Pool had suffered a major decline during the 50’s culture of wholesome family idealism and in 1961 tournaments were virtually non-existent. Yet this was also the year that the blockbuster movie, The Hustler, was released. And it just so happened that one of the era’s biggest (and most vocal) pool hustlers lived near the small […]
Pittsburgh Billy Incardona has been a solid One Pocket player and after hours legend for many years now. In fact, he’s still mixing it up against a whole new generation of players today. Of course, as the ‘voice of Accustats’, he has helped educate thousands of players in our favorite game. Recently Billy has also […]
Known as ‘The Philadelphia Flash’, Jimmy Fusco has matured into one of the patriarchs of Philadelphia’s legendary One Pocket scene. For years a top tournament player and action veteran, Jimmy is one of the very few living Johnston City winners. He was the One Pocket champion in the 1972 Johnston City tournament that was interrupted […]
Donny Anderson congratulated by fellow Bank Pool Hall of Fame inductees Truman Hogue and Freddy ‘The Beard’ Bentivegna Diana Hoppe photo Born June 9th, 1929, as a youngster Donny Anderson picked up an interest in Bank Pool from his father, who was a “halfway decent player” himself, according to Donny. At that time there just happened […]
Members of the late Melvin Brook’s family were on hand to accept his honor of induction into the One Pocket Hall of Fame Congratulations to our new Hall of Fame inductees! It was somewhat of a family night as a full house gathered in Louisville for the third annual One Pocket Hall of Fame dinner […]
Photo courtesy Sylvester Duncan Born Javanley Washington July 19th, 1926 in Arkansas. As a youngster he developed into a very strong player, hence the nickname, ‘Youngblood’. Often affectionately shortened by his friends to just ‘Blood’. Youngblood was a proud and dignified player who would rather challenge the best, and play his best, than set-up a […]
Vernon Elliott in good spirits after his induction into our Hall of Fame for Bank Pool Diana Hoppe photo Vernon Elliott, like fellow Legend of Bank Pool, the late ‘Cornbread Red‘, is a tough country bred Kentucky road player from the old school. Except unlike Red, Vernon completely shunned the publicity of tournaments, never once playing in […]
Photo courtesy Fred Bentivegna A great banker, John ‘Cannonball’ Chapman possessed with one of the most powerful strokes in the history of the game. He reportedly got his nickname from Fats, because of his preference for firing his long banks in with such explosive power. Ray Booth, a fellow road player, was so impressed that […]
Reportedly Hayden Lingo is second from left, middle row. Although captioned “First Tournament” 1961 in the 1969 Johnston City program, this photo was actually taken later, probably in 1963. Often cited as ‘the man that invented One Pocket’, it is more likely that he was just such a strong early practitioner of the game that he and […]
John ‘Rags’ Fitzpatrick was a very talented player and dapper gentleman whose name nearly always comes up among old-timers as the top all-around road player of his time. Yet he is largely unknown today, and missing from the record books, mainly because he died at the age of 41 in 1960. The date is significant, […]
A lifelong resident of Washington, DC, ‘Strawberry’ was born Dec 10th, 1933, so he just turned 73 earlier this month. He was a family man and a US Army veteran and then worked for the Post Office for a time before he turned to pool full-time to support his family. He had nine sons and […]
Standing: Artie Bodendorfer, Steve Lomako, Marshall Carpenter, Truman Hogue & Fred Bentivegna Seated: Ken Cook (Steve’s father), and Bugs Rucker Congratulations to our new Hall of Fame inductees! A packed house gathered in Louisville, Kentucky on January 10th to honor three great players for One Pocket and six players for our first class of Bank […]