Question for JAM and Others
- Thread starter Wedge
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Wonder what he though of the posts that portrayed him as one who wolul get verbally aggressive to get played.
That sure as hell is not the buck I ever saw.
That sure as hell is not the buck I ever saw.
I think i may have given some members the wrong impression. We all talk trash or brag. Several members have given examples of his stories and they could be construed as bragging.
In the black pool room there is a heiarchy amongst the players. Buck was very high on the heiarchy and opinionated. He kind of looked down on folks that did not play for his kind of money.
Again, these are all my opinions and observations. I am not trying to speak ill of the man. Just see things being misinterpreted, thus the response.
Buck is a gambler and a darn good one. He would not see anything wrong with a few choice words nudging his opponent into playing the game he likes with the spot the way he wants it. I would not say he crossed the line, just walks real close to it.
I hope this better illustrates what was meant. Not "Verbally Aggressive" if you said no he would take no for an answer. All the woofing in the pre-match negotiations was his thing. He would woof with the best of them. I could give examples of comments and trash talk. but, given the amount of time since the remarks were made and my failing memory it would be pure speculation.
I am sure he would admit to the trash talking and pre-match woofing. The man carries himself with a certain swagger and his voice mimics his image and attitude.
KD
Hi Joey, i never seen Riggi and Tom play for money,or did i ever hear of them gambling .
Like you have said, they met many times in the Md State tournament.
Wow, this thread really took off!
I don't have much to add to the md tales, being a rare interloper...
I will say that the buck I was talking about was always polite and I never heard him verbally aggressive for a moment. That said, he sure tried to get me to step out of line a few times. He and I never played, he wanted the 7 playing 9b and said if I played like that we could put up for 2 sets and he'd give me a ball playing el one pocketo.
Didn't doing like a sound pursuit to me!
Very intellegent of you to decline those 2 games of bucks offerings
But iam sure by now Black, you would be fully healed from those beatings that more then likly would of occured, or what-ever?
With the way Buck bets he might have left pool forever! Big lose financially will keep the best of us away for quit some time.
KD
I played Riggi 10 years or so ago one pocket at USA billiard couple of times. Maybe the top player at that time, master of three railers, I heard he does not shoot anymore I wish him the best
Richard (the kid) Riggi, has been dead for at lease 12 - 15 years.
English is not naji's first language. We gotta cut him som slack on this, coz his English is far better than our version of whatever he grew up speaking.
memories
I got to play many of the boys you mention when I lived in that area from '88-'95. Many knew me by the nickname my buddy Jimmy Scrima gave me..."ponytail". One of my better days was beating Doug Sharp, Freddy Boggs, Danny Green and others in a tournament only to lose hill-hill to Larry Newdecker in the finals. I was resident instructor and BCA league director at Champions in Laurel in '94 and '95.
When my cues and case were stolen in '95, Jackie Robinson gave me one of his old cases for the old Frey sneaky that I then bought. I still have that worn-out McDermott soft case. It has "Jackie Robinson" in marking pen under the pocket fold, and my name on the front...
You got quite a lot of great replies on this thread. Sure, I remember Buck. Everybody wanted to get down with Buck, because he had gamble, and if you won, you would make a nice score. He wasn't a pushover, though. The man could play. If memory serves me right, I think he used to work in the cement industry. He was a very quiet man and let his stick do the talking for him.
One year, Geese and I went to a pool tournament in Baltimore. It was right down the street from Scruggs' cue shop. You had to walk up the stairs to the pool room. It was on the second floor. Turtle was there and a guy named Rooster. I remember one of the competitors looking at the pool chart on the wall and said, 'What the hell! We got Geese, Turtle, and Rooster. Is this Old McDonald's Farm?" :grin-square:
I hope I see John Henry one time before I die. I loved that man. I worked graveyard shift sometimes in the pool room, and John Henry would be hanging out, looking for a good game. He knew how to do the pea under the pill game real good, but he could also match up and played pool with the best of them. I never worried about my safety when John Henry in the house working graveyard shift, and I'll just leave it at that.
Freddy and Scotty Boggs both live in Vegas now. Scotty recently moved there and lives right across the street from Freddy, which is kind of cool. I always liked Freddy. Whatever he was betting on, I usually bet on him. He was the master in matching up.
