A champion and a friend has passed

My good friend Bernie Schwartz passed away today, his son Bruce called me to tell me the sad news. Bernie was the best 9ball player in the world through the 70's he beat every player that could play and he played them all. Not only was he a world champion 9ball player but he was also a champion person as well. Raising three beautiful children Marci, Hillery, and a son named Bruce. All three children are successful family people that adored their father. Bernie was the funniest guy on earth, always making people laugh with his dry wit, he will be sorely missed.

Rest In Peace my good friend,
Bill Incardona

I was happy to call Bernie my friend also.

wincardona said:

My good friend Bernie Schwartz passed away today, his son Bruce called me to tell me the sad news. Bernie was the best 9ball player in the world through the 70's he beat every player that could play and he played them all. Not only was he a world champion 9ball player but he was also a champion person as well. Raising three beautiful children Marci, Hillery, and a son named Bruce. All three children are successful family people that adored their father. Bernie was the funniest guy on earth, always making people laugh with his dry wit, he will be sorely missed.

Rest In Peace my good friend,
Bill Incardona

Click to expand...

So sorry to hear the news, Billy. He was a little before my time, so I decided to do a wee bit of research this morning to find out who Bernie Schwartz was, and I came acrsos this article written in January 1970. It takes place at the infamous Jack and Jill's pool room, owned by Weenie Bennie, in Arlington, Virginia:

Tonight in Jack n Jill Cue Club, a pool rustler named Bernie Schwartz clinched the U.S. Open Nine Ball Tournament. With this new achievement. Schwartz may be the best nine ball player in the country.

The tournament lead was shared by Schwartz. Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter, "Champagne" Eddie Kelly, and Jim "The Springfield Rifle" Rellihan at 5-1, but then the balding Schwartz roared back to lead, 11-2. and eventually win.

Jim Morgan in Drag

Schwartz bets liberally and has won as much as $15,000 in a week. In the all-night sessions, his girl friend, in her blonde wig, black leather pumps, and imitation sealskin coat, is an important factor in his success. She sits near Schwartz and gives him Marlboros and coffee.

Denizens of Jack n Jill are now talking up a large money match between Lassiter and The Hawk, Lassiter has always been acknowledged as the finest nine ball player in the world, but now there are some doubters.

In Joke

As one familiar face known only as "Pumpkin" said. "When you've been out of action for four years like Lassiter has, it's got to hurt, and I don't care who you are."

Source: Wig, Marlboros Win Virginia Pool Tournament [Retrieved 12 May 2013]

What a shame he didn't get into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame while he was still alive to enjoy it, but, thank goodness, he did make into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Western Pennsylvania in 2002. This is a cool pool read:

Bernie "The Hawk" Schwartz, a pool hustler who began chalking up as a kid in Oakland in the late 1940s, will be inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania tonight.

Purists might argue that a game that can be played with a cigarette 'twixt your lips is no sport. Phooey. If Tiger Woods is lauded for making his living with a bagful of sticks, how much more impressive is a man who could earn his family's keep carrying one?

Schwartz, now 67, was this good: He didn't just meet Minnesota Fats under Kaufmann's clock; he cleaned Fats' clock in Kaufmann's when the braggart blew through town promoting pool tables in 1968. Schwartz won the Las Vegas Invitational, the world nine-ball championship, in 1970. And a friend told me that the wads of cash that changed hands when the big players came to Schwartz's basement pool hall on Murray Avenue, "The Hawk's Nest," could have choked a stable of horses.

So I called Schwartz in suburban Detroit, where he moved 31 years ago after selling the pool hall, to hear his tale.

His father died when he was 6. He, his older brother, Paul, and their Russian-born mother, Gertrude, moved from the Hill District to the new housing project in Oakland, Terrace Village. Cotton's Pool Room was down the hill on Fifth Avenue, and the Schwartzes, tall for their age, entered that world of gambling men at 12 and 13.

Brother Paul says he was backing Bernie with $200 bets by their late teens. By then, the family had moved to Squirrel Hill, where Paul still lives and where Bernie was mentored in Ross' pool parlor by Bunny Rogoff. Are these names great, or what?

"His skills in pool were as good as Arnold Palmer's in golf," Paul said.

But Bernie got married at 22 and quit the game. He worked in sales and, after a decade away, drifted back into the poolrooms. He bought the Hawk's Nest in 1967 when he was 32. Before long, bleachers were brought in for tournaments that featured name players such as Irving Crane, Luther Lassiter and Steve Mizerak.

"They had to take a ticket to play me," Bernie said. "Like in a bakery."

He'd always try to get them to play him on the corner table, under the air conditioner, which cooled the rubber cushions and changed all the angles.

