Diana Hoppe photo
Congratulations to our new Hall of Fame inductees!
Jose Parica, our 2010 honoree for One Pocket
The One Pocket Hall of Fame is pleased to announce this year’s class of inductees in the categories of One Pocket, Bank Pool and Lifetime Pool in Action. This year we have two One Pocket inductees, the well travelled professional player, Jose Parica, and the outspoken legend of pool, the late Rudolf ‘Fats’ Wanderone, AKA ‘Minnesota Fats’. Our Banks inductee this year is the aptly named Glenn ‘Piggy Banks’ Rogers, from Chicago, Illinois.
This year the veteran Seattle player/lawyer Harry Platis was honored for Lifetime Pool in Action. Harry is a unique combination of a good player that likes to bet it up, who is also a successful practicing attorney. Over the last thirty years he has either backed or competed against nearly every top player that dabbles in the action side of pool.
Jose listens before approaching the podium
Jose Parica listens attentively to his introduction prior to stepping up to the podium for his Hall of Fame induction. Parica spoke of “coming a long way” from his roots in the Philippines to this first Hall of Fame induction of his storied career. This year, the One Pocket Hall of Fame dinner took place at the Legends lounge in the food court area of the Horseshoe Casino, which allowed for more room for guests and an actual stage for master of ceremonies Grady Mathews and Freddy the Beard Bentivegna to honor the inductees.
‘Fats’ was well represented for his posthumous induction for his contribution to the legacy of One Pocket by his widow, Teresa Bell, and by his nephew Doug Corwin (and Doug’s son, as well).
Special guest Jay Helfert performed a monologue of typical Fats’ entertaining dialogue for the crowd. Over his long life and many years of celebrity status, Fats never lost his enthusiasm for talking up the game of One Pocket, which he described like this in his book, The Minnesota Fats Book of Billiards: One Pocket “combines all the other games of billiards and pocket billiards into the most difficult of all games to be played on a pocket table. The so-called Championship Game of 14.1 continuous pocket billiards is an amateur’s game compared to this one.” As much as Fats talked up One Pocket, he also never seemed to miss a chance to disparage Willie Mosconi & Willie’s favorite game, which of course helped make him the most loved/hated figure in the sport of pocket billiards for many years.
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Steve Surber
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Grady Mathews, Teresa Bell & Doug Corwin
Steve Surber spoke in remembrance of his brother Mike Surber, the world class One Pocket player from Biloxi, Mississippi who was murdered last November.
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