Road Player - Circa 1970 - J. D. Tyler?????

[HawaiianEye]

Aloha all,

I met an amazing road player back around 1970 when I was about 16 and working in a pool hall. I never heard about this guy before and I still am not sure who he was.

I was working at a pool hall down in the bootheel of Missouri and this guy shows up one day and he looks (to me now, remembering back) sort of like Jamie Farr, the guy playing in the MASH TV show. He has dark (later I see receeding) hair and he is wearing one of those short-brimmed kind of fishing hats, a white t-shirt, double-knit golf-looking pants, and slip-on canvas deck shoes.

The reason I remember what he was wearing so well is because he looked so out-of-place and he stood out immediately. He was also driving a car that stood out...a black Eldorado Cadillac of the most recent model.

I can't remember really what storyline he used for being in town, but he sat up at the bar, drinking a beer, and watched people play 9-ball ring games for a day or so before he ever made a move.

After a couple days, he somehow managed to get into the games and he made a ball or two every once in a while, but he held the stick clumsily and always pretended to be lucky. While in these games, he managed to always lose and I would imagine he lost several hundred dollars over the next few days.

The better players, who also had day jobs, would come in after work just hoping this guy was there because he seemed such an easy mark and he always lost.

Around a week had passed and the guy would still be playing them, but at the end he would ask the winner (usually the better player) if he could get a chance to get his money back. They couldn't wait to jump his ass one-on-one because they were just sure they would get all his money and be driving his Cadillac if they were lucky.

As the stakes increased (in order for him to have a chance to get even, as he says) he steadily got better and his cuemanship wasn't quite so clumsy.

To make a long story shorter...he went from easy money to SUPERMAN in a week. He killed everybody in the area and wound up giving everybody who would bet a dime the 7, 8, 9 and the break.

Over the course of time that he was in town, I got to talk to him quite a bit and he confided a few things to me that I had already observed, but maybe he thought I didn't know. When he got a bit 'better" day by day, playing solo games, he had slipped his own one-piece cue in the back door and stashed it in the rack on the wall. It was a standard one-piece cue that he had sanded down to his preferred taper, and he had a LePro tip which made it stand out a bit from the sticks we had with Elk Master tips. I fixed the cues for the house and these are things that I could tell that maybe others couldn't. I remember to this day, his cue was 21 oz with a 14mm tip which almost nobody ever used.

When things were slow in the day with no players, while he was there "fishing", he would show me shots and teach me things on how to improve my game. I asked him about his cue and he said he liked a heavy weight because lots of places had little or no A/C and the humidity caused the tables to be slower and he didn't want to have to smack the ball around. He also said he liked the 14mm tip because it gave him greater control and he liked it on the bar tables with the bigger cueball. Like I said, I fixed the sticks and we never had Le Pros, so I never had tried one. He gave me a couple and we picked a 21 oz, 14mm cue out of our stock of sticks and I fixed me one up like his. I have used his specs, with very little changes, over the years and still have a cue now like that. The changes in today's playing conditions don't make it the best for today, but it served me for many years, especially playing in the bars.

I asked him how come he used such a plain house cue once everyone now knew that he could kick some serious ass. He took me out to his Cadillac and opened the trunk and showed me his "top-of-the-line" Palmer (can't remember the model off the top of my head now, but it is the one with the points on the forearm and on the shaft...real gaudy looking to me). He said, "you don't think I could have snuck that one into the racks, do you?" His Palmer was built to the same specs as his "house cue".

The owner of the pool hall took him around the various pool halls and bars within a hundred mile radius over the next week or so and I went with them on a few occasions. This guy destroyed everybody he played.

One day, like the Lone Ranger, it was time for him to ride off into the sunset. He left and I never saw or heard a word about him again. I don't know his name, but the name he used at the time was something like J. D. Tyler or Taylor. Whether that was his real name or not, I do not know. I later heard through the owner of the poolhall that this guy was from TX and he used to go on the road with a player called "Big Foot" who played even better than J. D. I never saw Big Foot, so I can't attest to that. Supposedly, Big Foot would back J. D. and when the losers complained that they couldn't win playing him that Big Foot (who supposedly was just a backer, not a player) would say "pump it up and play me then". Then he would proceed to take the rest of their money.

Sorry for makng this story so long, but I wanted to give as much background as I could so that someone on here could possible identify "J. D."

There probably were then and now numerous players who could have given this guy a game or beaten him, but I have yet to see anybody go from chump to champion as smoothly as he did. It was strictly a scene from a movie with an Oscar-winning actor and I still wonder just how good this guy could have played if he really had somebody who played as well he did as an opponent.

Anybody ever heard of or seen this guy? It has been 40 years ago and he looked to be about 40 at the time, so that would put him up in the years.

J.D...if you are out there reading this...you were THE MAN at the time...at least at that time and that place.

P. S. Searched online to find the Palmer he had and it is the Model 20a or b. See link below:

http://www.palmercollector.com/ThirdCatalogCueCollection.html

 

[measureman]

I have no clue who this person is,but a nice story.

 

[androd]

J.D.Tyler would be "Jack Taylor" Bigfoot was a really fine talented player
That everyone called "Tall Jimmy" He beat everyone he played. I Remember he beat Richard Austin a few times but they broke even in South Haven Ms. He easily beat Mike Massey in Truman Ark. and again in Little Rock. A guy in Hayti Mo. named him bigfoot, the guy said he could walk across the river and not get his socks wet.
Those were the days.
Rod.
PS I hear Jack is still alive and living in Galveston Tx. He'd be 84 if I remember correctly.

 

[decent dennis]

Great story. It must have been pretty cool sitting back and watching the show knowing what you did about the tips. Kinda like "I got a secret"

 

[pwd72s]

Loved the tale...thanks! You sure he wasn't J.B. Cooper?

 

[HawaiianEye]

J.D.Tyler would be "Jack Taylor" Bigfoot was a really fine talented player
That everyone called "Tall Jimmy" He beat everyone he played. I Remember he beat Richard Austin a few times but they broke even in South Haven Ms. He easily beat Mike Massey in Truman Ark. and again in Little Rock. A guy in Hayti Mo. named him bigfoot, the guy said he could walk across the river and not get his socks wet.
Those were the days.
Rod.
PS I hear Jack is still alive and living in Galveston Tx. He'd be 84 if I remember correctly.

