2013 One Pocket HOF Call for Nominations

[wincardona]

Cliff Joyner has been passed by for too many years, he's certainly one of the best players ever and should be inducted off of that fact alone.

I have nominated Ervolino for the past several years, and I agree with "Hacker" that his understanding of the game and his ability to read the stack far surpasses most anyone that has ever played.

John Henderson and Al Romero are excellent candidates as well, they have certainly been ambassadors of the game and should be recognized for it.

Scott Frost will undoubtedly get inducted, but maybe not this year.

Freddy The Beard is also a great candidate for many reasons, in spite of our differences.:sorry

Dr. Bill

 

[gbru]

I think Cliff should be at the top of the list as well but...
What happened to Clem Metz...? Nobody has mentioned him for this year.


From a Post By Jay Helfert:

A little historical note. Rags (John Fitzpatrick) and Clem were considered the two best One Pocket players in the country in the 50's. After Rags died in 1960, Clem was numero uno until Ronnie emerged in the mid 60's as the new One Pocket king. Clem had his moment in the sun, when he was the top dog. To this day, he is considered one of the greatest proponents of One Pocket of all time. This is not from any record book, just from the lips of the players who knew him, and played him.


Info From the 2010 Hall of Fame Ballot:

Eugene ‘Clem’ Metz – One of the top ‘undercover’ One Pocket players ever. All the old time champions include his name on their short lists of "the best One Pocket player ever". ‘Clem’ is a legend of the road from the old school.

And This From Cuesmith:

Clem was the consumate pool hustler with a little bit of larceny thrown in for good luck. I've known Clem since I bought my first poolroom,
Royal Family Billiards of Oakley, in Cincinnati. It was THE action room in Cincinnati at the time while being sort of an "old school" pool room. Clem and I became pretty good friends there. He was a bit past his prime but I found he could still move and run out "at will" on a barbox when I got pissed off about the sandbagging in the APA. I put together a team of hustlers from the poolroom who'd never played in a league before so they had to qualify. Most of them were busted by the "pool police" who recognized them from local tourrnaments and their handicaps rose dramatically. Eugene Metz remained a 2 for a couple of months until someone on our team screwed up and slipped by calling out from the bar "Hey Clem, can I get you a drink?" That was the end of that team. lol I once asked Marshall "Squirrel" Carpenter at the Hall of Fame Banquet about Clem and he told me "You know, at one time I thought I could beat anyone in the world playing one-pocket, Except Clem!" That's pretty strong!

 

[piggybank04]

in the spirit of qualification #3, i nominate toledo joe thomas--still a good op player at the tender young age of 82, he has done much to promote one pocket all over the usa......

 

[spiderwebcomm]

Hubert Cokes isn't going to like being passed over again. Things like his induction should be done by fiat rather than popular vote. These matters can't be left to the masses to decide.

I agree w/ this.

I also like Cliff Joyner.

Hard to pick a favorite between these two.

 

[ZigZag]

My vote is for Cliff Joyner

...despite loser moves like what he pulled against Runnels here, just after the 18:10 mark: [ame]http://youtu.be/NqEjObPIV5M?t=18m5s[/ame]

 

[stedyfred]

I will be voting for Cliff for sure, very deserving.

 

[fred bentivegna]

in the spirit of qualification #3, i nominate toledo joe thomas--still a good op player at the tender young age of 82, he has done much to promote one pocket all over the usa......

Joe is a good old man. I sell his DVD on my website. He just made me a cue, but I only got the butt because his lathe broke down.

Beard

 

[fred bentivegna]

Johnny Cannonball Lefty Chapman, deserves a nod. He is in the Bank HOF, but he rates in the upper zones in the OnePocket HOF also.

Beard

 

[SJDinPHX]

I agree w/ this.

I also like Cliff Joyner.

Hard to pick a favorite between these two.

Mr. Cokes would be in the deceased category..hard to believe he is not already in !..Cliff would be in the 'still alive' group, hence no competition there !

