Cowboy Dennis
Verified Member
I've always loved this exchange between Jesse Cardiff (Jack Klugman) and Fats Brown (Jonathan Winters) when they first meet:
Cardiff: But you're...
Fats: Dead? Not really. As long as people talk about you you're not really dead. As long as they speak your name you continue. A legend doesn't die just because the man does.
Which players will still be talked about in 25 years? In 50 years? In 100 years?
I can think of 4 that will get a mention in 100 years.
1. Minnesota Fats...for showmanship and loving & promoting the game (along with himself). Hell, they even made a movie about him.
2. Willie Mosconi...for 15 titles, fabulous 5'x 10' play and and his rivalry with Fats, with poor Willie being the straight man to Fats.
3. Ronnie Allen...for being the innovator and turning One-Pocket into an offensive game. Ronnie did for One-Pocket what the forward pass did for football or what Babe Ruth and the homerun did for baseball. He opened it up and showed that there was another way to play it.
4. Efren Reyes...for being probably the greatest all-around player there ever was or will be. If you had a tournament that included five games that are played on a pooltable and 5 games that are played on a billiard table, there is nobody that could touch Efren.
Of course, I won't know if I'm wrong but that's never stopped me.
Dennis
Cardiff: But you're...
Fats: Dead? Not really. As long as people talk about you you're not really dead. As long as they speak your name you continue. A legend doesn't die just because the man does.
Which players will still be talked about in 25 years? In 50 years? In 100 years?
I can think of 4 that will get a mention in 100 years.
1. Minnesota Fats...for showmanship and loving & promoting the game (along with himself). Hell, they even made a movie about him.
2. Willie Mosconi...for 15 titles, fabulous 5'x 10' play and and his rivalry with Fats, with poor Willie being the straight man to Fats.
3. Ronnie Allen...for being the innovator and turning One-Pocket into an offensive game. Ronnie did for One-Pocket what the forward pass did for football or what Babe Ruth and the homerun did for baseball. He opened it up and showed that there was another way to play it.
4. Efren Reyes...for being probably the greatest all-around player there ever was or will be. If you had a tournament that included five games that are played on a pooltable and 5 games that are played on a billiard table, there is nobody that could touch Efren.
Of course, I won't know if I'm wrong but that's never stopped me.
Dennis