What are your earliest memories of pool?

smittie1984

smittie1984

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was thinking of this the other day. But what are your earliest memories from pool? I have a killer memory and if reminded by someone I will remember the exact event as it happend. Pool related or Not. (Providing I wasn't hammered)

My very first memory of pool was on a "Fisher Price" pool table. It's a little 4 foot that also converted into air hockey and I think ping pong. My friend David had one in his room. I was about 10-11.

My first memory of playing on a pool table was at a roller skating rink called "Sparkles" in Lawrenceville, GA. I was about 12-13. It was a coin-operated table.

Then the next time I played on a table was at a friends father's place. They had an 8'pro Stepleton which I moved, recovered, and rerubbered 2 weeks ago. I think I was 15 at that time.

Then I went to my first pool hall. I was 16 and it was at Atlanta Billiards off of Satelite Blvd not far from where The Pool Room 2 is. I even remember the exact table I played on. They had I believe some 9' Gold Crown IV blacks and some AESchmidt 8' tables. And 1 Connely table that had a slate screw in the middle of the playing surface that they didn't fill with wax. And they claimed to have 3" slate so they charged $12 an hour while the other talbes where 9 an hour. They were kicked out by the local Ford Dealership and turned into a parking lot for white work trucks.

Then at 16 I got my first cue stick. It was a players profesional series that my parents got me for Christmas. Still straight.

From 16-17 I played at Murphy's Brass Rails in Athens, GA every single friday night by myself for about 4-6hours. I loved it to death.

And if I had a day off from Government School I would go to Mr Cues 2 in Atlanta and play there free pool from 11am to 3:30pm with a lunch.

At 18-19 I barely played any pool. I didn't get back into it pretty much until the Pool Room 2 opened.

Though I'm not the greatest at pool. I've always had a passion for it. Even before I ever picked up a cue stick I wanted a pool table. I was probably 7 or 8. Because I remember wanting one of those Fisher Price pool tables badly. Now I have been a table mechanic for 2 years. Not becuase I wanted to work on pool tables. But because I wanted a job. Yet I still don't have a pool table.

Anyways what are your earliest memories???
 
Hmmm.

Maybe not pool exactly, but under the pool table.

I would go to the bowling alley with my Dad on his league night and was playing under the table.

The memorable part was a 100$ bill I found.

After my Dad was told, I didn't get my cut. :mad:
 
My first memory of pool was about 55 years ago. My parents were visiting some people ( don't remember who they were). They had a pool table and a beer tapper in their kitchen. Damn if that wasn't heaven I don't know what is. We were there only one time and I don' know why but it is always something I remember.

Thanks for asking/posting the question. Brings back a great memory.
 
5 years old in a bar in southern Ohio. I was given a handful of quarters and shoved at an old ratty bar box while Gramps bellied up to the bar for a long mornings drink. Was the beginning of the end for me........ :eek:
Chuck
 
Skytop billiards in brooklyn with my dad when I was 6.

Fantastic memory and wish the hall was still there :(
 
33 tables, 2 billiard. First video game (Pong). Great deli downstairs, Chock ful of Nuts across the street for coffee and bagels. Ronnie and Lester housemen, and Balabuska used to come in. I had a chance to get a dozen of his cues for $150.00 each and my wife thought I was crazy. 1971 - 73 ?
 
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I can remember shortly after I turned 13, my dad and I took a trip to Pennsylvania to visit relatives in Rochester. We took a route up through the Midwest and we weren't in any hurry. We stopped in a few towns on the way up and graced the doors of their local pool halls. This was 1966. I remember these establishments looking very similar to some of the halls portrayed in the movie "the Hustler". Old, dimly lit, dank buildings lined with nine-footers and snooker tables, no music, just the faint clacking of the balls and a minimum amount of chatter. I can only remember one town's name of the few we stopped in, Springfield, and I honestly can't say if this was Missouri or Ohio. I think it was Ohio.
I think the reason my dad stopped there was because he knew that once we got to Rochester, we were going to be spending a lot of time in a pub, shooting pool with his Uncle Carl (who was a pretty darn good shot, taught me a lot on that trip), so he wanted to brush up on his game. Somewhere, there's a picture of me (pimply-faced 13 year-old) bending over a shot on a table in that tavern. I gotta find it.
I also remember that it wasn't long after we got home from that trip that we had a table in our garage!

Maniac
 
I was about 15yr and my brother and paul anderson{world strongest man] took me into, local pool hall about1953-54. and i was hooked, got better than them so they would not take me any more, we only shot rotation, and snooker 10cents a cue for pool 20 for snooker. loser payes, you can bet i got my points usely onley had couple dollars ,lots of money back then if you lost there went your roll,ha ha good old days, no one would help you you learned the game , you learned by shooting and watching oh yes good memories STICK
 
I've been playing for a little under a decade, and the earliest memory of pool that made an impact on me to improve, was watching Santos Sambajon, who at the time was just a shortstop, give Jennifer Chen, who was at the time, ranked number TWO on the WPBA, the 6, 7, the last two, and the breaks, for $2000 per set, and he beat her pretty bad both sets, it was 11-5, and 11-6 IIRC. I had never seen Santos play before, and I thought he must be a world class player to give up that kind of weight and win like that. He played great, but the weakness in Jennifer's patterns, kicking, and safety play really showed the contrast between male and female players. When I found out Santos was just a shortstop, I was shocked. I ended up taking lessons from him when he started to become a pro. He is a real nice guy, and he treated me as if I was his son practically, even though we are of a different ethnicity and we are from opposite ends of the world. Before I met Santos, I was somewhat disheartened with pool, seeing alot of pros and shortstops that were assholes, and seeing alot of hostility over tournament or money matches. Santos and Ernesto are two guys who showed me at that time, that there are some good people out there in the pool world. I also didn't even know who Efren was back then.
 
