Thought maybe we could all share a few memories about this colorful character. I crossed paths with Ronnie a few times in Los Angeles, but my Ronnie story took place at a tournament in Burlington, Iowa.....probably 1977 or 1978. It was my first big tournament experience, and I went up there to sweat, not play. The tournament was played at the convention center.....but, all the action was at the practice room set up in a hotel across the river. All the players I had read about, heard about were there. Rempe, Segal, Louie Roberts, Buddy Hall, Danny Jones, Jersey Red. I mean....everybody was there. Including a skinny young kid from California named Keith McCready. I was in pool heaven. I got to watch all these guys match up, and listen to all the back and forth between them. Keith was beating everybody......he was playing like a machine. The night after he beat James Christopher (giving James the 8) he was playing in a 10 ball ring game. I was sitting close to the table they were playing on......watching......when Ronnie Allen came to the table and said the hotel had complained about the money being passes back and forth. So, Ronnie took a chalk board that was in the corner, handed me the chalk.....and told me to have each player post 5 games and I keep score of it. When a player lost his 5 games, he would repost. So, I sat there watching Keith win thousands........keeping score and smoking Keith's cigarettes. When Ronnie walked away from the table I remember him saying to the players in the ring game," I would have busted you all by now, if I was in the game."