Wow! This thread takes me back...
I was born into a military family and my first ever pool experience was in a military Dependent Youth Activities center, which is like a rec center for kids. Later, I joined the Air Force and was stationed at Lindsey Air Station from 1986-90.
The Military rec centers in Germany were very good places to play good, competitive pool... Each base's rec center seemed to have their own "crew" of strong players and it was common to find action at all levels of play, but you always had to be careful to keep "money talk" down to a minimum so as to not get in trouble for gambling on a military base.
Back in those days a fun thing to do was to get as many guys as you could into a 3-ball skin game for a buck a game, Sometimes we'd go 20 rounds before someone won and those sessions would get loud and hilarious.
Even on a lowly enlisted salary, I was livin' pretty large for that short period of time when the exchange rate was around 3 Deutsch Marks to the dollar. But I developed a very expensive "fast driving on the autobahn" roadtrip habit which, along with chasing skirts in German bars and nightclubs, made me frequently broke (but very happy)....
Anyway, when $$$ times were lean I would spend hours and hours and hours at the rec center learning to get better and better at pool. I made some good friends and had some really good times! I even played on a German pool league in Nuernberg for a couple of years and am still in touch with some of those friends, 25 years later.
I never knew about that S&S article about Tim, but I do remember Perkins making many regular stops at the Lindsey AS and spent lots of time around him. I got to watch some epic Tony Softa vs. Tim Perkins 9-ball, straight pool and one-pocket matches... Tim seemed to know every good rec center player in Germany and would make regular rounds. Sometimes he'd show up with cues and all kinds of accessories for sale. That guy was always wheelin' and dealin'. In fact, I still use a two-piece wooden block tip repair/shaping tool that Tim made. That was, by far, the best $20 I ever spent on pool equipment!
One thing about both Tim and Tony... they were both very generous with their knowledge and pretty fair at giving spots to teach "cheap lessons." LOL!
On a side note, it was Tim Perkins who indirectly inspired me to seek out Wayne Gunn (R.I.P.) when he was working out of that side room cue shop at Baker's in Tampa. For the last year of my tour I had a little side business selling Gunn Sneaky Petes in southern Germany pool halls... I'd have the cues shipped to PO box and could bypass customs. Made lots of extra dough that way. After all, I had to pay for my BMW engines somehow. LOL!
Towards the end of my tour at Lindsey, I had gotten good enough to win my base 14.1 tournament (after Tony had shipped out) and play in some larger regional AF tournaments as well.
And I remember the NCO club at Rhein Main as being a particularly consistent sharks den! It seemed there was ALWAYS action going on at that bar table they had there.
Should Tim and Tony ever read this.... thanks for the cheap lessons and good memories, guys!
Good times!
John T
P.S. I'm half German and still have friends and family there so I've been back there regularly since 1990...I was born in what used to be the Nuernberg American Hospital and that entire complex is now a housing development with row houses and stores. I went to elementary school in Frankfurt and Nuernberg, and attended High School up north, in Osterholz-Scharmbeck when my Dad was stationed in Bremerhaven. I've been back to all of those places and it is really, really strange to see pretty much all of the former military housing areas and bases where I grew-up, learned, played and worked.... all converted to civilian facilities or torn down and rebuilt. It's like an entire way of life, or subculture has been erased.
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