One day when I was around seven (1948 ) my dad took me on his ice route on Long Island, NY. He delivered to thirty or forty bars and some houses that still had iceboxes. But this day he had to deliver to one of the firehouses that had a 5x10 pooltable in it. Most of the bars had bar boxes or Q-ball tables. We had a Q-ball table in our basement for a few years. At the firehouse my dad shot for a few minutes, then let me play while he brought the ice in. I was hooked on pool.
When I got home I went a few blocks away where they were building some houses and borrowed a piece of 4x8 plywood. I drilled holes for the six pockets and glued on rubber weather stripping for rails.
It only lasted a couple a weeks though, as my dad sawed it up because a lot of mothers were calling him up complaining that I was beating their kids out of their allowance money on some pool table at my house. It was my table I knew the rolls. Johnnyt
 
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I was about 7 when my Dad started to teach me how to play on a 9 footer that was located in the family oriented club that he belonged to when he was in a softball league in Central Park. I showed interest not in the Foosball table, but the pool table because it was so colorful. :rolleyes:
 
My earliest memories of pool come from sweating matches on the exhibition tables at the Golden Q in Queens, NY, in 1966. The first great players I got to watch were Onnofrio Laurie, Luther Lassiter, and Mike Eufemia. As for playing pool, I didn't get started until my father purchased a Brunswick Gold Crown 1 (which he still has) in February, 1969. In my case, I loved pool long before I hit my first ball.
 
The smell of powder, chalk, the sounds of balls going in the pockets and rolling around. The laughter, the sodas dropping down the vending machine chute, the sound of balls being shuffled around in the wooden rack and then being broken, and the cigarette smoke, also the BS from the house man.
 
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Well LOL! mine go back a little further than most of yours

:) When I was 9 ( 1957 ) my uncle started me on drills on a 5x10 snooker table and believe me it looked a block long from my perspective at the time but I really appreciate those early lessons and they still benefit me today !
at 12 -16 I got to meet some of the folks that are now considered Pool greats such as Luther Lassiter and Basil Minokophe (sp) among many others who used to play straight pool matches with him and then Balabushka and Palmer both have made cues for him. I had no idea at the time and at that age I was in the presence of pool royalty. :)

My best later memory was my first APA team nationals in 1985:D
 
Watching Snooker on TV

Growing up in Canada I remember watching Snooker on TV. Only thing i remember was the guy had VERY large glasses, that appeared to be tilted just at the correct angle for billiards only. Wish i knew who that guy was. Anyone have an idea please let me know....seemed like i saw him all the time on Brit tv, but i was young, maybe it was once :)
 
I remember pushing a foot stool around the 5 by 10 table I grew up playing on. The stool would give me just enough height to be able to shoot shots in which the cue ball was a foot or less from the rail. I am not sure how old I was, that is the first memory for me.
 
My earliest memories...hmmm...now that I think about aree not that great....ALOT of meetings with my Dads belt for laying out of school to play pool, getting IN School suspension for laying out of school to play pool and more meetings with my Dads belt for getting ISS for laying out of school to play pool...man I am glad I am out of School, now all I got to worry about is getting fired and then getting my Dads belt for getting fired from laying out of work to play pool.:eek:
 
Way back then...

My dad and uncle took me to a pool room in Long Island, NY in '68-'69 <I was 4/5yrs old> I dont remember where it was but I do remember being told not to say a word and sit still. My uncle Vic was friends with Jon "the Polish Prince"/"The RoadRunner" Dovinsky and I know he was there but the memory is very sketchy. We moved to Miami in '72 <I was 7/8 yrs old> and lived with my grandparents for a few months. They lived behind a place called the 8-Ball Lounge and my grandpa being the good man that he was took me there for lunch and let me hit balls.

In '75 my pop bought a bar in Hialeah near the horse track <I was 11>...I used to work for him in the summer. HE paid me $5 a day to clean up, restock the beer and whatever else he wanted. I poured the whole $5 a day into his barbox...took me the whole summer to figure out he had the key and it cost him zero...foiled again!! Then at 14 my dad brought me to Pegs Pocket in Miami...the rest is a combination of wasted youth and pure decadence...I wouldnt trade either for anything.
 
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ramw5p said:
Growing up in Canada I remember watching Snooker on TV. Only thing i remember was the guy had VERY large glasses, that appeared to be tilted just at the correct angle for billiards only. Wish i knew who that guy was. Anyone have an idea please let me know....seemed like i saw him all the time on Brit tv, but i was young, maybe it was once :)
Click to expand...

Dennis Taylor (Northern Ireland) - beat Steve Davis in the most famous world championship final ever. Now the main commentater on BBC snooker coverage.

Boro Nut
 
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