Sam Trivett

NH Steve

Administrator
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
12,283
From
New Hampshire
I received an inquiry about Sam Trivett via the "Contact Us" feature on OnePocket.org -- does anyone know if the poolplayer Sam Trivett would be the same guy this person is looking for?

Thanks in advance

Here is the inquiry:
Comments: I'd like to find information about the Sam Trivett ("Fat Sam" or "Seattle Sam") listed on your site. I grew up in Bristol, VA, with a "Sam Trivett" who I know became a great pool player but I believe died, prematurely in the 80's. I'd like to know more because we are having a reunion of a Little League Baseball All-Star Team he played on in 1955. If this is the "Sam Trivett" who grew up in Bristol, VA, this is the guy. He would have been about 67 years old now.
Thank you.
 

Ed Wiggins

Verified Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
6
That's him

That's him

That's the guy.
He had a cousin, Roy, from the same town.
Roy was a very good player who ran a room in Richmond, VA for many years.

Ed
 

NH Steve

Administrator
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
12,283
From
New Hampshire
Ed Wiggins said:
That's the guy.
He had a cousin, Roy, from the same town.
Roy was a very good player who ran a room in Richmond, VA for many years.

Ed
Wow, that was quick! Thanks, I will pass this along.
 

JAM

Verified Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
1,041
I knew Seattle Sam well. He has passed away now, but he is the gentleman depicted on the left in this photo.
 

Attachments

  • seattlesamjamjohnhenry[1].JPG
    seattlesamjamjohnhenry[1].JPG
    22.4 KB · Views: 1

Bill

Verified Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
287
From
Washington DC
JAM said:
I knew Seattle Sam well. He has passed away now, but he is the gentleman depicted on the left in this photo.

Nice pic of Sam and yourself Jenny.

Not going to comment on the guy under your left arm :rolleyes:

Sam passed in the 90's sometime but will never forget the day and month - 7/11 199? All the mischief Sam got into it's kinda ironic that 711 would be his day.

Taught me well Sam did, especially one pocket. One of those guys whose antics will be talked of for a long time to come

Took over Champions in Shirlington Jenny, tryin' to turn it around. Stop by with the better half one of these days. Haven't seen you or Keith in many a moon

Hope all is well... :)

Billy S
 

JAM

Verified Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
1,041
Bill said:
Nice pic of Sam and yourself Jenny.

Not going to comment on the guy under your left arm :rolleyes:

Sam passed in the 90's sometime but will never forget the day and month - 7/11 199? All the mischief Sam got into it's kinda ironic that 711 would be his day.

Taught me well Sam did, especially one pocket. One of those guys whose antics will be talked of for a long time to come

Took over Champions in Shirlington Jenny, tryin' to turn it around. Stop by with the better half one of these days. Haven't seen you or Keith in many a moon

Hope all is well... :)

Billy S

Hey, Billy, how's it going? Long time no see. Where are you hanging your cue these days? Shirlington? I would love to come by and have Keith engage in some long one-pocket matches. He is getting back in stroke for an upcoming event. You'd be the perfect dueling partner. Are you hitting 'em still?

I've got a few funny Sam stories hanging out with Geese. I still have that vision of Sam climbing up on all fours on a pool table to make a reach shot. The players aren't allowed to get up on the tables anymore, like they used to. The first time I saw it, it was Sam, and I remember I laughed so hard, I couldn't stop. He was gambling, in action, and the room was quiet, with the exception of me laughing. Everybody kept staring at me, wondering why I was cracking up. I had to leave the pool room to compose myself. To them, getting up on the table on all fours was quite normal for a reach shot, but to me at that time, I just thought it was as funny as could be. Oh, man, the vision of it all, this big man, Sam, climbing up on the pool table on all fours, with one leg sticking straight out like a dog taking a leak, trying to pocket a ball. I'm laughing now thinking about it. :D

We used to visit Sam all the time at the "old Champions" in Arlington, pre Richard Allen's Champions, the one where they had the cop shop in the little strip mall. Sam used to run that Champions. I think it was on Glebe Road. Sam came out our way sometimes to engage in the action festivities. Those were the days, man, with players like Geese, Tom-Tom, Fat Mike, Cigar Time and the Baltimore crew, Bus Driver Ronnie, Quick Vic and Bobby Hawk, Strawberry, Korean Lee, Sterling, Freddie and Scotty Boggs. I saw Freddie play Weenie Beanie at the old Champions in Arlington. Sam was working that night, too. Freddy won because Weenie Beanie quit, saying it took Freddie too long to make a shot. It made Weenie Beanie mad. Did you hear Jimmy Mack passed?

