The Weldon Rogers stories I promised to share...

I'll be there

I will indeed attend the DCC. It's not too early for getting in my ring game(s). Thanks much for all the positive responses to my Weldon tales.
 
Grady, with your knack for using the English language, I think a book full of your stories would be a really great read. Perhaps something is in the works? Keep 'em coming!
 
He has one

ugotactionTX said:
Grady, with your knack for using the English language, I think a book full of your stories would be a really great read. Perhaps something is in the works? Keep 'em coming!
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Did you not get a copy of his book? He had them at DCC a couple of years ago. You might ask if he has any more copie's?
 
I was 13 when my folks moved to Tucson in 1976, so I was too young to have seen Weldon play. I know a guy that is about 15 years older than me that went to school here in Tucson and also college. I will ask him about Weldon, I know he has already mentioned his name a few times. I'm sure he can tell me a few stories.
 
Grady said:
I will indeed attend the DCC. It's not too early for getting in my ring game(s). Thanks much for all the positive responses to my Weldon tales.
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That was a great read, Grady!! I enjoyed it very much!!!

Gary
 
I had forgot about this one. I went to Ft. Wayne for a Sat. tourney at the Gibson Girl, not long after Jr. moved there. Gary {Bushwacker} Nolan came thru town the week before. Jr had matched up with him playing races to 7 with Gar spotting him the wild 8. I don't recall how much the bet was, but probably $500 or $1000 sets. Anyway, Gary wins the flip and hit's Jr with a 6 pack the first set, and Jr comes right back at him with a 5 pack after Gary fails to make a ball on the break. Jr manages to win that set, and they battled for several sets. Before the night was over, Jr was spotting Gary the 8 and still got the money.
 
8ballchump said:
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Keep up the stories.....the youngen's don't quite "get it".....they do things so differently now and I think that might be part of what's wrong with pool these days - there simply isn't much fun in it these days.....

Tammie Jones
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Miss Jones, I couldn't agree more. When I was coming up we had a blast in every pool room we went to. Even when we booked losers we had a good time.
 
Weldon Rodgers

Great Musings as you call them Grady, I was playing mostly Bar action back in the late 60's and early 70's spending much time in AZ. Tucson, Phoenix and Flag. Had the honor of watching Weldon Rodgers play on a couple of occasions. Saw him take a guy off by offering to play him left handed. Junior plays left handed. LOL. Last I heard many years ago he had a room in Scotsdale ?? Remember Surgio Vargus or Wilfred from Grants, NM. Funny we didn't bump into each other. I pretty much stayed in orange county SOCAL. Humdingers, Daisy Mays, Playgirl. Once in a while would run up to Medford and stay upstairs with one of the sweety's in the bar right in the middle of town. Hung out in Eugene and played at the Golden Canary (The Dirty Bird) The action was unbelievable. Gave Jim leiberman ( Jungle jim from funny car fame) the 7 for $300 a game. he lost $3000 and then bought me dinner.LOL. Good luck finding Junior.
 
