OldHasBeen
Tom Ferry
On the only real "Road Trip" Louie & I took was back in the '70's & we found ourselves dealing with Mr. Brier in Huntington, WV. (That is what I remember that we & everyone else called him).
I remember it being an old poolroom with a lot of seasoned players. I (being the shortstop) won about $200 playing 2 or 3 players. Louie started playing for $50 a game with a good player and won about $600.
The day was over and we told everyone we would return the next day.
THIS IS THE PART I REMEMBER THE BEST AND WAS MOST FOND OF.
Instead of finding a Motel for the night, someone told us about this old hotel/rooming house where we could stay for the night. It was ran by an old lady and we were told that breakfast was served at 7 am sharp, lunch at noon and dinner at 6:30 pm prompt. I felt I was talking to my Mother when we checked in. Naturally we missed breakfast but were just in time for lunch. I'll never forget the meal or the entire experience. There was a very long, old table that seated about 28. The food was served "Family Style" and we just sat down and ate. THIS WAS THE BEST HOMEMADE FOOD AND DINNER CONVERSATION I HAVE EVER HAD.
Back to pool.
When we returned to the poolroom, we met Mr. Brier for the first time. We were given the feeling that nothing was going to happen unless Mr. Brier approved it and was the money in it. He started running proposition games by Louie so fast Louie couldn't keep track of them. They ALL sounded great to Louie and he wanted to play something/anything.
Some of the propositions I had experienced or heard of from the likes of Earl Heisler, Cleo, Earl Schrieber, etc. But many were even new to me. I just knew that anything that Mr. Brier offered was not going to be good for us. At one time I had to pull Louie away and explain that we needed to stick together and not argue in front of this fellow because if he saw a breach in our partnership, he would exploit it to the max.
Now, I'm not throwing flowers at myself BUT I am sure that if Louie had been there by himself, he would have gone broke within 2 hours.
Mr. Brier got a little upset with me and even made this statement that I overheard - "If I could get that straight shooting punk away from that fat bastard for 5 minutes, I'd bust him".
After a while, I started to fire back some pretty good propositions of my own (thinking that the best defense was a good offense), But Mr. Brier wouldn't take anything from me either.
We never really got any more action there and Louie wanted to leave A.S.A.P.
Part (and most important) of our arrangement was that I hold and manage ALL money & games.
I TOLD LOUIE THAT WE WERN'T GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I GOT TO EAT BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER BACK AT THE ROOMING HOUSE THE NEXT DAY.
We did, and when we went back to the poolroom, Mr. Brier saw that nothing was going to happen so he was nice enough to give us a few really good spots. I remember sending him $500 via Western Union a couple of weeks later. This move paid off "In Spades" later on in a score I took off with Earl Schrieber just because he had heard of "The Jelly" I sent back to Mr. Brier.
MR. BRIER & THE ROOMING HOUSE FOOD WILL BE WITH ME ALWAYS.
TY & GL
I remember it being an old poolroom with a lot of seasoned players. I (being the shortstop) won about $200 playing 2 or 3 players. Louie started playing for $50 a game with a good player and won about $600.
The day was over and we told everyone we would return the next day.
THIS IS THE PART I REMEMBER THE BEST AND WAS MOST FOND OF.
Instead of finding a Motel for the night, someone told us about this old hotel/rooming house where we could stay for the night. It was ran by an old lady and we were told that breakfast was served at 7 am sharp, lunch at noon and dinner at 6:30 pm prompt. I felt I was talking to my Mother when we checked in. Naturally we missed breakfast but were just in time for lunch. I'll never forget the meal or the entire experience. There was a very long, old table that seated about 28. The food was served "Family Style" and we just sat down and ate. THIS WAS THE BEST HOMEMADE FOOD AND DINNER CONVERSATION I HAVE EVER HAD.
Back to pool.
When we returned to the poolroom, we met Mr. Brier for the first time. We were given the feeling that nothing was going to happen unless Mr. Brier approved it and was the money in it. He started running proposition games by Louie so fast Louie couldn't keep track of them. They ALL sounded great to Louie and he wanted to play something/anything.
Some of the propositions I had experienced or heard of from the likes of Earl Heisler, Cleo, Earl Schrieber, etc. But many were even new to me. I just knew that anything that Mr. Brier offered was not going to be good for us. At one time I had to pull Louie away and explain that we needed to stick together and not argue in front of this fellow because if he saw a breach in our partnership, he would exploit it to the max.
Now, I'm not throwing flowers at myself BUT I am sure that if Louie had been there by himself, he would have gone broke within 2 hours.
Mr. Brier got a little upset with me and even made this statement that I overheard - "If I could get that straight shooting punk away from that fat bastard for 5 minutes, I'd bust him".
After a while, I started to fire back some pretty good propositions of my own (thinking that the best defense was a good offense), But Mr. Brier wouldn't take anything from me either.
We never really got any more action there and Louie wanted to leave A.S.A.P.
Part (and most important) of our arrangement was that I hold and manage ALL money & games.
I TOLD LOUIE THAT WE WERN'T GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I GOT TO EAT BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER BACK AT THE ROOMING HOUSE THE NEXT DAY.
We did, and when we went back to the poolroom, Mr. Brier saw that nothing was going to happen so he was nice enough to give us a few really good spots. I remember sending him $500 via Western Union a couple of weeks later. This move paid off "In Spades" later on in a score I took off with Earl Schrieber just because he had heard of "The Jelly" I sent back to Mr. Brier.
MR. BRIER & THE ROOMING HOUSE FOOD WILL BE WITH ME ALWAYS.
TY & GL
