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Tell me about Jay Swanson
- Thread starter Matt_24
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Jay Swanson was my best friend. I grew up with him from 1968 on. He was my mentor too. Other than his lifelong friend from childhood and school, Amondo Gomez, I would know as much about him as anyone on the planet. We spent nearly every day around each other from 1969 to 1991, when I had to relocate to Los Angeles for my career. From 1969 to 1975 we prowled many poolrooms and bars in southern California together. He lived with me and my ex-wife from 1986 to 1989 or so. Swanee was a special human being whom I'll never ever forget. Thoughtful, kind, and honest, he was a true friend who was always there if you needed him. He had a hard life but a soft heart.
I wrote the 1984 feature in Billiards Digest on him under a pseudonym because I was insecure about my writing at the time. I wish I had used my real name in retrospect as I went on to write many articles on many pros for BD, such as Keith McCready and Ronnie Allen to name a couple, except that the rest were all written under my real name. I find it sadly ironic that my name is not at the top of the first major article ever written for a major magazine on my best friend. I cherish the memories of many fantastic adventures with, The Swan. He got me up to speed quickly in the game of life ... and the game of pool.
Our favorite spot however was not in a poolroom. It was at lifeguard tower number 4, at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. Many happy days were spent there catching waves and frisbees. After his cremation his remains were placed in the sea at that very place. I still go there, when I can, to visit with my friend. I miss him terribly still.
Greg Sherrow
I wrote the 1984 feature in Billiards Digest on him under a pseudonym because I was insecure about my writing at the time. I wish I had used my real name in retrospect as I went on to write many articles on many pros for BD, such as Keith McCready and Ronnie Allen to name a couple, except that the rest were all written under my real name. I find it sadly ironic that my name is not at the top of the first major article ever written for a major magazine on my best friend. I cherish the memories of many fantastic adventures with, The Swan. He got me up to speed quickly in the game of life ... and the game of pool.
Our favorite spot however was not in a poolroom. It was at lifeguard tower number 4, at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. Many happy days were spent there catching waves and frisbees. After his cremation his remains were placed in the sea at that very place. I still go there, when I can, to visit with my friend. I miss him terribly still.
Greg Sherrow
8noutagain said:
Great post, Greg! I hope you will take some time to document your memories of Jay - I would definitely buy one or two or 3 -
or you can get with JAM - she types about 4 million words a minute - you can dictate as she types - if you two cooperate, you could get the book done in a bout 45 minutes. lol
Greg, I was working at a billiards supply in Orange County at the time your article was released and I still remember the cover with Jay's picture on it.
What a great article! I didn't know Jay that well, but the article revealed the different side you speak of that was a good, honest human being, and who's passion in life didn't always (necessarily) revolve around pool.
People who have asked me about Jay in the past usually get a reply something like "A great player who loved the beach at Torrey Pines".
I remember attending a match at the Billiard Tavern, I think the name was, where Jay was playing Keith best two out of three race to 11 for a few thousand dollars.
Jay played just about flawless thru the whole match and won the final, deciding set 11 to 8 or so.
Jay missed a long straight in during the second set that prompted Keith to say "you're entitled to miss a ball now and then."
What a great article! I didn't know Jay that well, but the article revealed the different side you speak of that was a good, honest human being, and who's passion in life didn't always (necessarily) revolve around pool.
People who have asked me about Jay in the past usually get a reply something like "A great player who loved the beach at Torrey Pines".
I remember attending a match at the Billiard Tavern, I think the name was, where Jay was playing Keith best two out of three race to 11 for a few thousand dollars.
Jay played just about flawless thru the whole match and won the final, deciding set 11 to 8 or so.
Jay missed a long straight in during the second set that prompted Keith to say "you're entitled to miss a ball now and then."
jay was my family i met him a few times when i was a kid then i never seen or spoke with him again thank for the post. i'm a poolplayer my self and trying learn more about him .i love hereing the stories from the past. thank you guys
8ballEinstein said:
You're talking about "Philly" Joe Veasey, a very good road man at the time. Just the kind that Swanee specialized in busting.
Joe ended up in Atlantic City, a pit boss.
Actually, it was Joe Fay. The bar was Shooters in Mission Viejo. And the friend was Neal.jay helfert said:You're talking about "Philly" Joe Veasey, a very good road man at the time. Just the kind that Swanee specialized in busting.
Joe ended up in Atlantic City, a pit boss.
I'm sure Swanny thought he hit the jackpot when he ran into a hot-dog like Joe. Not knocking Joe at all. He and I hung out a few times. Joe could play and had all kinds of confidence in his game but was a target for many of the top SoCal players.