Junior Weldon Rogers

Grady said:
Weldon Rodgers and “Bakersfield Bob” were both from a small town in Arizona, Eloi I think. I don’t remember, for a goodly number of years, anybody beating any of us playing even up bar pool. Weldon and Bobby played great with the big rock while I did most of the small cue ball playing.
We ended up being around each other quite a bit in Woodward, Oklahoma, (pronounced with the second w silent). We all thought it was home to the best steak house in the world. We certainly tested it every night. There was a ton of action at the Hilltop Bar and Motel. Sixty miles away in Longdale resided Bill Duggan, a weak player who might arrest you and throw you in jail for not gambling. When Bill said “the store is open” that meant you could bet anything you wanted.
Players like “One Eyed Tony”, Andy O’Gean, and a host of other excellent players who’s names don’t come immediately to mind, frequented this great action spot. Ten miles south of Woodward, in Moreland, lived Verl Horn. Verl owned the local body shop and tow truck company and rolled out the red carpet for all visiting pool players. It wasn’t uncommon for him to give a gentleman such as myself a couple of thousand dollars and the use of a new Cadillac while I was in town. Later in life, Verl dabbled in cue making and did a pretty good job at that.
I knew Weldon and Bobby before the Woodward era. We had had a very good friend and a sure to be top player named Johnny Draine, from Tucson. Johnny sadly died in Vietnam in the service of his country.
After reflecting back about all the years in my pool playing life, I have to say Weldon (Those of us who were close to him, prefer to call him Junior.) was the greatest pool hustler who ever lived. To wit: 1... He started his trips with $10,000 or more; that’s $80,000 in today’s money. 2...He carried a thousand dollar bill in his hatband. 3...He tried to get a good game and he was a very fine game maker and then bet as much money as possible. 4...He was honest to a fault with those with whom he did business. 5...He raised his family properly and if you were Junior’s friend, you just couldn’t have a better guy in your corner.
I was asked what I meant by using the Weldon Rodgers school of gambling. When I had lost a game of Snooker for $300 and raised the bet to $1,000 a game, even though my opponent had run the entire table. In a famous match of Junior’s. He was with our mutual friend Will Willingham and playing Johnny Edwards in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The first set was an eight ahead and Johnny ran the whole set out. Instead of quitting, as many modern day greats would, Weldon and Will doubled the bet. Junior ended up getting the money.
One time in Woodward, I had “stalled” with Indian John, a shortstop player and gotten him to spot me the seven ball. It was a work of art on my part and Junior was in with it. I won $3,000 and was delighted with the effort. We had played in Longdale and we drove back to Woodward to our motel. As we were pulling into our parking space in front of our room, Weldon hollered at me, “There’s John. He’s still got $300 left. I’m gonna go get it.” “Junior,” I cautioned, “we’ve already got almost all the money. Why don’t you leave the poor guy alone?” But Weldon liked to get all the money, so he lost the entire $3,000 plus $1,500 of ours. Please don’t get the wrong idea. This was a rare exception. Weldon practically always got the money.
He was fast, actually winning two or three foot races when we were together. The most famous of which was against Eddie Bellmore, a smart guy who got crippled for life in Los Angeles when he got robbed and wouldn’t give up his watch. Weldon and I got shot at a couple of times and threatened with being tarred and feathered but we survived and enjoyed our times together greatly.
I’ve been conversing with Freddie the Beard and I’m going to put a little teaser out there for you interested readers. We’ve been threatening for years to put together a Top Ten Rogues’ List. I don’t know exactly when this will come about but we will get it done and I promise we really have some qualified candidates.

