What Exactly Was Johnston City?

D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I see there's another thread about a video from Johnston City. And I've read a lot about Johnston City over the years on here.

But what exactly was Johnston City? Was it about like the Derby back in the day? And where was it located? Was it southern Illinois?

Somebody clue me in here.........

r/DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
I see there's another thread about a video from Johnston City. And I've read a lot about Johnston City over the years on here.

But what exactly was Johnston City? Was it about like the Derby back in the day? And where was it located? Was it southern Illinois?

Somebody clue me in here.........

r/DCP
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Really? Been living in a cave?? Just joking. Here ya go: https://www.onepocket.org/JohnstonCity.htm DCC is Greg's homage to this great event.
 
Johnston City was what they used to call a Hustler's Jamboree, where all the top pool hustlers got together and gambled with each other. They used to be in Hot Springs, AR every year until Johnston City came along. The tournament was incidental to the action that took place in the "back room" which was a converted garage and warehouse area, holding five tables total (three in the front room and two in back).

The tournament was held in Jansco's Show Bar and there were only two tables with bleacher seating about six rows high. I would guess the seating capacity was a couple of hundred people tops. You could watch all day for $3. It was free to go and watch the back room action! There was one set of bleachers in the front room that maybe had enough seating for 50 or 60 people and a smaller seating area in back. It was standing room only in both rooms all night long, as the best players in the world gambled at One Pocket and 9-Ball. The back room usually ran a ring Ten Ball game for 20 a man and only the best players got in that game.

A big game back then might be a $1,000 freeze out (500 a side) or $100 a game One Pocket. The "Jamboree" lasted as long as three weeks and winners of each division in the tournament got $2,000 (9-Ball, One Pocket and 14.1). The three winners would then play an all around for a $1,000 bonus. The big winner for the three weeks might make four or five thousand. The big winner in the back room might make ten or twenty thousand! Everyone but the Jansco's and one or two players usually went home broke. :wink:

The closest motels were eight to ten miles away and cost $10-15 a night. A good meal in town was $3. I remember the packed parking lot at Jansco's with license plates from states all over the country. Frank Paradise would drive in with his finned Mercedes Benz and walk into the back room with a large case holding six to eight cues. He would sell them for the unheard of price of $100-150.

This is where I first laid eyes on Omaha Fats, Tom Cosmo, Hubert Cokes, The Jockey, Peter Rabbitt and Detroit Whitey, ALL unforgettable characters! New York/Minnesota Fats only played in the first JC One Pocket tourney and after that only came back to gamble. He could out talk anyone, with Omaha Fats a close second. EVERY top pool hustler was there and it saved me a lot of money in the future since I knew who they were now. Most of these guys never had their photos taken for good reason. It could ruin their action if people knew who they were. Photographers were banned from the back room!

I was in my own version of Pool Heaven when I was there, a nice Jewish boy went to Hell. My parents (a prominent doctor and a top level interior designer) pretty much disowned me for years until I opened my first poolroom in Bakersfield, CA and started earning a decent living. I was 27 and taking in a thou a week. I thought I had all the money in the world. :D
 
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Peter Rabbitt...remember that name...he robbed me a few times back in the late '50s at a four-table room in Atlantic City run by Frank Morretti. Lots of real characters in those days as I was growing up....Tooz Pearlstein, Nicky Vacci, Bridgeton Herby, BoBo, Lovey Dove
 
TeeA said:
Peter Rabbitt...remember that name...he robbed me a few times back in the late '50s at a four-table room in Atlantic City run by Frank Morretti. Lots of real characters in those days as I was growing up....Tooz Pearlstein, Nicky Vacci, Bridgeton Herby, BoBo, Lovey Dove
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I remember watching Peter Rabbit and Joe Veasey play at the Boulevard Social Club on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philly. It was on top of a Penn Fruit supermarket.They jawed at each other the whole time. If I remember correctly they were playing one pocket. It was a long time ago in the 60's
 
Cardigan Kid said:
C'mon, tell me that's not true and just a pool history myth.
:confused::sorry:
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I heard he hocked 'em for a few hours to get money for a game. Wow!! Which is more brutal: hockin' your kids or making a loan and taking kids as collateral? I really hope the whole story is bs.
 
jay helfert said:
This is where I first laid eyes on Omaha Fats, Tom Cosmo, Mister Cokes, The Jockey, Peter Rabbitt and Detroit Whitey, ALL unforgettable characters!
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A friend of mine used to attend JC and Hubert approached him wanting to buy or trade a cue for his Viking, which was the "tits" at the time. They went outside and Hubert opened his trunk and handed him a box with a cue in it. Long story short, he gave up the Viking and minimal boot for what turned out to be a Balabushka. If memory serves me right it either said Hubert Cokes or Daddy Warbucks on it...what a dime piece that would be today
 
