What Players Have Heart?

You're barely over 5 feet tall.

You walk into the roughest joints in the country, post your money on the light and play the best the place has to offer for the cheese.

You win world titles in both one pocket and 3 cushion billiards.

You win recognized major titles in 8 Ball, 9 Ball , straight pool , one pocket and 3C billiards.

You win consecutive US Opens in 3 cushion billiards from the lossers bracket.

You win more Jansco Brothers one pocket tournaments in Johnston City than "any" other player, including 4 consecutively 1965-1968.

You play in the finals for the "All Around" title in Johnston City twice, once against Luther Lassiter and once against Harold Worst, both under the lights of ABC Sports.

You have heart.

You're Larry "Boston Shorty" Johnson
 
sjm said:
I agree, Nick Varner always had incredible heart.
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Agreed. I have a video of one of this matches against Sigel many years ago. Nick was down something like 10-2 in a race to 12 and won 12-11.

One of the great comebacks of all time.

As for roadies, Bobby Pickel is ALL heart.

Regards,
Jim
 
hemicudas said:
1. First has to be Louie Roberts. Too many examples to start a list.

2. Greg Stevens. Greg asked guys what they wanted then gave it to them.

3. Dan Louie. Played Buddy Hall even and liked it.

4. Keith McCready. Like Greg Stevens, Keith gave up the world and out ran it.

Now for today's players.

1. The first guy has to be you yourself, LJ. I dare anyone to argue with that selection. Lil Jon, has mixed it up with anyone at any time for years now. Jon, has flown to matches just to get robbed when he gets there and not on the pool table but under it.

2. Harold "Hitman" MacAbee. You guys check out the voting for the Louie Roberts award at the DCC for the last 3 years and you will find Harold's name right at the top each year.

3. Scotty Townsend. Scotty could easily be in the list with the older players also because his heart spans that many years.

4. John Drew Hagar Jr. Ask anyone who know, John Drew Hagar, just how much heart this young man has. John Drew, will jump into a ring game with SVB, Efren and alike. Both his parents were the same way.

I could go on but I thought I would let someone else take a shot.
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I staked Stevens against a guy in Denver years ago. When it was done, Craig and I got into this big argument and I ended up leaving him there.
You see, Craig won $310 aat $10 per game and wanted to loan the guy his mone back to him and play some more.
 
whats up?

hey LJ, hows it goin? are you going to the derby this year?? if so, ill see ya there.... first beer is on me.
joey
 
nick varner

the match in the 1990 US Open was my favorite.

Nick trails 9-2 in a race to 11, and is cornerhooked. He makes a long rail kick, a tough bank, then gets to 5 before Sigel makes it to the hill. Nick then wins 6 straight games to put him away.

PLEASE, if anyone has a copy of this match pm me, I would love to obtain a copy and even accu-stats couldn't help me out when I emailed them. HELP!!!

By the way, Nick is the definition of heart. Just ask Billy or Grady. When he does commentary he makes remarks like:

(when facing a hideous hook) I believe that he has a pretty good 3 rail opportunity here

or

(when facing a tough return safety down 7-1 racing to 9) I'll tell you what, if he can chip the left edge of that ball and get up table, he might get back to the table this rack, then if he can get out this game and put a couple more racks together, the way this table is breaking, I'd kind of like my chances........

How do you beat that???
 
I agree, LJ has more heart than 99% of the players I have ever seen play. Saw him play at the Break in Cahokia a few times in what looked to be a pretty brutal ring game. Also seen him matched up w/some of the best in one pocket at various places.
 
dgarfoot said:
I agree, LJ has more heart than 99% of the players I have ever seen play. Saw him play at the Break in Cahokia a few times in what looked to be a pretty brutal ring game. Also seen him matched up w/some of the best in one pocket at various places.
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I watched him in a 10 ball ring game In austin Tx 2 years ago. LJ, Gabe, James Walden, and Chuck Ralston for $40 a man.

Chuck won the 1st, then LJ won 9 in a row and broke up the game. It was impressive.

Merry Christmas John,
Lewis
 
sjm said:
Guess I posted this in the wrong thread:

1) Mike Sigel runs 150 and out on you, but on the very first turn of your next match you run 148 against Ray Martin.................... you're Mike Zuglan at the 1992 US Open Straight Pool Championships and you've got heart.
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Yes, and then you shoot yourself in the head for missing a combination and not getting to 150! :D

I used to watch Mike and Grady play exhibitions at a pool room up in Massachusetts back in the 1980's, and it was always great to watch them both.
 
selftaut said:
You're barely over 5 feet tall.

You walk into the roughest joints in the country, post your money on the light and play the best the place has to offer for the cheese.

You win world titles in both one pocket and 3 cushion billiards.

You win recognized major titles in 8 Ball, 9 Ball , straight pool , one pocket and 3C billiards.

