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Stan Shuffett
Stan Shuffett
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pains me to even retell this story, but it will be a good read for you all. in the late 80's i was a young boy who knew nothing about pool other than what i learned in the basement. i used whatever cue was available in my basement at the time and was completely content. I lived in PA at the time, and there was a tournament for the PA under 18 championships. so at 12 years old my parents took me to play, and i won. the prize was a cue. it was a nice looking cue, and it even came in a fancy hard case. i put the cue in the basement with all the other cues we had and i used it whenever we played. as time went by, i continued to play pool but really didnt know anything about cues. we moved to NJ and the small local pool room was a Meucci dealer. i saved every penny i could and waited eagerly to buy my first "real" cue. once i got my meucci, i put the other cue in my parents basement and never gave it another thought. they eventually moved to FL and by the early 2000's i was starting to really learn a lot about old custom cues. i realized that the cue i had won many years earlier was matched the style and time period of many of the great cue makers out of the PA area where the tournament was played. i called my parents down in the FL to ask if they still had the cue. They did, it was tucked away in that same fancy hard case in their garage. i asked that they bring it back the next time they came up to NJ. The next time they came up was actually when they decided to move home. so as i unloaded their moving pod i couldnt wait to see the cue. unfortunately, the cue was not in the pod. when i asked my father he swore he packed it. he then asked my mother who replied "that really old one from when he was a kid? i sold it at the yard sale before we started packing up". turns out she sold it, with the case, for $10!
now i cant say for sure what the cue was, buy the style and time frame match some big names. i asked some major cue collectors around here if any of the top makers used to donate cues to junior state championships back then and they confirmed that it was pretty common. im sure i could probably follow the bread crumbs and eventually figure out who made it, but even thinking about makes sick. So i would rather not know. sorry for the long story, but i hope you enjoyed it. and if you happened to buy a Gus or Barry at a yard sale in FL for $10, i would appreciate you returning it to for ... for sentimental reason of course...lol
Tony
Your focus is different when you get older. I have been playing since I was 5. I didn't start appreciating drills till later in lifeI wish I started playing earlier! Maybe if I started when I was 17 instead of 27 I'd be an A player![]()
I've come to realize that my best game is behind me now. Oh well
Eli