I’d like to thank the posters who remembered and appreciated the play of Johnny Drane.
Somebody made note of Weldon’s one handed talents, which reminds me of an interesting match. Weldon and I were in Denver where we had both bested a young Danny Medina on the bar table in a tough Mexican joint. Eddie “The Hat” Burton had insinuated himself into our company, not something we really wanted, so Danny got all his money back playing Eddie even up bar pool.
After some good natured matching up, Danny spotted Weldon the five and the break with Weldon having to shoot one handed. It was no contest. It actually looked almost as if Junior played as good as Danny. This isn’t meant to denigrate Danny’s game. He was very young and within a couple of years he played about as good a game of 9 Ball as anybody.
Dennis Porterfield, from a well to do family in Albuquerque, was good and tight with Weldon and me and oftentimes would accompany us on our expeditions. He’s a sharp guy who moves real well although his pool game was suspect. Dennis was the most straight guy I ever knew then, the most unlikely individual to ever drink, smoke, or take drugs. Then I found out that he found his way to Seattle where he had married a wonderful woman who took real good care of him and he’d quit the bad habits entirely. He still loved pool and it happened that he was getting some decent action in a local bar, but Dennis’ game had not improved. After about a three month period he found himself $10,000 loser. He discovered that I was going to be in town for an exhibition. He got my phone number, called me, and arranged for me to come out a couple of days early. “I don’t care about the money, Grady” he said, “I just want to see this guy beat. He’s really a creep”.
I do a really first rate job of “lemoning” this guy and after a couple of nights, I’m $4,000 winner. He doesn’t know that Dennis has anything to do with this play but he’s suspicious, even though I really laid it down good. When he had Dennis $10,000 stuck, everything was hunky dory, peaches and cream, laughs and giggles, etc. He didn’t like being stuck one little bit. His recourse was to contact the bunco squad. Like Dennis said, a real creep.
I made reference in my last post to a near being tarred and feathered incident. This took place in Lamar, Colorado, home of a man-made lake in Two Buttes reservation. I got slapped one night for telling a young lady that she had two beauts. We found a tavern in Lamar where the activity seemed lively and the place had a pool table and a bowling machine. After introducing ourselves, Dennis, Weldon, and I began trying to drum up some action. The owner of the place was present and he said “I’ll play any of you on this bowling machine”. We responded by offering him a pool game. He declined that offer and it looked like nothing was going to happen. Dennis called us off to the side and said “I can bowl pretty good on that machine. Why don’t we have either one of you guys play him 8 Ball while I bowl against him? I’ll win at least one game out of five on the machine, and you’ll have to hold him scoreless at pool”. So, that’s what we did and after we were about $500 winner, the owner said to the tough looking crowd in attendance “Didn’t we say we were going to tar and feather the next pool hustlers that came through town?” Another of Dennis’ talents emerged and he talked our way out of there, with the losers liking us and with us keeping the money.
One time in Cochrun’s, Weldon had come all the way to the west coast mostly to spend some time with me. As we were sitting at the counter, somebody eased up and snuck Weldon’s Balabushka out from between his legs. That really broke my heart, and his, because that was a much prized cue.
All this talking about my old friend has made me miss him more than usual but my old numbers for him are no longer good. If anybody has a good phone number for him please pass it on to me at grady101@sc.rr.com.

I hope you enjoyed these musings.
Grady
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The only gambling experience I had with Junior was in Indiana. I was partners with Vince "Pancho" Carelli, from Brooklyn,(a top candidate for the Rogues Gallery) and he tried to play Junior one-handed 1 pocket. I knew Junior was a top one-handed player but so was Pancho, plus in those days we stayed coked up and always craved action. We also knew that Junior's specialty was bar tables not 4 1/2 x 9's. Come to think of it, Junior and I had played once before in Oklahoma City. Eight ball on the bar table, and we broke even. Pancho got battered by Junior, and then I jumped in to play a two- handed game. Junior demanded a spot playing 1 pocket and I gave it to him on his tables, and he beat me too. We blew about $2500. He showed up at my joint in Chicago, the Billiard Cafe, about 3 or 4 months later. We played again with the same spot that I had lost at (8 to 7). He played one game for $100. I won it and he quit! Needless to say, you could have roasted chestnuts on my head, I was so hot. I couldn't understand that move, because I had always heard that Junior was a "straight ticket" -- someone that would play until he was broke.

One interesting sidelight to Grady's story that includes Fast Eddie Bellmore. It made sense that he wouldn't give up his watch in the stickup and wound up crippled. He was a very tough guy that loved to fight, and could usually whip people much larger than he. He also fancied himself very fast in a foot race, so it's no wonder he lost big running with Junior. When I visited Bellmore in LA in the early 70s he and another guy were running a wife-swappers club in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. They had 200 couples as members. It was a giant place, with no furniture, a jillion bedrooms and matresses laid out all over the place. Kinky as I was then, I could only manage two visits before the thrill wore off. Bellmore usually functioned as the Master of Ceremonies.

