Unknown "monster" players

As mentioned earlier, Smokey B. could hit em pretty damn good. Sammy Soto from southern Illinois was a tough customer on the little table as was a guy called "Blind Larry" from northwest Indiana. There was also a day when Al Jones took on most roadies at the Mortage Inn in Chesterton, In. Back in the 70's, a gentleman called "Tennessee", George Cole booked a ton of winners coming through the Chalk and Cue in Joliet, IL. Mike Bandy played just a little bit as well out of that area.
 
jjollie said:
Has anyone ever heard of Bill Lawson? He was an older gentleman that traveled some with Wade Crane (Billy Johnson) around the 80s. Humor had it that he played better than Wade.

I grew up around Joe Root. He was not a world beater (even though he was the best in our town) but more of a gambler. He once had a cue that I wanted to buy, but he was going to a tournament in Sanford NC at the time. He took about two grand with him and drove to Sanford in his Honda.
A couple of days went by and he called me from Sanford asking did I still want the cue. Of course I did and he wanted me to wire him the money for the cue so he could get a bus ticket back home. Go figure...lost it all !!! But Joe was a hell'va basketball player !!!

"Fat" Harold Dollar was a hellva player back then. Oh, and he lived in Sanford...lol.
Good call on the "Fat Harold." Once he started sweatin', you might as well have a seat.

Another one. Bobby McKowan, from VA.Beach.
 
Crawfish,
I see you live in Raleigh. I live in Greenville. Do you recall how Mike Cone played? I knew him,but never knew his game.

Jim Faircloth hits em' pretty sportly also.
 
I once witnessed Joe Root lose 5 large to Wade Crane. After the match, I asked Joe why in hell did you play him (he knew he could not beat him) and he replied' "I just wanted to tell people I played Wade Crane".

Understand, this was in the 80's and Wade Crane was a "MONSTER" back then.
 
deerhunter said:
Hear are some players from the 70's and 80's
Ohio - Kenny McCoy, Charlie Schram, Jack Wilson, Dave Heil, Ival Mitchell
Kentucky - Marlboro, Bobby Johnson, Rodney Keown, WC Richardson
Indiana - Fred Perry, Peru Paul
W.Va. - Jack Hatfield, Brier Spivey
This is just a few; if I thought about it I could name many more.



Brier spivey`s daughter used to post on this form and not seen here for more than a year.

I heard stories of kenny Mccoy beating the pro player Howard vickery.
Bobby johnson played in tournaments till 1990.He played in lexington all stars.
 
jjollie said:
Crawfish,
I see you live in Raleigh. I live in Greenville. Do you recall how Mike Cone played? I knew him,but never knew his game.

Jim Faircloth hits em' pretty sportly also.
Mike played pretty sporty until the "life" took him over. Yeah, I played Faircloth about two years ago. He's a trip. He slammed the cueball on the table so hard, it almost bounced all of the way to the light. I once saw Sparky Ferrell win something like 12 or 15 games in a row for a buck a game against Cone. He was shellshocked.

Joe "found" my Vuarnet sunglasses once. I found him in the poolroom, with my roommate at the other door (6'2", 265 with 35 inch waist). Joe and I rode together to get them.
 
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dogginda9 said:
As mentioned earlier, Smokey B. could hit em pretty damn good. Sammy Soto from southern Illinois was a tough customer on the little table as was a guy called "Blind Larry" from northwest Indiana. There was also a day when Al Jones took on most roadies at the Mortage Inn in Chesterton, In. Back in the 70's, a gentleman called "Tennessee", George Cole booked a ton of winners coming through the Chalk and Cue in Joliet, IL. Mike Bandy played just a little bit as well out of that area.


Smokey Bartlett was the man!

I got to play Mike Bandy at one of the Huebler bar box events back in the 80's - super nice guy and an awesome player!

Cheyenne Pete Trujillo - great guy - awesome player.

Does anybody remember Jerry Prado? He was another great player from that era that played extremely well.
 