Thank you for the information...you have answered a question that has stuck in my mind for over 40 years.

Like I said, I never saw Bigfoot but I heard stories of him after J. D. had left town. Stories are made to be embelished, so I don't know if the tales I heard of him are true or not.

I was told (and you believe anything as teenager) that he had the best break of anybody alive. They said he would break on a bar table and the cue ball would fly up in the air, almost to the table light, and then land back down and stop in the center of the table after all the object balls had spread or went into the pockets. If any balls happened to be left, he would then run the table.

They also said he was well above 6-feet tall (somebody once said 6'7") and that on a bar table he could stand at one end and lean over and pick up a ball off the rail on the other end. He had no stretch shots, not that any are really long on a bar table.

They also said he got the name "Bigfoot" from wearing a size 13 or larger shoe. It is funny that you said he got named "Bigfoot" in Hayti, MO. The pool hall that I was working in was 17 miles from Hayti and I used to go there as a kid with my backer (the owner of the pool hall I worked at) and he would back me playing all the players in the Idle Hour (if I remember the name right) bar that was right off I-55 freeway.

I don't know of any "name" players that I ever played there at the time (most were local boys from areas nearby from what I knew or players that stopped in the bar while travelling on I-55), but my backer would go in the place and back me against anyone in there and I don't remember ever coming out loser. I'm glad I wasn't there when Bigfoot came through and got his name.

When we travelled outside my hometown to play pool we wouldn't try to act like I was his son or anything in order to set up some kind of "trap". He would go in and say, "this kid will play anybody in here for the money" and then he would arrange whatever money transaction that was to his liking. He told me "don't worry about the money, you just shoot". He always split the winnings with me, but I think it was something like 80/20 or even less. I never complained because I wasn't in it for the money...I just liked to play the top players and the adrenalin rush of beating them. It also was nice to walk around with $1,000 or so dollars in my pocket as a 15 year old when the minimum wage for a job was around $2 an hour, or less.

Back to J. D....once I knew that he was no slouch, but I wasn't sure of his real speed, he asked me to play one-pocket and we played for $20 a game. I beat him three in a row and though he made it look close, I knew he was sandbagging...I could tell from his style. Then he tried to pump up the action and get people on the side to bet $100 a game with him. When he got no takers, we quit. When the place thinned out and it was just him and I, he called me over to the table and had me rack us up a game of one pocket again. He had me break and I think we may have played a safe or two and then he went from nowhere to a run of 8 and out on me, guiding the cueball around at will and breaking balls out as he needed them. He then told me, "that is the way I play for $100 a game".

I am so glad I figured him out before he put an ass-whipping on everybody else...otherwise he would have had all my money too.

 

[hon400ex]

Thanks for the story.:thumbup:

 

[jay helfert]

Bigfoot or whatever you called him back there came out to California in the late 60's. He used the name Jeff and had the hardest break I ever saw. He snuck around a little before ending up playing all the Mexican champions, like Sergio and Mario. That was about a draw, after he had beaten everybody else. Than he went back to Texas never to be seen out here again.

I think J.D.'s name was J.D Tyner. He also visited California in the early 70's and laid it down real good in the bars where there was money. I got called to play him in a bar in Bakersfield, after he had robbed some of the locals for some serious money. He had them betting 50 and 100 a game Eight Ball. He laid down on me for a little bit until we raised the stakes from 20 to 40 a game. I was in my prime then and eventually won the money that day. Yep, I could play a little back then. I did beat a few good players once in a while and I made the other ones work hard for the money. My style of Eight Ball was break 'em up and run out. I never felt like I could miss on those little boxes. If I got in trouble I just banked one in!

 

[richiebalto]

Aloha all,

I met an amazing road player back around 1970 when I was about 16 and working in a pool hall. I never heard about this guy before and I still am not sure who he was.

I was working at a pool hall down in the bootheel of Missouri and this guy shows up one day and he looks (to me now, remembering back) sort of like Jamie Farr, the guy playing in the MASH TV show. He has dark (later I see receeding) hair and he is wearing one of those short-brimmed kind of fishing hats, a white t-shirt, double-knit golf-looking pants, and slip-on canvas deck shoes.

The reason I remember what he was wearing so well is because he looked so out-of-place and he stood out immediately. He was also driving a car that stood out...a black Eldorado Cadillac of the most recent model.

I can't remember really what storyline he used for being in town, but he sat up at the bar, drinking a beer, and watched people play 9-ball ring games for a day or so before he ever made a move.

After a couple days, he somehow managed to get into the games and he made a ball or two every once in a while, but he held the stick clumsily and always pretended to be lucky. While in these games, he managed to always lose and I would imagine he lost several hundred dollars over the next few days.

The better players, who also had day jobs, would come in after work just hoping this guy was there because he seemed such an easy mark and he always lost.

Around a week had passed and the guy would still be playing them, but at the end he would ask the winner (usually the better player) if he could get a chance to get his money back. They couldn't wait to jump his ass one-on-one because they were just sure they would get all his money and be driving his Cadillac if they were lucky.

As the stakes increased (in order for him to have a chance to get even, as he says) he steadily got better and his cuemanship wasn't quite so clumsy.

To make a long story shorter...he went from easy money to SUPERMAN in a week. He killed everybody in the area and wound up giving everybody who would bet a dime the 7, 8, 9 and the break.

Over the course of time that he was in town, I got to talk to him quite a bit and he confided a few things to me that I had already observed, but maybe he thought I didn't know. When he got a bit 'better" day by day, playing solo games, he had slipped his own one-piece cue in the back door and stashed it in the rack on the wall. It was a standard one-piece cue that he had sanded down to his preferred taper, and he had a LePro tip which made it stand out a bit from the sticks we had with Elk Master tips. I fixed the cues for the house and these are things that I could tell that maybe others couldn't. I remember to this day, his cue was 21 oz with a 14mm tip which almost nobody ever used.

When things were slow in the day with no players, while he was there "fishing", he would show me shots and teach me things on how to improve my game. I asked him about his cue and he said he liked a heavy weight because lots of places had little or no A/C and the humidity caused the tables to be slower and he didn't want to have to smack the ball around. He also said he liked the 14mm tip because it gave him greater control and he liked it on the bar tables with the bigger cueball. Like I said, I fixed the sticks and we never had Le Pros, so I never had tried one. He gave me a couple and we picked a 21 oz, 14mm cue out of our stock of sticks and I fixed me one up like his. I have used his specs, with very little changes, over the years and still have a cue now like that. The changes in today's playing conditions don't make it the best for today, but it served me for many years, especially playing in the bars.

