The Rack in Detroit

[boogieman]

This has to be one of the best threads ever published on AZB. Highly recommended for new members! The locations , the colorful nicknames, the gripping tales of huge scores (and devastating losses) all coalesce to paint a vivid, technicolor image of one of pool's wildest bygone eras.

Heck even the AZB posters fortunate enough to have lived in that world are an invaluable resource! Toupee Jay, Wincardona, Steve Molako, CJ Wiley, JAM...these folks have experienced a little known part of a life worthy of a Hollywood manuscript. Such a shame that others such as Freddie the Beard are no longer with us to share more of these stories.

For those who often bemoan the "seedy" side of pool and how it holds back the modern game...you may be right. But how much more interesting and exciting is it to read about Cornbread beating someone for the cash using a broomstick? Reading about Cornbread, Freddy the Beard, Ronnie Allen, etc. is just as exciting as was reading about pirates or cowboys when I was a youngster.

Great stuff. At least we have the action room stories at Derby City to pay homage to these colorful characters!

Thanks for bringing it to attention! This is gonna be a great read!

 

[Flakeandrun]

This thread is amazing! What a read with my morning coffee.

 

[1sttbone]

if you want good stories about the "rack' bebob would be the man to talk to!

 

[FSutton]

I was just rereading this classic thread, and I can’t believe that they’re still isn’t the book about this place and all the stories truly the greatest action spot that ever existed and ever will

 

[poolandpokerman]

Read this thread for the 4th time this morning, great to read about all the people at the Rack. I remember Jerry "Bulldog" Howard, went to his funeral in Grosse Point around 2007. All the old guys who were still alive were there, Jerry was a gambler, he could bowl and play pool, would bet on anything. Just before he passed away, he must of been 87 or 88 he beat a guy a guy called " The Clown" out of $3300 playing snooker. He was fun to be around, used to tell a lot of stories.