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 held Tuesday during the Derby City Classic. With Strawberry’s recent death, all three One Pocket inductions were posthumous, but aside from the elusive Hayden Lingo were all well represented by immediate family.
This year’s class of One Pocket inductees were Melvin ‘Strawberry’ Brooks, John ‘Rags’ Fitzpatrick and Hayden Lingo. The evening also featured the induction of three Legends of Bank Pool, the late John ‘Cannonball’ Chapman, undercover banking legend Vernon Elliott and Chicago’s Javanley ‘Youngblood’ Washington.
In addition to these One Pocket and Bank Pool inductions, two players were honored for lifetime Pool in Action recognition, 92 year old George Rood and the late Denny Searcy.
Two of Javanley ‘Youngblood’ Washington’s sons accept his induction for Bank Pool
L-R: Lawrence Washington, Master of Ceremonies Fred Bentivegna, and Javanley Washington, Jr.
Javanley Washington, Jr listens while Sylvester Duncan recounts a story
about ‘Blood, “There must be something in that Bible about banking!”
Detail from Strawberry’s Hall of Fame poster unveiled at the dinner
Youngblood’s sons, Lawrence and Javanley Washington, get a chuckle over Freddy’s tales of their father’s ‘World Series’ Banks matches against fellow inductee John Chapman
Marshall ‘Squirrel’ Carpenter speaking about Rags Fitzpatrick’s influence on him
Jay Helfert added a couple of Denny Searcy stories
Prompted by Grady, George Rood revealed that the last time he ran his age in Straight Pool was only about five years ago, with a run of 126 balls!
Special guest Harry Platis recalls Denny Searcy
Diana Hoppe photo
92 Year old George ‘The Trapper’ Rood
was recognized for a lifetime of
Pool in Action
Special guest Sammy Jones spoke with a great deal of feeling about Vernon’s struggle to gain custody of his children, when his means of support was ‘pool hustler’
Rags Fitzpatrick’s daughter Kim shares a moment with George Rood
Grady Mathews, Master of Ceremonies
‘Rags’ Fitzpatrick’s daughter Kim accepts her father’s posthumous One Pocket HOF induction
46 years after his death, Rags Fitzpatrick’s widow Christine Schaffer catches up with Squirrel,
as Kim and John Fitzpatrick look on
Diana Hoppe photo
Freddy presents Vernon the plaque honoring his place among the
true Legends of Bank Pool
Melvin Brooks and Grady
Sammy Jones with Vernon
Legends of Bank Pool inductee Vernon Elliott is congratulated by Freddy ‘The Beard’
Vernon acknowledges the admiration of the banquet crowd
The Beard in fine story-telling form
Freddy ‘The Beard’ Bentivegna shared the Master of Ceremonies
duties with Grady Mathews again this year.
Grady presents the Master of the Ring Game plaque honoring Denny Searcy to Tony Annigoni, who accepted on behalf of Denny’s family
Diana Hoppe photo
