He was from Spring Valley or thereabouts- The other side of the Hudson.
There was a White Plains Charlie. He didnt possess one good quality that i ever saw and i saw him a lot. He had a $250/month room-a $650 pension and gave up the room, lived in shelters, street etc so he could blow the entire $650 on the first of every month at Yonkers Raceway.
Toby's poolroom, named Holli's (after his daughter), was in Nanuet, NY (right next to Spring Valley). He owned it with Vinnie Cass, another great guy and a strong player in his own right. It was a fantastic room to hang around ... lots of characters ... and the first room where I ever struck a ball.
In the 70s, Toby and Vinnie bought the place. Seeing Toby play was -- and is -- something special. The Accu-Stats match between Toby and Steve Mizerak gives a sense of how Toby plays, but I know that Ken and many others on this forum have seen Toby play at an unreal level, flawlessly. He was able to get tremendous action on the cue ball when he needed to. Often, he'd move the cue ball just enough to get here or there ... and with a delicate, precise touch, but if he needed to load it up, power the cue ball, and make it do something extraordinary, he could do that too. His stroke was such that, on most shots, the cue ball didn't seem to move very fast, but it kept going slowly, slowly, until it floated over to exactly the right place. Push-out was his game because it favored knowledge and judgment. He'd often say that with the time and effort he put into pool, he could've gone to med school and become a doctor.
Met Ken at Holli's back when we were both young! Toby motivated a lot of people to play. We all looked up to him, and still do. Beyond his pool ability, he has a great sense of humor and a lot of insight into life, people, and human nature. Toby is unique. He established his fashion sense in the late 60s and hasn't seen fit to change it. He was also a rarity because he was a pool player who knew how to manage his money. To the rest of the world, I may have been another teenage nobody, but when I walked into Holli's, Toby would say "Hey!" and call me by name. (Most other people, just got the "Hey!" Names were not Toby's strong point.)
Toby was always wise in the ways of the world. He didn't make bad games. If he knew he was supposed to win, he'd play on a tighter table so nothing was left to chance. For the same reason, he preferred to play 10 head rather than a race to 10. He was odds on to win, so the less luck the better.
Besides pool and his family, Toby enjoys painting and music. He's got lots of interests.
Thanks for this thread. George Fels has mentioned Toby in Billiards Digest several times, but not everyone seems to be as aware of Toby and how much respect he got from the top players.
Larry Moy
P.S. -- I knew White Plains Charlie too -- from Post Billiards, underneath the Post bowling alley in White Plains, and, after that, from Hi-Pockets, George Hadges' room. Once, at George's place, after missing, I complained that it was ridiculous that I could miss such an easy shot after playing pool more than 15 years. Charlie, who was pretty elderly at the time, was at the next table. He said -- "You know when you start to play really good? ... after 25 years!"
