Richard Mc Morran was born September 24, 1934. His family originally lived in the tiny Colorado town of Dolores; a scenic hamlet of only about 550 residents. Yet small as it was, Dolores had a little poolroom in the center of town, and the game quickly caught Dick’s interest. There were no age restrictions in […]
Cecil ‘Buddy’ Hall was born May 29, 1945 in Metropolis, Illinois – just 6 miles from Paducah, KY. The little poolroom he first started playing in at the age of 15 still used an old pot-bellied wood stove for heat in the winter – firing that up before they opened every day was one of […]
Studio portrait of Wade Crane Photo courtesy Diane Schmid Wade Arlyn Crane was born February 20, 1944. He got his start playing pool in Robbinsville, NC, when he was about 12 years old. He had a shoe-shine job in a poolroom which allowed him to get in and play at an early age, despite a […]
Harry Platis is a name synonymous with pool action over the last thirty years, yet at the same time, he is a successful lawyer – not your everyday combination. Yet as Harry describes it, his vocation in law is not unrelated to his avocation in pool. As a successful Seattle lawyer, most of his practice […]
Banks champion John Brumback was born November 9, 1963, and grew up in the small town of Owenton, KY. It was a small town, but still had its own small poolroom. Furthermore, Owenton was within 60 miles of the Bank Pool Mecca’s of Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati. When John was only about 6 years old, […]
Born in Elizabeth, NJ, in November, 1951, Allen Hopkins was one of those child prodigies that surface now and then in pool – even carrying the moniker “Young Hoppe” for a while — except unlike many of the flash and burn careers of other young talents, Hopkins proved to have staying power. Growing up first […]
Photo courtesy Jimmy Spears The Lifetime Pool in Action honor this year goes to action legend, Jimmy ‘Flyboy’ Spears. Over his long career as player, Flyboy has been known as a determined competitor with a reputation for skills, extraordinary stamina and an eagerness to gamble, making him one of the best high stakes players of […]
Piggy banking out at the Derby City Classic 2010 Glenn ‘Piggy Banks’ Rogers was born and raised on the West Side of Chicago, near the Bulls stadium. As a teenager, he had a good shoe shine business going, and when Glenn discovered pool, but was still too young to play in the poolroom, he convinced […]
Artist’s rendering courtesy Ray Desell Players that knew ‘Fats’, especially those that knew him during his prime years before he took on the Minnesota Fats moniker, generally describe Fats as a very good player, but still a ball or two below the best. This is the way Eddie Taylor described it in an interview with […]
Like many child prodigies at pool, Jose got an early start because his father owned two poolrooms – one in his own hometown and another in downtown Manila. And his father was a good player, so Jose got to watch many of the best local players as they came in to challenge his father. By […]
A young Jimmy Reid in action at Johnston City Photo courtesy Kenneth Cook ‘Hippie’ Jimmy Reid was born 8-23-46 and as a youngster grew up in Gloucester, MA – an old New England fishing port and an unlikely town for a top pool player. However, Boston and the Olympia Billiard Room, better known as The […]
Tony Fargo competing in the one-handed One Pocket mini at Derby City in 2006 A modern master of traditional full rack Banks, Tony ‘Fargo’ Ferguson topped our 2008 Bank Pool vote. Tony grew up in the heart of Banks country but it was a road trip to Southern California that was his main introduction to […]