Brier Spivey

[NH Steve]

I got an email from Brier Spivey's daughter this weekend -- Brier was a top player back in the older days, and also backed many players later in life. He ran the Hub Pool Room in Huntington W. Va. Brenda says her dad died in 1980 at the age of 86. She says she stayed up 'til 3 AM reading about all her "lost old friends" here on OnePocket.org, and says hello from BJ from Dallas!!

[fred bentivegna]

Is this the Spivey that used to come to Johnston City in the 60's and lay out that 1 pocket proposition whereby you would rack 21 balls get the break and the first shot and have to run 180 pts in the 1 pkt at 10 to 1 odds? The points were scored like rotation and he used a 16,17,18,19,20 and 21 ball. If it was, what was his first name? There were some cute stories re that set-up.
Freddie the beard

[bjspivey]

Yep, that was Brier Spivey, I'd love to hear the stories!!!!!!, His Daughter B.J. Spivey He also had a pill pool game e :) veryone liked!!!

[gulfportdoc]

The points were scored like rotation and he used a 16,17,18,19,20 and 21 ball.
Freddie the beard

Freddie-- Were the 16-21 balls from a set used for "baseball billiards"? Someone on southernbilliards.com showed a picture of these higher numbered balls, which were obviously the old "clay" compostion balls. It seems to me I saw a set of those in the 60's, but the game never caught on.

Doc

[fred bentivegna]

Freddie-- Were the 16-21 balls from a set used for "baseball billiards"? Someone on southernbilliards.com showed a picture of these higher numbered balls, which were obviously the old "clay" compostion balls. It seems to me I saw a set of those in the 60's, but the game never caught on.

Doc
I dont remember what those balls were originally used for, but they were composition balls not plastic. There were only 3 players that were barred from competing in the prop, Squirrel, Eddie Taylor and Harold Worst. Spivey told those guys to take their business down the road. Initially Spivey would allow you to use anyone you wanted to shoot a particular shot, so natually everybody chose Taylor to shoot the bank. Harold Worst was called on to shoot nearly impossible cuts or combinations. No human was a better shotmaker than Worst.
The Beard

[OldHasBeen]

On the only real "Road Trip" Louie & I took was back in the '70's & we found ourselves dealing with Mr. Brier. (That is what I remember that we & everyone else called him).
I remember it being an old poolroom with a lot of seasoned players. I (being the shortstop) won about $200 playing 2 or 3 players. Louie started playing for $50 a game with a good player and won about $600.
The day was over and we told everyone we would return the next day.
THIS IS THE PART I REMEMBER THE BEST AND WAS MOST FOND OF.
Instead of finding a Motel for the night, someone told us about this old hotel/rooming house where we could stay for the night. It was ran by an old lady and we were told that breakfast was served at 7 am sharp, lunch at noon and dinner at 6:30 pm prompt. I felt I was talking to my Mother when we checked in. Naturally we missed breakfast but were just in time for lunch. I'll never forget the meal or the entire experience. There was a very long, old table that seated about 28. The food was served "Family Style" and we just sat down and ate. THIS WAS THE BEST HOMEMADE FOOD AND DINNER CONVERSATION I HAVE EVER HAD.
Back to pool.
When we returned to the poolroom, we met Mr. Brier for the first time. We were given the feeling that nothing was going to happen unless Mr. Brier approved it and was the money in it. He started running proposition games by Louie so fast Louie couldn't keep track of them. They ALL sounded great to Louie and he wanted to play something/anything.
Some of the propositions I had experienced or heard of from the likes of Earl Heisler, Cleo, Earl Schrieber, etc. But many were even new to me. I just knew that anything that Mr. Brier offered was not going to be good for us. At one time I had to pull Louie away and explain that we needed to stick together and not argue in front of this fellow because if he saw a breach in our partnership, he would exploit it to the max.
Now, I'm not throwing flowers at myself BUT I am sure that if Louie had been there by himself, he would have gone broke within 2 hours.
Mr. Brier got a little upset with me and even made this statement that I overheard - "If I could get that straight shooting punk away from that fat bastard for 5 minutes, I'd bust him".
After a while, I started to fire back some pretty good propositions of my own (thinking that the best defense was a good offense), But Mr. Brier wouldn't take anything from me either.
We never really got any more action there and Louie wanted to leave A.S.A.P.
Part (and most important) of our arrangement was that I hold and manage ALL money & games.
I TOLD LOUIE THAT WE WERN'T GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I GOT TO EAT BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER BACK AT THE ROOMING HOUSE THE NEXT DAY.
We did, and when we went back to the poolroom, Mr. Brier saw that nothing was going to happen so he was nice enough to give us a few really good spots. I remember sending him $500 via Western Union a couple of weeks later. This move paid off "In Spades" later on in a score I took off with Earl Schrieber just because he had heard of "The Jelly" I sent back to Mr. Brier.
MR. BRIER & THE ROOMING HOUSE FOOD WILL BE WITH ME ALWAYS.

TY & GL

[bjspivey]

:D Thanks OHB for the story,Loved to read about my dad, sounds like him,if your not inn your out!! I used to make the guys give me jelly if any action went down in Rustys in Dallas.{Wonder where I got that!!} I left town[Huntington W.Va.] just to get a date,everyone would say THATS BRIERS DAUGHTER,Mess with her,Youll have to fade a 38!! I married the first guy that had the nerve to date me!!! I sure loved my dad, we had quite the times. You guys that know me know I never lacked nerve,Ha Ha Good old days shighhhh!