by radyer | Dec 28, 2024 | 1940s Pool, 1960s Pool, Hustler Stories, Minnesota Fats
Back in 1970 Minnesota Fats was in Johnston City, Illinois making games with Richie Florence, a young player then considered one of America’s best. Florence was flush with cash from a recent score in Alabama. He would have been about 25 years old. Fats was pushing 60....
by radyer | Jun 5, 2024 | 1960s Pool, Harold Worst
Harold Worst was one of very few champions to have successfully made the leap from three-cushion to pocket billiards. ________________________________________________ By R.A. Dyer In 1954, on a Monday night, the then-dictator of Argentina sat down to a fine dinner....
by radyer | Oct 24, 2023 | 1960s Pool, 1970s Pool, Hustler Stories, Jansco Brothers, Minnesota Fats, Tom Fox, Tournaments
Why should we still care about Johnston City, now a half-century later? There are plenty of reasons, but foremost is that the tournaments changed American pool forever. ________________________________________________ By R.A. Dyer They came flooding in, maybe forty in...
by radyer | Jun 4, 2023 | 1930s Pool, 1960s Pool, Historical Notes, Hustler Stories, Jansco Brothers, One-Pocket, Tournaments, Wimpy Lassiter
George Jansco and his brother Paulie helped usher in America’s modern era of pool. The brothers were inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame in 2019. ________________________________________________ By R.A. Dyer Back before the newspaper men arrived, and before the...
by radyer | Jul 26, 2020 | 1960s Pool, Jansco Brothers, Minnesota Fats, Tom Fox
Karen Fox, widow of Sports Illustrated writer Tom Fox, was there during the ’61 Johnston City tournament. Karen Fox Karen Fox, the widow of Sports Illustrated writer Tom Fox, recounts just below how her late husband came to author what would become one of the...
by Pool History Guest Contributor | Jun 27, 2020 | 1960s Pool, Historic Rooms, Hustler Stories
Novelist Harmon Rangell shares memories of some of New York’s most famous poolrooms. By Harmon Rangell Harmon Rangell The first pool room I walked into was in Queens Village, New York, across from the LIRR railroad station on Springfield Boulevard just south of...
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