I asked him how come he used such a plain house cue once everyone now knew that he could kick some serious ass. He took me out to his Cadillac and opened the trunk and showed me his "top-of-the-line" Palmer (can't remember the model off the top of my head now, but it is the one with the points on the forearm and on the shaft...real gaudy looking to me). He said, "you don't think I could have snuck that one into the racks, do you?" His Palmer was built to the same specs as his "house cue".

The owner of the pool hall took him around the various pool halls and bars within a hundred mile radius over the next week or so and I went with them on a few occasions. This guy destroyed everybody he played.

One day, like the Lone Ranger, it was time for him to ride off into the sunset. He left and I never saw or heard a word about him again. I don't know his name, but the name he used at the time was something like J. D. Tyler or Taylor. Whether that was his real name or not, I do not know. I later heard through the owner of the poolhall that this guy was from TX and he used to go on the road with a player called "Big Foot" who played even better than J. D. I never saw Big Foot, so I can't attest to that. Supposedly, Big Foot would back J. D. and when the losers complained that they couldn't win playing him that Big Foot (who supposedly was just a backer, not a player) would say "pump it up and play me then". Then he would proceed to take the rest of their money.

Sorry for makng this story so long, but I wanted to give as much background as I could so that someone on here could possible identify "J. D."

There probably were then and now numerous players who could have given this guy a game or beaten him, but I have yet to see anybody go from chump to champion as smoothly as he did. It was strictly a scene from a movie with an Oscar-winning actor and I still wonder just how good this guy could have played if he really had somebody who played as well he did as an opponent.

Anybody ever heard of or seen this guy? It has been 40 years ago and he looked to be about 40 at the time, so that would put him up in the years.

J.D...if you are out there reading this...you were THE MAN at the time...at least at that time and that place.

P. S. Searched online to find the Palmer he had and it is the Model 20a or b. See link below:

http://www.palmercollector.com/ThirdCatalogCueCollection.html

Awesom story,i love hearing these old pool stories,thanks a million hawaiian!if u have anymore stories ,iam sure alot of other azers would love to read them also!

 

[catpool9]

"Idle Hour Bar" Hayti,Mo. 1978

Good Story Hawaiianeye! I like remembering the old day's, especially on the bar tables with the big cue ball, your story reminded me of this 6 week road trip, hope you don't mine me butting in and telling a story.

My brother Calvin and I passed thru Hayti,MO. and played at the "Idle Hour Bar" at a much later date than your story "1978" but the action was good.

I remember it was February of "78" and was cold as hell, ice & snow the whole month, so all the farmers and bookies were out at the bars looking for something to do, betting pool was a good passtime for most of them at this time of the year.

Calvin and I first went to Truman,Arkansas, Calvin said that in the past that the action was good in that area, I was fresh out of highschool about a year so I was ready to go on a road trip with big brother.

We stopped at Jim's Tavern and I got into a $5.00 game with the owner, he lost some chump change and then we asked where the real action was, Jim said go over to the 1-49 Club between Earl and MarkTree,Arkansas that there was some good action going on over there later on in the evenings.

It was the middle of the week, I figured not much would be going on, but when we got there the parking lot was full of vehicles and you could hear the Country Band playing away!

We had to buy a membership to get in, it was cheap enough, I got on the first pool table I saw , the game was challenge 8-Ball for $5-10 agame, at the time I didn't know what stall was, so I went through several players and the bet went up to $20-40, well the best player in the area was this older guy in his 60's "Bowlegged Bill" Billy Boyles I think was his name, he wanted to play me, but Calvin said that he had better get up on the table and play.

So, Calvin makes a 9-Ball game with Bowleggs for $50 agame, Calvin goes back and forth with him until I get several side bets down. I was betting with the owner, two other guys that I had been playing, and this bookie named Sudie Cecil, at first I had to turn down bets because I couldn't really cover it all.

The music was blaring away, people going and coming everywhere, only had three bar pool tables, a dance floor, a bandstand and seating tables for the customers, but that was when Calvin played his best in those old Honky Tonks.

I remember we won a couple thousand, most of it from the bookie, so he and Calvin set up a game for the next night to play Bowleggs again, he would stake the game for Bowlegges.

Meantime this one guy named Don HalfAcre that was betting against Us on the side envited me & Calvin to stay at his place, he said he would like to bet on us and steer around for a percentage, so we said ok, Don and his wife became good friends with us for the 6 weeks we stayed with them.

Well the next night Calvin won about $500 from Bowlegges and that was it for him, Calvin spotted the bookie the 7 out in 9-Ball and won a few more grand, I played some of the locals and picked up a few more hundred.

During that 6 weeks we played all NorthEast Arkansas, several small towns, everywhere we went people would play $5- $100 agame 8 or 9-Ball.

We even ran into Bobby Jean Leggs in Paragould,Ar.,at this bar call "The Stone House" me & Calvin put up $500 for some $50 agame 9-Ball, Bobby Leggs broke the 9 in on the break the first 4 games, then ran a clean 5 pack, Calvin asked me how we stood, I said were nine games down, so Calvin knew he only had one more barrel, Bobby broke and nothing fell, Calvin ran eleven straight games, Bobby pulled up, we won $100, that was some good pool playing by both players.

This guy named Doylin Stewart from Paragould,Ar. played real good too, Calvin played him some one night and won $1,300 from him, I was really shocked because that guy ran out many racks to still lose.

This kid from there called 'Buckwheat" lost about $500 to Calvin, and Cotton Von, a guy from Jonesboro,Ar. came over and lost a few grand too, but he was really more my speed because I got him for some cash myself. Calvin and I teamed up with him one weekend and we went to Popular Bluff,Mo. and we played downtown under the street (basement bar) , the guy we played was rich, and owned a Dairy Farm, he took us out to his house afterhours and we played pool in his Barn, it was a very nice barn, at least the upsatairs was, Calvin beat him out of a few grand, that was fun, he had a good bar filled with all the liquior we could drink and Cuban cigars for us to smoke.

