What Got You Interested In Pool?
- Thread starter tom mcgonagle
- Start date
Watching Jean Balukaus
I use to go with my brother to watch him play money ball with his friends at Ovington Billiards/ Hall of Fame Billiards in Brooklyn. I would go and never watch my brother and his friends play because they sucked. There was this young woman always practicing and she was just making everything. I kept thinking to myself how the hell is she doing that. I also thought it was one of the most beautiful things I ever saw. Click Pop Click Pop it was just so sweet. I thought to myself if I could learn to play like that my brother and his friends would lose all their money to me.
I started hitting balls soon after and older gentlemen told me I hit'em pretty good but I needed to learn the fundamentals and he was nice enough to teach me and it was been a wild ride very since.
I think you either fall in love with pool when you see someone great play or you just don't get it and move on to another recreation.
I almost forgot to mention there was another great player at Ovington I would also watch who mesmorized me with his cueball control. The Late Tony Meatball. A throw back house cue player what a solid player.
I use to go with my brother to watch him play money ball with his friends at Ovington Billiards/ Hall of Fame Billiards in Brooklyn. I would go and never watch my brother and his friends play because they sucked. There was this young woman always practicing and she was just making everything. I kept thinking to myself how the hell is she doing that. I also thought it was one of the most beautiful things I ever saw. Click Pop Click Pop it was just so sweet. I thought to myself if I could learn to play like that my brother and his friends would lose all their money to me.
I started hitting balls soon after and older gentlemen told me I hit'em pretty good but I needed to learn the fundamentals and he was nice enough to teach me and it was been a wild ride very since.
I think you either fall in love with pool when you see someone great play or you just don't get it and move on to another recreation.
I almost forgot to mention there was another great player at Ovington I would also watch who mesmorized me with his cueball control. The Late Tony Meatball. A throw back house cue player what a solid player.
I started playing in '79 when there was an arcade with two barboxes in it. I would get tired of pinball and video games and would play pool.
Let's see. I wasn't as good at Air Hockey as I thought and it costs me 25c for 3 minutes and pool costs 75c an hour. Then getting to regularly see The Fat Man play plus an old gentleman wanted to teach me, and a whole slough of road players regularly came through town.
Voodoo Daddy
One Pocket 101
Yes
Yes
Yes
No, nothing else mattered
No
Yes
Yes
No, nothing else mattered
No
2 Pool Tables at the Boys Club in Miami Circa 1954's
mongoose-
Banned
A little 4 table room on the coast of Maine which was a fisherman's hangout. I loved to watch those colorful balls go round & round. The first time I ever saw it played I fell in love with it. Being a competitive basketball player at the time in school I didn't like to lose so my quest to become better & beat the older guys began. I was fortunate enough to have a few of the better players take a liking to me which helped me excell at a much faster pace.
My Love of Pocket Billiards
In 1964 when I was 13. My older brother ended up buying a 9' Sears plywood table which was placed in our basement on Long Island, NY. He taught me how to play straight pool and that is the only game that was played in the pool rooms back home. He would take me to the rooms with him to watch him gamble. You might see a 9-ball game going on in the back of the pool room like we see one pocket games going on today, once in awhile.
My friends and I would play straight pool everyday after school. There were also many pool matches on Tv back in the 60's in NY. Wide World of Sports would show many matches with the great players of those days.
In 1965 Willie Mosconi was at some country club on LI trying to get rich people to join. My friend and I slipped in there stating that we were sons of some rich guy. I had lunch with Willie and he played pool for everyone. I fell in love with the Sport of Pocket Billiards. I had asked Willie how did he become so good. He replied "By living in a pool room all my life" He also told me not to do what he had done. He also stated that he never knew a pool player that was rich b/c of pool. I think that holds true of today also. So, I went on in my life. Did a few years in the US Army for which I am proud of and landed a prof. job that I have worked at for 28yrs and have now just retired from. I have always played pool at home and league pool which I think is a great thing for guys like me. Good subject.
In 1964 when I was 13. My older brother ended up buying a 9' Sears plywood table which was placed in our basement on Long Island, NY. He taught me how to play straight pool and that is the only game that was played in the pool rooms back home. He would take me to the rooms with him to watch him gamble. You might see a 9-ball game going on in the back of the pool room like we see one pocket games going on today, once in awhile.
My friends and I would play straight pool everyday after school. There were also many pool matches on Tv back in the 60's in NY. Wide World of Sports would show many matches with the great players of those days.
In 1965 Willie Mosconi was at some country club on LI trying to get rich people to join. My friend and I slipped in there stating that we were sons of some rich guy. I had lunch with Willie and he played pool for everyone. I fell in love with the Sport of Pocket Billiards. I had asked Willie how did he become so good. He replied "By living in a pool room all my life" He also told me not to do what he had done. He also stated that he never knew a pool player that was rich b/c of pool. I think that holds true of today also. So, I went on in my life. Did a few years in the US Army for which I am proud of and landed a prof. job that I have worked at for 28yrs and have now just retired from. I have always played pool at home and league pool which I think is a great thing for guys like me. Good subject.
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This one is easy for me. My Dad plain and simple. He played ALOT in the early 60's in Houston and his stories about Jersey Red, Ronnie Allen, Cannonball, Fats, Greg Stevens, and Jack Terry really did it for me. I just love pool. The noise the smell.. the cues and thanks god I found out about Banks because it is by far my favorite game. I could live without all the bite artists tho (homeless like people who beg for change but don't leave the poolroom)
The game itself. Been addicted for 48 years