What sparked your passion to become a pool player?

Hello BC21,

I too am a Mountaineer, Summersville, WV.

When I was around 6, my Dad traded an old coal furance that he had removed from the house, for an old pool room Brunswick 8' table. (I am restoring it now, the rest of the story is on the board)

I played for six or seven years just for something to do. Dad was not a shot, but he knew how it was to be done, so I new the basics.

My Mom was the librarian at our local High School, and had the Senior English as a friend that came by weekly to visit. She found out that we had a pool table, and ask me if I would be willing to play her Husband. I was twelve or so.

Tom Dorsey was in his eighty's, moved with the "Old Man Shuffle" You could see it pained him to do the steps downstairs to the table.

He lit up once he had a stick in his hands. He still moved slow, but you could see thirty years come off his normal age. He never talked too much about his past pool playing, but others told me he spent time hustling and played some Pro pool.

I wish I would have listened more to Tom, but he is the reason that I started shooting, not playing pool.

WH
 
All my real goals and dreams went down the toilet, so pool was a way to get monetary compensation in a pool hall, where most of the guys were suffering with the same type of life dissatisfaction as I was.
 
I had always planned on professional baseball then in the 8th grade the coach didn't allow me to play
I had played with these boys all my life,every game i was first choice
i knew i was better but what could i do

i decided to play golf,let the score speak for itself
pool went right along with it


I started playing everything for money
Golf and then take the golfers to the pool room
take the pool players to the golf course
I picked up poker and gin

I never got very good at pool ,but i loved it
in 1961 i saw the hustler and from then on i was hooked on a life of swashbuckling
adventure and high stakes gambling
 
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Oh no you didn't , you loved the beauty of the game , just like everyone else ....say it !!!! say it!!!!!! {Sam Kinnison RIP|
 
shit, you wont believe it when i say it. when i was a kid just 7 or 8 years old we had a place in my country with a pool table where kids hung out, video games with coins and fooseball too, i dont know what you call them here. we used to play and i used to fantasize about playing pool in new york. little did i know a coiple years later wed move to america and in ny. i always loved the game, just drawn to it, its the only thing i enjoy. unfortunatly i never spend more thn a cople of months at a time playing and then disappear from the game for year at a time and i never developed my game like i had the potential to. but its for the best, i like work and money.
 
A conglomeration of events.

First off, late in grammar school, my buddy and I, Jim, started out playing. Eventually we bought el cheapo pool cues. I ended up having some natural talent for the game and eventually Jim gave up.

Then, one day, I saw that Mosconi would be putting on an exhibition at Castle Lanes, literally, within walking distance of my home. He ran 100 and did trick shots and made the game look simple and elegant and special. Then, there was "The Hustler." I ain't going to lie -- something about that black and white movie starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott grabbed me by the vitals.

And lastly, I ended up at a pool hall in Daly City, a 20 minute drive just south of San Francisco, and could watch Tugboat Whaley play a guy named Dennis some beautiful 14.1.

Then I discovered The Palace and Cochran's down on Market Street.

I was hooked. I was a dead cooked duck.

Lou Figueroa
 
Pool, is an obsession!!!

Similar story Lou, except "the Hustler" and C.O.M, were in the far distant future, when I got hooked on the game! I can't ever remember when I wasn't in love with pool. Like you, I was blessed (cursed?) with more than my share of natural talent. From a small town in Colorado, where I was cock of the walk, on to Denver, and the bigger cities, and eventually California! I hustled, and crossroaded, and never really wanted to do anything else!

If pool had ever been as rewarding as the other major sports, I would have enjoyed a very full life! But we all know, that pool is the poorest game/sport to ever gain any kind of financial security! Thankfully, I finally saw the light and in my early 50's, I moved on to a better path in life! I have often wondered, had I not, If I would have even reached old age..I think its doubtful!

No one in the long history of the game, has ever enjoyed the financial success, of even an average golfer, or tennis player! But it could be one of the hardest games to completely quit! I still play, as much as I can, and I still love it ;)
 
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I was good at it.

My Dad brought a little pool table home when I was about 8 years old. The balls were chipped and one cue did not have a tip on it. I didn't care, I liked it.

As I improved I got a lot of satisfaction poking a ball in a hole with a stick and could do it better then most kids in my little farm town.

A little town of about 5,000 people in Iowa in the 50's with 3 pool halls to include snooker and 3 cushion billiards, no bar box's.

I mean we had trouble, right there in River City! I loved it.
 
I started playing pool in the late 80´s in a small diner on an old and dirty 8footer. Some month later I heard from a pal that a big poolhall openend in my hometown.....that was my start. Got my first pool cue there, started to play in a league, trained there for every minute (was not good for my school grades) and luckily met Lars Harald Riiber there. A Pro poolplayer from norway who went to germany for a couple of month and stayed at our poolhall something like a house pro. So he gave us lessons and made me a better player. The other big influence was the upcoming snooker "invasion" on Eurosport. I saw Ronnie O´Sulivan for the first time on TV and wanted to be as good, cool and fast as he was.
 
WHSII said:
Hello BC21,

I too am a Mountaineer, Summersville, WV.

When I was around 6, my Dad traded an old coal furance that he had removed from the house, for an old pool room Brunswick 8' table. (I am restoring it now, the rest of the story is on the board)......

