Where is Don Mackey now?

[pooltchr]

Yea, I'm pretty sure it was Corey, and Corey was quite young... I don't think he was soft-breaking, but it would have been Corey's first professional win, if I'm not mistaken. Given that his first professional win would have come against a player like Earl,it was quite a big match.

...

It was Corey, and he was using the soft break, and Earl was getting embarrased by this young kid who was brand new on the scene. When it became obvious that Corey was going to win, he broke down his cue and forfieted, rather than allow him the glory of actually getting that win on the table.

The next tour stop was in Charlotte, and Earl was suspended for that stop.

Steve

 

[jay helfert]

Yea, I'm pretty sure it was Corey, and Corey was quite young... I don't think he was soft-breaking, but it would have been Corey's first professional win, if I'm not mistaken. Given that his first professional win would have come against a player like Earl,it was quite a big match.

And, it was very well known that Camel was on the fence about whether to continue the tour. This could have been a great final match, and maybe Camel would have continued the tour. But, Earl walked out, RJR was quite angry, and the free money going to players from Camel stopped.

But luckily, the players that agreed with Mackey continued their lawsuit against THE ONLY CORPORATE AMERICA ENTITY PUTTING MONEY IN POOL PLAYERS POCKETS (Players on Camel Tour even got a year end bonus based on performance and rankings, etc...) All those players must be happy now - Mackey got all the money, Camel is gone, Corporate America ® saw a sport biting the hand that was feeding it, and the players were back to looking for Big Added Money ™ events to play in...

That's it in a nutshell. By the way, Earl quit because he was unhappy with Scott Smith's racking. Earl had just won the last game and only trailed 5-4 in the Race To Eleven. Earl made Scott rack over a few times and finally Scott told him to go ahead and break the balls. Earl was still unhappy with the rack and broke down his cue and walked out, to the astonishment of everyone.

This match paid 15K to the winner and 7.5K for second. Plus all the "bonus" points. I think Earl was fined for forfeiting. He may have lost his prize money or the bonus points for second place. Of that I'm not certain. He was able to continue on the tour for the rest of the season. The main man from Camel, Larry Kiger, was VERY unhappy about this whole situation. He had told me prior to this event that Camel could easily double or triple the prize money the following year. He never spoke about that again after Milwaukee!

 

[pooltchr]

That's it in a nutshell. By the way, Earl quit because he was unhappy with Scott Smith's racking. Earl had just won the last game and only trailed 5-4 in the Race To Eleven. Earl made Scott rack over a few times and finally Scott told him to go ahead and break the balls. Earl was still unhappy with the rack and broke down his cue and walked out, to the astonishment of everyone.

This match paid 15K to the winner and 7.5K for second. Plus all the "bonus" points. I think Earl was fined for forfeiting. He may have lost his prize money or the bonus points for second place. Of that I'm not certain. He was able to continue on the tour for the rest of the season. I know Larry Kiger, the main man from Camel, was VERY unhappy about this whole situation. He had told me prior to this event that Camel could easily double or triple the prize money the following year. He never spoke about that again after Milwaukee!

Jay,
Earl was slapped with a one tournament suspension. The next stop on the tour was here in Charlotte, and his suspension for that event was the buzz all week.
Steve

 

[jay helfert]

Jay,
Earl was slapped with a one tournament suspension. The next stop on the tour was here in Charlotte, and his suspension for that event was the buzz all week.
Steve

Thanks Steve. Then he did get his second place money from Milwaukee. I knew he got fined somehow but I couldn't remember exactly what it was.

 

[KoolKat9Lives]

That's it in a nutshell. By the way, Earl quit because he was unhappy with Scott Smith's racking. Earl had just won the last game and only trailed 5-4 in the Race To Eleven. Earl made Scott rack over a few times and finally Scott told him to go ahead and break the balls. Earl was still unhappy with the rack and broke down his cue and walked out, to the astonishment of everyone.

This match paid 15K to the winner and 7.5K for second. Plus all the "bonus" points. I think Earl was fined for forfeiting. He may have lost his prize money or the bonus points for second place. Of that I'm not certain. He was able to continue on the tour for the rest of the season. The main man from Camel, Larry Kiger, was VERY unhappy about this whole situation. He had told me prior to this event that Camel could easily double or triple the prize money the following year. He never spoke about that again after Milwaukee!

Thanks for sharing that, I know you also discussed this in your book, Pool Wars.

It's absolutely, miserably, pathetically sad that something so good happening for pool was obliterated over such trivial bullshit.

 

[jay helfert]

Thanks for sharing that, I know you also discussed this in your book, Pool Wars.

It's absolutely, miserably, pathetically sad that something so good happening for pool was obliterated over such trivial bullshit.

All was lost because of a "perceived" bad rack. It wasn't the only thing, but it may have been the final straw.