The best shot I've ever seen in my life was from Freddy Boggs. If anybody ever sees him, ask him about this shot. I know he's never forgot it, because I haven't either. During a 9-ball tournament at USA Billiards in Laurel one year, a friend of mine had to play Freddy. It came to the double hill. My friend was shooting and left the 8-ball right in the jaws of the corner pocket, and the cue ball almost scratched in the opposite corner pocket on the same side of the table right behind the 9-ball. Freddy was totally snookered. Now, Freddy was a one-hole player normally, but he could play all games. He analyzed the table a long while and then executed this five-rail shot with the cueball, knocking the 8-ball in. The cueball went five rails. I guess it was a do-or-die shot, but to even attempt it in a tournament setting, it was absolutely unbelievable! The entire pool room erupted in loud cheers and a round of applause, to include his opponent. It was really beautiful. :grin-square:
Between working at the pool room and going on the road with Geese, I've got quite a few pool tales. How I met Geese was through Tom-Tom, but that's a story for another time. Randolph Hills Billiards in Rockville, MD is where everybody hung out back in my neck of the woods. We'd travel to Bill and Billie's in Baltimore to get action after midnight, hoping to catch Fat Wayne, Piano Man, Bus Driver Ronnie, Sterling, Nate and Jake, Reggie, Bo Newport, Punky from Hagerstown, Little Gary from Waldorf, Boggs Brothers, Seattle Sam, Buck, Tom-Tom, Fat Mike, Elevator Larry, Left-Handed Ronnie, Little Stuey, Timmy Crown, and the Baltimore pool crew. And then there was Route 1 in Laurel, MD for the bar action. From Riverdale all the way up through Laurel, there were about four or five bars with several bar tables where one could usually find themselves a ring game going on.
Yep, these were pool's golden years in the '80s. With the advent of the Internet, you won't find this kind of pool action anymore. People now make an appointment if they get in action, and the negotiations beforehand are extensive about handicaps, rules, and equipment. Pool's unsung heroes in D.C. area, like Geese, Buck, Korean Lee, Bus Driver, Strawberry, Quick Vic, Bobby Hawk, Cigar Tom are celebrated in the memories of those who were there to see these players shine. It was the best years for pool as far as I'm concerned, and I'm so glad I got to experience it.
I got to play many of the boys you mention when I lived in that area from '88-'95. Many knew me by the nickname my buddy Jimmy Scrima gave me..."ponytail". One of my better days was beating Doug Sharp, Freddy Boggs, Danny Green and others in a tournament only to lose hill-hill to Larry Newdecker in the finals. I was resident instructor and BCA league director at Champions in Laurel in '94 and '95.
When my cues and case were stolen in '95, Jackie Robinson gave me one of his old cases for the old Frey sneaky that I then bought. I still have that worn-out McDermott soft case. It has "Jackie Robinson" in marking pen under the pocket fold, and my name on the front...
Thanks Richi this bb is alright, ops! I should have capitilized bb maybe next time. You guys talking about Buck , it not far fetched to think Reggie barksdale. Thanks for correcting me.
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That sounds about right for Riggi. A bunch of us were talking about him at Top Hat Poolroom a month or so ago and someone said he died in 2002 and they seemed pretty sure. I believe the guy said he was 46 when he passed. That's too bad about him and Tom not gambling. I'm sure it would have been one heck of a match.
I don't think Reggie plays much anymore but he was playing a lot 10 years ago so it was probably him that you played.
Yes it was Greg, i cant believe i forgot that, i knew him pretty good, we would talk for awile everytime we ran into each other!
The last i seen Greg was at the Kin Tin bar in Baltimore, Don Gibson place, where Bobby Legg worked and played.
Greg had some personal problems that iam sure must of whom knew him was aware of.
But Greg was a very nice Guy when he was rite, and then other times he was totally different.
Any list of players in MD who doesn't include Steve Gumpheries (or Gumphreys sp??) is incomplete. He's been dead for a number of years, however, passing in the early 80's. A close friend of mine had played him a number of times and says he's at least the equal to the top names mentioned in this thread.
Steve Gumpheries was the real deal.
Its a shame his life was cut so so shorth, Vanover told me Steve was a great 9 ball player!
I knew Steve Gumphrey and his family. I used to run into his father all the time. He was so funny!
Steve fell in love with a girl from the Midwest. He moved and never looked back. :smiling-heart:
Sadly, his brother Bobby passed away from the same type of cancer as Steve. They both had a good friend, an SES-er, who worked at NIH, which is located in Bethesda, Maryland. The SES-er used to play at my neighborhoopd hang-out, and we were best buddies. He used to keep me apprised of how Steve was doing when Steve got sick. He was close friends with Steve, used to back him in many high-stakes games.
One of the brothers -- and I cannot remember now -- went to NIH for experimental treatment for the type of cancer they had in a clinical trial, but it did not help.
Phyllis Gumphrey, Steve's brother Bobby's wife, still plays pool up Frederick way.