My first glimpses of Mizerak's game came in the PPPA World Open Straight Pool Championships in the late 1970's and early 1980s. Needless to say, I was impressed.
Still, he was one of the guys I never really got to know well until a rather improbable incident during the 1995 Florida Flare-Up, a PBT event played in Fort Lauderdale. The venue was less than a mile from the hotel where everyone was staying. A fellow playing in the event named, if memory serves, Johnny Galloway, noticed me hailing a cab at the end of one of the sessions. He asked me if I was going back to the hotel, and when I said I was, he asked if he and a friend of his could ride with me. I said yes, and the friend turned out to be none other than Steve Mizerak. That five minute cab ride almost froze me, for I just didn't know what to say. I told the Miz that I'd seen many of his matches growing up, but that I remembered rooting against him when he played against my friend Jimmy Fusco in the final of the 1983 PPPA World Open Straight Pool Championships. It probably was not the smartest thing to say, but that's what I said. He took my comment in stride, however, and was very congenial. He and I had a couple of other chances to chat that week in Fort Lauderdale, and he made an effort to be friendly. I really appreciated that.
Didn't see him again more than a few times after that, be he always said hi. I'll always remember him as a guy who treated a starstruck fan with respect and warmth. Wish I'd gotten to know him a little better.
He will be sorely missed in the world of pool.