Don HalfAcre said that he heard there was a strong player in Hayti,MO. at the "Idle Hour Bar" named Tony Fargo, so we went up there looking for him. I think the place only had two bar tables, small place but lots of action, we walk in and there was challenge $20 agame 9-Ball going on, so I got up.


I played this one eyed guy named Chuck and got up about $120 and then Fargo challenged, I lost my turn and Calvin had put up his quarters, Calvin says bet $50 and Fargo says OK.

Fargo beat Calvin out of $450 real quick and Calvin said that he had enough, they went outside and smoked a good Hooter! that's what Calvin liked to do , but I'm not sure about Fargo, he looked F$cked Up when they came back inside, Calvin said lets play for $100 agame, well Fargo didn't like it after that, he lost $1,800 in short order, plus me and ole Don won twice that on the side bets we were making, we won real good that night.

Calvin and Fargo played a few more times the next few weeks but Fargo could never get the monkey off his back after that night and lost those times too, but not near the cash as the first go round.

I told Calvin it was time for me to go home, it had been 6 weeks on the road, that was all Calvin did, but for me I was tired and ready to go fishing!

Well we said our goodbyes to Don and his wife and as we were leaving this guy called from Helena, Arkansas, and said this player named Jessie James was in town and wanted to play 9-Ball races to 7 for $1,500 on the bar box, well it was on the way home and we said yes we're own our way, Don drove his car cause We were leaving no matter what the outcome of the match.

Calvin played this guy and won two sets in no time, less than three hours, I was glad, cause I really wanted a new truck when I got home, and bought one too.

There was a lot more inbetween stuff that happen during this trip, but I have already typed too much on Hawaiianeyes thread.

The Good Ole Day's, as long as we all still talk about them they still live on!


David Harcrow

 

[richiebalto]

Good Story Hawaiianeye! I like remembering the old day's, especially on the bar tables with the big cue ball, your story reminded me of this 6 week road trip, hope you don't mine me butting in and telling a story.

My brother Calvin and I passed thru Hayti,MO. and played at the "Idle Hour Bar" at a much later date than your story "1978" but the action was good.

I remember it was February of "78" and was cold as hell, ice & snow the whole month, so all the farmers and bookies were out at the bars looking for something to do, betting pool was a good passtime for most of them at this time of the year.

Calvin and I first went to Truman,Arkansas, Calvin said that in the past that the action was good in that area, I was fresh out of highschool about a year so I was ready to go on a road trip with big brother.

We stopped at Jim's Tavern and I got into a $5.00 game with the owner, he lost some chump change and then we asked where the real action was, Jim said go over to the 1-49 Club between Earl and MarkTree,Arkansas that there was some good action going on over there later on in the evenings.

It was the middle of the week, I figured not much would be going on, but when we got there the parking lot was full of vehicles and you could hear the Country Band playing away!

We had to buy a membership to get in, it was cheap enough, I got on the first pool table I saw , the game was challenge 8-Ball for $5-10 agame, at the time I didn't know what stall was, so I went through several players and the bet went up to $20-40, well the best player in the area was this older guy in his 60's "Bowlegged Bill" Billy Boyles I think was his name, he wanted to play me, but Calvin said that he had better get up on the table and play.

So, Calvin makes a 9-Ball game with Bowleggs for $50 agame, Calvin goes back and forth with him until I get several side bets down. I was betting with the owner, two other guys that I had been playing, and this bookie named Sudie Cecil, at first I had to turn down bets because I couldn't really cover it all.

The music was blaring away, people going and coming everywhere, only had three bar pool tables, a dance floor, a bandstand and seating tables for the customers, but that was when Calvin played his best in those old Honky Tonks.

I remember we won a couple thousand, most of it from the bookie, so he and Calvin set up a game for the next night to play Bowleggs again, he would stake the game for Bowlegges.

Meantime this one guy named Don HalfAcre that was betting against Us on the side envited me & Calvin to stay at his place, he said he would like to bet on us and steer around for a percentage, so we said ok, Don and his wife became good friends with us for the 6 weeks we stayed with them.

Well the next night Calvin won about $500 from Bowlegges and that was it for him, Calvin spotted the bookie the 7 out in 9-Ball and won a few more grand, I played some of the locals and picked up a few more hundred.

During that 6 weeks we played all NorthEast Arkansas, several small towns, everywhere we went people would play $5- $100 agame 8 or 9-Ball.

We even ran into Bobby Jean Leggs in Paragould,Ar.,at this bar call "The Stone House" me & Calvin put up $500 for some $50 agame 9-Ball, Bobby Leggs broke the 9 in on the break the first 4 games, then ran a clean 5 pack, Calvin asked me how we stood, I said were nine games down, so Calvin knew he only had one more barrel, Bobby broke and nothing fell, Calvin ran eleven straight games, Bobby pulled up, we won $100, that was some good pool playing by both players.

This guy named Doylin Stewart from Paragould,Ar. played real good too, Calvin played him some one night and won $1,300 from him, I was really shocked because that guy ran out many racks to still lose.

This kid from there called 'Buckwheat" lost about $500 to Calvin, and Cotton Von, a guy from Jonesboro,Ar. came over and lost a few grand too, but he was really more my speed because I got him for some cash myself. Calvin and I teamed up with him one weekend and we went to Popular Bluff,Mo. and we played downtown under the street (basement bar) , the guy we played was rich, and owned a Dairy Farm, he took us out to his house afterhours and we played pool in his Barn, it was a very nice barn, at least the upsatairs was, Calvin beat him out of a few grand, that was fun, he had a good bar filled with all the liquior we could drink and Cuban cigars for us to smoke.

Don HalfAcre said that he heard there was a strong player in Hayti,MO. at the "Idle Hour Bar" named Tony Fargo, so we went up there looking for him. I think the place only had two bar tables, small place but lots of action, we walk in and there was challenge $20 agame 9-Ball going on, so I got up.


I played this one eyed guy named Chuck and got up about $120 and then Fargo challenged, I lost my turn and Calvin had put up his quarters, Calvin says bet $50 and Fargo says OK.