Even though, (as Red Card pointed out) Mr Coke's would need to stick to "Elk's Club member's,", in order to give up the '8 no-count game',.. he was a life long solid player, and promoter/ ambassador of the game !

IMHO I think Cliff deserves the nod (for above ground guy's) as he has been a huge force in the game, for several decades now !..As for other choices, I would also like to see Henderson, or 'Little Al' get in, for the obvious reasons !

SJD

 

[gulfportdoc]

Johnny Ervolino for One Pocket.. For him to not be in there already is criminal.. For the record he knew more about one pocket and more shots and strategy and more about the stack than ANYONE who posts on this forum PERIOD and it isn't even close.. Forget all the bullshit stories you hear on here about how they beat him. Johnny forgot more about the game than any of these guys will ever know if they live to be 120 years old.

Heh, heh. I too believe that Ervolino should have been in by now. I brought him up for several years, but Beard always talked him down, basically saying that he was a straight pool player. And you know how much sway Fred has in the voting. The other gripe is that reportedly the guys from NYC would never bet it up.

I'd also like to see Cokes and Clem Metz in there. But my guess is that if they do get in it'll be a few years down the road when many realize that we haven't yet got all the deserving old-timers inducted. Many of the younger guys are always going to go for the recent marquee names. It's a popularity contest, as it is with the baseball All Star game.

Jay Helfert would be a good pick in the promoter category. Steve Booth should also go in under that category, but his WASPy insistence against self-promotion will likely cause him to decline the honor until he's much older.

Cliff will most likely go in this year; especially so since Daulton went in before Cliff-- last year.

~Doc

 

[Island Drive]

He gave several people that game at the Elks in Evansville through the years. I was up there once with a buddy who shot real straight. He had the effrontery to ask Hubert for a spot playing nine ball. Terry was about my age, 21 or so, and Cokes was in his seventies. He gruffly dismissed the request with 'when I was your age I spotted many of 'em'. I was secretly hoping he'd go ahead and shoot Terry.

As evidenced in the picture above, Hubert was also a great humanitarian.

He and Fats Loved playing each other and Fatty would drive to Evansville IN & play there. Hube, he took Nick V. under wing during the latter Jansco days. Interesting the humanitarian side of Hubert, Fats was the ultimate Humanitarian. Here's what Evelyn said, it's quite unbelievable.....but true.
''Fats was crazy about animals, he wouldn't kill a fly. He told me a half dozen times at home, ''Evelyn there's a fly in that bathroom'' and he'd tell me how long it had been in there. ''it's been in there three days''. And if he ever goes out of the room don't kill him, don't destroy that fly.

 

[wincardona]

Heh, heh. I too believe that Ervolino should have been in by now. I brought him up for several years, but Beard always talked him down, basically saying that he was a straight pool player. And you know how much sway Fred has in the voting. The other gripe is that reportedly the guys from NYC would never bet it up.

I'd also like to see Cokes and Clem Metz in there. But my guess is that if they do get in it'll be a few years down the road when many realize that we haven't yet got all the deserving old-timers inducted. Many of the younger guys are always going to go for the recent marquee names. It's a popularity contest, as it is with the baseball All Star game.

Jay Helfert would be a good pick in the promoter category. Steve Booth should also go in under that category, but his WASPy insistence against self-promotion will likely cause him to decline the honor until he's much older.

Cliff will most likely go in this year; especially so since Daulton went in before Cliff-- last year.

~Doc

I'm giving you a "cookie" for your ..excellent observations. Spot on.

Dr. Bill

 

[fred bentivegna]

Heh, heh. I too believe that Ervolino should have been in by now. I brought him up for several years, but Beard always talked him down, basically saying that he was a straight pool player. And you know how much sway Fred has in the voting. The other gripe is that reportedly the guys from NYC would never bet it up.

