Share some John Bear stories if could please

O

Oceanview

Registered
Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum. I am a Pool hall owner on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and I am Hosting A John Bear Memorial tournament.

I am looking for some of the players in Canada that has played with John or railed him during his snooker and later 9 ball days.

I am trying to put together a Memory board along with creating a DVD of some of John Bears matches.

If anyone has stories of John or footage I would really appreciate you sharing them, either on here or Private Message me.

For those of you that don't know John was one of the smoothest left handed players that ever played the game.
Jimmy Wych said "Great memories of John and he had the smoothest stroke I have ever seen to this very day. And you know I see the best in the world all the time now. John was a natural."

I currently have found some 9 ball footage of John playing the likes of, Alan "Frenchie" boutin, Gaston Leblanc, Bernie Mikkelson, and Tom Finstad.

Can't wait to hear some of your stories.

Reply With Quote
 
Unfortunately I was abit too young to actually see John play.

That said I would love to see the footage you have of John playing, especially the match against Bernie. Any chance it could be put into digital format and put on a torrent site or perhaps youtube?
 
Celtic said:
Unfortunately I was abit too young to actually see John play.

That said I would love to see the footage you have of John playing, especially the match against Bernie. Any chance it could be put into digital format and put on a torrent site or perhaps youtube?
Click to expand...

I would also like to see that match.
 
I will try putting that one up on youtube sometime after the tournament. Maybe also the Frenchie Vs John Bear final.
 
Oceanview said:
I will try putting that one up on youtube sometime after the tournament. Maybe also the Frenchie Vs John Bear final.
Click to expand...
I dont know who this John Baer is,but i like to know where abouts this poolhall is on Vancouver Island is so next time i take a vacation there,at lease log some good pool playin.
 
seether said:
I dont know who this John Baer is,but i like to know where abouts this poolhall is on Vancouver Island is so next time i take a vacation there,at lease log some good pool playin.
Click to expand...

Pool hall is in Campbell River Seether. Great place for a vacation.
 
I assume since there is a John Bear memorial that he has passed away. I was unaware of that and I am very sorry to hear about it. I knew John Bear a bit back in the 70's. I watched him for hours playing and practising. I have seen him run many perfect 147. I watched him play guys spotting them 80 - 100 points in snooker and those guys had no chance. He was a lefty with a smooth and beautiful stroke and who looked like he was born with a pool queue in his hand. It all looked so easy and natural. I have seen him play against Cliff Thorburn and Bill Werbenuik. He was a regular at Seymour billiards. I once watched him for 3-4 hours and after watching him make ball after ball I went and played some snooker with a friend and ran over 80 points still the most I have ever run. Just watching so many balls going in and seeing John make all the incredible runs( usually very easy runs because of his position and control) that I just didn't think I could miss. Unfortunately the feeling didn't last long.

Again sorry to hear about John. He was a great player and I knew him as a good guy.
 
Thanks for sharing your story Buddy!

Here is a question I asked Cliff Thorburn last year when he was at the Cruciable for the world snooker championships, when he had a online Q&A period marking his 25th anniversary of his 147.

Last year my favorite pool player ever passed away, his name was John Bear, a person Cliff was very familiar with. I was wondering if Cliff could share a story about John. He was the smoothest left handed player I have ever seen and he is greatly missed here in Campbell River.

Joe Orel

Cliff says: John was the first person to beat me for all my money, and give me my bus fair home. He was a wonderfully smooth player, comparable to John Spencer. His brother Jimmy Bear got to the final of the World Amateur in 1991 in Calgary. If John had Jimmy’s heart, he could have been invincible. Those two were among the best brothers’ doubles teams ever - up there with Joe and Fred Davis.
 
I agree with what Cliff says. Jimmy was a very good player and a great competitor. Not as smooth as John but if the money was on the line Jimmy might be the one you would want to have your money on. But John was very smooth, a pool stroke similar to what Ernie Els or Fred Couples have in golf. I have never seen anything liek it even watching a lot of snooker on TV. He did everything so naturally it was amazing. I did watch Ronnie O'Sullivan though the other day alternating left and right shots in the middle of a game and he looked equally adept both sides, amazing also.
Shame to hear about John thoughhe was a good guy. Hope Jimmy is doing well.
 
Oceanview said:
I will try putting that one up on youtube sometime after the tournament. Maybe also the Frenchie Vs John Bear final.
Click to expand...

I wonder, did this stuff ever get onto the net? Would still love to see it, footage of Bernie playing back in the day is rare.
 
Hey Celtic, I totally forgot about this. I will put some footage of John Playing Frenchie and John playing Bernie on youtube in the next couple of days. Thanks for reminding me.
 
John Bear stories...

I first saw John Bear play snooker 25-30 years ago at the Central Canadian Pro/ Am Snooker Championship here in Winnipeg.The Central was as Jimmy Wych said "The premier snooker championship in Canada" at the time. John would come to Winnipeg every year for the Central and later the Mid-Canadian at the old Crystal Palace. To this day I rate John as one of my all time favorite players to watch. He was very smooth and didn't take a long time to line up his shots. I just loved the way he would play to the crowd while he was running the balls! He was a showman! Although he never won the Central or The Mid-Canadian he was a semi-finalist and a finalist on a few ocasions.I also spent time in Vancouver over the years and watched him play at Seymour Billiards. I lived in Seattle,WA in 1987 and I remember hanging out at the old 211 Club one day and in walked John and his backer from Vancouver. They ended up getting some 9 ball action with a local player named Joe Chun. Joe, who was one of Seattle's best players, gave John the 8 and John beat him easily. Another time in Winnipeg John was in town for a 9-ball tournament and he got into some action with a good player from Minneapolis, MN again John won easily. John really was one of a kind and the Canadian pool scene for sure is a lot less colorfull without him around.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for sharing that story Winnipeg kid, appreciate it. Hope some more people can share so I can post stories at the tournament this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top