Ross Keith Thompson
Verified Member
When I played the 9 ball division in 1970 I won seven straight matches to win the championship.
Opponents were as follows, black fellow called Red, that's all I can remember of him but he was a dam good player, final score 11-9 maybe, Blackie Laseur, 11-8, Cole Dickson, My Buddy, 11-5, Boston Shorty, 11-9, Joey Spaith, 11-9, Irving Crane 11-7, Joey Spaith again, 11-9.
I was pretty much broke when Paulie Jansco put up my entry fee of a 100 to play in the 9 ball tournament, man did I have to conn him out of that 100, lmao.
Had to convince him I was a world beater that nobody heard of, LMAO.
But Paulie broke down and put me in the tourney and told me YOU BETTER NOT EMBARRAS ME KID THIS IS THE BIG LEAGUE AND YOU'RE ONLY 18?
So when I played my matches nightly I felt an urgency to show I belonged, I wound up as the last man standing and Paulie was shocked to say the least that I actually played the way I knew I could play.
But the story here is kind of not just about me!
Some guy bet on my first match when I played this black player named Red, he was a slight advantage over me and paid odds!
Amarillo Slim might have made the odds on all the matches, I'm not sure, but I was never made the favorite in any match I played and that pisses me off, (LOL) and I wasn't happy about it back then.
But this guy kept betting on me every match I played and I thought to myself (you dumb son of a gun, you have no idea what your doing, lol).
My next to last match against Irving Crane, the bookmakers discussed not even making book on our David and Goliath match, but they did and I wasn't suppose to make to seven games. I won the match 11-7.
But Eddie Burton or Boston Shorty told me that this guy bet heavy again on me, man did I feel sorry for that guy, he had no idea what he was doing and kept on betting on me.
He kept his bet up thru the championship match and won big.
I believe the same guy and his son bought me a T-bone steak half way thru the All-around on the last day, man did I need that steak; LOL.
He told me I could win and he had a lot of faith in me, I carried the burden into my final matches with Lassiter and Ronnie and of all things I could think about while playing these Giants was about a clueless fan that had no idea what he was doing and I wanted to win for him and his son, GO FIGURE.
So goes his story, of all the people he could have bet on he decided on me, I wonder what prompted him to pick me, talk about picking out a needle in a haystack, he bet on me and had no idea, you talk about the luckiest guy on the planet! What were the odds, a billion to one or even more. I wish I would have thought of that! LOL.
Opponents were as follows, black fellow called Red, that's all I can remember of him but he was a dam good player, final score 11-9 maybe, Blackie Laseur, 11-8, Cole Dickson, My Buddy, 11-5, Boston Shorty, 11-9, Joey Spaith, 11-9, Irving Crane 11-7, Joey Spaith again, 11-9.
I was pretty much broke when Paulie Jansco put up my entry fee of a 100 to play in the 9 ball tournament, man did I have to conn him out of that 100, lmao.
Had to convince him I was a world beater that nobody heard of, LMAO.
But Paulie broke down and put me in the tourney and told me YOU BETTER NOT EMBARRAS ME KID THIS IS THE BIG LEAGUE AND YOU'RE ONLY 18?
So when I played my matches nightly I felt an urgency to show I belonged, I wound up as the last man standing and Paulie was shocked to say the least that I actually played the way I knew I could play.
But the story here is kind of not just about me!
Some guy bet on my first match when I played this black player named Red, he was a slight advantage over me and paid odds!
Amarillo Slim might have made the odds on all the matches, I'm not sure, but I was never made the favorite in any match I played and that pisses me off, (LOL) and I wasn't happy about it back then.
But this guy kept betting on me every match I played and I thought to myself (you dumb son of a gun, you have no idea what your doing, lol).
My next to last match against Irving Crane, the bookmakers discussed not even making book on our David and Goliath match, but they did and I wasn't suppose to make to seven games. I won the match 11-7.
But Eddie Burton or Boston Shorty told me that this guy bet heavy again on me, man did I feel sorry for that guy, he had no idea what he was doing and kept on betting on me.
He kept his bet up thru the championship match and won big.
I believe the same guy and his son bought me a T-bone steak half way thru the All-around on the last day, man did I need that steak; LOL.
He told me I could win and he had a lot of faith in me, I carried the burden into my final matches with Lassiter and Ronnie and of all things I could think about while playing these Giants was about a clueless fan that had no idea what he was doing and I wanted to win for him and his son, GO FIGURE.
So goes his story, of all the people he could have bet on he decided on me, I wonder what prompted him to pick me, talk about picking out a needle in a haystack, he bet on me and had no idea, you talk about the luckiest guy on the planet! What were the odds, a billion to one or even more. I wish I would have thought of that! LOL.