Question for Jay on Don Willis

smashmouth said:
high praise indeed

why do you think he never dominated the tourney scene?
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Short races. Any good player can beat any other good player.

Let them play Ten Ahead and he would have won everything!
 
freddy the beard said:
but you can bet your bippy that Don Willis was all they say he was.
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...lmao....my mom said that all the time while threatening me..."you can bet your sweet bippy"...

Love to hear Larry Hubbart's stories on Don, Larry travelled with him more than once.
 
Parika was visiting a pool room at a bowling alley where his friend worked around ten years ago. There were people that wanted to see him hit some balls, to which he said "practice is for those that don't know what they are doing". When asked how he should pay Efren, he said "Efren smokes and has bad teeth, so I would play him 21 ahead at 9 ball and take a few days without a break". This was around the time that he finished high or won the one pocket tourney at Jay's L.A. Open. After his friend drove him to and from the tourneys and then he promised to share the prize money - the friendship ended.

Does anyone know what the game, the spot and race was to when Parica beat Chicago Juan at the Hardtimes - very impressive?
 
Neil said:
Jay, maybe you remember this shot? I don't know what tournament or year, but Jose was in a tournament on T. V. He had about a 90 degree cut in the side. He totally missed the ball, the cb goes to the end rail, back to the other end rail. Then back up towards the ball, hits it, and actually cuts it in the side!

He couldn't even miss when he missed!
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Vaguely. Every player had funny things happen once in a while.
 
jay helfert said:
Short races. Any good player can beat any other good player.

Let them play Ten Ahead and he would have won everything!
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I hear that, short races are a joke
 
smashmouth said:
Here's how I see some of the legendary hustlers,

If you were to take a a really really good pro at any point in history, whose speed is maybe just below the that of world champions,

and this pro, say someone today like a Warren Kiamco, were to focus soley on money matches, nothing else, from the time he was a teen, not only would he trounce everyone opponent he faced (99% of which would not be pros), but would ultimately have a very good shot against world champs in a money match format, more than a good chance in fact

he'd probably earn a hell of a reputation along the way too

now if some tournament great and world champion , say a Ralph Soquet, just won a hard fought championship after travelling halfway across the globe for a mere 20-30k, how eager do you think such a champion would react to risking his winnings against a top player in his own right and world class shark?

I recognize that guys like Freddy and Jay have a few years on me and have seen more than I ever will when it comes to pool matches, so ultimately their opinion on this matter should carry more weight

One thing I've been pretty good at all my life is distinguishing facts from hearsay, and later, through schooling, analyzing people and events in an objective manner

I love stories of men like Willis, they read like great fiction, but more often than not the claims don't hold up. Often times, you can make inferences simply from the sheer audacity of such claims. In Don's case, there isn't a single world champion table tennis player today who could beat any top high school player from a chair, so forget about him beating anyone halfway decent sitting down. One might infer that some of his pool claims were just as bogus.

The legendary Japanese Karate Champ Mas Oyama (google him) is revered to this day, years after many of his claims were proven bogus, actually, Martial Arts is full of characters who have swindled the masses for years with false claims but that's a different matter altogether.

I'm sure Willis was a damn good player, but I've always felt that comparing hustlers with world champs is disrespectful to the champs

end of rant
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Here is a article on Don.http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu_S.R...=1186305598/**http://www.gcaba.com/willis.htm

It shows that he beat Mosconi at straightpool. Since he didnt play tournements I can only assume they were gambling. It only shows one game though.
 
sicbinature said:
Here is a article on Don.http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu_S.R...=1186305598/**http://www.gcaba.com/willis.htm

It shows that he beat Mosconi at straightpool. Since he didnt play tournements I can only assume they were gambling. It only shows one game though.
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In the flyer on the site you listed it says he defeated Mosconi during an exhibition. Probably happened during his time in the Army. Doubtful when Mosconi & Willis played that Mosconi still gambled. He had a great disdain for gamblers even though he did in fact gamble when he was younger during the depression.
 
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