Rack 'em up with George 'The Trapper' Rood George Rood is a good inspiration to 9-Ball players of all ages, that it’s never too late to take up the game of One Pocket. George started as a 9-Ball and Straight Pool player and didn't seriously take up One Pocket until he was about 75 years old! George was honored at our 2007 Derby City Classic Hall of Fame dinner with a “Lifetime of  Pool in Action” award. © 2007 Steve Booth, OnePocket.org

1P: So where are you from, George?
GR: Marietta, Ohio; it’s the oldest town in the Northwest Territory.

1P: So growing up, that’s where your family lived?
GR: Yes.

1P: Are you still living in the same town?
GR: No, I live in Dayton now.

1P: George, I know you are one of pool’s pre-eminent elders, but what year were you born?
GR: In 1914; I am an even 90. November 11th I'll be 91 [soon to be 93 – most of this interview took place in 2005].

1P: Great, congratulations!
GR: I got a problem with circulation, what they call peripheral myopathy. The nerves are not served well by the blood supply.

1P: But you are a real lucky guy, to live to 90 and keep such good company and that sort of thing.
GR: Yeah, I’ve done pretty good.

1P: I know that someone in their 80's is an octogenarian, and someone in their 70's is a septuagenarian; what is the word for someone in their 90’s?
GR: I’ve forgotten what it is for 90.

1P: We don't get to use that one very often.
GR: So you are the guy responsible for getting the hall of fame going, for One Pocket. I would like to become involved with it, you know. The thing of it is – what happens is – people get information on the players that were in the limelight. Well I stayed out of the limelight, so consequently, they don't know me, you see. But all those guys in the limelight, they were in my pocket.

1P: That's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you and one of the things I'm trying to do with the One Pocket web site, is to get more of the history of the after hours players out, so people can learn more about them. Because there are a lot of players, like the black players that either couldn't, or wouldn’t, play in any of the tournaments. There are a lot of players nobody knows much about.
GR: The guys that stayed undercover, like me and Don Willis, are lesser known.

1P: I know I never knew much about Don Willis myself until a few years ago. And in the last few years we have been losing a lot of those players, especially from the 60's and 70's.

[George’s friend comments]: George is amazing. He's modest but he also was in the 1936 Olympics, in the swimming and diving.

1P: Wow; that is an accomplishment! Of course I've always considered pool a sport.
GR: It's not a game like chess where everything is in your head and all you have to do is move the piece.

1P: In pool – especially in One Pocket – you really do have to use your head but then you still have to get up to the table and physically execute your shot.
GR: Yes, under great pressure. And in those long sessions, you could be talking about playing somebody for three days.

1P: If that's not a sport, I don't know what it takes to be a sport.
GR: I still teach at Todd’s Room. [Todd Recher, owner of Airway Billiards, Dayton, Ohio]

1P: So you teach players?
GR: Yes.

1P: Todd told me that for years you played other games, but not One Pocket?
GR: That’s right.

1P: So you came to One Pocket later in life. How late in life was that?
GR: Well, I played very little of it early on. Then I quit playing all pool in the early 60's; didn't play a game of any kind until Todd opened his room about 10 or 12 years ago.

1P: So, let's see, from the 60’s to about 1990…
GR: It was about 25 or 30 years later. I didn't play at all; didn't even go in a poolroom.

1P: Wow, that was quite a lay off.
GR: Yes it was. I developed vision problems that interfered with competing at a high level, so I stopped playing. I have almost no depth perception now.

1P: I didn't know. So you weren't just a pool player then; you had another career as well.
GR: Oh yes. I didn't play pool for a living.
  

1P: When you said Springfield, Ohio, I thought that sounded familiar. So that was where he ran 526?
GR: That's right. That was in the room that I owned, but I didn't own it then; I bought it later. It was the same room where we had played our exhibition, but it was after that, at another exhibition, when he ran all those balls.

1P: Was that same table where he had that run still there when you bought the room?
GR: Yes it was.

