Is Fats a fit?

Alfie Taylor

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How touching...

How touching...


To Fast Lenny and this III poster: THANK YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW.
To run across these wonderful pictures of Fatty, smiling like he is, this early in my morning, made more than my day. I was lucky...make that privileged...No, make that honored to know him a bit. You see a lot of pics of him playing and such but these show him playing another game real good...Knife and fork solitaire. How could anyone who likes pool not want this wonderful character to stay the icon that he's always been?
Fats, you got what you wanted: We're still talking about you.
Keep it in our minds. Alfie
 

Island Drive

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florence, colorado
To Fast Lenny and this III poster: THANK YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW.
To run across these wonderful pictures of Fatty, smiling like he is, this early in my morning, made more than my day. I was lucky...make that privileged...No, make that honored to know him a bit. You see a lot of pics of him playing and such but these show him playing another game real good...Knife and fork solitaire. How could anyone who likes pool not want this wonderful character to stay the icon that he's always been?
Fats, you got what you wanted: We're still talking about you.
Keep it in our minds. Alfie

Yep, he'll spot ya a ham ;).
 

fred bentivegna

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I found this while seraching around online and i thought it was pretty good.
Im sure most have seen it before, but for those who didnt heres a link to the storys.


http://www.poolchat.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4111

A great story and MOST of it is accurate. Fatty did not play Richie Florence during the tournament. Richie showed up at Johnston City about a month before the tourn. And he didnt play him once, he played him for a month, and he didnt win 25k, he won 40k plus. He was right tho, about Fatty jerking him around and waiting until Richie was tired and drunk. Misspelling many of the names and nicknames didnt bode well for his credibility as a Secret Society member, however.

Beard

All in all, a good read. He did know Fatty pretty well and he did know Whitey.
 

Cowboy Dennis

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Island Drive said:
Evelyn when she first met fats March seventh 1941 in DuQuoion IL, he was called fats. Then because of a situation he became double smart Fats, and then she said he became triple smart Fats. She also said that when he didn't do well, they just called him Fats.


lll said:
could you expand on this comment??
pm accepted

I can expand & expound on it if it is kept in this thread.

From Titanic Thompson's own mouth(according to Fats):p.

RBL
 

Billy Jackets

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Fats was near helpless playing 9-ball, not so playing three-cushion. Eddie Robin bullied him into playing a game to 50 for $500 at the Michigan State Fair Grounds in 1963. Fats ran 9 and out to leave Eddie in the one-hole. Robin has conveniently forgotten this incident ever occurred, and now denies it vehemently. My old editor, Randi Givens was there to sweat it.

Beard

Thanks Fred
We met before at Gradys One Pocket tournament in Baton Rouge I believe it was , I took the picture of you and Jimmy and Bunny Rogoff.
Thanks for all the hard work to keep the past players alive and help give an accurate accounting of them.
 
Last edited:

Cowboy Dennis

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There is not a single person who responded in this thread that is old enough to have played Fats while he was in his prime. All the comments are hearsay, second-hand stories, or lies (one way or the other) told by someone who hated/loved Fats. None of you played him in his prime or saw him play in his prime.

None of you would judge Ronnie Allen by how he played against D.D. in 1988 so why do it with Fats?

Thank God it's over on the All-Zaniness site now and we don't have to read that crap anymore:).

RBL
 

petie

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I can expand & expound on it if it is kept in this thread.

From Titanic Thompson's own mouth(according to Fats):p.

RBL

I'm sure this has been settled for all reasonable minds but there was a feature article in the Detroit Free Press before the book in which Fatty is identified as "New York Fats."
 

bstroud

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I was in Johnson city the day after Fatty finished with Richie.

I walked into the show bar and Richie was sitting at the bar.

We had a long conversation about what had just happened.

Richie told me then that it was about 35K that he had lost and gave me most of the details about what happened.

One of the interesting details was the fact that Fatty had spotters that would call him when Richie was finished playing and was tired or had too much to drink. Fatty would show up fresh and ready to play.

