King the wonder dog

Has anybody on here ever seen Jerry the Greek's wonder dog, King? I have, and I know Ronnie Allen has. He took a photo with King in E. Robin's One pocket book. Jerry was from the East Coast originally, spent time in Fla and then later moved to LA. I would like to hear from others before I give my take on the great pool dog, King.

Beard
If you heard stories about King secondhand, they were probably all true. I hesitate to tell my stories, I am still a little gun shy re the "editors." Aw hell, I'll do it anyway. Later.

That dog was something else

That dog was something else

I saw King in action but I'd rather leave the telling of the stories about him to Freddie.

Now "King the wonder dog" I haven't heard much about.



Don't worry about any of the "editors" Freddy, I'll handle that for you pimp.

fred bentivegna said:

Has anybody on here ever seen Jerry the Greek's wonder dog, King? I have, and I know Ronnie Allen has. He took a photo with King in E. Robin's One pocket book. Jerry was from the East Coast originally, spent time in Fla and then later moved to LA. I would like to hear from others before I give my take on the great pool dog, King.

Beard
If you heard stories about King secondhand, they were probably all true. I hesitate to tell my stories, I am still a little gun shy re the "editors." Aw hell, I'll do it anyway. Later.

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C'mon Freddy. Give it up.

I'll start off light

I'll start off light

Brooklyn Jimmy said he was in Jerry's apt one day when the phone rang. Jerry told the dog, "King I dont feel like movin' much today, and getting outta this chair. Answer the phone and bring it over." Jerry used no hand signals whatsoever. Whereby King picked up the receiver in his mouth and carried it over to Jerry with the long extension cord.

Beard

King could give Rin Tin Tin 3 games on the wire.
King would make a high performing hooker outta Lassie.

My favorite

My favorite

All right, if Freddie isn't going to relate this tale of myth and lore about "King", I will. With all 15 balls racked up, Jerry would let you pick a ball. The bet was that King would, on simple, no trickery voice command, go retrieve said ball. It was a beautiful thing to behold.
Having always had a dry, perverted sense of humor and irony, I especially enjoyed the looks on the suckers faces, when King dutifully but joyfully retreived the ball.

Expansion

Expansion

Grady said:

All right, if Freddie isn't going to relate this tale of myth and lore about "King", I will. With all 15 balls racked up, Jerry would let you pick a ball. The bet was that King would, on simple, no trickery voice command, go retrieve said ball. It was a beautiful thing to behold.
Having always had a dry, perverted sense of humor and irony, I especially enjoyed the looks on the suckers faces, when King dutifully but joyfully retreived the ball.

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That's my favorite too, Grady. But I would like to expand on the "con" part of the story a little, because it was one of Jerry's best hustles. Jerry would start off acting drunk and bragging about how smart King was. He'd make a lot of outrageous claims about what King could do and finally get to where he'd brag King could pick any ball called for out of the rack. He'd usually land on some smart guy who knew that dogs are color blind, and the guy would call Jerry on his brag. The first bet was seldom more than $20 because everybody always fears a scam. King would be acting all nervous and edgy on the table, and then when Jerry gave the word, King would attack the rack and wildly scramble the balls all over. Jerry would be screaming at King and the suckers would be on the floor laughing. Now an indignant Jerry would rant that the sweators sharked King from doing his job and it wasnt a fair test. Usually at this point, some smart ass would promise to be quiet if Jerry wanted to bet again. Jerry, still acting drunk, would curse everybody out, and then post his bankroll up and dare the sweators to cover his bet, usually a few hundred dollars. Larceny usually set in at this point and the sweators figured a loud drunk didnt deserve to have any money anyway. Now with the bet up, King has gotten "the office" from Jerry and he aint so nervous and edgy no more. He's sitting up calmly on the table with his ears straight up, waiting for the "take it off" command. Then Jerry would say, "Get me the four ball, King," or whatever ball had been chosen, and King would amble over to the rack, and stir the balls slightly and put the four ball in his mouth. Whatta dog.

Beard
I'm glad I got live eyewitnesses, like Grady, Ronnie, and Brooklyn Jimmy because King was hard to believe. Jerry had King at the 2nd Fred Whalen tourn. so there must be more people who remember King.

Great stories guys!

Do we have any clue how King was able to do this? Pick up any ball that someone designated?

Hell, I'm still looking for the scam in the story

fred bentivegna said:

That's my favorite too, Grady. But I would like to expand on the "con" part of the story a little, because it was one of Jerry's best hustles. Jerry would start off acting drunk and bragging about how smart King was. He'd make a lot of outrageous claims about what King could do and finally get to where he'd brag King could pick any ball called for out of the rack. He'd usually land on some smart guy who knew that dogs are color blind, and the guy would call Jerry on his brag. The first bet was seldom more than $20 because everybody always fears a scam. King would be acting all nervous and edgy on the table, and then when Jerry gave the word, King would attack the rack and wildly scramble the balls all over. Jerry would be screaming at King and the suckers would be on the floor laughing. Now an indignant Jerry would rant that the sweators sharked King from doing his job and it wasnt a fair test. Usually at this point, some smart ass would promise to be quiet if Jerry wanted to bet again. Jerry, still acting drunk, would curse everybody out, and then post his bankroll up and dare the sweators to cover his bet, usually a few hundred dollars. Larceny usually set in at this point and the sweators figured a loud drunk didnt deserve to have any money anyway. Now with the bet up, King has gotten "the office" from Jerry and he aint so nervous and edgy no more. He's sitting up calmly on the table with his ears straight up, waiting for the "take it off" command. Then Jerry would say, "Get me the four ball, King," or whatever ball had been chosen, and King would amble over to the rack, and stir the balls slightly and put the four ball in his mouth. Whatta dog.

