Cecil the Serpent
Cecil the Serpent
In LA in the 70's we used to call him Cecil the Serpent, or "Serps" for short. He and I played at Ye Olde Billiard Den in Hollywood on a regular basis. He played right-handed then. He played top speed One pocket and Banks. What was unbelievable was he eventually attained the same speed when he switched hands and became a lefty! Although I had fun playing with him, he was not a good loser. If you played him you had to be ready to fight him. He came to Bensinger's in Chicago and landed on Artie when Serps was at the top of his game. Unfortunately for him, Artie was also at the top of his game. Artie busted him and while Artie was at the counter paying the time, Artie offered to shake hands and instead Cecil sucker punched him and ran out the door. If anybody comes across him, please say hello for me. As I said, aside from his bad temper and poor sportsmanship, he was a fun guy and had pretty good heart.
the Beard