Fargo beat Calvin out of $450 real quick and Calvin said that he had enough, they went outside and smoked a good Hooter! that's what Calvin liked to do , but I'm not sure about Fargo, he looked F$cked Up when they came back inside, Calvin said lets play for $100 agame, well Fargo didn't like it after that, he lost $1,800 in short order, plus me and ole Don won twice that on the side bets we were making, we won real good that night.

Calvin and Fargo played a few more times the next few weeks but Fargo could never get the monkey off his back after that night and lost those times too, but not near the cash as the first go round.

I told Calvin it was time for me to go home, it had been 6 weeks on the road, that was all Calvin did, but for me I was tired and ready to go fishing!

Well we said our goodbyes to Don and his wife and as we were leaving this guy called from Helena, Arkansas, and said this player named Jessie James was in town and wanted to play 9-Ball races to 7 for $1,500 on the bar box, well it was on the way home and we said yes we're own our way, Don drove his car cause We were leaving no matter what the outcome of the match.

Calvin played this guy and won two sets in no time, less than three hours, I was glad, cause I really wanted a new truck when I got home, and bought one too.

There was a lot more inbetween stuff that happen during this trip, but I have already typed too much on Hawaiianeyes thread.

The Good Ole Day's, as long as we all still talk about them they still live on!


David Harcrow

It dont get no better then this,awesommmmmm!

 

[catpool9]

It dont get no better then this,awesommmmmm!

Thanks Richie!


David Harcrow

 

[HawaiianEye]

This guy named Doylin Stewart from Paragould,Ar. played real good too, Calvin played him some one night and won $1,300 from him, I was really shocked because that guy ran out many racks to still lose.
David Harcrow

You are correct about the Idle Hour in Hayti...there were only two tables when I played too. The front table by the bar was the "action" table and the other table in the back was used for challenge games and funsies.

And yes, Doylin Stewart played pretty strong on the bar tables and he was the farmers’ hometown hero all around Paragould, AR. I played him heads-up when I was a teenager and neither of us robbed the other too bad. In my story about J. D., Doylin was one of the players that got robbed during one of the out-of-town trips that the pool hall owner took him on and I witnessed this matchup. They started out even and J. D. was killing him and before it was all over, J. D. was giving him the 7 and the break and maybe even the 8 and 9. None of the farmers could believe that this guy was drowning their hero and spotting him up so high. It is a good thing that J. D. was accompanied by the owner of the pool hall (who was well known all over the area) or J. D. may have never made it out alive.

They played in the Cardwell Country Club in Cardwell, MO, just across the St Francis River (which separates MO from AR) from Paragould. Paragould was another 10 or so miles down the highway…a stretch of cotton fields, car lots, and bars. My father used to say there were more car lots in Paragould, AR (per capita) than any other place in the world…and probably more than half of them were stolen. At the time, Greene County AR was a dry county or didn’t sell alcohol on Sundays, so all the people came across the river into MO to drink and raise hell.

For those who are too young to have experienced a place like this, it was a smoke-filled dive that was filled with con-men, crooks, hustlers, convicted felons, soon-to-be felons, wannabe felons, drug pushers, drug addicts, whores, farmers, red necks, hippies, and every combination thereof…and what’s worse, most of them may happen to be the good people in the joint at the time. This place was owned by a fellow named Tommy Hyde, who had more dealings going on in this area than Bill Gates had in Microsoft, but I’d say Bill Gates was probably operating on the right side of the law.

It wasn’t uncommon to beat the “good ole boys” in the back playing pool, cards, or whatever…but it also wasn’t uncommon to get your ass whipped outside when you were trying to leave with the money. They didn’t take too kindly to someone coming onto their turf and leaving with all their cash. I’ve known of people intentionally losing their winnings back when the “heat got turned up” and they knew they weren’t going to be leaving in one piece.

I don’t know if anyone on AZB is familiar with this area of NE AR and SE MO back in the day, but it had its fair share of colorful characters who always made for interesting gambling experiences (whether you were betting with them or against them). Most of them are deceased or in jail now (from what I’ve heard).

Here are a select few that anybody coming through the area may have ran into in gambling circles.

Fat Archie Ramirez (deceased from what I’ve heard): Short (5’ 7” or so) but extremely overweight (about 350 pounds or more, if I had to guess) and always wore flashy clothes. Where he got them this big, I have no idea. Wore a medallion of some sort at times, and thinking back he reminds me of Rev Al Sharpton, he could talk more crap than Rev Al and faster when he was trying to talk up a game. Had a big stereotypical bandito-type moustache and had jet black hair. He played pretty strong bar table pool with the big cue ball, but I could never get him to play on regulation tables. He got froggy one time in Kennett, MO when I hadn’t been back to the mainland in years and happened to stop in a bar and he kept mouthing me to play 6-ball with him on his bar table. I hadn’t played in years and told him that he was too good for me, just to shut him up. Hearing that must have made him feel better, so he offered me the break. I didn’t need the break, I just liked watching him rack and putting all the quarters in the table while he b!tched the whole time and wiped sweat off his forehead. I annihilated him and got several hundreds of his dollars before he finally shut up. I don’t think he shot more than once or twice during the whole match.

Randall Woods (deceased from what I’ve heard): All-round gambler…played pool pretty good, played cards, dice, etc. Missing his little finger on his left bridge hand. I knew him for a long time, and beat him plenty of times playing pool, but would never bet him in anything else for fear of being put in the “middle” or a “trap”.

Joe Tucker (deceased from what I’ve heard): Father or uncle owned a lot of farm land from what I can remember. For a few years, Joe shacked up with this lady named Shirley who owned the Shiloh Lounge in Kennett, MO. It was a “private” club that charged “memberships” to get in. That was a racket that lots of the bars in SE MO and NE AR started doing in order to evade the drinking laws concerning opening and closing times and being open on Sundays. Even though I was only 16 or so (and the law for going into bars was 21), I could go here and any other bar in town. I used to frequent this place and win tons of money. Joe was a pretty good player on a bar table and he liked gambling at other things, but I would be hesitant to turn my back on him at anything other than pool.

Jimmy Duke (in prison still, from what I’ve heard…been there for YEARS on numerous occasions…busted on drug king-pin charges): Jimmy never played pool too good but he liked to play cards and back the rest of his running pals (mentioned above) in various activities. He somehow got into the “car business” in Paragould, AR (see above mentioning of car lots) and would have tons of money to lose on his boys.