I always wanted to open a big time poolroom and have a special Rogues Hall of Fame section and ignore BCA people. The rogues were always my heroes anyway.

the Beard
 
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Grady said:
After reflecting back about all the years in my pool playing life, I have to say Weldon (Those of us who were close to him, prefer to call him Junior.) was the greatest pool hustler who ever lived. To wit: 1... He started his trips with $10,000 or more; that’s $80,000 in today’s money. 2...He carried a thousand dollar bill in his hatband. 3...He tried to get a good game and he was a very fine game maker and then bet as much money as possible. 4...He was honest to a fault with those with whom he did business. 5...He raised his family properly and if you were Junior’s friend, you just couldn’t have a better guy in your corner.

All this talking about my old friend has made me miss him more than usual but my old numbers for him are no longer good. If anybody has a good phone number for him please pass it on to me at grady101@sc.rr.com.

I hope you enjoyed these musings.
Grady
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I have his numbers Grady. I saw him recently. I don't give out numbers but will try to reach him for you.

Legend has it Junior once "moved" to a town 6 months to take down a big score. Now that's stalling! lol
 
freddy the beard said:
The only gambling experience I had with Junior was in Indiana. I was partners with Vince "Pancho" Carelli, from Brooklyn,(a top candidate for the Rogues Gallery) and he tried to play Junior one-handed 1 pocket. I knew Junior was a top one-handed player but so was Pancho, plus in those days we stayed coked up and always craved action. We also knew that Junior's specialty was bar tables not 4 1/2 x 9's. Come to think of it, Junior and I had played once before in Oklahoma City. Eight ball on the bar table, and we broke even. Pancho got battered by Junior, and then I jumped in to play a two- handed game. Junior demanded a spot playing 1 pocket and I gave it to him on his tables, and he beat me too. We blew about $2500. He showed up at my joint in Chicago, the Billiard Cafe, about 3 or 4 months later. We played again with the same spot that I had lost at (8 to 7). He played one game for $100. I won it and he quit! Needless to say, you could have roasted chestnuts on my head, I was so hot. I couldn't understand that move, because I had always heard that Junior was a "straight ticket" -- someone that would play until he was broke.

One interesting sidelight to Grady's story that includes Fast Eddie Bellmore. It made sense that he wouldn't give up his watch in the stickup and wound up crippled. He was a very tough guy that loved to fight, and could usually whip people much larger than he. He also fancied himself very fast in a foot race, so it's no wonder he lost big running with Junior. When I visited Bellmore in LA in the early 70s he and another guy were running a wife-swappers club in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. They had 200 couples as members. It was a giant place, with no furniture, a jillion bedrooms and matresses laid out all over the place. Kinky as I was then, I could only manage two visits before the thrill wore off. Bellmore usually functioned as the Master of Ceremonies.

I always wanted to open a big time poolroom and have a special Rogues Hall of Fame section and ignore BCA people. The rogues were always my heroes anyway.

the Beard
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Junior was fast and a very good athlete, he had a chance to play major league baseball.
 
GRADY - EARLY 70's

I'm pretty sure you've been everywhere-do you recall if you ever rolled thru Riverside/Corona California in the early 70's? I had just gotten out of the Army-and I seem to remember your name as visiting the area-maybe at THE LOUNGE (we called it the SHOOTING GALLERY for the once and a while shootings)

Either way-love your stories. Many of us folded and got jobs-you lived it.

Thanks

have your kicking and banking tape-good stuff!!

3railkick
 
Probably not

I lived in Houston 69' to 70', OKC 71' and 72', then Colo. Spgs. for 9 years. I did live in socal for a couple of years in the late 60's. During that period I played anyone on the bar box and don't remember losing.
 
Top Ten Rogue's List

The one guy who has been mentioned in this forum from time to time that has to rate up there with the "best" of the rogues is "Low Down Dirty, Stinkin' Red". I never got a chance to meet this scoundrel and I am the lesser for it. The stories told about this cunning rascal always made me smile.

I may have his name slightly askew but those that knew him will surely give Red his due. Right now, I am smiling thinking about Red, standing on a makeshift ladder, looking through the top window at the pool game taking place in which he had made a wager; waiting at a distance and discreet vantage point to see the outcome of the game in case he needed to make a quick exit to avoid having to pay.

JoeyA
 
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