by radyer | Mar 23, 2019 | 1950s Pool, Historic Players, Hustler Stories, Weenie Beenie
Here’s an excerpt of an interview I conducted around 2007 with Bill “Weenie Beenie” Staton. Some of this, as I recall, ended up in Hustler Days. Staton references in this interview his hot dog stand. That’s a picture of the last of his hot dog...
by radyer | Mar 2, 2019 | 1960s Pool, Historic Rooms, Historical Notes, Hustler Stories, Jersey Red
A little more than 20 years ago I interviewed Ned Polsky, the late author of Hustlers, Beats and Others. We spoke about the 7-11 pool hall and Jersey Red and where pool’s been and where it was then going. Polksy himself had met Red at the 7-11 in Manhattan, and...
by radyer | Feb 27, 2019 | 1960s Pool, Hubert Cokes, Hustler Stories, Jansco Brothers
Gary Carlson, a former graduate student from Southern Illinois who wrote recently about a chance encounter he had with Minnesota Fats, also sent in a note about stumbling into a poolroom owned by George and Paulie Jansco. This was sometime back in the late 1960s. The...
by radyer | Feb 27, 2019 | Hustler Stories, Onofrio Lauri
Pool, as is noted in this great Sports Illustrated article that I’ve just stumbled across, involves sustained waiting. “When one player is at the table, there is nothing his opponent can do except sit and hope that he misses,” wrote Robert Coughlan...
by radyer | Feb 26, 2019 | 1910s Pool, 1920s Pool, 1930s Pool, Alfredo De Oro, Hustler Stories
The Alfredo De Oro Bladder Technique I wrote an essay sometime back in which I listed some of the most popular sharking techniques in history. Somehow I neglected to mention one of my favorites. During the 1936 World Billiards Tournament, when Alfredo De Oro was 71...
by radyer | Feb 21, 2019 | Historical Notes, Hustler Stories, One-Pocket, Tom Fox
Here’s a one-pocket mystery. Jack Hill, apparently from Oklahoma, is referenced in Hustler Days as the inventor of one-pocket. But the original source for that information was The Bank Shot and Other Great Robberies, the book by Minnesota Fats. Fats offers only...
Recent Comments