Wouldn't say i've had idols but i have met a few that i consider supreme players. Buddy, Matlock(got to be good friends w/Dave), Mosconi, Varner, Orcollo, Massey, Sigel to name a few. My best non-pool story was at the big cigar trade show in S.Antonio in 2000. Sat in the bar late one night next to Ditka, Stabler and Bradshaw(all three were pimping various cigar brands) as they told football war stories. Priceless. Wish i had recorded that little party.
Who else has met their idols?
- Thread starter skiergd011013
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Only Pool player I met was in idol land was friend cousin Willie M, this was early 60 when cousin came to see cousin.
Lou introduced me to Willie, said he is Pool player.
Did not see big deal at time, but Willie was gentleman.
Lou introduced me to Willie, said he is Pool player.
Did not see big deal at time, but Willie was gentleman.
As someone hearing impaired myself, I can tell you that casual conversation can be a trial to somebody as severely impaired as Shane is. Those that are hearing impaired tend to talk too much so they don't have to try to hear and understand others or they say little and let most of the conversation blow past them. Very hard to judge someone with the level of impairment Shane has unless you know them very well. One on one conversation in a quiet place may reveal a far different person.
Hu
That’s a great point that I didn’t consider. He however was more talkative and happier seeming playing a 12ish year old girl at griff’s, was very playful and they were casually talking trash to each other.
RM is cool as hell.
I sat at a booth in the bar late at night in Atlantic City during the taping of the Legends of Pool with Fats, Puckett and Harry Reasoner from Sixty Minutes fame. They were all drinking excessively and trying to outdo each other with their war stories. I couldn't stop laughing (I don't drink) for hours. One unforgettable night! Funnier than any comedian I ever saw on TV.
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I can't say I have any idols.
Living in NYC, I've been lucky to meet Efren and Earl and SVB and Jayson Shaw among others, and play a bunch with Mika when he was winning everything.
But I was there when my dad met his idol, Tito Puente, just by chance in a record shop one afternoon.
First time I ever saw my very confident dad nervous. Tito was used to this and was very nice to us.
Living in NYC, I've been lucky to meet Efren and Earl and SVB and Jayson Shaw among others, and play a bunch with Mika when he was winning everything.
But I was there when my dad met his idol, Tito Puente, just by chance in a record shop one afternoon.
First time I ever saw my very confident dad nervous. Tito was used to this and was very nice to us.
Benjamin Franklin lived the last 67 years of his life in Philadelphia. I'd call him a little more famous than Wilt. That said, it must have been amazing to meet Chamberlain.
I've met most all the pros, but joking around with Willie at one of the old BCA trade shows was a highlight along with Fats cursing up a strom in the bathroom. Playing a little 3C with Sang Lee, hanging out with Buddy and his brothers in years ago in his little filling station garage pool room in Metropolis. Met a lot of the top international 3C players in Vegas this year but I still would like to meet Ray Cuelemans. Jean Balukas drew me a little pic with her autograph and Red Skeleton drew a clown on his. Glad I got to meet so many before they passed.
Even thirty years ago, I knew most of the pros, but one pro I'd never gotten to know was Steve Mizerak, and the way I met him was improbable. I was attending what I believe to have been the 1995 Florida Flare Up, a PBT event in Fort Lauderdale. Fans and players alike all stayed at the same hotel, about a mile from the tournament venue. I hailed a cab and a player I didn't know named Johnny Galloway must have known me and asked me if he could ride back to the hotel with me. I said OK, and he then asked if his friend, who'd be along in a moment or two, could ride with us, too, so I said OK. His friend turned out to be Steve Mizerak and for the rest of that week, Miz went out of his way to say hi to me. Steve had always been one of my idols.
I spent quite a bit of time talking with Irving Crane and Luther Lassiter in the mid 80's at the BC open. They both could still play! Irving lost his first two but both were hill-hill. He had absolutely no break and still put up a fight. Wimpy could still compete with the best of them; he beat a few pros and cashed in that tournament. I wish I would have got some pics. No cells phones back then though.
Always wondered what happened to John Galloway? He played all the pro events for two or three years and then disappeared just like that. He was very much an amateur player and doubtful he ever cashed, but he practiced hard and became competitive enough to win games. He just loved to play pool and hang out with the players.
I haven't even seen Johnny Galloway since that day.
The next Florida Flare Up, which I also attended in 1996, was one for the ages just because of the drama surrounding Efren. He learned shortly before his first-round match with David Howard that his father had just died. He didn't look like himself in the match with David, in which David was the victor. What happened next was some of the most heartwarming stuff I've ever experienced in my years as a pool fan. Efren went on a long winning streak which took him all the way to the final against Johnny Archer, and Efren made no mistake of it in the final, winning easily. Later that night, Efren would get on a flight back home to attend his father's funeral.
That he was able to perform at this level given these sad and stressful circumstances is just another reminder of what made Efren so special.
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One of the best things about "pro" pool is that the players are not cordoned off from the crowd and are very easy to run into. I remember at a RI event at Snookers there was a table with Archer, Pagulayan and Strickland just having some lunch 2 feet from me. That same event I was sitting at a couch with Jayson, Mika and Earl listening to them chat about events and games.
I got to play with Karen Corr maybe a week or two after she arrived in the US, she was hanging out at a pool hall near Boston called Brighton Billiards and I asked her to play a bit, had no idea who she was, but I had a table by myself and she looked to be waiting to play. Also played with the world wheelchair champion totally by random chance when I was in Sweden for work, a few guys from Germany and I went to find a pool hall and he was in there doing some trick shots for people. Literally a week later after I got back home I watched this guy play on ESPN.
Probably meeting and watching a private match with Efren is the top of the list, but I have met and been around for a bit with most of my pool heroes from earlier times. I sat for a few hours with Nick Varner at a Jr Nationals in the stands, that was fun. When I first got into pool that Color of Money match with Earl and Efren was the tapes I would watch and meeting Mark Wilson who did commentary for that was a big thrill for me, I don't remember the first time I met him, I think it was at a BCA Trade show when we were there for Jr Nationals my son played in. Went to some lessons with Ralf Soquet, Archer and Rodney, got to chat with them a bit at that time also as well as meeting a lot of players at various shows/tournaments/events like SBE and the BCA trade show. Met Sigel at a local pool hall when he was promoting his league, my son and I were the only ones that knew he was going to be there so he spent a bunch of time playing with my son and showing him a few things.
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