Beard
I'm glad I got live eyewitnesses, like Grady, Ronnie, and Brooklyn Jimmy because King was hard to believe. Jerry had King at the 2nd Fred Whalen tourn. so there must be more people who remember King.

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As a guess, I would say the first rack had NO marked ball - thats why the dogg 'snooped' the balls around.

He then re-racked, and used something the dog was scent trained to.
Just a guess....

CaliRed said:

Great stories guys!

Do we have any clue how King was able to do this? Pick up any ball that someone designated?

Hell, I'm still looking for the scam in the story

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No scam!

No scam!

CaliRed said:

Great stories guys!

Do we have any clue how King was able to do this? Pick up any ball that someone designated?

Hell, I'm still looking for the scam in the story

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Forget the scam. King was the worlds smartest dog. King and Jerry were never apart. They were together 24hrs a day. He was the only dog allowed into pool rooms and restaurants. He had plenty other tricks too.
He would put some money in Kings mouth and say, "What does a good pool hustler do with the stakes, King?" and King would run off out of the room with the stakes. Or he's say, "I dont trust that guy, King, make him put up." and
King would stick his nose in the guys pocket and remove the bankroll. Those are just a few of his antics.

Beard

fred bentivegna said:

Forget the scam. King was the worlds smartest dog. King and Jerry were never apart. They were together 24hrs a day. He was the only dog allowed into pool rooms and restaurants. He had plenty other tricks too.
He would put some money in Kings mouth and say, "What does a good pool hustler do with the stakes, King?" and King would run off out of the room with the stakes. Or he's say, "I dont trust that guy, King, make him put up." and
King would stick his nose in the guys pocket and remove the bankroll. Those are just a few of his antics.

Beard

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I gotta have more! Hilarious!

King in the pool room

King in the pool room

I've seen Jerry play for a day or two straight in an all nite pool room and he would sit King in a chair and King wouldnt budge until Jerry came for him. He wouldnt eat or pee or move until Jerry gave the word. A lot of restaurants allowed King in with Jerry. Jerry would give King the check and some cash and send him up to the register. Those restaurants that wouldnt let King in, Jerry would sit him atop of a mail box, or a newspaper box and King would just sit and wait until Jerry came out. King was a medium size dog, and a stone mongrel. No petigree whatsoever. He almost got a shot to appear on the Tonight show, but it fell thru.

Jerry would say, "What does Smoky the Bear say about smoking, King?" and with that, King would knock the cigarette out of your mouth and then run his nails over it and die it out. King would pay the tolls on the highway.

Jerry was a strong biteman. All he had to say was, "King aint ate today. I need some money to feed him." Nobody would give Jerry a cracker for himself, but he never got turned down when he asked for King. Everybody knew that Jerry would feed King the same food that he ate.

Beard

fred bentivegna said:

I've seen Jerry play for a day or two straight in an all nite pool room and he would sit King in a chair and King wouldnt budge until Jerry came for him. He wouldnt eat or pee or move until Jerry gave the word. A lot of restaurants allowed King in with Jerry. Jerry would give King the check and some cash and send him up to the register. Those restaurants that wouldnt let King in, Jerry would sit him atop of a mail box, or a newspaper box and King would just sit and wait until Jerry came out. King was a medium size dog, and a stone mongrel. No petigree whatsoever. He almost got a shot to appear on the Tonight show, but it fell thru.

Jerry would say, "What does Smoky the Bear say about smoking, King?" and with that, King would knock the cigarette out of your mouth and then run his nails over it and die it out. King would pay the tolls on the highway.

Jerry was a strong biteman. All he had to say was, "King aint ate today. I need some money to feed him." Nobody would give Jerry a cracker for himself, but he never got turned down when he asked for King. Everybody knew that Jerry would feed King the same food that he ate.

Beard

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You should seriously consider writing a series of books. Break them down into volumes by single years.
Let's see...you were born in 1940. Maybe Vol 1 could cover some history on the Bentivegnas right at the time baby Beard was conceived up thru grade school. Vol 2 would cover Jr High thru High school. Vol 3 could pick up in 1959 and you could then pen on a year by year basis.

I know I would buy a set. You could really make some dough if you would just compile all your contributions from here and at AZB.

I'm very serious about you needing to write more books.

