Jeff sparks
Verified Member
Once upon a time there was a player who routinely played for 5 or 6 days.... and nights!!!! Without any sleep, without any rest, without even a break for food... Greg Stevens literally inhaled his food, whatever it was, a cheeseburger was gone in three bites, a hot dog in two, he ate when it was your shot...
Greg was like a non-stop freight train, going at full speed and few could stop "The Train" when it got rolling. I never knew the story behind his nickname, or how he got it, perhaps Rodney does, but Greg "Big Train" Stevens was an amazing player to watch, when he was eating, or when he was playing pool...
Grady once said, "Greg could give me the 7/8/9 playing 9 ball, 8/7 playing one pocket, and spot me 2 hot dogs in a race to 3...:lol
Greg would come to the pool room ( LeCue ) in the morning, usually early, and always broke...he would get some balls from Eddie Stinson ( RIP pal ) and go to the table closest to the counter.. He would order breakfast, scatter the balls out and bang em around until breakfast was ready...This was the only time I ever saw Greg practice and the only time he ever sat down to eat... He had no money, he was not in action, and nobody had come up the elevator that he could bite... Even then, Greg could not eat at a normal pace... The eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, toast and coffee were all gone within 30 seconds... He ate exactly like he played all pool games... All out, full throttle, & wide ass open...
Usually by 10:00 or so in the morning, somebody would come up to sweat the action... Whoever it was, got bit... Greg would never miss biting the 1st person who walked in... Didn't matter who it was, Greg got at least a sawbuck from him...
Armed with at least $10.00, Greg was ready for the lunch bunch guys that came up every day about 11:00 to eat and play $2.00 insurance or golf on the snooker table... They would let Greg play because he was a celebrity, he was larger than life in LeCue and those guys felt honored to donate a few bucks to his cause just to bask in his light for awhile... Greg never seemed to care about the amount he played for, when he was pumped up, he would still play $2.00 one pocket if it was the only action available, or he'd bet it all if some high roller came to gamble... When Greg came to the pool room he got action, didn't matter if he had to give up the total nuts to get a game, if it was the only action available, he'd do it... He once told me the best way to make a big score in the pool room was to give a guy who had plenty of money the cold-blooded nuts, and then outrun em...
Greg was funny about money, in that he would never loan it out, and would never pay back what he got from you... If you asked him for that $20.00 you gave him, he'd say, "I ain't payin it, you shoulda never gave it to me." You'd think someone woulda got mad about that, they never did that I saw... People just worshipped him...
Greg would go flat broke on the 5th or 6th day without sleep, seems the mind & body can only handle so much abuse no matter the amount of drugs you ingest... Hustlers would try to time his fall and plan his demise according to the calendar... Greg would usually pump up a good amount of cash over the 1st 4 days of playing and the locals all knew he was a through ticket and would lose it all when the drugs were no longer working, so on the 5th day of steady action, lots of buzzards were in the sky circling poor Greg....
He was the straightest shooter I had ever seen and could cut balls in that looked impossible... He brought many a good player to their bended knees with his uncanny and remarkable shooting skills... He was a true legend at LeCue in Houston...
Greg passed quite a few years ago, I heard he moved back home ( Wichita I believe) and opened a family pool room... No Gambling Allowed... I heard he never gambled again, and wouldn't allow it in his pool room... If he caught you, you got barred.. He went from one extreme to another extreme... Greg was one of a kind...
Greg comes to mind when I watch players like SVB and Dennis Orcullo pocket balls.. I wonder, would he have been able to beat these guys playing 9 ball or 10 ball... I really couldn't say for sure, but it woulda been a hell of a lot of fun if they would have played a race to 300, straight through to the finish....
RIP. Greg "Big Train" Stevens
Greg was like a non-stop freight train, going at full speed and few could stop "The Train" when it got rolling. I never knew the story behind his nickname, or how he got it, perhaps Rodney does, but Greg "Big Train" Stevens was an amazing player to watch, when he was eating, or when he was playing pool...
Grady once said, "Greg could give me the 7/8/9 playing 9 ball, 8/7 playing one pocket, and spot me 2 hot dogs in a race to 3...:lolGreg would come to the pool room ( LeCue ) in the morning, usually early, and always broke...he would get some balls from Eddie Stinson ( RIP pal ) and go to the table closest to the counter.. He would order breakfast, scatter the balls out and bang em around until breakfast was ready...This was the only time I ever saw Greg practice and the only time he ever sat down to eat... He had no money, he was not in action, and nobody had come up the elevator that he could bite... Even then, Greg could not eat at a normal pace... The eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, toast and coffee were all gone within 30 seconds... He ate exactly like he played all pool games... All out, full throttle, & wide ass open...
Usually by 10:00 or so in the morning, somebody would come up to sweat the action... Whoever it was, got bit... Greg would never miss biting the 1st person who walked in... Didn't matter who it was, Greg got at least a sawbuck from him...
Armed with at least $10.00, Greg was ready for the lunch bunch guys that came up every day about 11:00 to eat and play $2.00 insurance or golf on the snooker table... They would let Greg play because he was a celebrity, he was larger than life in LeCue and those guys felt honored to donate a few bucks to his cause just to bask in his light for awhile... Greg never seemed to care about the amount he played for, when he was pumped up, he would still play $2.00 one pocket if it was the only action available, or he'd bet it all if some high roller came to gamble... When Greg came to the pool room he got action, didn't matter if he had to give up the total nuts to get a game, if it was the only action available, he'd do it... He once told me the best way to make a big score in the pool room was to give a guy who had plenty of money the cold-blooded nuts, and then outrun em...
Greg was funny about money, in that he would never loan it out, and would never pay back what he got from you... If you asked him for that $20.00 you gave him, he'd say, "I ain't payin it, you shoulda never gave it to me." You'd think someone woulda got mad about that, they never did that I saw... People just worshipped him...
Greg would go flat broke on the 5th or 6th day without sleep, seems the mind & body can only handle so much abuse no matter the amount of drugs you ingest... Hustlers would try to time his fall and plan his demise according to the calendar... Greg would usually pump up a good amount of cash over the 1st 4 days of playing and the locals all knew he was a through ticket and would lose it all when the drugs were no longer working, so on the 5th day of steady action, lots of buzzards were in the sky circling poor Greg....
He was the straightest shooter I had ever seen and could cut balls in that looked impossible... He brought many a good player to their bended knees with his uncanny and remarkable shooting skills... He was a true legend at LeCue in Houston...
Greg passed quite a few years ago, I heard he moved back home ( Wichita I believe) and opened a family pool room... No Gambling Allowed... I heard he never gambled again, and wouldn't allow it in his pool room... If he caught you, you got barred.. He went from one extreme to another extreme... Greg was one of a kind...
Greg comes to mind when I watch players like SVB and Dennis Orcullo pocket balls.. I wonder, would he have been able to beat these guys playing 9 ball or 10 ball... I really couldn't say for sure, but it woulda been a hell of a lot of fun if they would have played a race to 300, straight through to the finish....
RIP. Greg "Big Train" Stevens