I was just thinking about you the other day. I wrote a story on AzBilliards about one of the first so-called "pro" pool tournaments I went to with Keith, how I didn't know anybody back then, except my Virginia pool friends, and you were the one I was reminiscing about. :cool:

Do you remember this tournament? Here's a reprint.

One of my favorite tournament matches occurred at Q-Masters in Norfolk, VA. I think it was around 2001-2002 era, subject to check. It was the Q-Masters Spring Open, or some name like that, and one of my first so-called "pro" tournaments. I didn't know many of the pros back then, like I do today, but I did, however, know all my Virginia homeboys, who were there in full force. So I did have some pool friends to hang on the rail with while sweating the matches.

Keith was on fire, running racks, making shots that I couldn't even imagine. In fact, he managed to stay on the winner's side of the charts the entire tournament, never losing a match.

One set, however, was close against a big man named Ron Park. It came down to the infamous hill-hill. Ron was running out and only had the 7, 8, and 9 left. Piece of cake for Ron, I thought. After he pocketed the 7, I turned to my Virginia buddy, Billy Stephens, and said, "Well, I guess we lost," as Ron's cueball rolled all the way up table and rested on the rail. The 8-rock was also on the same rail about 4 inches in front of it, what looks to me like a straight-in duck shot.

Billy shocked me when he said, "Not necessarily, Jennie. This is *not* an easy shot." I thinking, what, are you kidding me? It's a straight-in shot; the 8-ball is 10 inches from the pocket, with the cue-ball right behind it. Well, Ron fired at the 8, trying to get position on the 9, which was at the opposite end of the table, and he missed. OMG, he missed!

I looked at Billy in disbelief and said, "How did you know that?" Keith ran out, of course, putting Ron in third place. The finals came down to Keith versus Michael Coltrain. Now, Keith had already defeated Michael earlier in the tourney, knocking him in the losers bracket. I figured even if Keith lost this match, he'd get another chance. WRONG! This was my first experience of an extended race at the end in a double-elimination format, and Michael Coltrain won the event. Keith never got to lose a match like everybody else in the tournament did.

Well, the next best thing to first place is second place, and we pocketed a couple or more dimes which covered our weekend expenses. After the tournament, a celebration was on. Everybody was partying, enjoying the the atmosphere with all these great pool players in the joint. Close to midnight, however, the place began to dwindle. I wanted to leave and begin the 3-hour trek back home, but not Keith. Oh, no! Sam Monday from North Carolina was there and barking at Keith to give him some weight and bet something.

Keith's nostrils were wide open. Sam had all the North Carolina Boys as his backers committee to play Keith for three dimes. Sam was getting the wild 8-ball in 9-ball for a 12-ahead set. I had no idea how long an ahead set could take back then. I had all the second-place tournament winnings in my purse, and Keith came to me with his hand out, wanting me to give him 3,000 beans to play Sam Monday. I knew if I did, we'd be stuck for the trip, but what the heck, why not, I thought, not realizing I'd be there until daybreak in a 12-ahead match. Michael Coltrain was on Sam's backers committee. Everybody liked Sam to win this match, and he had a cheerleader squad on the rail. Keith had only me rooting him in.

Long story short, Sam had Keith 11 games stuck, and I had accepted defeat in my mind. And then, like a burst of lightning in the jug, Keith found a second gear and ran out and ran out and ran out and that 11-game lead went the other direction within less than a hour, with Keith winning all the dough, 12 games ahead of Sam. I've never seen anything like it since, the way the tides changed so quickly. He gave Sam a walking stick in the bathroom for giving him action, and we drove back home at daylight, during the Monday morning rush hour. Mike might have won the tournament, but we came home with most of the cheesenips.
 
Last edited:

NH Steve

Administrator
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
12,283
From
New Hampshire
You guys are great -- do either of you happen to have any access to Sam's obituary or maybe to someone in Sam's family, like the cousin Roy, who might have that kind of info?

Thanks
 

JAM

Verified Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
1,041
NH Steve said:
You guys are great -- do either of you happen to have any access to Sam's obituary or maybe to someone in Sam's family, like the cousin Roy, who might have that kind of info?

