The Stars Do Play
- Thread starter AnitoKid
- Start date
Dean Martin (and several other celebs) had custom made Ginacues.
Fred Astaire was a 100 ball runner!
Fred Astaire was a 100 ball runner!
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David Howard traveled with the Rolling Stones on a concert tour, along with a pool table that got shipped from venue to venue.
While its Bob Byrne and John Grissim on the cover of BILLIARDS: Hustlers and Heroes, Legends and Lies, and the Search for Higher Truth on the Green Felt , the back drop of the photo is the pool room at the Jefferson Airplane house. I dont know why, I just always thought it was cool that Bob hung out there at least once. :thumbup:
CJ Wiley once posted in this forum that his best students were golfers, carpenters, scientists, and dancers. ( I may have forgotten 1 or 2 other professions. I'm sure he listed those 4 though.)
It's well known that many pool players are also golfers....and visa versa. Carpenters swing hammers and hit nails with a touch somewhat similar to the touch pool players posess and employ while hitting cue balls with cue sticks. Scientists?......deflection, swerve, throw, etc., etc., etc.
So what's the story with Fred Astaire? I just learned from you that he was a hundred ball runner. My theory is that SOME pool player's makeup is similar to that of a vaudeville type entertainer. In fact, most of Mosconi's extended family members were vaudeville entertainers.
SOME ( but not all) pool players, jugglers, plate spinners, dancers, fiddle players, etc., etc., etc. They're all drawing their talent from cups dipped in the same well......just watch Florian do his thing!
I couldn't tell you why Astaire was so good, but he was. Check out his bridge in the photo. The other very good players who were well known for their other endeavors were Leo Durocher, who was a top hustler around New York before choosing baseball as his full time pursuit. Former Dodger manager Walter Alston was also a damn good Straight Pool player, probably in the same league with Astaire.
There were a couple of pro golfers who also excelled at Pool, but I can't remember which ones at the moment. Bo Belinsky was a decent player, just good enough to get hustled. He and Dean Chance got taken off good in L.A. a couple of times. I never heard of any other celebrities who played like the first three I mentioned.
Like many dancers, Fred had perfect body balance & control as well as excellent body/arm/hand coordination, I think those would be huge assets in pool......He also seemed like a smart guy....
I believe W.C. Fields was a way-above-average player.
Also someone I know quite well and have for many years, Augustino LoPrinzi, a world-famous guitar-maker, plays jam up and jelly tight. He's in his 70s now and mostly retired but when he was young, he was a 100 ball runner as well. And played all games pretty sporty. He used to come in the room pretty regularly but hasn't in years, now.
Dio had a nice table
https://youtu.be/IKibsVQBhpQ
https://youtu.be/IKibsVQBhpQ
Id be really suprised to learn that joe rogan was a straight pool player
He's very close friends with Max Eberle, who is a STRONG 14.1 player so it wouldn't really surprise me if Rogan took up 14.1.
James Coburn and Joe Rogan? :smile:
The worst golf and pool playing celeb has got to Charles Barkley.
He had the best excuse for sucking at pool though after Jordan kept spanking in both sports. He said pool is not a sport.