Let me share to you my first hand encounter with Efren in 1978.
It was at he Coronado Bowling Lanes in Cubbao,Q.C. I was only 19 then and Efren was 24 or 25. He has no front teeth. Me and the gang were playing when we saw a money match had been arranged between the late Maning Ramos alias 'boy bicol", the country's no.2 player, against a toothless and unassuming guy who seems to perpetually smoke like a chimmey. There was "weight" or a spot given to one of the players. 50 & 70 as they call it in rotation. We knew boy bicol and his seemingly inhuman talent on the pool table but we were in for the surprise of our lives, if only for this unforgetable introduction to Efren Reyes. Our eyes widened when we saw it was boy bicol who was given the spot. And for good reason indeed. Our jaws literally dropped to the floor watching the great Efren 'bata" Reyes in his prime cleaning up the 15-ball rotation gane in just 3 or 4 minutes a game. I mean per game ! Efren was automatic. He was getting out rack after rack. He takes a couple of seconds on the first shot only and its mopping-up operations from then on. He was silent and deadly althroughout the game. His focus was extraordinary. Like he's in a trance, when in fact, he's in dead stroke from the onset. I cannot believe there's a living player on the planet who can play like that. Awesome is an understatement . He was a fast shooter when he was still "bata" in age.
In later years, I asked some of Efren's contemporaries on what separates Efren from the rest, and they say that he has eight or nine balls preparation in advance, as compared with the 4 ball sequence w/c was the norm for their already top level poll game. I am convinced that no player n in the world can contend with a prime Efren Reyes in 1978. He was that great...
