Johnny "Irish" Lineen

[lll]

It was me that asked and yes it’s heisLer

 

[gulfportdoc]

Doc, I read it was at 711 7th Ave in Manhattan up on the third floor and was also known as Paddy's. 21 tables and the fiercest competition ever at that time.... 'Hustler Days'

Interesting. That would have made it being the same general location as Ames, McGirr's, and Broadway Billiards during its era.

 

[Billy Jackets]

It was me that asked and yes it’s heisLer

Thanks lll

 

[jd67]

 

[Jimmy B]

View attachment 429862

Well thanks a lot, JD.. I was wondering what took him out so young.. Histoplasmosis, a spore.. You know Beard wrote that he first went to Miami in 65 to Jack Kramer's Cue And Cushion. He said it was modern at the time and it was the most exciting room he had visited with 18 Gold Crowns and there were so many champs there that were Wintering in Miami.. Now this was the year Irish died, however Irish had spent the previous winter there, and it was a unanimous agreement that Irish was the best player to have played there, and that included Nine Ball, One Pocket, and Three Cushion. Banks wasn't mentioned, which was Beards best game. Beard mentioned a few who were there which included Ambrose, Kokomo Joe, Little Miami, NY Scarface, NY Cohen, Little Miami Gonzales, Surfer Rod, Kilroy Kosmolski, Gene Skinner, Mike Carella, Marcel Camp, Ervolino, Fats, Brooklyn Jimmy Cassas,, Staten Island Halliday, Bunny Rogoff and Peter Rabbit were there Danny D also mentioned, if you place any store by these guys and I'm sure many others were around. In fact Beard said he made his first big score there off a guy who owned an Army Surplus Store playing banks 8-7.

 

[beatle]

that was its address. no one called it paddys.

 

[gulfportdoc]

Well thanks, JD, for posting that great article by Thomas Shaw in Pool & Billiard Magazine from 1996! What a great find. I probably read that article at publication, but forgot all about it.

It sounds like the consensus was that Irish was at the very pinnacle of the top players of all time. It reminds me of the accolades that Harold Worst got. Lineen was certainly a virtuoso, like Worst and Efren, maybe even more so.

No one seems to know how much one-pocket he played, but there have been a few references in that regard. And if he spent all that time in Miami, where he would have played the best road players, he surely played one-pocket.

I see that he has not been inducted into the BCA HOF, so we have the opportunity to "steal" one from them.. ~Doc

 

[androd]

Great Stuff !
Thanx JD

 

[lll]

great Read jd
thanks for posting that

 

[Dennis "Whitey" Young]

Thanks JD, I have never read such great articles before. If he does not make our HOF for OP, I would certainly hope he makes life time achievement, and these articles go in there also! thanks again! Whitey

 

[baby huey]

This thread has made me think that doing interviews with great players from the past might help understanding how well some of these players actually played. I have seen some great interviews with Jimmy Moore, Eddie Kelly and Ronnie Allen. Many of these great players were from the WW2 greatest generation era and have now passed on. I do know this about Irish from an old player who was 70 yrs old when I was in my early 20's that Irish had the best nine ball break baring none and that his 14.1 game was right there with the second tier players He was not in the same caliber of Greenleaf or Mosconi. His One Pocket game had to be respected like the great ball strikers of today.

 

[jd67]

I'm glad you folks enjoyed the article. Pool and Billiard did a series of "Legends of the Road" pieces in the 1990's and maybe later. I have most of the issues from the 1990's so if there is an interest, I could scan more.

 

[Billy Jackets]

There was another publication called Inside English that did interviews also, not sure if they are still around.
Even when I was going around taking pictures and talking to players , almost every other pool player acted like I was strange. I guess they didn't realize that one day they would be old and another generation of players would be lost in the mists of time.
There is a ton of info about the players from 1870 to 1920 , then it just dies off until Mosconi Caras, Crane, Hoppe, and Fats , there were some others that had a bit of notoriety but the meat and potatoes guys were mostly only known by other players, especially the road men. That's part of why I think pool isn't a bigger past time . The average Joe doesn't have a clue who the top pool players are. {And doesn't care}

 

[keoneyo]

This thread has made me think that doing interviews with great players from the past might help understanding how well some of these players actually played. I have seen some great interviews with Jimmy Moore, Eddie Kelly and Ronnie Allen. Many of these great players were from the WW2 greatest generation era and have now passed on. I do know this about Irish from an old player who was 70 yrs old when I was in my early 20's that Irish had the best nine ball break baring none and that his 14.1 game was right there with the second tier players He was not in the same caliber of Greenleaf or Mosconi. His One Pocket game had to be respected like the great ball strikers of today.

With all this technology we should be documenting all the players that still exist for future generations.
Johnny Archer, Buddy Hall, Kim Davenport, Earl Strickland, Jose Parica, Jimmy Rempe, etc etc.
Theres a slew of players out there that we should be recording for posterity.

 

[NH Steve]

I'm glad you folks enjoyed the article. Pool and Billiard did a series of "Legends of the Road" pieces in the 1990's and maybe later. I have most of the issues from the 1990's so if there is an interest, I could scan more.

Thank you for posting that, it was a great read!!

 

[lll]

I'm glad you folks enjoyed the article. Pool and Billiard did a series of "Legends of the Road" pieces in the 1990's and maybe later. I have most of the issues from the 1990's so if there is an interest, I could scan more.

Quick story
i went to school at Tulane in the early 1970’s
the sports palace was THE place for road players
earl heisler and New York blackie were the house pros and would play anyone
i was a young college kid and didnt know I got to to see some of the greatest players
names like bugs Rucker st Louie Louie even earl and blackie didn’t mean any thing to me
it wasn’t until the 1990’s and those articles about the legends of the road was my memory refreshened and names and games I saw came back to me
little did I realize how lucky I was to have been there
sorry for the side track
carry on men

 

[baby huey]

That article on Irish was very well written and I really enjoyed reading it. Amazing how sometimes great players just didn't have the hustle and money making abilities that lessor players had. Lastly, too much emphasis is made on players of that ERA taking a cue off the rack and playing well with it. You have to remember that very few players owned their own two piece cues back then and that rooms maintained their house cues many of which were Brunswick Willie Hoppe Titlist Cues. Today we all look for those old full splice one piecers to convert into two piece masterpieces.

 

[beatle]

iuyg

 

[Billy Jackets]

Thanks for the offer, Billy. If you have any pictures of Hayden Lingo or Johnny Vives, I'd love to see them.
Heres Johnny Vevis, I'm having trouble scanning and getting quality
The original is a bit better but not much.
~Doc

 

[gulfportdoc]

Thanks, Billy. That gives a reasonable view of what Vives looked like. I saw his picture somewhere, but can't recall where...