You win consecutive US Opens in 3 cushion billiards from the lossers bracket.

You win more Jansco Brothers one pocket tournaments in Johnston City than "any" other player, including 4 consecutively 1965-1968.

You play in the finals for the "All Around" title in Johnston City twice, once against Luther Lassiter and once against Harold Worst, both under the lights of ABC Sports.

You have heart.

You're Larry "Boston Shorty" Johnson
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Tap! Tap!

More heart per ounce than anyone I ever saw. He never backed down from anyone. Another little guy with a big heart was Parica who lined up all the champions and mowed 'em down one by one. And the third shorty is Rafael, who will challenge anyone in a heartbeat. He was a scary money player for many years. May still be.

Biggest heart today may belong to our own SVB. He ain't ducking anybody!
And I have to vote for Busti too. He lost a set to Johnny where he ran 13 racks and out. Francisco flipped a coin for the next set like "no big deal" and then he beat Archer right back.
 
doubled the bet too

jay, i was sitting in the lobby last year at the derby with george middleditch, and mataya when busti walked by and they asked him about that very same story. busti said that after archer ran the 13 and out, busti doubled the bet and took it down. that takes a very large sack in my eyes.
see ya at the derby,
joey
 
JOEY said:
jay, i was sitting in the lobby last year at the derby with george middleditch, and mataya when busti walked by and they asked him about that very same story. busti said that after archer ran the 13 and out, busti doubled the bet and took it down. that takes a very large sack in my eyes.
see ya at the derby,
joey
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I heard Fransisco wanted to double the bet and johny wouldnt. So fransisco wins the next set and johnny unscrewed. Thats what I heard.
 
hmmm

derek, this was straight out of franciscos mouth.... unless he forgot the exact details..... ya never know.
see ya at the derby,
joey
 
ironman said:
I staked Stevens against a guy in Denver years ago. When it was done, Craig and I got into this big argument and I ended up leaving him there.
You see, Craig won $310 aat $10 per game and wanted to loan the guy his mone back to him and play some more.
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He had heart for sure but that wasn't heart, that was 75mg Preludins speaking, Ironman.
 
I know several players that have a ton of heart.

Sue Lance, one of my best friends. I watched her play $200 sets til 5am. EVERY night, day in and day out she is in the pool hall practicing or gambling with all of the guys doing whatever she can to make her game better.

Another friend of mine Greyhounds out of state to play women's qualifiers and wins! For her to be willing to put out that effort, that's a ton of heart!

There are tons of players from Southern California that I think are awesome that all have a lot of heart including: Louis Ulrich, Dave Hemmah, Brian Parks, Sam Manaole, and Oscar/Ernesto Dominguez. Phoenix Jimmy Mendoza is also another player with a lot of heart:) .
 
How about being down 1-10 in a race to 11, alternate breaks playing Allen Hopkins and still wins? Is that big enough for everybody? ;)
 
gopi-1 said:
How about being down 1-10 in a race to 11, alternate breaks playing Allen Hopkins and still wins? Is that big enough for everybody? ;)
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Efren Reyes! I watched that match at the BCA 2 years ago (?) :) .
 
derekdisco said:
I heard Fransisco wanted to double the bet and johny wouldnt. So fransisco wins the next set and johnny unscrewed. Thats what I heard.
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Busta did win the second set put a 7 or 8 pack on Archer to start the set. I believe they did quit after the second set. I don't however remember if the bet was raised after the first set. I had only been playing the game for maybe 6 months when I saw this go down. I became truly addicted to this game on that day
 
hemicudas said:
He had heart for sure but that wasn't heart, that was 75mg Preludins speaking, Ironman.
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You are pretty close there Bill. He shook a bagg of pills and took them all at once. It was 32 white crosses. This was in 1974. We counted the remainder of the 100 lot bag.
 
My Opinion

Bobby Pickle, Jesse Bowman, Chris Bartum, Keith Mcready,Erman Bullard are guys that I have battled with that have all showed me gamble and heart. Oh how could I forget Marcus Chamant, after that game he out ran at derby a few years back....Ill think of others as this thread goes on. There are several that play good and have no heart but thats a thread for another day.
 
there was a guy in modesto Ca that played at Blvd. Billiards almost every night he name was "Chul" I think, anyways he was awalys in action $20-$200 sets everytime I saw him soon as he was done with one player he would play the next guy, he would play all night, he improved quickly. I cant rember if I played him I might have I was a better player at the time I seem to think I lost $100 to him once-I was broke then, but he had heart he would play anybody for as long as they would play, if he was loser he after 3 or 4 sets would try and negoiate a different game, if he couldnt he would just play the next guy, he never stopped. After 6 months he played better than me-I moved and lost touch. He was fearless, he wasnt rich either.
 
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