“Little One” Jefferson Davis Chamberlain (deceased): “Lil Un” (as they pronounced it) was a WW II veteran who had gotten shot in the back with a machine gun in France during the war. He was a good player prior to the war and had to totally relearn how to shoot from a wheelchair when he recovered. He was a habitual gambler and was good at most things until he got into his pain pills and alcohol. When he was sober, he could hang with most of the local players and he would bet as high as you wanted to go. He got his military disability check on the 1st of each month and people would line up at the pool hall to try to get his money and he usually started out strong and then ended up busted when he got into his “medicines”. When I was around 15, I would be at the pool hall where I worked at 7 in the morning on his pay day to make sure I got some of his money before the rest of them did. I was one of the few who could beat him before he got into his “medicines” and we used to play every kind of pool imaginable. When he figured out he couldn’t beat me at 9-ball, we would progress to one-pocket or snooker and we would play for up to $100 a game, which was kind of high at that time, but the pool owner gave me “free hand” of the cash register. He would tell me to quit working whenever somebody wanted to play and grab whatever playing cash I needed out of the register. I remember once when I was playing him one-pocket for $100 and I had him up about 6 balls to 1 or 2. I played a soft safety and sent the cue ball to the short rail behind the spot and the cue ball stopped about 1/16 of an inch short of the rail. As soon as I shot, some railbird that nobody ever saw before was walking past the table on the way to the bathroom and hollered out, “he didn’t hit the rail, it’s a foul”. The game then went down to the last ball before I won. The owner of the pool hall and I were about to kill this dude for jumping into a game that he had no money in and with people he had never seen before. There were plenty of occasions where I would get $1,000 or so of his money on the 1st of each month.

Herman Trout: Owned a motel on Highway 25 in Holcomb, MO. Greasy spoon restaurant in the front with a bar table and anything goes in the back rooms, if you had the money. Cards, dice, whores…you name it…you could probably find it here. I never saw Herman doing any gambling of his own, but I’m sure he got a cut of everything that went on in that place. When I was 15 or so, I played some farmer’s hero named Jimbo Harris in this place. We started around 8 or so one night and didn’t finish until about 6 in the morning the next day and I had taken him for a couple thousand (including his backer’s money…not sure if Jimbo had that much cash of his own). I played at Trout’s Motel quite a few times and there was some good cash made every time I went. If you really got some time on your hands and want to know just how good a fellow Herman was, read the following link…it has some mention of his dealings and his motel.

http://www.crimemagazine.com/wake-riot?page=5

Sorry for making this so long, but I got into a flashback of times gone past. I don’t know if any of those old places still exist, but they were where I grew up learning pool for the cash. They are a far cry from what is now considered “seedy” pool joints by today’s standards. Just about any place today would be considered a “high class” operation compared to these places. I don’t know if they were good or bad for the image of pool, but I had a hell of a lot more fun playing in places that had a bit more “atmosphere” than they do today.

Aloha.

 

[ironman]

Good Story Hawaiianeye! I like remembering the old day's, especially on the bar tables with the big cue ball, your story reminded me of this 6 week road trip, hope you don't mine me butting in and telling a story.

My brother Calvin and I passed thru Hayti,MO. and played at the "Idle Hour Bar" at a much later date than your story "1978" but the action was good.

I remember it was February of "78" and was cold as hell, ice & snow the whole month, so all the farmers and bookies were out at the bars looking for something to do, betting pool was a good passtime for most of them at this time of the year.

Calvin and I first went to Truman,Arkansas, Calvin said that in the past that the action was good in that area, I was fresh out of highschool about a year so I was ready to go on a road trip with big brother.

We stopped at Jim's Tavern and I got into a $5.00 game with the owner, he lost some chump change and then we asked where the real action was, Jim said go over to the 1-49 Club between Earl and MarkTree,Arkansas that there was some good action going on over there later on in the evenings.

It was the middle of the week, I figured not much would be going on, but when we got there the parking lot was full of vehicles and you could hear the Country Band playing away!

We had to buy a membership to get in, it was cheap enough, I got on the first pool table I saw , the game was challenge 8-Ball for $5-10 agame, at the time I didn't know what stall was, so I went through several players and the bet went up to $20-40, well the best player in the area was this older guy in his 60's "Bowlegged Bill" Billy Boyles I think was his name, he wanted to play me, but Calvin said that he had better get up on the table and play.

So, Calvin makes a 9-Ball game with Bowleggs for $50 agame, Calvin goes back and forth with him until I get several side bets down. I was betting with the owner, two other guys that I had been playing, and this bookie named Sudie Cecil, at first I had to turn down bets because I couldn't really cover it all.

The music was blaring away, people going and coming everywhere, only had three bar pool tables, a dance floor, a bandstand and seating tables for the customers, but that was when Calvin played his best in those old Honky Tonks.

I remember we won a couple thousand, most of it from the bookie, so he and Calvin set up a game for the next night to play Bowleggs again, he would stake the game for Bowlegges.

Meantime this one guy named Don HalfAcre that was betting against Us on the side envited me & Calvin to stay at his place, he said he would like to bet on us and steer around for a percentage, so we said ok, Don and his wife became good friends with us for the 6 weeks we stayed with them.

Well the next night Calvin won about $500 from Bowlegges and that was it for him, Calvin spotted the bookie the 7 out in 9-Ball and won a few more grand, I played some of the locals and picked up a few more hundred.

During that 6 weeks we played all NorthEast Arkansas, several small towns, everywhere we went people would play $5- $100 agame 8 or 9-Ball.

We even ran into Bobby Jean Leggs in Paragould,Ar.,at this bar call "The Stone House" me & Calvin put up $500 for some $50 agame 9-Ball, Bobby Leggs broke the 9 in on the break the first 4 games, then ran a clean 5 pack, Calvin asked me how we stood, I said were nine games down, so Calvin knew he only had one more barrel, Bobby broke and nothing fell, Calvin ran eleven straight games, Bobby pulled up, we won $100, that was some good pool playing by both players.

This guy named Doylin Stewart from Paragould,Ar. played real good too, Calvin played him some one night and won $1,300 from him, I was really shocked because that guy ran out many racks to still lose.

