In 2002 or 2003 (I forget), Keith McCready came to Norfolk to compete in a pool tournament at Q-Masters. It was one of the first few pool tournaments I went to with Keith. Here's a copy and paste:
One of my favorite tournament matches occurred at Q-Masters in Norfolk, VA. I think it was around 2001-2002 era, subject to check. It was the Q-Masters Spring Open, or some name like that, and one of my first so-called "pro" tournaments. I didn't know many of the pros back then, like I do today, but I did, however, know all my Virginia homeboys, who were there in full force. So I did have some pool friends to hang on the rail with while sweating the matches.
Keith was on fire, running racks, making shots that I couldn't even imagine. In fact, he managed to stay on the winner's side of the charts the entire tournament, never losing a match.
One set, however, was close against a big man named Ron Park. It came down to the infamous hill-hill. Ron was running out and only had the 7, 8, and 9 left. Piece of cake for Ron, I thought. After he pocketed the 7, I turned to my Virginia buddy, Billy Stephen, and said, "Well, I guess we lost," as Ron's cueball rolled all the way up table and rested on the rail. The 8-rock was also on the same rail about 4 inches in front of it, what looked to me like a straight-in duck shot.
Billy shocked me when he said, "Not necessarily, Jennie. This is *not* an easy shot." I thinking, what, are you kidding me? It's a straight-in shot; the 8-ball is 10 inches from the pocket, with the cue-ball right behind it. Well, Ron fired at the 8, trying to get position on the 9, which was at the opposite end of the table, and he missed. OMG, he missed!
I looked at Billy in disbelief and said, "How did you know that?" Keith ran out, of course, putting Ron in third place. The finals came down to Keith versus Michael Coltrain. Now, Keith had already defeated Michael earlier in the tourney, knocking him in the losers bracket. I figured even if Keith lost this match, he'd get another chance. WRONG! This was my first experience of an extended race at the end in a double-elimination format, and Michael Coltrain won the event. Keith never got to lose a match like everybody else in the tournament did. I didn't like this double-elimination format one bit.
Well, the next best thing to first place is second place, and we pocketed a couple or more dimes which covered our weekend expenses. After the tournament, a celebration was on. Everybody was partying, enjoying the the atmosphere with all these great pool players in the joint. Close to midnight, however, the place began to dwindle. I wanted to leave and begin the 3-hour trek back home to D.C., but not Keith. Oh, no! Sam Monday from North Carolina was there and barking at Keith to give him some weight and bet something.
Keith's nostrils were wide open. Sam had all the North Carolina Boys as his backers committee to play Keith for three dimes in his pocket. Sam was getting the wild 8-ball in 9-ball for a 12-ahead set. I had no idea how long an ahead set could take back then. I had all the second-place tournament winnings in my purse, and Keith came to me with his hand out, wanting me to give him 3,000 beans to play Sam Monday. I knew if I did, we'd be stuck for the trip, but what the heck, why not, I thought, not realizing I'd be there until daybreak in a 12-ahead match. Michael Coltrain was on Sam's backers committee. Everybody liked Sam to win this match, and he had a cheerleader squad on the rail. Keith had only me rooting him in.
Long story short, Sam had Keith 11 games stuck, and I had accepted defeat in my mind. And then, like a burst of lightning in the jug, Keith found a second gear and ran out and ran out and ran out and that 11-game lead went the other direction within less than a hour, with Keith winning all the dough, 12 games ahead of Sam. I've never seen anything like it since, the way the tides changed so quickly. He gave Sam a walking stick in the bathroom for giving him action, and we drove back home at daylight, during the Monday morning rush hour. Mike might have won the tournament, but we came home with most of the cheese-nips.
Here is a photo I took a few years later of Sam at the 2004 Carolinas Open with Keith, Sam Monday, Laura Turrone, and Rodney Strickland (no relation to Earl).
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