1P: I'm told that was a four by eight table?
GR: You're right. Now, we had played on a four and a half by nine, but it was a four by eight that he played on, with another fellow, on the night he had that high run.

1P: George, do you remember how tight the pockets were on that table?
GR: They were large.

1P: That must have helped out a little bit.
GR: But never-the-less, it's more balls than anyone else ever got.

1P: Oh yeah, it’s still amazing, even if it wasn’t the most challenging equipment. Were you there when he did it?
GR: No. I was not there, but I have read the affidavit that everybody signed that night.

[Click here to view the Mosconi run of 526 affidavit on the web]

1P: I've heard that in some of the exhibitions he would run 200 balls and then he would simply stop and switch over to doing his trick shots – not that he missed or anything. I'm wondering why he kept going that particular night.
GR: Probably somebody egged him on, you know. ‘Let's see how many you can run,’ you know. But he sure could run a lot of balls.

1P: So you didn't really begin to play One Pocket until you picked up pool again in Todd’s room relatively recently?
GR: Right. I could play it, but I did not play it seriously. I mean, it wasn't one of the games that I would wager on. I picked One Pocket up pretty quick because, you know, playing Straight Pool for many, many years; it wasn't that hard. It's not a great deal varied from Straight Pool except that you shoot at one hole. I play pretty good One Pocket right now. In fact, I could play here [Derby City] with all these players, even at my advanced age. I could still play with most of these players.

1P: Todd’s room, where you took up pool again, was also a room where Steve Cook played regularly, wasn’t it?
GR: Yes, and One Pocket was his best game but he played several games well.

1P: I understand he played Straight Pool very, very well.
GR: Well, yes, Straight Pool and 9-Ball. He played all three games well.

1P: He was a very creative One Pocket player.
GR: Oh yes, yes, he was a good creative player.

1P: I always enjoyed watching him. One of the things he did really well was when he was in a pickle, where the other guy had a lot of balls around his pocket, he was very good at taking advantage of maybe just one other ball to get the cue ball just enough behind it so that he cut off the other guy's shot.
GR: Yeah.

1P: He didn't need very much of a target to get behind. I mean the rest of us might be able to hide the cue ball behind a full rack, but he could get the cue ball behind just one ball, really well.
GR: Well that's my long suit. It’s one thing that you need to do in One Pocket that very few people can do, shoot a distance on the table soft, and retain English.

1P: You mean what they call slow spin?
GR: That's not a skill that these guys playing 9-Ball would necessarily learn today.

1P: Larry Lisciotti was one of the best in my area at that, but you’re right, not very many of today’s young players use that long slow spin.
GR: No, because of course the cue ball curves and they’ve got to allow for it. That's my long suit.

1P: So if you are going to do well at One Pocket that's one of the skills you’re going to have to learn – to slow spin the cue ball.
GR: Yes. Probably if I have an advantage over a guy it's that important factor. I played an awful lot of Straight Pool, and that's really good training for it. That and Three Cushion billiards; that’s another powerful asset.

1P: So basically, what you did was, you took what you already knew about pool from the other games, like from 9-Ball and Straight Pool, and then you applied that creativity to your One Pocket game.
GR: Yeah; pool and Three Cushion. I’ll show you two shots that I'll bet you've never seen before.

1P: Now, for a guy that has only really taken up One Pocket recently, how do you know all these shots George?
GR: My imagination is very fertile.

1P: At that time, there weren't 9-Ball tournaments. I believe the first one was when the Jansco brothers introduced it in 1962, in their all-around.
GR: I went over there, but didn't play. I watched it. I didn't want to play there because of the publicity, which I didn't want. So I played all those players but not in the public. No tournaments, because I didn't want the publicity, you know.

1P: Yes, I understand that. Did you play a lot of 15-ball Rotation also?
GR: Yes, but not as much as you'd think.

1P: I thought that was an older game than 9-Ball?
GR: It was, but even by then not too many people played rotation. Don Willis was one top player that played rotation. From Canton, Ohio; he played rotation.