"I used to play really good on that table. I'd say, 'Let's go back there and play in the corner,' and before they knew it, they were empty."

Not that he couldn't win elsewhere, and with style. When he won the championship in Vegas, he bested "Champagne Eddie" Kelly, who was famous for shouting "Champagne for everybody!" just before he'd sink the last ball of a match. So just before Schwartz sank his winner, he shouted "Manischewitz wine for everybody!"

These were the days when Schwartz would take short road trips with his late wife and soul mate, Ruthie, by his side, his in-laws watching their three children. He beat a local hero in Eatonton, Ga., in 1969 for $6,000, and got the only standing ovation of his career. On a later trip to Detroit, a high roller in the cookware business asked him, "What's a nice Jewish boy like you doing hustling pool?"

Within a year, Schwartz sold his pool hall and was in the cookware business himself. Like Sandy Koufax, he quit at the top of his game.

"You can't make a living playing pool. You've got to work. I had three kids by then."

They're with him this weekend, along with his four grandchildren, among the five carloads driving into town for the induction ceremonies at Beth Shalom Synagogue. Brother Paul even sprang for a billboard congratulating The Hawk above Poli's parking lot.

Schwartz never forgot his roots -- nor could his opponents. The story goes that not long after he beat Minnesota Fats, the rotund one went to Chicago to another department store. When he once again bragged of his pool prowess, out of the crowd came a shrill voice.

"You're a liar, Fats! My nephew, Bernie Schwartz, beat you in Pittsburgh!"

Bernie's Aunt Esther is no longer with us, but that story being told tonight is about as close to a sure bet as anything since Schwartz left his corner table.


Source: Storied nine-ball ace is athlete enough for hall of fame [Retrieved 12 May 2013]

RIP to a legend in the pool world. May he rest in peace!

Sorry to hear of his passing. Bernie was a fun guy, as was his wife Ruthie. She gambled almost as high as he did playing gin rummy. I, like Jay, was glad that I got to see him one more time at DCC a couple years back. We talked one more time when he called me after his trip to DCC, and kept me on the phone for a 1/2 hour cutting up old jackpots and verbally abusing me.

That is no stretch re how good Bernie played. In 1972 the three best nine ball players in the country were Bernie Schwartz, Billy Incardona, and Jimmy Marino -- all from Pittsburgh.

beard

I am real sorry to hear this. I spoke to Bernie just a few months ago about the (then) upcoming One Pocket HOF dinner, but was a little taken aback to hear from him that he had answered my call from a hospital, where he was awaiting some kind of heart surgery. We chatted for a little but I was not comfortable taking much of his time and energy. He was upbeat, though!

This photo is probably from one of the Stardust tournaments, where I believe he was the 9-ball champion one year.

His name also comes up a lot when you talk to different veteran players about "The Rack" during the heyday of Detroit's high stakes years.

wincardona said:

My good friend Bernie Schwartz passed away today, his son Bruce called me to tell me the sad news. Bernie was the best 9ball player in the world through the 70's he beat every player that could play and he played them all. Not only was he a world champion 9ball player but he was also a champion person as well. Raising three beautiful children Marci, Hillery, and a son named Bruce. All three children are successful family people that adored their father. Bernie was the funniest guy on earth, always making people laugh with his dry wit, he will be sorely missed.

Rest In Peace my good friend,
Bill Incardona

Click to expand...

Billy, I remember Bernie pretty well. We were up there in Detroit at the Rack when I played him. I believe we were playing a race to 11 for 5 or 10 grand. The set was very close. I nudged him out, but he was a scrapper. I was much younger, of course, and caught him sort of when he wasn't playing quite his best, I believe. I would have liked to see him play in his prime.

I saw him play other people as well. That was back in the Bromberg days, the black guy that used to play good banks. You were there.

I'm sorry to hear the bad news. Sorry for your loss, Billy. Seemed like everybody's going. There ain't many of us dinosaurs left.

Take care of yourself, Pal, and don't be afraid to drop me a jingle once in a while. I'd like to hear from you.

JAM said:

So sorry to hear the news, Billy. He was a little before my time, so I decided to do a wee bit of research this morning to find out who Bernie Schwartz was, and I came acrsos this article written in January 1970. It takes place at the infamous Jack and Jill's pool room, owned by Weenie Bennie, in Arlington, Virginia:

Tonight in Jack n Jill Cue Club, a pool rustler named Bernie Schwartz clinched the U.S. Open Nine Ball Tournament. With this new achievement. Schwartz may be the best nine ball player in the country.

The tournament lead was shared by Schwartz. Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter, "Champagne" Eddie Kelly, and Jim "The Springfield Rifle" Rellihan at 5-1, but then the balding Schwartz roared back to lead, 11-2. and eventually win.