Cardigan Kid said:
C'mon, tell me that's not true and just a pool history myth.
:confused::sorry:
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It takes a lot to be right atop of the most vile, treacherous, and despicable list of characters to ever inhabit the world of pool. As far as the kids go,he thought he had the nuts. As far as I know no one ever heard from the kids again, hopefully they resurfaced again somewhere and someone can shed some light on it. He could play, had the gift of gab, and was triple treacherous. He had the ability to captivate people, if not just out of pure morbid curiosity.
He got into a game of banks with Bugs one night at a bowling alley that had tables. As Whitey went broke he pulled down his pants, bent over, spread both cheeks and yelled "Go ahead and f@ck me in the @ss, you been f'ing me all night anyways!!!!" The guys with Bugs got a good laugh out of it, but the ladies and civilians in attendance were mortified and complained to the owner. Needless to say Whitey killed that spot. Another Whitey exploit was when he befriended a hardware store owner. The store owner had a table in the store and a little action. Another lamb led to slaughter. In no time at all Whitey had befriended the owner and acquired a job there. Convinving the owner that everything was now on the up and up and that they deserved a vacation, Whitey went to work. When the owner returned from vacation Whitey was nowhere to be seen and his hardware store had been hollowed out. By just walking out, complaining to no end about the food, or by pulling the dead roach out of his pocket, Whitey would be on the road for years and never pay for a meal. Grady said of Whitey, Whitey was the kind of guy that could get pulled over for no licence plate or tags, talk the police officer into loaning him $20, and be on his merry way.
If memory serves me correct Whitey died of natural causes, which is an amazing feat in itself. He had no qualms about dumping and conning stone cold killers. He got down with some guys in Mexico and found himself in the wrong seat of a car ride out into the desert. On the ride Whitey somehow convinced the guys they'd be better off with him alive and that they should stake him to play, where he promptly dumped those killers to some ever more frightening individuals. One individual wishing Whitey harm caught up with him and Whitey talked his out of death, or getting beat within inches of his life, again. He took a plea bargain to let the man take a $10 dollar break shot at him. Whitey dropped his britches and laid his junk over the end rail, with ball in hand behind the head string the disgruntled gentleman got one shot to shoot as hard as he could at Whitey. As disgusting and painful as it may have been, Whitey figured out how to turn a near death encounter into $10 dollars.
 
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J SCHWARZ said:
It takes a lot to be right atop of the most vile, treacherous, and despicable list of characters to ever inhabit the world of pool. As far as the kids go,he thought he had the nuts. As far as I know no one ever heard from the kids again, hopefully they resurfaced again somewhere and someone can shed some light on it. He could play, had the gift of gab, and was triple treacherous. He had the ability to captivate people, if not just out of pure morbid curiosity.
He got into a game of banks with Bugs one night at a bowling alley that had tables. As Whitey went broke he pulled down his pants, bent over, spread both cheeks and yelled "Go ahead and f@ck me in the @ss, you been f'ing me all night anyways!!!!" The guys with Bugs got a good laugh out of it, but the ladies and civilians in attendance were mortified and complained to the owner. Needless to say Whitey killed that spot. Another Whitey exploit was when he befriended a hardware store owner. The store owner had a table in the store and a little action. Another lamb led to slaughter. In no time at all Whitey had befriended the owner and acquired a job there. Convinving the owner that everything was now on the up and up and that they deserved a vacation, Whitey went to work. When the owner returned from vacation Whitey was nowhere to be seen and his hardware store had been hollowed out. By just walking out, complaining to no end about the food, or by pulling the dead roach out of his pocket, Whitey would be on the road for years and never pay for a meal. Grady said of Whitey, Whitey was the kind of guy that could get pulled over for no licence plate or tags, talk the police officer into loaning him $20, and be on his merry way.
If memory serves me correct Whitey died of natural causes, which is an amazing feat in itself. He had no qualms about dumping and conning stone cold killers. He got down with some guys in Mexico and found himself in the wrong seat of a car ride out into the desert. On the ride Whitey somehow convinced the guys they'd be better off with him alive and that they should stake him to play, where he promptly dumped those killers to some ever more frightening individuals. One individual wishing Whitey harm caught up with him and Whitey talked his out of death, or getting beat within inches of his life, again. He took a plea bargain to let the man take a $10 dollar break shot at him. Whitey dropped his britches and laid his junk over the end rail, with ball in hand behind the head string the disgruntled gentleman got one shot to shoot as hard as he could at Whitey. As disgusting and painful as it may have been, Whitey figured out how to turn a near death encounter into $10 dollars.
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What a low life. No wonder why pool got that bad reputation of you take whitey and multiply him by a thousand.
Hey thanks for writing all that. It was very informative. Sending green your way.
 
I remember the last couple years you had to join the cue club to go out back.Those lights were brutal .Dave Yeager and i were watching when Dallas thought the referee was calling the shots for Ronnie.Jay you mentioned Cosmo i think he was the one shooting shots in the paper bag back then.I got a nice old brunswick titlest from Omaha im the greatest one handed player not.Love to see a all around were the 3 winners play it off.:rolleyes:
 
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