Russ Chewning said:
I saw Johnny play many times when he was a teenager. He was coming around the tournaments when he was 17 or so. We knew he would be a good one. It was just a matter of time. He took on Cornbread at Banks in Michigan in about 1988 at the McDermott Masters. Johnny was 19 then I believe. Red finally got him but it was a battle.
Everyone admired Johnny for stepping up against top players. He just kept getting better and better. His goal was to win tournaments like Earl (his idol). You may not know this, but Johnny finished second like six times before he won a tournament. He was 22 I think when he finally won one. And he never looked back after that.
I went thru Washington State twice in the 70's and never saw Harry Platis. He was not high profile yet. Dan Louie was the king up there, and Mike Zimmerman was playing real good. Rich Geiler was another tough one. I loved all the 8' bar tables, right up my alley. I must have played in two dozen bars from Seattle to Portland, and never lost. Of course, I never played higher than $10 Eight Ball and a few $50 sets.
Once again, a $100 win was a real good day back then. For me it was money in the bank. In those days, I had money when a lot of famous (high profile) players were constantly broke. If I told you the names of players I loaned money too, you wouldn't believe me. Usually the bite was for $5 or $10.
I finally played Harry 9-Ball at the Caesar's Palace Billiard Classic in 1984. I was the TD and he was an entrant. He asked me to practice with him. I told him he couldn't beat me, but he insisted on "practicing" for $25 a game. $400 later and the practice session was over. After that he woofed at me to play One Pocket for 1K a game. Again I told him he couldn't win. In truth it was too rich for my blood. But in 1988, when we staged the Ronnie Allen - Danny D. One Pocket match in Phoenix, Harry showed up.
I had made some money from the sale of a house and was quite flush. I brought about 6k with me, just for Harry. The first night we matched up for 1K per game. I was nervous but confident. I lost the first game, but won the next seven in a row. And I got to play him again the next night (good for four more). We played once more for 500 a game a year or so later. And I won a few more games. After that, we decided to refrain from playing each other and just be friends. I would coach Harry in making games (matching up) with other players.
He did ask me to "practice" with him once in Reno, when I was TD at the Sands. This practice session was for 200 a game and I made another thou. More recently, Harry got even with me, beating me a thousand dollar set of One Pocket and did the same thing in Banks at Derby City three years ago. It went down to the last ball, and I banked one cross side that hit both points. Damn Diamonds.
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I grew up in Austin and I went to one of those tournies as a kid with my older brother at The Villa Capri. The local Austin hot spot ya'll went to was probably Moyer's aka Austin Cue Club on Airport if it was a 24 hour joint. Used to be a bit of action up north at a place called Side Pocket back then too but it was mostly a kids place.
