I had my own name for Earl, "The Early Bird". Why, because he was always the first one to show up at the practice room every morning. In fact sometimes he would be at the ballroom door at 9AM waiting for me to open up.
My own favorite all time Earl line was delivered to me in the privacy of an elevator the night he ran eleven racks in Dallas to win the million. I asked him what was going through his head when he got finally got down on that long combination in the tenth game. He had to shoot the one up table into the nine, which was a good foot out from the corner pocket. He looked at me with his most serious face and replied, "I just wanted to give it a legitimate chance."
He did too, right into the pocket! Swish