Thanks

You know, I am 99.9-percent sure that Sam was born in Bristol, but whether it was Bristol, VA or Bristol, TN is confusing to me. For sure, he spent a large part of his life there. That, I am sure about.

I remember being on the road with Geese in the '80s era in Bristol. We met up with Sam. He steered us to what could have been a good action spot in town, but with Geese's sparking personality, we only got a little bone with not much meat on it. Geese was a great one-pocket player, his best game, but he didn't have the gift of gab to get the games going. In fact, he hated playing pool in bars, always wanting to go to the pool rooms instead. He was a great one-pocket and the best one-handed player I've ever seen in my life, bar none. He could draw his rock the length of the table without the cue ever touching a rail. You had to see it to believe it.

I remember thinking at the time that it was odd that Bristol was divided between Virginia and Tennessee, like the State lines went right through the town.

I did a cursory review on Google news archives looking for an obit. Apparently, there's MANY, MANY, MANY Trivetts who live in Bristol. I'd venture to guess that one of those Trivetts knows more about Sam's funeral, if there was one. I don't think Sam had a lot of assets, materialistically speaking, when he died.

Like many road warriors from the Woodstock generation, Sam did engage in altering his state of consciousness at will, and, in fact, I think that's how he passed. He also smoked cigarettes and was overweight, which probably contributed to his passing as well. :(

BTW, Geese birthday was yesterday, Halloween, and he would have been 59 years old if he lived. He, too, lived his life in the fast lane, smoking filterless Lucky Strikes for years. He got cancer and couldn't beat it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if this person wants to track down more info on Seattle Sam, they might do a Google search for Trivetts in Bristol. I found a slew of them with e-mail addresses. It is time consuming, but it just might work.

In an effort to seek data about Keith's family background, I found Keith's long lost aunt and uncle this way, searching for the McCready name, starting out with a hit in Southern Virginia. I'm hoping to get some more data from them. Believe or not, one of Keith's uncle is a man of strong faith, a minister. When Keith spoke to his aunt, the first time in almost 30 years, he got emotional, as did I. :p

I hope that the person who needs more info about Seattle Sam finds what they are looking for. If you would like to give them my e-mail address, it is RailbirdJAM-at-AOL-dot-com. I may be able to dig up some more Sam info when time allows, but their best bet, I think, is to start contacting the Trivetts from Bristol. They might end up striking gold. :)
 

Hard Times Carla

Verified Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
208
Seattle Sam

Seattle Sam

Sam was from Bristol Tennessee. I heard he was alive and in a rest home somewhere down there, so I was hoping it was some other Sam who died.
 

JAM

Verified Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
1,041
ninesix said:
Sam was from Bristol Tennessee. I heard he was alive and in a rest home somewhere down there, so I was hoping it was some other Sam who died.

"Seattle Sam" Trivett, the pool player, has passed, sorry to say. :(
 

Bill

Verified Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
287
From
Washington DC
ninesix said:
Sam was from Bristol Tennessee. I heard he was alive and in a rest home somewhere down there, so I was hoping it was some other Sam who died.

Not so, Sam has unfortunately passed
 

Bill

Verified Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
287
From
Washington DC
JAM said:
Hey, Billy, how's it going? Long time no see. Where are you hanging your cue these days? Shirlington? I would love to come by and have Keith engage in some long one-pocket matches. He is getting back in stroke for an upcoming event. You'd be the perfect dueling partner. Are you hitting 'em still?

I've got a few funny Sam stories hanging out with Geese. I still have that vision of Sam climbing up on all fours on a pool table to make a reach shot. The players aren't allowed to get up on the tables anymore, like they used to. The first time I saw it, it was Sam, and I remember I laughed so hard, I couldn't stop. He was gambling, in action, and the room was quiet, with the exception of me laughing. Everybody kept staring at me, wondering why I was cracking up. I had to leave the pool room to compose myself. To them, getting up on the table on all fours was quite normal for a reach shot, but to me at that time, I just thought it was as funny as could be. Oh, man, the vision of it all, this big man, Sam, climbing up on the pool table on all fours, with one leg sticking straight out like a dog taking a leak, trying to pocket a ball. I'm laughing now thinking about it. :D

We used to visit Sam all the time at the "old Champions" in Arlington, pre Richard Allen's Champions, the one where they had the cop shop in the little strip mall. Sam used to run that Champions. I think it was on Glebe Road. Sam came out our way sometimes to engage in the action festivities. Those were the days, man, with players like Geese, Tom-Tom, Fat Mike, Cigar Time and the Baltimore crew, Bus Driver Ronnie, Quick Vic and Bobby Hawk, Strawberry, Korean Lee, Sterling, Freddie and Scotty Boggs. I saw Freddie play Weenie Beanie at the old Champions in Arlington. Sam was working that night, too. Freddy won because Weenie Beanie quit, saying it took Freddie too long to make a shot. It made Weenie Beanie mad. Did you hear Jimmy Mack passed?