1P: So you and Don Willis played?
GR: I got his money; I knocked him out about five times.

1P: And he was like you, in that he never -- I don't think he ever -- played in any tournaments.
GR: Right.

1P: But you played him even and you beat him?
GR: Yes.

1P: That's good and strong. I have heard that he was one of the top players for the money ever, so that puts you in pretty good company.
GR: I beat him a number of times. He came to where I was, in Marietta. I beat him there. I went to Canton and beat him in Canton.

1P: And that was playing 9-Ball, every time?
GR: Yes. As far as Taylor is concerned, I wouldn't play him Banks, but I knocked him out at 9-Ball easy. Not easy, but...

1P: So, you used to be able to string a few racks together?
GR: Oh yeah.

1P: Also, it's hard to be strong at 9-Ball without having a good strong break…
GR: Yeah, I made balls on the break real well and I ran out pretty well. Let’s say this, I ran out better than anybody else. Oh yeah. Now there were a couple of guys that I had lots of trouble with. Lassiter was one of them. We had a tough game, but I sent him to the rack.

1P: So you beat Lassiter?
GR: I played in Norfolk…

1P: Oh, you played in Norfolk during the war years?
GR: Yeah, I played for three days down there in Norfolk. Those were big games. The smallest game I played, and this was about 1947, was for $100 a game, 9-Ball.

1P: Yeah, and $100 a game then is probably equal to about $300 or $400 today.
GR: Lassiter and I started at $300 a game.

1P: I understand Lassiter made an awful lot of money down there in Norfolk; how did you make out in Norfolk?
GR: Well, I played a guy by the name of Chris McGeahan; he was a tournament player. I won $500 from him. Then I played a guy named Don Decoy. I won $2200 from him. The next guy I played was Rags Fitzpatrick. I won $2000 from him.

1P: I understand he was a great 9-Ball and One Pocket player as well.
GR: He was the best all around player I've ever known. I was $9000 winner at that point and Rags had only one barrel left. One of the guys I was with said, ‘Let him win a game; maybe we can get a side bet. Let him win a game.’ So I did, and a fellow by the name of Morgan, they called him JP naturally, got up and said, ‘I'll side bet $500.’ Now we are playing $700 a game 9-Ball, in about 1947.

1P: Wow.
GR: That game I let him win was my undoing. He won the next 13 in a row.

1P: So you let the door open.
GR: And I ended up with only $1900. I was a $9000 winner and didn't get to keep it. I won more games than he did but I didn't win the money. Rags played all games well. He played One Pocket great. Played good 9-Ball. Played good Straight Pool. He played all the games.

1P: It's a shame he died so young.
GR: Yeah. He and I played a number of times. We played in Parkersville, West Virginia. We played in Charleston. We played in Marietta.

1P: How about Fats? Everybody always asks, how did Fats play when he was in his prime, which would have been the 30’s or 40’s?
GR: I always gave him the seven and nine.

1P: So you spotted him the seven playing 9-Ball?
GR: Yeah.

1P: So to put it in Fats’ words, you were an ‘overcoat’ above him, or so.
GR: He wasn't a top player.

1P: No, but 9-Ball wasn't his best game anyway. I guess his best games were Banks and One Pocket.
GR: And he was a decent three-cushion player.

1P: Which also helps in One Pocket.
GR: I’ll tell you about my first time playing The Fat Man. This was way back, in Marietta.

1P: Before you went to Norfolk?
GR: Oh, this is before I even moved to Dayton and I moved to Dayton in 1939, so this was when I just got out of high school.

1P: Oh really? So you played Fats really early.
GR: 1934 or maybe ‘35 or ’36 -- along in there. He came to town and he was driving a LaSalle. You know what a LaSalle was?

1P: Was that a big Buick?
GR: A 16-cylinder car. He had a couple blondes with him and they parked out in front of the fireplug out in front of the poolroom. I was the only person in there, and I was brushing the tables. He came in and he says, ‘I'm looking for this guy George. I hear he plays.’ And I said, ‘Friend, he doesn't come down till about one, but I'll play you some till he gets here.’ He said, ‘Sonny, you don't have enough money to play me.’