This kid from there called 'Buckwheat" lost about $500 to Calvin, and Cotton Von, a guy from Jonesboro,Ar. came over and lost a few grand too, but he was really more my speed because I got him for some cash myself. Calvin and I teamed up with him one weekend and we went to Popular Bluff,Mo. and we played downtown under the street (basement bar) , the guy we played was rich, and owned a Dairy Farm, he took us out to his house afterhours and we played pool in his Barn, it was a very nice barn, at least the upsatairs was, Calvin beat him out of a few grand, that was fun, he had a good bar filled with all the liquior we could drink and Cuban cigars for us to smoke.

Don HalfAcre said that he heard there was a strong player in Hayti,MO. at the "Idle Hour Bar" named Tony Fargo, so we went up there looking for him. I think the place only had two bar tables, small place but lots of action, we walk in and there was challenge $20 agame 9-Ball going on, so I got up.


I played this one eyed guy named Chuck and got up about $120 and then Fargo challenged, I lost my turn and Calvin had put up his quarters, Calvin says bet $50 and Fargo says OK.

Fargo beat Calvin out of $450 real quick and Calvin said that he had enough, they went outside and smoked a good Hooter! that's what Calvin liked to do , but I'm not sure about Fargo, he looked F$cked Up when they came back inside, Calvin said lets play for $100 agame, well Fargo didn't like it after that, he lost $1,800 in short order, plus me and ole Don won twice that on the side bets we were making, we won real good that night.

Calvin and Fargo played a few more times the next few weeks but Fargo could never get the monkey off his back after that night and lost those times too, but not near the cash as the first go round.

I told Calvin it was time for me to go home, it had been 6 weeks on the road, that was all Calvin did, but for me I was tired and ready to go fishing!

Well we said our goodbyes to Don and his wife and as we were leaving this guy called from Helena, Arkansas, and said this player named Jessie James was in town and wanted to play 9-Ball races to 7 for $1,500 on the bar box, well it was on the way home and we said yes we're own our way, Don drove his car cause We were leaving no matter what the outcome of the match.

Calvin played this guy and won two sets in no time, less than three hours, I was glad, cause I really wanted a new truck when I got home, and bought one too.

There was a lot more inbetween stuff that happen during this trip, but I have already typed too much on Hawaiianeyes thread.

The Good Ole Day's, as long as we all still talk about them they still live on!


David Harcrow

i can't see your name without thinking of the whooping you put no my buddy Barry at that Dairy Queen in Warren Ark. My God that must have been in 73 or 74. Barry never had a prayer.
What wa funny about that was we ended in Camden that night and I beat that Don Mckissick out of like $2000 which was pretty good money in those days.
The next morning we are back in magnolia and Barry called wanting to go back to Warren. i said,"no way too close to El Paso"! i'm not sure Barry ever forgave me for that.
We're getting old Bud!!

 

[catpool9]

i can't see your name without thinking of the whooping you put no my buddy Barry at that Dairy Queen in Warren Ark. My God that must have been in 73 or 74. Barry never had a prayer.
What wa funny about that was we ended in Camden that night and I beat that Don Mckissick out of like $2000 which was pretty good money in those days.
The next morning we are back in magnolia and Barry called wanting to go back to Warren. i said,"no way too close to El Paso"! i'm not sure Barry ever forgave me for that.
We're getting old Bud!!

Yep Lewis, "time is rolling on!"

I sure do miss those days of going to Don Mckissisk's "Retreat Club" in Camden,Arkansas back in the late 70's and early 80's, that was Little Las Vegas, ole Don would lock the doors afterhours and they would have some Big a$$ dice games, and the pool tables had tons of action!

David Harcrow

 

[spktur]

You are correct about the Idle Hour in Hayti...there were only two tables when I played too. The front table by the bar was the "action" table and the other table in the back was used for challenge games and funsies.

And yes, Doylin Stewart played pretty strong on the bar tables and he was the farmers’ hometown hero all around Paragould, AR. I played him heads-up when I was a teenager and neither of us robbed the other too bad. In my story about J. D., Doylin was one of the players that got robbed during one of the out-of-town trips that the pool hall owner took him on and I witnessed this matchup. They started out even and J. D. was killing him and before it was all over, J. D. was giving him the 7 and the break and maybe even the 8 and 9. None of the farmers could believe that this guy was drowning their hero and spotting him up so high. It is a good thing that J. D. was accompanied by the owner of the pool hall (who was well known all over the area) or J. D. may have never made it out alive.

They played in the Cardwell Country Club in Cardwell, MO, just across the St Francis River (which separates MO from AR) from Paragould. Paragould was another 10 or so miles down the highway…a stretch of cotton fields, car lots, and bars. My father used to say there were more car lots in Paragould, AR (per capita) than any other place in the world…and probably more than half of them were stolen. At the time, Greene County AR was a dry county or didn’t sell alcohol on Sundays, so all the people came across the river into MO to drink and raise hell.

For those who are too young to have experienced a place like this, it was a smoke-filled dive that was filled with con-men, crooks, hustlers, convicted felons, soon-to-be felons, wannabe felons, drug pushers, drug addicts, whores, farmers, red necks, hippies, and every combination thereof…and what’s worse, most of them may happen to be the good people in the joint at the time. This place was owned by a fellow named Tommy Hyde, who had more dealings going on in this area than Bill Gates had in Microsoft, but I’d say Bill Gates was probably operating on the right side of the law.

It wasn’t uncommon to beat the “good ole boys” in the back playing pool, cards, or whatever…but it also wasn’t uncommon to get your ass whipped outside when you were trying to leave with the money. They didn’t take too kindly to someone coming onto their turf and leaving with all their cash. I’ve known of people intentionally losing their winnings back when the “heat got turned up” and they knew they weren’t going to be leaving in one piece.

I don’t know if anyone on AZB is familiar with this area of NE AR and SE MO back in the day, but it had its fair share of colorful characters who always made for interesting gambling experiences (whether you were betting with them or against them). Most of them are deceased or in jail now (from what I’ve heard).

Here are a select few that anybody coming through the area may have ran into in gambling circles.