I was just thinking about you the other day. I wrote a story on AzBilliards about one of the first so-called "pro" pool tournaments I went to with Keith, how I didn't know anybody back then, except my Virginia pool friends, and you were the one I was reminiscing about. :cool:

Do you remember this tournament? Here's a reprint.

One of my favorite tournament matches occurred at Q-Masters in Norfolk, VA. I think it was around 2001-2002 era, subject to check. It was the Q-Masters Spring Open, or some name like that, and one of my first so-called "pro" tournaments. I didn't know many of the pros back then, like I do today, but I did, however, know all my Virginia homeboys, who were there in full force. So I did have some pool friends to hang on the rail with while sweating the matches.

Keith was on fire, running racks, making shots that I couldn't even imagine. In fact, he managed to stay on the winner's side of the charts the entire tournament, never losing a match.

One set, however, was close against a big man named Ron Park. It came down to the infamous hill-hill. Ron was running out and only had the 7, 8, and 9 left. Piece of cake for Ron, I thought. After he pocketed the 7, I turned to my Virginia buddy, Billy Stephens, and said, "Well, I guess we lost," as Ron's cueball rolled all the way up table and rested on the rail. The 8-rock was also on the same rail about 4 inches in front of it, what looks to me like a straight-in duck shot.

Billy shocked me when he said, "Not necessarily, Jennie. This is *not* an easy shot." I thinking, what, are you kidding me? It's a straight-in shot; the 8-ball is 10 inches from the pocket, with the cue-ball right behind it. Well, Ron fired at the 8, trying to get position on the 9, which was at the opposite end of the table, and he missed. OMG, he missed!

I looked at Billy in disbelief and said, "How did you know that?" Keith ran out, of course, putting Ron in third place. The finals came down to Keith versus Michael Coltrain. Now, Keith had already defeated Michael earlier in the tourney, knocking him in the losers bracket. I figured even if Keith lost this match, he'd get another chance. WRONG! This was my first experience of an extended race at the end in a double-elimination format, and Michael Coltrain won the event. Keith never got to lose a match like everybody else in the tournament did.

Well, the next best thing to first place is second place, and we pocketed a couple or more dimes which covered our weekend expenses. After the tournament, a celebration was on. Everybody was partying, enjoying the the atmosphere with all these great pool players in the joint. Close to midnight, however, the place began to dwindle. I wanted to leave and begin the 3-hour trek back home, but not Keith. Oh, no! Sam Monday from North Carolina was there and barking at Keith to give him some weight and bet something.

Keith's nostrils were wide open. Sam had all the North Carolina Boys as his backers committee to play Keith for three dimes. Sam was getting the wild 8-ball in 9-ball for a 12-ahead set. I had no idea how long an ahead set could take back then. I had all the second-place tournament winnings in my purse, and Keith came to me with his hand out, wanting me to give him 3,000 beans to play Sam Monday. I knew if I did, we'd be stuck for the trip, but what the heck, why not, I thought, not realizing I'd be there until daybreak in a 12-ahead match. Michael Coltrain was on Sam's backers committee. Everybody liked Sam to win this match, and he had a cheerleader squad on the rail. Keith had only me rooting him in.

Long story short, Sam had Keith 11 games stuck, and I had accepted defeat in my mind. And then, like a burst of lightning in the jug, Keith found a second gear and ran out and ran out and ran out and that 11-game lead went the other direction within less than a hour, with Keith winning all the dough, 12 games ahead of Sam. I've never seen anything like it since, the way the tides changed so quickly. He gave Sam a walking stick in the bathroom for giving him action, and we drove back home at daylight, during the Monday morning rush hour. Mike might have won the tournament, but we came home with most of the cheesenips.



not sure if I did correctly but check your PM's
 
Top