Terry Ardeno said:

You should seriously consider writing a series of books. Break them down into volumes by single years.
Let's see...you were born in 1940. Maybe Vol 1 could cover some history on the Bentivegnas right at the time baby Beard was conceived up thru grade school. Vol 2 would cover Jr High thru High school. Vol 3 could pick up in 1959 and you could then pen on a year by year basis.

I know I would buy a set. You could really make some dough if you would just compile all your contributions from here and at AZB.

I'm very serious about you needing to write more books.

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I'd sure buy a copy.

Actually....

Actually....

Terry Ardeno said:

You should seriously consider writing a series of books. Break them down into volumes by single years.
Let's see...you were born in 1940. Maybe Vol 1 could cover some history on the Bentivegnas right at the time baby Beard was conceived up thru grade school. Vol 2 would cover Jr High thru High school. Vol 3 could pick up in 1959 and you could then pen on a year by year basis.

I know I would buy a set. You could really make some dough if you would just compile all your contributions from here and at AZB.

I'm very serious about you needing to write more books.

Click to expand...

Terry, actually I did have the foresight to catalog most of the posts I have made on AZ and Onepocket.org re stories and player info. But it is extremely voluminous and I am considering putting it all together some kind of way -- eventually.

Beard

Coincidence

Coincidence

Talk about coincidences. Last night at Red Shoes Billiards, a guy who has never been on a computer, asked me to confirm a story he had heard from a friend about a week ago. His friend, an old time scuff named Alphonso Daniels told him a story about King and said that I could verify it. He had seen Alphonse long before I posted the story on AZ. Fonz told him, the pick the ball out of the rack, story. With that segue, I was able to launch into a whole routine of King stories to the Red Shoes habitues.

Beard

fred bentivegna said:

... With that segue, I was able to launch into a whole routine of King stories to the Red Shoes habitues.

Beard

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Excellent. Now you are in storytelling stroke. *hint*

fred bentivegna said:

Terry, actually I did have the foresight to catalog most of the posts I have made on AZ and Onepocket.org re stories and player info. But it is extremely voluminous and I am considering putting it all together some kind of way -- eventually.

Beard

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Maybe you should feel a sense of urgency to get this together. Know what I mean?

Freddie, I saw Jerry and King in action day after day back in the 60's at Ye Billiard Den. By the way, Jerry could play pool. He was a decent shortstop, but he kept his game under wraps pretty good.

King could give any other "smart" dog the five and the break! He could run out a rack of nine ball, picking up the balls in order and dropping them in the nearest pocket. Jerry would break the balls and say, "Run out King" and that was it. King could add! I swear to God. Jerry would say, "Give me two balls that add up to 15, and King would do it. Then Jerry would say do it again, and King would pull two more balls out that added up to 15.

Then the topper was when Jerry said to someone pick a number. Maybe they would say ten, and Jerry would have King pull two balls that added up to ten. Don't ask me how he did it. I have no idea other than that King knew the balls just as good as we do. He recognized numbers and knew how to add, at least up to 15. I never saw him go for a higher number or more than two balls. I suspect he could do it with three balls if necessary.

If Jerry had a drink sitting on a table and he was playing pool, he could ask King to get his drink for him. King would gently take the glass (or cup) in his teeth and bring it over to Jerry. Jerry would have King pay the bill and tell him to bring back the right change, telling him how much he had coming back. If the counter person gave King the wrong change he wouldn't move. He would wait until he got the right amount. So King knew about money and pool balls, that's for sure.

Jerry would tell King to open his wallet and take out ten dollars, a five and five ones. King would do it without fail. Like Freddie said, this dog was one of a kind. Nothing King did surprised me after a while. It was like he had a human brain.

Oh my goodness...Don't upset him!

Oh my goodness...Don't upset him!

blackeee said:

Maybe you should feel a sense of urgency to get this together. Know what I mean?

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Blackee, that's terrible! Don't provoke him into anything that would aggravate something going ker-pluke inside him. He has enough with SJD's loving words of comfort. The Beard is a National Treasure to pooldom and a veritable fountain of information. We can't lose someone of his ilk, as Grady would say.

Plus, you gotta remember the fact that the Beard has taken great care of himself over the years of his lifetime. Who, for example, can ever forget post #13 in this much balleyhood thread, which I now offer as Exhibit A....
http://www.onepocket.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3451&page=2

Let's see....the big "7-0"! coming up next Nov 16....numerous surgeries....admitted experimentation with some assorted and here not named "chemicals".... has to contend with SJD on a daily basis....then there's his Richard Burton-Liz Taylor like "friendship" with Artie....he's still musing over whether them autographed cue-balls were a good idea or....

On second thought, Freddy, the clock IS ticking!

***JOKE ONLY BEARD****You know..."Hahahah "

PS-Come on, let's get them papers in order! Don't be wasting time on no video poker when you can make BOO-KOO money in the pool book writing busines. Your website has a nice farmer's market type selection to choose from for the discerning pool enthusiast. The only thing missing is MORE BOOKS that we want to read. Purchase first ($) then read. Remember that the next time you want to take a nap! Sleep is money being wasted!

Good luck with getting that all in some type of order. And with all the other stuff you gotta deal with everyday that you log in here!