Unknown Players Again

cardiac kid said:
Jay,

One of our fellow members suggested Harvey Mason. He was a player in the Newburgh / Poughkeepsie, NY area and was quite accomplished. Do you remember him? Does the name ring a bell for anyone else?

Lyn
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Here is an article about Jean Balukas facing Harvey Mason, in Binghamton. It's a good read. I'm not sure if he is the gentleman in the photo, though here is a video interview with him.
 
cardiac kid said:
Jay,

One of our fellow members suggested Harvey Mason. He was a player in the Newburgh / Poughkeepsie, NY area and was quite accomplished. Do you remember him? Does the name ring a bell for anyone else?

Lyn
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Nope, not him either. By the way he is JoAnn Mason's dad. He actually won the World Series of Tavern Pool one year back in the 80's and got disqualified on a technicality. He had played in a professional tournament with a $300 entry fee and won back over $300. That disqualified him from being eligible for what was supposed to be an amateur event. First prize would have been $15,000!

I was the head referee but had nothing to do with him getting disqualified. Steve Mizerak was the defacto tournament director and he remembered Harvey playing in a big Straight Pool tourney back East. They looked it up and there he was on the list of money winners. Early the next morning I went out to get some breakfast at MacDonalds and who do I see walking down Las Vegas Blvd. but Harvey. He looked like he had been out all night walking, the most forlorn looking guy I ever saw. I'll never forget that.
 
jay helfert said:
Nope, not him either. By the way he is JoAnn Mason's dad. He actually won the World Series of Tavern Pool one year back in the 80's and got disqualified on a technicality. He had played in a professional tournament with a $300 entry fee and won back over $300. That disqualified him from being eligible for what was supposed to be an amateur event. First prize would have been $15,000!

I was the head referee but had nothing to do with him getting disqualified. Steve Mizerak was the defacto tournament director and he remembered Harvey playing in a big Straight Pool tourney back East. They looked it up and there he was on the list of money winners. Early the next morning I went out to get some breakfast at MacDonalds and who do I see walking down Las Vegas Blvd. but Harvey. He looked like he had been out all night walking, the most forlorn looking guy I ever saw. I'll never forget that.
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Hi Jay. I played in a couple of the World Series of Tavern Pool and I was shocked at how many professional players were in the tournament. I remember the year that John Shuput won $25,000 for first place, and (as far as I know) John wasn't disqualified
 
The one om the right we called Slim.

Richard Walawonder, from Utica area.
Drove harness at Vernon too.

Hell Lynn you know him.

We used to travel together along with Smoky Joe Mancuso. :yeah:
 
EddieBme said:
Hi Jay. I played in a couple of the World Series of Tavern Pool and I was shocked at how many professional players were in the tournament. I remember the year that John Shuput won $25,000 for first place, and (as far as I know) John wasn't disqualified
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John was more of a road man, rarely playing tournaments. The criteria was that you couldn't have played in a tournament with an entry fee of $300 or more and won back the equivalent of your entry fee or greater. Unfortunately, Harvey had done exactly that the year before in a 14.1 tourney back East.
 
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oldzilla said:
The one om the right we called Slim.

Richard Walawonder, from Utica area.
Drove harness at Vernon too.

Hell Lynn you know him.

We used to travel together along with Smoky Joe Mancuso. :yeah:
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There you go, I recall that we had a guy play in a couple of East Coast events who was a jockey of some kind. He was very friendly with Danny D. Somebody should know that first guy also. He was at a few tournaments back then.
 
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oldzilla said:
The one om the right we called Slim.

Richard Walawonder, from Utica area.
Drove harness at Vernon too.

Hell Lynn you know him.

We used to travel together along with Smoky Joe Mancuso. :yeah:
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Gary,

This is why I posted on AZ! Yes, I remember "Slim". Just couldn't remember his name. Figured someone would. Thanks Gary. Now we're down to one "unknown". Care to take a guess?

Lyn
 
cardiac kid said:
Gary,

This is why I posted on AZ! Yes, I remember "Slim". Just couldn't remember his name. Figured someone would. Thanks Gary. Now we're down to one "unknown". Care to take a guess?

Lyn
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No idea on the other guy. :shrug:
 
Any chance the Spanish looking guy is mondo canales?
He played pro level back then.
He is a former jockey.
 
Any chance I missed the obviious? How about Gary Pinkowski???? Can't see the rest of him. Gary was a pretty large man. Round face, mustache, receding hair line. Just a wild guess. Did he play in his own events? Comments? Incidentally, I "Googled" Gary Pinkowski for his photo and compared.

Lyn
 
cardiac kid said:
Any chance I missed the obviious? How about Gary Pinkowski???? Can't see the rest of him. Gary was a pretty large man. Round face, mustache, receding hair line. Just a wild guess. Did he play in his own events? Comments? Incidentally, I "Googled" Gary Pinkowski for his photo and compared.

Lyn
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No, Lyn. Gary did not play in the BC Open and that definitely is NOT him. I know I've seen the first guy but can't put a name to the face. Sorry.
 
Pushout said:
No, Lyn. Gary did not play in the BC Open and that definitely is NOT him. I know I've seen the first guy but can't put a name to the face. Sorry.
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Thanks Gary. The two guys I compared do look a lot alike. We're getting close to ordering the name plates for the photo collage. Guess I'm getting "antsy" for a name. Oldzilla thought you might know the guy.

Lyn
 
Dave Piona???

Cadillac Dave

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I knew them well, identical twins Otto and Leo Hofschnagel from Bismark North Dakota.

Otto was injured in an unfortunate cow tipping incident and was never the same. Leo had plastic surgery, changed his name to Barack Obama and ran for president. Not sure what either of them are doing today.
 
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