So I went next door. The fellow that owned the place also was a bookie and he gave me a roll of bills about big enough to choke a horse. I came back and said, ‘Is this enough?’ He said, ‘That's enough.’ So he went and got his stick, you know, and he said, ‘You go and break them Sonny.’ So I broke them, made one on the break, and ran on out while he was taking his stick out, and getting it together. I broke them again, ran out and he’s getting some talcum powder from the bar and getting that ready. I broke them and ran out the third time. Now he's standing like this. The fourth time I broke them he was shaking his head and the fifth time I broke them he was unscrewing his stick. He never got a shot. Never got a turn at the table. That was The Fat Man the first time I played him.

GR: One time we played 9-Ball, he and Marcel Camp. You know who he was?

1P: Yes, he was a Snooker champion.
GR: Well Marcel Camp and Fats, we played three handed and I knocked them both out giving them both the seven or nine. Broke them both; got them both in this pocket here.

1P: Sounds like you kind of ran out of competition in 9-Ball?
GR: Yeah, right. There were two good players I didn't get to hustle though. One was a fellow in Mansfield that played real well; his name was Ted Elias.

1P: I've heard of him but don’t know too much about him…
GR: He played real well; I had a hard game with him. We played three or four times and I won three or four times but it was a tough session every time. And the other was a fellow in West Virginia named Bud Hypes. He was a fine player and he gave me a tough time too.

A friend of mine, Charlie Jones, was in with me over in West Virginia when I played Hypes.
I played him 9-Ball. I started out $1500 in the hole because he was hitting them great and I had just finished a session with a fellow who couldn't draw the cue ball.

1P: So it took you a while to get back in stroke?
GR: Yeah. If you play with a fellow who can't draw the cue ball for two and a half days, you know you have to play pretty bad.

1P: So you were a good lemon man too?
GR: Yeah, very good. I'll tell you what happened. There was an old time player we called Tom Smith. That wasn't his name. He was a decent player and he came and asked me to go to Evansville, Indiana with him; he had a man over there to play a game with. So we went over and he told me to go to this little town which is over on the Illinois side of the border, only about a block away, and he said, ‘I'll bring this fellow over.’ Well, I was over there and I was sitting with the rest of the boys, you know, and the two of them came in and this fellow got a stick out of the rack and he walked by and he said, ‘You want to play some 9-Ball, fellow?’ I said, ‘Nah, I don't want to play.’ And he said, ‘I want to play some 9-Ball for 50 a game.’ And I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute now; if you play 50 a game, I do play.’ So we played 50 a game. The first day I won about $3,000 from him. We really only split his money, because Tom was in with him, but he was in with me too, of course.

So the next day we did it again, but Tom ran out of money; he couldn’t put his end in because I couldn't get the money back to him. So I met him down at a drugstore to give him back some money so he can pay his half every time. There were a couple of fellows in there who had been at the poolroom and they said, ‘Oh, you boys are together, huh? Stick with us or we’ll squeal on you.’ We denied it, of course, but that was the end of the game. So we won $6,000 from the guy, all together.

So that was the week we went over to play this guy in West Virginia, Bud Hypes, who could really play. It took me a long time to get to the point where I could play again, you know. Took me almost two days. In fact Tom and Charlie were both in with me, but when Hypes won 15 games in a row Tom threw up his hands and he said, ‘I'm out.’ He said, ‘Money's not good to be split three ways, I quit.’ And Charlie said, ‘I'm still in; bet more money.’ So anyhow, in the end we cut Tom back in; we gave him back some of his money. It was a tough, tough game. But that was interesting; I got a new Buick out of it.

1P: Wow, that's great.
GR: That was quite a session, I'll tell you. He was a fine player.