DoubleA said:
Let me throw another name out there that some may have heard of(Weldon "Jr" Rogers). Also one of the very best one-handed players ever. before you ask, yes he has two hands.

have watched him run racks one handed...amazing to me.

friend of mine had the talent to be a world beater, just doesn't like to play that much. As a 14 (didn't start playing until he was almost 14 btw) year old was stringing racks, into his teens no one wanted a game. Quit playing at about 19 for the most part. Could see shots that most of us never see, and make them. Wish I had half of his raw talent.
 
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cubswin said:
have watched him run racks one handed...amazing to me.

friend of mine had the talent to be a world beater, just doesn't like to play that much. As a 14 (didn't start playing until he was almost 14 btw) year old was stringing racks, into his teens no one wanted a game. Quit playing at about 19 for the most part. Could see shots that most of us never see, and make them. Wish I had half of his raw talent.
The way he broke was amazing also, he broke with one hand,in the air, by backing up a few steps from the table and running toward the balls as he hit them.
 
cueball1950 said:
After reading this whole thread, I am surprised that no one from the Northeast has mentioned Nick "the Indian" Vlahos.

I remember Nick Vlahos. I saw him play in the New York State 9 Ball Championship a few times, IIRC. I can't remember if he played in the BC Open or not. Lot of people were sad to hear of his death.
I also remember another guy called "The Indian", who showed up for the NY State tournament with Joe Kerr. Real strong player with a tremendous break. Called himself JR and was the only name he would give. He tried to match up with Toby Sweet but wanted weight and the only thing Toby would give up was the safe 8, so they didn't play.
 
crawfish said:
Good call on the "Fat Harold." Once he started sweatin', you might as well have a seat.

Another one. Bobby McKowan, from VA.Beach.


Do you know how I might get in touch with Harold?? I was in Sanford for a while while he was there and he had a picture that I wanted. We were going to get it duplicated and framed like his but I lost contact.
Last I heard he had moved and lost alot of weight.

Great picture BTW --- a bunch of champions all together with all of their names. Pretty sure it was from Johnson City.
I would love to still go through with the deal that Harold and I made.
 
frankncali said:
Tommy Sanders name comes to mind. NOt totally unknown but not
very well known for sure.

In todays world many players have no idea who Mark Tadd is/was or
Greg/Craig Stevens.

I assume you are talking about Tommy Sanders from Pt. Arthur Tx. He still comes out and plays once in a while and at times still llhits em pretty sporty.

He now lives in the Austin Tx area and is doing real well for himself. He is very rich in talent.
 
deerhunter said:
Hear are some players from the 70's and 80's
Ohio - Kenny McCoy, Charlie Schram, Jack Wilson, Dave Heil, Ival Mitchell
Kentucky - Marlboro, Bobby Johnson, Rodney Keown, WC Richardson
Indiana - Fred Perry, Peru Paul
W.Va. - Jack Hatfield, Brier Spivey
This is just a few; if I thought about it I could name many more.
Wow, great thread! Always wondered what happened to Rodney Keown. He was ranked pretty high on the Professional Tour in the 80s IIRC.
Sammy Soto - I thought I knew most every great player in the 80s and 90s and he definitely suprised me and my Florida champion.
Marlboro - Was going to start a thread some time back about him. He was a legend I had heard about. Heard he was from Mt Sterling, Kentucky and beat John Brumback in banks!
Toby Sweet - don't know if he was that much of an unknown "monster", but was told Mizerak avoided him at 9 Ball, in his prime.
 
Monsters!

Earl Kellum, Walter Glass, Johnny Marrow, Gary Seay, Billy Weir, Erumand Bullard, "The Big Mex " Fat Ralph, Country Calvin, all those guy's could "Gin it", some still do!



David Harcrow
 
ironman said:
I assume you are talking about Tommy Sanders from Pt. Arthur Tx. He still comes out and plays once in a while and at times still llhits em pretty sporty.

He now lives in the Austin Tx area and is doing real well for himself. He is very rich in talent.


Yeah thats him.

I have been told that he is a very good golfer as well. Is he still in the car biz?
 
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