I'd also like to see Cokes and Clem Metz in there. But my guess is that if they do get in it'll be a few years down the road when many realize that we haven't yet got all the deserving old-timers inducted. Many of the younger guys are always going to go for the recent marquee names. It's a popularity contest, as it is with the baseball All Star game.

Jay Helfert would be a good pick in the promoter category. Steve Booth should also go in under that category, but his WASPy insistence against self-promotion will likely cause him to decline the honor until he's much older.

Cliff will most likely go in this year; especially so since Daulton went in before Cliff-- last year.

~Doc

It aint like Johnny and I were enemies. When he came to Chicago we would hang out together. We were good friends and he owes me as much as probably anybody else.:lol Johnny was a great pool player, but I can honestly say, and for whatever reason, I never seen him play a game of Onepocket with a good player for good money.
I am not knocking him, I am just trying to maintain the integrity of the Hall of Fame. I could certainly see him being elected, but not before the likes of Hubert Cokes or Clem Metz, or even my mentor Gene Skinner (the only man to beat Mosconi playing Onepocket), and what about Marcel Camp?

Beard

 

[RedCard]

Mr. Cokes would be in the deceased category..hard to believe he is not already in !..Cliff would be in the 'still alive' group, hence no competition there !

Even though, (as Red Card pointed out) Mr Coke's would need to stick to 'Elk's Club members,' in order to give up the '8 no-count game',.. he was a life long solid player, and promoter/ ambassador of the game !

IMHO I think Cliff deserves the nod (for above ground guy's) as he has been a huge force in the game, for several decades now !..As for other choices, I would also like to see Henderson, or 'Little Al' get in, for the obvious reasons !

SJD

I should clarify that I didn't say or imply that Hubert would need to 'stick to the Elks Club members' to give up the 8/no count spot. I wrote, 'He gave several people that game at the Elks in Evansville through the years'. That was his room, it is where he held court. A lot of players came to the Elks to play him. As Island Drive noted, Fats visited often. Maybe Cokes gave a fellow Elk 8/no count at some other venue but I doubt it.

Could be he gave a brother Elk that spot somewhere and it wasn't an Elk after all but maybe a moose, a wise old owl or even that Geico commercial camel that keeps asking what day it is.

 

[androd]

not before the likes of Hubert Cokes or Clem Metz, or even my mentor Gene Skinner (the only man to beat Mosconi playing Onepocket), and what about Marcel Camp?

Beard

Marcel Camp was labeled "a young phenom" when he beat Greenleaf twice playing straight pool in 1929.
Rod.

 

[fred bentivegna]

Marcel Camp was labeled "a young phenom" when he beat Greenleaf twice playing straight pool in 1929.
Rod.

You sure, Rod? I think he only beat him the first time and then never won another game. He told me after beating Greenleaf, the other guys never left him anything to shoot at and they just suffocated him, and I think he said he never won another match that tournament. Of course he told me all this 50 years ago and my memory may be a little off.

Beard

 

[pvclou]

2013 One Pocket HOF Call for Nominations

I like cliff too. I'd really like to see a cliff Joyner interview on onepocket.org

 

[Ken_4fun]

Al 'NY Blackie' Bonife

Al 'NY Blackie' Bonife

Im a nobody but....a really good pool player said his best friend was Blackie and he was an incredible One Pocket player.

NY Blackie

Who of the people that everyone has nominationed could beat him?

Ken

 

[jtompilot]

Im a nobody but....a really good pool player said his best friend was Blackie and he was an incredible One Pocket player.

NY Blackie

Who of the people that everyone has nominationed could beat him?

Ken

When I first moved to New Orleans in 1990 there was a NY Blackie there. Was that the same guy? Also Earl Heslier(sp?) was in New Orleans. I didn't play 1p then so I missed out then.

 

[Ken_4fun]

When I first moved to New Orleans in 1990 there was a NY Blackie there. Was that the same guy? Also Earl Heslier(sp?) was in New Orleans. I didn't play 1p then so I missed out then.

Yes he lived there for a few years.

Ken