 

[pooltchr]

I don't think Earl's forfiet brought down the tour. At the time, the government was going after the tobacco companies big time, and they were placing a restriction on the number of sports a tobacco company could sponsor. RJR had the Camel tour, but they also had the Winston series in NASCAR. They were being forced to make a choice, and we all knew which one they would choose. Earl may have helped expedite the decision, but I suspect the tour was toast already. I spoke with some of the people involved with the tour when they were hear, and they were already doubting that the tour would be around the next year.
Steve

 

[dogginda9]

All was lost because of a "perceived" bad rack. It wasn't the only thing, but it may have been the final straw.

How appropriate that it was the straw that broke the Camel's back.
Humor ar ar.

 

[sjm]

I had my own dealings with him way back in 1993. I knew he was not someone to be trusted and tried to warn the players. He had them mesmerized with non stop twelve hour meetings. 'Dazzle them with bullsh-t' is the best I can describe what went on in those meetings. He had them dreaming of sugar plums and golden fairy's. I lost a lot of respect for my "friends" on the pro tour after that. They know who they are.

I had dealings with Mackey, too, and they were very disheartening. I like to leave the names out when telling stories like this one but I was sponsoring a pro player in 1998 on the Camel Tour. This player managed a 3rd place finish in an event and won $7,200. Our procedure was that he signed his check over to me and I simultaneously wrote him a check for his agreed to share of the money, so that's what we did. Then I would deposit it. simple enough --- that is until the check from Mackey and the PBT bounced! Over the next month or so, I was often on the phone with Mackey's office and, eventually, I was told that the account had enough in it to cover the check that had bounced, so I redeposited the check and this time it cleared.

... but Mackey nearly swindled me out of $7,200.

 

[Island Drive]

To support the tour, I went along with his ''sputum'' for the game and support of my peers at ''that time''.

 

[Fatboy]

Back when there was some money in pool it was a mess. Now we don’t even have $ to fight over…..I wonder what it will be like in 12 more years? I hope better.

 

[jay helfert]

I had dealings with Mackey, too, and they were very disheartening. I like to leave the names out when telling stories like this one but I was sponsoring a pro player in 1998 on the Camel Tour. This player managed a 3rd place finish in an event and won $7,200. Our procedure was that he signed his check over to me and I simultaneously wrote him a check for his agreed to share of the money, so that's what we did. Then I would deposit it. simple enough --- that is until the check from Mackey and the PBT bounced! Over the next month or so, I was often on the phone with Mackey's office and, eventually, I was told that the account had enough in it to cover the check that had bounced, so I redeposited the check and this time it cleared.

... but Mackey nearly swindled me out of $7,200.

Welcome to the club. Others did not fare so well.

 

[garczar]

Here's his pad: https://www.google.com/maps/place/5...c9c32cab3baf96!8m2!3d28.5049496!4d-82.5620758

 

[Fatboy]

He’s not living too large. Shame it went like it did. Was horrible.

 

[Tommy-D]

I always said if I ever saw him again I'd kick him dead in his nuts for what he did TO pool,on behalf of everyone.

I still would. Tommy D.

 

[Joe_Jaguar]

I always said if I ever saw him again I'd kick him dead in his nuts for what he did TO pool,on behalf of everyone.

I still would. Tommy D.

Awesome story.

 

[Dan White]

I'm always amused and amazed how threads can lie dormant for 12 years and then start right back up again!

 

[9ball5032]

Don Mackey you feigned good for the tour.
You didn't even get Bud or Coors.
When your name comes up now, all I can say is WOW,
he was far, far from a do-gooder.

 

[JoeyInCali]

PBT was run like a freaking traveling carnival .
They were blatantly corrupt.
Down to ticket scalping at the Riviera during the PBT World-8.
Absolutely shameless .
Then the checks started bouncing .

 

[Straightpool_99]

Pool is like the drug addicted friend who's burned everyone he knows 3 times too many. People got on with their lives and pretend he doesn't exist. At some point you have to cut your losses, which is what every potential sponsor is doing. Pool is boring to watch. It could be made into passable entertainment with great commentary, with professional commentators who are well prepared, build up narratives and rivalries etc...Alas, we'll never get the chance again. We wasted the best opportunities we had. If you think "Well, that's just in the US", you're sadly mistaken. The same misguided worship of hustlers and con-men exist in Europe as well. We had a mini-Don Mackey situation in the country where I live, in my former club in fact. Some fast talker ran off with sponsorship money and the clubs funds. I tried to warn people, but nobody would listen. That was a decade ago, but then a couple of years ago, a much bigger situation arose with an international player tournament and embezzling funds, that luckily was barely prevented from going nuclear. People were getting paid, at great cost to the people whom the con-man duped.

Somehow the entire culture of the game is corrupt to the core. How it happened, I don't know, but I do know that it is persistent and widespread. Also, it's the one problem that can't be solved by throwing money at it.