jay helfert said:Okay, another little Puckett story. We are all in Atlantic City for the first Legends Of Pool. All the old timers are there like U.J., Fats, Lassiter, Crane, Mosconi, Caras, Black Rags. The Straight Pool guys hang together and go to sleep early. There is some serious money to be won here, something like twenty five grand to the winner. I was there because Big Fights hired me to write all the bio/promo material for the TV guys to use.
But the old hustlers like U.J. and Fats stay up late hanging out in the bar, telling stories, drinking and just having a lot of laughs with all assembled. Fats and U.J. are having a blast. After all, the bill is on Big Fights, so they are going to party it up on their dime. The conversation gets around to the recent 60 Minutes show with Harry Reasoner, and U.J. tells everyone that he and Harry are buddies now, and he talks to him all the time. He said they even went fishing together, and hung out for a couple of days after the shoot.
A few in the crowd express doubt about this, since Harry Reasoner is a big TV star. U.J. says Hell, I've got his phone number right here. You want me to call him and talk to him right now. Now, it's after one in the morning, but U.J. is a little looped and feeling no pain. He has the bartender bring a phone to our booth and plug it in. No one is believing him now. So U.J. pulls out a piece of paper and calls the number in New York. He wakes Harry Reasoner ("Wake up Harry, it's U.J") from a dead sleep. But once on the phone they begin to gab.
U.J. puts his hand over the phone and says to us, "He's got a broad with him", and he cackles away. Now he hands the phone to Fats, telling Harry there's someone who wants to talk to him. Fats and Harry talk for like 15 minutes, laughing like hyenas. Then he hands the phone back to U.J. U.J. tells Harry to come on down and hang out with them. Now, I know this is crazy, Harry Reasoner is NOT going to come down to Atlantic City to hang out with a bunch of pool players.
The next day Harry is there! With his girlfriend, a young beauty. No one can believe that THE Harry Reasoner is here sweating the pool players. He hangs around all day watching Fats and U.J. play and then they hit the bar. Harry parties with the best of them, drinking and laughing just like one of the boys. U.J., Fats and Harry are like three little kids, telling jokes, laughing their asses off and drinking up a storm. I hung around and did my gopher thing for them until about 2 AM. Then I went to bed. No telling how long they stayed up. Probably till the wee hours. Harry was gone the nest day. U.J. said he had to go back to work.
Hey Jay -Make sure that gets in your book!
If you could get some juicier details on Reasoner, your book just might 'crossover' .