A master at work.

Bill S.
 

Island Drive

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Evansville IN

Evansville IN

And He loved playing Hubert Cokes and vise versa. They'd start out betting small and then there was no limit, they just ''went at each other''. Became a grudge match with total respect of one another.
 

NH Steve

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And He loved playing Hubert Cokes and vise versa. They'd start out betting small and then there was no limit, they just ''went at each other''. Became a grudge match with total respect of one another.
Those two must have really gone way back. Two pioneers (and ambassadors) of One Pocket!
 

powerball

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Fats Fit?

Fats Fit?

I was fortunate to see quite a bit of Fatty when in my 20's. He traveled quite a bit and always came through St. Louis. If there is still any debate going on about Fatty's play, you can forget it, Fatty could play. Banks was his best game and later it became 1-pocket. Considering the fact that he never worked a day in his life (until he became a celebrity), and didn't live in his car, it's difficult to imagine that he couldn't play.

As for his celebrity, they didn't call him triple-smart for nothing. He saw an opportunity and he grabbed it.

As for his big mouth, well, that was his best game. That's what got him his notoriety. If Fatty was in action and you weren't there to see it, you'd be seriously upset. I would have been happy to pay an admission charge to see him play. As I said, his best game was his mouth and he never stopped talking when it was his shot. More BS than a prize bull and a laugh a minute.

I saw him playing RA and Richie at Johnson City. They were playing in the tournament area and played all night. RA and Richie were double-teaming Fatty; RA was playing him 9-8 and Richie was getting that or better. One would play him for a few hours and then the other. Fatty beat them up. Other than an occasional passer-by, Hubert Cokes was the only other sweater.

I'd love to see him in action again.
 

gulfportdoc

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Welcome to the site, Powerball. If you're from St. Louis you must know my ole pal Lou Figueroa. I've known him since the sleazy days of rec.sport.billiard-- before Steve started this site to give us a place to hang out.;) Lou occasionally stops by the site to straighten us all out.

~Doc
 

powerball

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From St. Louis

From St. Louis

You are right, I'm from St. Louis. I played in the 60's and then took a leave of absence for nearly 35 years. I've heard of Lou and seen him play at Derby City and the US Open, but not locally. Unfortunately, Lou has been barred from the pool room where I play and I don't get around town very much.
 

mr3cushion

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Cocoa Beach, FL
You are right, I'm from St. Louis. I played in the 60's and then took a leave of absence for nearly 35 years. I've heard of Lou and seen him play at Derby City and the US Open, but not locally. Unfortunately, Lou has been barred from the pool room where I play and I don't get around town very much.

How am I NOT surprised! ;)

Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion"
 

Ken_4fun

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Saddest thing

Saddest thing

I often think about these old pool players. I too have watched on ABC Wide World of Sports, these elderly pool players playing terrible.

But to their credit, they were very old at the time and we didnt get to see them in their prime (live or on DVD, internet, etc).

We wont have that problem in the future NOW, EVERYTHING is on tape!

Ken
 

Cowboy Dennis

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I haven't seen this video in awhile and it looks like someone has added to it. It starts with Fats & Mosconi playing then shifts to trickshots by several players and then to a partners match with Hopkins & Mizerak playing against Fats & Mosconi. There is a 6-Ball match with Fats/Mosconi near the end and various other tidbits.

Fats had me laughing so hard I was crying several times. He said:

"I went to Istanbul and played the Terrible Turk...he ain't been terrible since".

"If I get broke I go to Hong Kong and 100 million (people) give me a fin apiece".

"I played Happy The Chinaman, he ain't been happy since".

"I fought in two revolutions, I went down on two ships in the middle of the ocean".

"I ain't missed this shot since WWI" (he then made the shot).

Here's the link: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6B1XncJoD0[/ame]

Enjoy it. I did. The Fatman was the greatest.

P.S. Is this guy a poolplayer? He looks familiar but I'm not sure.

whos dat.jpg



Dennis
 
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