WH
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Cool story my fellow mountaineer. Love the swap, a furnace for a pool table! And we have an older slow-moving guy at my local poolhall. He shuffles in, gets a coffee, then falls asleep in a chair. He's shaky but still plays great. A couple of months ago, during a big "king of the hill" 9ball tournament, he was on my table. The final game to win the table came, and I broke and made a ball then pushed out to a long shot that I knew he'd have trouble with. I thought he'd give it back, or try to camp me up. He floated that 1-ball in and then ran out. It took about 10 minutes, and when he finished he said with a grin, "I finally got you." I smiled and told him good shooting. He loves the game. I hope, if I live to be his age, I'm still as passionate as he is.

Hey, I went to a guy's house in Summersville once with a neighbor of mine, Johnny Billo. He went to gamble. I tagged along. I guess was about 19. I was run'n with Johnny Billo and a guy named Baldwin. They were players. I was just a good barbox banger. They introduced me to a lot of good players in WV, most of which seemed to be born a with a fine ability to empty my pockets. I remember asking about Bud Hypes, about going to Mullens to see how he plays, not to gamble, just to watch. Billo looked at me like he'd never heard anything so stupid. "We ain't ever go'n to Mullens." He said.
 
My old man was a drunk and his idea of babysitting was taking me to a bar at the age of ten and feeding me quarters to play pool so I that I wouldn't bother him. When I was twelve I would hitch hike sixteen miles to the next town on Friday and Saturday nights to the bowling alley where they had two tables.

By the time I was eighteen I could make some great shots but looking back now I didn't really know "how" to shoot pool. After starting my business and family I only played on rare occasions but always enjoyed playing. Twenty years ago after getting divorced, I decided to reward myself with a table of my own. Set it up in my shop and started to play a lot more often. Would play weekends at the local bar. Even joined an APA league for a few seasons but didn't care for that format.

Four years ago I relocated my company and all of a sudden I had an empty 6k s.f. shed in back of my house and thought it would make a nice man cave space. The man cave began to evolve from one pool table to two pool tables and all the other essentials necessary for a proper man cave.

With all these cool toys I thought I should share it with my friends so I started an open house Wednesday night for all my buddies to come over and have a good time. One of my skydiving buddies who is 78 years young asked me to teach him how to play pool. Well it was at this point that through teaching I realized how much I needed to learn about the game. He and I now play a minimum of twenty hours a week and my game has gone through the roof. My buddy Bill has really come a long way in less than a year. I get more enjoyment from watching him improve. He may be 78 years old, but the smile on his face when he's shooting well is that of a kid.

So at 62 years old, I'm more addicted to shooting pool than I have ever been at any time in my life. We're just a couple of old dogs learning new tricks!
 
SignManiac said:
My old man was a drunk and his idea of babysitting was taking me to a bar at the age of ten and feeding me quarters to play pool so I that I wouldn't bother him. When I was twelve I would hitch hike sixteen miles to the next town on Friday and Saturday nights to the bowling alley where they had two tables.
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Damn. We could be brothers.
 
1998-

I was in grad school in Tuscaloosa, Al at this (what used to be) little dive bar called the Houndstooth. Me and four buddies played there EVERY friday and Saturday night. We OWNED that bar. I can't ever remember paying for a beer or having to put quarters in the table.

One night this young looking guy walks into the back room where the tables were, he had a big mountain of a guy with him carrying a cue case. This young dude saunters right up to where me and a buddy were playing doubles and asks what we were playing for. When we told him that we were playing for drinks, He asked in a LOUD voice to the entire room, "Anybody here wanna play for cash?"

Well, since we were mostly all broke college kids with atm cards and little to no cash, nobody stepped up to the challenge. He turned to the guy standing behind him and asked if they should just call it a night. The big guy nodded and young dude looks at me, grabs the cue out of his case and says, "ok, lets play for drinks"

He proceeded to run 4 or 5 racks of 8 ball on that bar box. I had never seen anything like it in person. He started calling his shots 5-6 balls in advance. It was like the cueball was being controlled by a remote control. WoW! I happily bought him drinks and talked to him for an hour or so.

Turns out, he was only 19 , and could not legally drink. He said he was called "Mobile Will"...not to be confused with "Pensacola Will" who was scared to play him. He told us they were on the road and he had busted two ring games for a couple of grand across town and they were working their way west to Texas.

To this day I don't know how much of his "story" was true, but I remember thinking to myself how cool it would be to actually be THAT good at something... it was like watching true art. I've been trying ever since!

"Mobile" Will, if you are out there, thanks for Humbling me and my friends who "owned" that little college bar and thanks for showing me how cool pool can be when played at a high level.
 
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Me & my little Brother always wondered what Daddy did at the Pool Hall. One day he come home with a 3 foot long table top Pool Table. Me my brother took to that thing like a duck to water. With our dad's help we could actually make banks & pocket balls. When I hit 14 years of age, I went to the Pool Room & got started on my journey. 2 years later my Brother joined me..

My first shot on a 9 footer was the Railroad Trick Shot. The owner showed me how to do it & set it up... Zingo,,, it went in. I was hooked for life.

One day an old man ask me to be his Snooker Partner. That's when the gambling started. I won a whole lot more money than I ever lost.. couldn't stand to lose. 60 years later, I'm still at it.
 
Pool

My mother divorced my dad when I was about 5 or 6 years old .
My grandfather became like a father to me , bought me a pool table and a 22 rifle .:grin:
We were pool shooting deer hunting and salmon fishing buddies .

I think I was a legend in my own mind, if you shoot enough pool you got to get lucky once or twice .
 
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