Fat Archie Romero (deceased from what I’ve heard): Short (5’ 7” or so) but extremely overweight (about 350 pounds or more, if I had to guess) and always wore flashy clothes. Where he got them this big, I have no idea. Wore a medallion of some sort at times, and thinking back he reminds me of Rev Al Sharpton, he could talk more crap than Rev Al and faster when he was trying to talk up a game. Had a big stereotypical bandito-type moustache and had jet black hair. He played pretty strong bar table pool with the big cue ball, but I could never get him to play on regulation tables. He got froggy one time in Kennett, MO when I hadn’t been back to the mainland in years and happened to stop in a bar and he kept mouthing me to play 6-ball with him on his bar table. I hadn’t played in years and told him that he was too good for me, just to shut him up. Hearing that must have made him feel better, so he offered me the break. I didn’t need the break, I just liked watching him rack and putting all the quarters in the table while he b!tched the whole time and wiped sweat off his forehead. I annihilated him and got several hundreds of his dollars before he finally shut up. I don’t think he shot more than once or twice during the whole match.

Randall Woods (deceased from what I’ve heard): All-round gambler…played pool pretty good, played cards, dice, etc. Missing his little finger on his left bridge hand. I knew him for a long time, and beat him plenty of times playing pool, but would never bet him in anything else for fear of being put in the “middle” or a “trap”.

Joe Tucker (deceased from what I’ve heard): Father or uncle owned a lot of farm land from what I can remember. For a few years, Joe shacked up with this lady named Shirley who owned the Shiloh Lounge in Kennett, MO. It was a “private” club that charged “memberships” to get in. That was a racket that lots of the bars in SE MO and NE AR started doing in order to evade the drinking laws concerning opening and closing times and being open on Sundays. Even though I was only 16 or so (and the law for going into bars was 21), I could go here and any other bar in town. I used to frequent this place and win tons of money. Joe was a pretty good player on a bar table and he liked gambling at other things, but I would be hesitant to turn my back on him at anything other than pool.

Jimmy Duke (in prison still, from what I’ve heard…been there for YEARS on numerous occasions…busted on drug king-pin charges): Jimmy never played pool too good but he liked to play cards and back the rest of his running pals (mentioned above) in various activities. He somehow got into the “car business” in Paragould, AR (see above mentioning of car lots) and would have tons of money to lose on his boys.

“Little One” Jefferson Davis Chamberlain (deceased): “Lil Un” (as they pronounced it) was a WW II veteran who had gotten shot in the back with a machine gun in France during the war. He was a good player prior to the war and had to totally relearn how to shoot from a wheelchair when he recovered. He was a habitual gambler and was good at most things until he got into his pain pills and alcohol. When he was sober, he could hang with most of the local players and he would bet as high as you wanted to go. He got his military disability check on the 1st of each month and people would line up at the pool hall to try to get his money and he usually started out strong and then ended up busted when he got into his “medicines”. When I was around 15, I would be at the pool hall where I worked at 7 in the morning on his pay day to make sure I got some of his money before the rest of them did. I was one of the few who could beat him before he got into his “medicines” and we used to play every kind of pool imaginable. When he figured out he couldn’t beat me at 9-ball, we would progress to one-pocket or snooker and we would play for up to $100 a game, which was kind of high at that time, but the pool owner gave me “free hand” of the cash register. He would tell me to quit working whenever somebody wanted to play and grab whatever playing cash I needed out of the register. I remember once when I was playing him one-pocket for $100 and I had him up about 6 balls to 1 or 2. I played a soft safety and sent the cue ball to the short rail behind the spot and the cue ball stopped about 1/16 of an inch short of the rail. As soon as I shot, some railbird that nobody ever saw before was walking past the table on the way to the bathroom and hollered out, “he didn’t hit the rail, it’s a foul”. The game then went down to the last ball before I won. The owner of the pool hall and I were about the kill this dude for jumping into a game that he had no money in and with people he had never seen before. There were plenty of occasions where I would get $1,000 or so of his money on the 1st of each month.

Herman Trout: Owned a motel on Highway 25 in Holcomb, MO. Greasy spoon restaurant in the front with a bar table and anything goes in the back rooms, if you had the money. Cards, dice, whores…you name it…you could probably find it here. I never saw Herman doing any gambling of his own, but I’m sure he got a cut of everything that went on in that place. When I was 15 or so, I played some farmer’s hero named Jimbo Harris in this place. We started around 8 or so one night and didn’t finish until about 6 in the morning the next day and I had taken him for a couple thousand (including his backer’s money…not sure if Jimbo had that much cash of his own). I played at Trout’s Motel quite a few times and there was some good cash made every time I went. If you really got some time on your hands and want to know just how good a fellow Herman was, read the following link…it has some mention of his dealings and his motel.

http://www.crimemagazine.com/wake-riot?page=5

Sorry for making this so long, but I got into a flashback of times gone past. I don’t know if any of those old places still exist, but they were where I grew up learning pool for the cash. They are a far cry from what is now considered “seedy” pool joints by today’s standards. Just about any place today would be considered a “high class” operation compared to these places. I don’t know if they were good or bad for the image of pool, but I had a hell of a lot more fun playing in places that had a bit more “atmosphere” than they do today.

Aloha.

I was born and raised in Caruthersville and moved to Memphis in 74. I enjoyed the stories and would like to hear more. You are correct about the corruption in the bootheel area it was special to say the least.

 

[HawaiianEye]

J.D.Tyler would be "Jack Taylor" Bigfoot was a really fine talented player
That everyone called "Tall Jimmy" He beat everyone he played. I Remember he beat Richard Austin a few times but they broke even in South Haven Ms. He easily beat Mike Massey in Truman Ark. and again in Little Rock. A guy in Hayti Mo. named him bigfoot, the guy said he could walk across the river and not get his socks wet.
Those were the days.
Rod.
PS I hear Jack is still alive and living in Galveston Tx. He'd be 84 if I remember correctly.

I talked to Tommy Price yesterday and he owned the Sportsman's Club at the time I saw J. D. and he said his name was "Jack Taylor". If it is the same guy you are talking about I'd love to hear more stories about his playing days.

Aloha.

 

[itsfroze]

=============

 

[HawaiianEye]

Isn't Jack Taylor the brother of Alf Taylor, who wrote the Pool book "The Other Side of the Road" ?

Maybe the same guy. If Alf would put a picture of Jack from about 40 years ago on here, I could probably recognize if it was him.

Aloha.

 

[12squared]

Maybe the same guy. If Alf would put a picture of Jack from about 40 years ago on here, I could probably recognize if it was him.

Aloha.

Here's an older picture from Alf's book. Hope this helps.