1P: Was that all one straight session or did you take a sleep break or what?
GR: Well, what we did there was, we started playing for a hundred a game 9-Ball; that's a pretty good game at that time. I think it was 1940, or sometime in the early 40's. He won the first 15 games. We played all that day, and up to midnight. I'm still $1300 loser at midnight. We knocked it off and started back the next day and played to midnight and I'm even. Then we locked the doors and played to six in the morning. I won $6600 and his new Buick, the Roadmaster. You’re probably too young for those.

1P: Well I've heard of them.
GR: Yeah, they were a nice car.

1P: About how far away should that spot be?
GR: Well usually rooms are probably 12-15 feet away. It doesn't make too much difference, a little more or less.

1P: Okay.
GR: Now, we'll take it a step further for that shot, where you want to bring the cue ball around the table without scratching. Now you shoot at the same target, wherever you are over here.

1P: Oh yeah, so you use that spot on the wall technique for a lot of different things.
GR: Oh absolutely, all the time. Now, when you shoot a ball in then you go from where you shot the ball in, not from where the cue ball is to start with.

1P: Right, because that’s where the cue ball is going to take off from.
GR: Right. I guarantee it will help you.

1P: That's excellent advice. I've actually tried the ‘spot on the wall’ a little, but mainly for kicks, not for position.
GR: Well you should perfect it because, say you want to go three rails for position in this corner, and you hit the ball and hope the cue ball goes three rails to this corner, but if you come around and scratch, you’ll ruin your shot.

1P: So you use that spot on the wall technique to avoid the scratch.

1P: Do you mean Hayden Lingo?
GR: Lingo, yeah. I played with Hayden Lingo. He's one of the only players I ever played with that showed me a shot.

1P: Oh really?
GR: That I treasured and I still use.

1P: It was unusual among the older players to share too many of their secrets, wasn’t it?
GR: That's right. He liked me a little bit I guess. Well, I was a kid at the time, you know. And nobody would believe that a young kid could play. Because I'm like sixteen or seventeen playing with these champions, so they bet all their money, you know. They lost all their money too, because they didn't know I could play.

1P: I have heard that Hayden had done little charts; he was obviously a student of the game. He didn't show you any of his charts, did he?
GR: That's the only shot he showed me; I’ll never forgot it.

1P: And you were sixteen years old at the time, so that was about 1930 or ‘31?
GR: Yeah, I was probably still in high school.

1P: Yeah. So he was already…
GR: He must have been 40 or 50 years old then.

1P: Did he try to get you to play One Pocket?
GR: We just got acquainted; that's about all I remember. It's been quite a while.

1P: Some people say that Hayden Lingo kind of originated One Pocket, or at least modern One Pocket.
GR: Yeah, well he was probably the person that perfected a lot of things about it that no one else did, you know.

1P: I like that you said he perfected it, yet what you're talking about is that by 1930 he had already perfected it!
GR: He knew the game well, there's no question about it.

1P: Well George, you are an inspiration to all these younger guys that are 9-Ball players and are taking up the game of One Pocket when you were -- how old were you when you took up One Pocket?
GR: 75 or 80.

1P: 75 or 80; so it is never too late!
GR: Well at 75 I could still run out the balls pretty well, especially Straight Pool. I haven’t tried lately, but I tried to run 90 on my 90th birthday and I didn't get it done. I have to admit a failure.

1P: Well, maybe you'll make up for it next year if you run 91.
GR: There you go. The last run I made more than my age was 126 a couple of years ago. That's a pretty good run for an old man. They had a One Pocket tournament the other day and I was playing. I was one in the hole and they had seven. And I made a shot and ran nine and out. The other guy broke the balls and I ran eight and out. I broke the balls, made one on the break and run three more, so I ran 21 balls.

1P: So you ran nine, eight, and then four, at 90 years old!
GR: Yeah, that's quite a few in One Pocket.

1P: Well George, I want to thank you for taking this time, for taking quite a bit of your time; I really enjoyed chatting with you.
GR: I've got lots, hundreds of stories.

Steve Booth with George Rood at the 2005 Derby City Classic

Photos and diagrams by Steve Booth (except where noted); all rights reserved.

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