in the matching up. Much like Minn. Fats.
I heard a story about Shriver which goes this way. He was in the bleachers watching a match between two talented locals when a gentleman walked in and sat next to him. After the game in progress ended Earl sugested he and this gentleman flip a coin before each game for the choice of players as a sweat bet.
The agreement being made, the coin flipped, and the bet made. The game was underway. Several games and a walet full of cash later, Earl had miraculously won every game! "That's all for me, Earl. I'm broke", The gentleman groaned.
What the gentleman didn't know was earl had planted both players like worms on a hook! With signals from Earl, they new in advance the winner of each game, and so did Earl.
Joss West has a really cool website, and I did find an article written by Tom Shaw about Eddie Taylor which mentions Earl Schriver, but it didn't have a picture of Earl.
However, I found the article very interesting and kind of a fun read: Joss West Article About Eddie Taylor.
Here's a snippet about Earl Schriver and Minnesota Fats and Eddie Taylor. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:
Though there were top Bank Pool players all over -- Lexington, Kentucky, had a dozen players who could bank 8 and out. "I never saw another place like it," Taylor said. He was there when famed road player Earl Schriver came through and they hit it off. Schriver, then 21, partnered with Eddie and they left in the former's Model A Ford.
"I had seen a little One Pocket but it was Earl who taught me the game," Taylor says. "Earl was a master promoter and showed me how to walk out with the money but leave them smiling. Sometimes when we'd hit a small town where there was no action we'd play each other. Fats called me when Earl died in 1976 and I was real sad to hear it. We'd been friends for a long time and Red Box, a friend of mine from here in Shreveport (Louisiana) had just helped me get his cataracts taken care of and he was playing again. He had called me and said with his new vision he was going to go back to some spots and get his teeth fixed -- that's an expression we used to use, meaning win some money."
"Ralph Greenleaf was a name everyone knew at that time. I had played him in an exhibition in Knoxville where he broke them open and I ran 42, then scratched. He got up and ran 125 and out. I think I was 16. Anyway, what Earl taught me was to go into a room and tell everybody how good I was and that I just got through playing Ralph Greenfield (sic) and that I have run 18 balls and I bet there was nobody around here that can beat that kind of shooting. Of course everybody is laughing at me because I said Ralph Greenfield. I'd get on a table and not make any balls and finally someone would say I thought you was the world champion, and I'd say, 'just wait, I know what it is, I can't play unless I'm betting big money on my stick.' I'd tell 'em if I'm betting big money I'm really good. They'd say, 'How much you want to play for?' I'd say, 'Oh you wouldn't want to play for what I want to play for.' 'Well how much do you want to play for?' I'd say, 'No need talkin' about it because you wouldn't want to play what I want to play for.' We'd go back and forth and they'd start to get real mad, and I'd say, 'You wouldn't want to play for thirty-eight dollars and a quarter would you?' Now we'd go ahead and play and I'd luck in the nine or whatever it took and I'd start going to the rack to put up my cue and they'd say, 'Where you going?' I'd say, 'I didn't think you'd want to play anymore after that shot. They'd say, 'Bet you fifty.' That's what Earl taught me to do."
Schriver, one of the true legends of the 40s and 50s, was, like Minnesota Fats, renown for being able to get things going in an otherwise moribund situation.
"I was staying in Chicago years ago, in a motel near this bowling alley and biliard room," Taylor says. "They had lots of pool tables and lots of tables where they played cards. Before Fats came they were playing $5 cards and $10 pool. Earl and Fats traveled together a few times and they always sparked some action. I'm sure Fats and Earl were instrumental in getting the Johnson City tournaments going.
However, I found the article very interesting and kind of a fun read: Joss West Article About Eddie Taylor.
Here's a snippet about Earl Schriver and Minnesota Fats and Eddie Taylor. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:
Though there were top Bank Pool players all over -- Lexington, Kentucky, had a dozen players who could bank 8 and out. "I never saw another place like it," Taylor said. He was there when famed road player Earl Schriver came through and they hit it off. Schriver, then 21, partnered with Eddie and they left in the former's Model A Ford.
"I had seen a little One Pocket but it was Earl who taught me the game," Taylor says. "Earl was a master promoter and showed me how to walk out with the money but leave them smiling. Sometimes when we'd hit a small town where there was no action we'd play each other. Fats called me when Earl died in 1976 and I was real sad to hear it. We'd been friends for a long time and Red Box, a friend of mine from here in Shreveport (Louisiana) had just helped me get his cataracts taken care of and he was playing again. He had called me and said with his new vision he was going to go back to some spots and get his teeth fixed -- that's an expression we used to use, meaning win some money."
"Ralph Greenleaf was a name everyone knew at that time. I had played him in an exhibition in Knoxville where he broke them open and I ran 42, then scratched. He got up and ran 125 and out. I think I was 16. Anyway, what Earl taught me was to go into a room and tell everybody how good I was and that I just got through playing Ralph Greenfield (sic) and that I have run 18 balls and I bet there was nobody around here that can beat that kind of shooting. Of course everybody is laughing at me because I said Ralph Greenfield. I'd get on a table and not make any balls and finally someone would say I thought you was the world champion, and I'd say, 'just wait, I know what it is, I can't play unless I'm betting big money on my stick.' I'd tell 'em if I'm betting big money I'm really good. They'd say, 'How much you want to play for?' I'd say, 'Oh you wouldn't want to play for what I want to play for.' 'Well how much do you want to play for?' I'd say, 'No need talkin' about it because you wouldn't want to play what I want to play for.' We'd go back and forth and they'd start to get real mad, and I'd say, 'You wouldn't want to play for thirty-eight dollars and a quarter would you?' Now we'd go ahead and play and I'd luck in the nine or whatever it took and I'd start going to the rack to put up my cue and they'd say, 'Where you going?' I'd say, 'I didn't think you'd want to play anymore after that shot. They'd say, 'Bet you fifty.' That's what Earl taught me to do."
Schriver, one of the true legends of the 40s and 50s, was, like Minnesota Fats, renown for being able to get things going in an otherwise moribund situation.
"I was staying in Chicago years ago, in a motel near this bowling alley and biliard room," Taylor says. "They had lots of pool tables and lots of tables where they played cards. Before Fats came they were playing $5 cards and $10 pool. Earl and Fats traveled together a few times and they always sparked some action. I'm sure Fats and Earl were instrumental in getting the Johnson City tournaments going.