Video~ Earl Stricklands First Big Win! 1983 Caesars Tahoe Billiard Classic

That's John Stravinsky and Leandra Reilly doing commentary. I was the TD for this one. Wow, 25 years ago! I see Edgar "Shake 'n Bake" White, Leonard Bludworth, Weenie Beenie, Gary Pinkowski, Dave Piona, Tony Banks and Tom Armstrong coming out to congratulate Earl. Note that he won $25,000 plus a new car valued at 12k back then. Bigger than the first prizes today. I'll tell you all about it in my book. Why it all came crashing down on Richie Florence, who promoted these great events.

By the way, I have the full length version of this match available if anyone is interested.
 
look how genuinely happy Earl looked then after he won. I don't pretend to know Earl at all but you gotta say his frame of mind seemed much healthier back then.

what a legend!
 
That was awesome. That was such a great time for pool. Strickland, Hall, Sigel, Varner, Mataya, Rempe, Davenport, etc.
 
Thanks a lot for loading it up! Younger players like me really crave for those great videos you older guys keep hiding from us :D !
 
worriedbeef said:
I don't pretend to know Earl at all but you gotta say his frame of mind seemed much healthier back then.
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I can't remember if it was that match or the one before when he missed a ball and broke his shaft over his knee. Made quite an impression.


dusty
 
Bobby said:
That was great! thanks for posting it. I would love to see Earl play with that kind of confidence again, when he's playing like that he's unbeatable.
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He played that way for the next 15 years! In fact he got better, a lot better.
 
He was definitely an offensive machine when it came to pocketing balls. I remember watching a match in the late 90's on tv, and Earl gets on the 3 ball with a kinda tough angle. There's another ball sitting next to it, and Earl plays safe, jamming the guy between the ball and rail. He had to kick 2 rails to hit it. The announcers said, "a couple of years ago, Earl would have just shot the 3 in the corner and ran out, but this is a much smarter shot percentage wise."
 
Thanks for the mention, Jay. Earl made quite an arrival back then, jump shots and all. And Richie's tournaments sure were a lot of fun--can't wait to read Pool Wars.
 
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