Great topic
Great topic Matt_24! I just finished reading through this thread and enjoyed learning about Jay. Thank you all for sharing. It sounds like Jay was a real special guy.
Greg-- your post was very heart-warming. Thank you for sharing.
Sincerely,
Abe
Great topic Matt_24! I just finished reading through this thread and enjoyed learning about Jay. Thank you all for sharing. It sounds like Jay was a real special guy.
8noutagain said:
Greg-- your post was very heart-warming. Thank you for sharing.
Sincerely,
Abe
what about the pinoys
after reading about how well swanee played for beaucoup bucks, i'd like to hear some stories of his encounters (if any) with the Filipinos who came to the U.S. in the 80's and raped everyone.
after reading about how well swanee played for beaucoup bucks, i'd like to hear some stories of his encounters (if any) with the Filipinos who came to the U.S. in the 80's and raped everyone.
I worked at that taco joint when I was a teenager (mid to late 80's). Tito's Tacos. As a matter of fact, I ate there today. Right across from Bob's Billiards. That was when I first heard of the legendary Keith McCready. I've been a fan of his ever since.
Mataya was a great money player who would woof at anyone to play. But if Swanee was around he was quiet as a mouse.
I cant imagine Mataya quiet....
Ken
Swanny Research
Wow!
This is great info on the late Jay Swanson. I've just done a great deal of homework from this thread, alone. I sure wish I could have met the man.
I've been watching the Heavyweight Billiards Video from the 80's with Jay and Johnny Archer playing together. Jay's stroke reminds me of only one other person, who looked completely different. He was a small, black guy who was simply known as "Shorty" from Hollywood Billiards in Los Angeles. He played a mean game of One-Pocket, and I was lucky to learn a lot from him about the fundamentals of pool and a bit of strategy.
The last I saw Shorty was in 2006. He looked very old, had suffered a stroke, but still played pool and was actually looking for a game. Sure enough, there was that slow, smooth stroke that I remembered so well.
If I ever run into Shorty again, I'll be sure and ask him if he knew the Swan.
Daniel Busch
Jay Swanson Group Page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_201516706527230&ap=1
Wow!
This is great info on the late Jay Swanson. I've just done a great deal of homework from this thread, alone. I sure wish I could have met the man.
I've been watching the Heavyweight Billiards Video from the 80's with Jay and Johnny Archer playing together. Jay's stroke reminds me of only one other person, who looked completely different. He was a small, black guy who was simply known as "Shorty" from Hollywood Billiards in Los Angeles. He played a mean game of One-Pocket, and I was lucky to learn a lot from him about the fundamentals of pool and a bit of strategy.
The last I saw Shorty was in 2006. He looked very old, had suffered a stroke, but still played pool and was actually looking for a game. Sure enough, there was that slow, smooth stroke that I remembered so well.
If I ever run into Shorty again, I'll be sure and ask him if he knew the Swan.
Daniel Busch
Jay Swanson Group Page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_201516706527230&ap=1
Jay Swanson "Swanee"
I met Jay Swanson back in 1979 at College Billiards in San Diego. He was giving lessons there. Swanee taught me in one lesson more than I have learned in my adult life and I am now 63. What he taught me stayed with me and has made me the player that I am today.
I went to Swanee because I needed help with my draw shot. I was terrible at it and could not figure it out. He taught me that it is about your stroke and with every stroke a good follow through. Something that I have not seen another pro teach is very important in a strong draw stroke is first chalking your cue, a good stance, proper bridge for a draw stroke, a good follow through and one thing more, after every draw shot you should have left a chalk mark 6 to 8 inches beyond where the cue ball was.
I went back to take a few more lessons from him and my draw stroke became stronger and stronger. With the object ball almost in the pocket and the cue ball 2/3 the length of the table or more I could draw the cue ball consistently the length of the table.
Later I ran into Swanee in 9 Ball games in Leucadia Ca. I was lucky enough to get into many of those games and my skill level florished. That is something that I will never forget, actually playing money games against Swanee. There were always 4 or more in a game. I never did get a chance to play Jay one on one.
One thing that I will always remember is that he was a true gentlemen and one person that I will never forget.
I met Jay Swanson back in 1979 at College Billiards in San Diego. He was giving lessons there. Swanee taught me in one lesson more than I have learned in my adult life and I am now 63. What he taught me stayed with me and has made me the player that I am today.
I went to Swanee because I needed help with my draw shot. I was terrible at it and could not figure it out. He taught me that it is about your stroke and with every stroke a good follow through. Something that I have not seen another pro teach is very important in a strong draw stroke is first chalking your cue, a good stance, proper bridge for a draw stroke, a good follow through and one thing more, after every draw shot you should have left a chalk mark 6 to 8 inches beyond where the cue ball was.
