One of Buddy's old stories

[L.S. Dennis]

I happened to be looking through some old posts and I came across this one which I almost forgot about. It's so unusual that I thought it throw it once again as I think people will like reading it if they missed it the first time.

Here’s a story that I once heard Buddy Hall telling it’s so unusual that I think if bares repeating. The story went something like this:

"There was some tournament going on down south somewhere, maybe Arkansas where this player had never won a tournament and was now on the verge of winning his very first one. Upon taking his last gaming winning shot all of a sudden there was a power shortage and total black out. After about 5 or 6 seconds the power came back on and play resumed. The guy got down to shoot his game and tournament winning shot when much to his astonishment his missed wildly! How could this happen after he barely missing ball all day? Well as it happened during the short black out a large flying insect (they’re big in that part of the country) flew in and nestled itself just under the front of the cue ball causing it to jump to one side after the player shot it."

I wonder what the odds would be in Vegas for something like that occurring?

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[DrCue'sProtege]

This is similar to the story about how Keith McCready came to be known as Earthquake.

 

[sjm]

Things happen. Freddie the Beard wrote of the time that a ceiling tile came loose, causing a rat to fall onto the pool table. Needless to say, he was sharked by the rat.

I was once sharked out of a set-winning 9ball when a waitress carrying a tray of drinks tripped and all the drinks on her tray landed on my table.

Crazy things happen in sports away from pool, too. At a dog race in Australia, a real rabbit got onto the track in the middle of a dog race and some of the dogs began to chase the real rabbit instead of the mechanical one.

Hang around long enough and you'll see everything.

 

[garczar]

Things happen. Freddie the Beard wrote of the time that a ceiling tile came loose, causing a rat to fall onto the pool table. Needless to say, he was sharked by the rat.

I was once sharked out of a set-winning 9ball when a waitress carrying a tray of drinks tripped and all the drinks on her tray landed on my table.

Crazy things happen in sports away from pool, too. At a dog race in Australia, a real rabbit got onto the track in the middle of a dog race and some of the dogs began to chase the real rabbit instead of the mechanical one.

Hang around long enough and you'll see everything.

Years ago up in Bartlesville a very young J. Wetch was on his way to winning their monthly 9b event. About 10p the local yokels came in and started checking id's. Turns out JW was too young to be in there and they made him leave. To say his road partners/backer were hot would be a gross understatement.

 

[kanzzo]

With the news of Buddy's passing, I wanted to share one of my favorite stories about him - his legendary first matchup against the then reigning world champion Jim Rempe.

The match was 9-ball, 10 ahead, with I think $20K on the line. These matches often drag on for hours before a winner is determined. All the arrangements were made, stakers lined up on both sides. What was telling, though, was that everybody wanted to bet on Buddy, not on the world champion. That should have been a red flag for Rempe's backers.

Buddy wins the flip and breaks. He proceeds to break and run six straight racks. On the seventh rack, he breaks dry - no balls drop. Rempe steps up and runs the table flawlessly, showing why he's world champion.

But then Rempe breaks the next rack, and nothing goes in.

Buddy runs out the entire remaining set. Final score: 11-1 in 39 minutes total. Jim Rempe, the world champion, got exactly one trip to the table in what should have been a marathon match.

Surprisingly, Rempe and his backers weren't interested in a rematch.

That was Buddy Hall - turning what should have been an hours-long battle into a 39-minute demonstration. RIP to a true legend of the game.