I went back to take a few more lessons from him and my draw stroke became stronger and stronger. With the object ball almost in the pocket and the cue ball 2/3 the length of the table or more I could draw the cue ball consistently the length of the table.
Later I ran into Swanee in 9 Ball games in Leucadia Ca. I was lucky enough to get into many of those games and my skill level florished. That is something that I will never forget, actually playing money games against Swanee. There were always 4 or more in a game. I never did get a chance to play Jay one on one.
One thing that I will always remember is that he was a true gentlemen and one person that I will never forget.
Jay back in 1980
This is back when the 1st and last San Francisco Open 1980 was in full blast.
After hours a group of us got hungry. Hawaiian Howard and Kathy Miao suggested a place in SF Chinatown. So I had Jay, Mark Wilson and my friend Kenny in my car. Following us was Hawaiian Howard, Kathy Miao and a few others. We got out of my car and was waiting on the street corner. It was 3am in the morning when a police car stopped, rolled down the window.
The officer turned to his partner and said "look what we have here, dont you guys know that there is a gang war going on here and you obviously don't belong here". Jay said dont worry we wont hurt anybody. I started to laugh but the police didn't see the humor. Mark Wilson was just a skinny white kid and looked totally scared.
Meet up with Kathy and she escorted us to this after hours restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. It was downstairs and all of us we walking down into the packed restaurant. The place went quiet, everyone stared at Jay and Mark. Jay smiled and the restaurant went back to its normal noise. Jay was a gentle giant. Loved to watch his demeanor when he played. Calm, relaxed and focused.
This is back when the 1st and last San Francisco Open 1980 was in full blast.
After hours a group of us got hungry. Hawaiian Howard and Kathy Miao suggested a place in SF Chinatown. So I had Jay, Mark Wilson and my friend Kenny in my car. Following us was Hawaiian Howard, Kathy Miao and a few others. We got out of my car and was waiting on the street corner. It was 3am in the morning when a police car stopped, rolled down the window.
The officer turned to his partner and said "look what we have here, dont you guys know that there is a gang war going on here and you obviously don't belong here". Jay said dont worry we wont hurt anybody. I started to laugh but the police didn't see the humor. Mark Wilson was just a skinny white kid and looked totally scared.
Meet up with Kathy and she escorted us to this after hours restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. It was downstairs and all of us we walking down into the packed restaurant. The place went quiet, everyone stared at Jay and Mark. Jay smiled and the restaurant went back to its normal noise. Jay was a gentle giant. Loved to watch his demeanor when he played. Calm, relaxed and focused.
The first time i ran into Swannie was in a bar called the Hanger in Dallas tx in the early 70s. It had two bar tables and 3 shuffleboard tables . A working class bar next to Dallas Love field airport ...And pay day Friday the Patrons loved to gamble at pool and shuffleboard ...Playing all comers for what ever they wanted was this very big man that played the game and moved so smooth i took notice !Then i looked up and saw who he was with ...None other than the BEST SUFFLEBOARD Player in the world , Billy Mays ....Lucky for me i stayed out of there way LOL...Two days later there was Swannie playing some of the best pool players in Dallas at Times Square pool room ...The big guy made it look so easy as he ran out over and over and over ....
swanee
i was a fixture at college billiards from the mid 70`s to the mid 90`s & was a good friend of swanee`s, everything said about him in this thread was true, they say the good die young & this was no exception, back then there was plenty of action at college billiards, you could go in there any nite of the week & there`d be several action games going on with side action too. keith would come down quite a bit, ronnie allen came in with richie florence, ron rosas would come regularly, cowboy jimmy moore would come to town & play max olds one pocket 9-8 & it was a tough game for jimmy, max played strong!!, there was also a strong player by the name of terry dapper that had money & would play any body that came to town, those were pools good old days, long gone to tournaments, now you cant find a $20 nine ball game, oh well, I'm glad i can say i was part of it & that i was friends with swanee
brian
i was a fixture at college billiards from the mid 70`s to the mid 90`s & was a good friend of swanee`s, everything said about him in this thread was true, they say the good die young & this was no exception, back then there was plenty of action at college billiards, you could go in there any nite of the week & there`d be several action games going on with side action too. keith would come down quite a bit, ronnie allen came in with richie florence, ron rosas would come regularly, cowboy jimmy moore would come to town & play max olds one pocket 9-8 & it was a tough game for jimmy, max played strong!!, there was also a strong player by the name of terry dapper that had money & would play any body that came to town, those were pools good old days, long gone to tournaments, now you cant find a $20 nine ball game, oh well, I'm glad i can say i was part of it & that i was friends with swanee
brian