Jim Morgan in Drag

Schwartz bets liberally and has won as much as $15,000 in a week. In the all-night sessions, his girl friend, in her blonde wig, black leather pumps, and imitation sealskin coat, is an important factor in his success. She sits near Schwartz and gives him Marlboros and coffee.

Denizens of Jack n Jill are now talking up a large money match between Lassiter and The Hawk, Lassiter has always been acknowledged as the finest nine ball player in the world, but now there are some doubters.

In Joke

As one familiar face known only as "Pumpkin" said. "When you've been out of action for four years like Lassiter has, it's got to hurt, and I don't care who you are."

Source: Wig, Marlboros Win Virginia Pool Tournament [Retrieved 12 May 2013]

What a shame he didn't get into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame while he was still alive to enjoy it, but, thank goodness, he did make into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Western Pennsylvania in 2002. This is a cool pool read:

Bernie "The Hawk" Schwartz, a pool hustler who began chalking up as a kid in Oakland in the late 1940s, will be inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania tonight.

Purists might argue that a game that can be played with a cigarette 'twixt your lips is no sport. Phooey. If Tiger Woods is lauded for making his living with a bagful of sticks, how much more impressive is a man who could earn his family's keep carrying one?

Schwartz, now 67, was this good: He didn't just meet Minnesota Fats under Kaufmann's clock; he cleaned Fats' clock in Kaufmann's when the braggart blew through town promoting pool tables in 1968. Schwartz won the Las Vegas Invitational, the world nine-ball championship, in 1970. And a friend told me that the wads of cash that changed hands when the big players came to Schwartz's basement pool hall on Murray Avenue, "The Hawk's Nest," could have choked a stable of horses.

So I called Schwartz in suburban Detroit, where he moved 31 years ago after selling the pool hall, to hear his tale.

His father died when he was 6. He, his older brother, Paul, and their Russian-born mother, Gertrude, moved from the Hill District to the new housing project in Oakland, Terrace Village. Cotton's Pool Room was down the hill on Fifth Avenue, and the Schwartzes, tall for their age, entered that world of gambling men at 12 and 13.

Brother Paul says he was backing Bernie with $200 bets by their late teens. By then, the family had moved to Squirrel Hill, where Paul still lives and where Bernie was mentored in Ross' pool parlor by Bunny Rogoff. Are these names great, or what?

"His skills in pool were as good as Arnold Palmer's in golf," Paul said.

But Bernie got married at 22 and quit the game. He worked in sales and, after a decade away, drifted back into the poolrooms. He bought the Hawk's Nest in 1967 when he was 32. Before long, bleachers were brought in for tournaments that featured name players such as Irving Crane, Luther Lassiter and Steve Mizerak.

"They had to take a ticket to play me," Bernie said. "Like in a bakery."

He'd always try to get them to play him on the corner table, under the air conditioner, which cooled the rubber cushions and changed all the angles.

"I used to play really good on that table. I'd say, 'Let's go back there and play in the corner,' and before they knew it, they were empty."

Not that he couldn't win elsewhere, and with style. When he won the championship in Vegas, he bested "Champagne Eddie" Kelly, who was famous for shouting "Champagne for everybody!" just before he'd sink the last ball of a match. So just before Schwartz sank his winner, he shouted "Manischewitz wine for everybody!"

These were the days when Schwartz would take short road trips with his late wife and soul mate, Ruthie, by his side, his in-laws watching their three children. He beat a local hero in Eatonton, Ga., in 1969 for $6,000, and got the only standing ovation of his career. On a later trip to Detroit, a high roller in the cookware business asked him, "What's a nice Jewish boy like you doing hustling pool?"

Within a year, Schwartz sold his pool hall and was in the cookware business himself. Like Sandy Koufax, he quit at the top of his game.

"You can't make a living playing pool. You've got to work. I had three kids by then."

They're with him this weekend, along with his four grandchildren, among the five carloads driving into town for the induction ceremonies at Beth Shalom Synagogue. Brother Paul even sprang for a billboard congratulating The Hawk above Poli's parking lot.

Schwartz never forgot his roots -- nor could his opponents. The story goes that not long after he beat Minnesota Fats, the rotund one went to Chicago to another department store. When he once again bragged of his pool prowess, out of the crowd came a shrill voice.

"You're a liar, Fats! My nephew, Bernie Schwartz, beat you in Pittsburgh!"

Bernie's Aunt Esther is no longer with us, but that story being told tonight is about as close to a sure bet as anything since Schwartz left his corner table.


Source: Storied nine-ball ace is athlete enough for hall of fame [Retrieved 12 May 2013]

RIP to a legend in the pool world. May he rest in peace!

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Thank you so much Jenny for doing what you do and being you. Bernie was truly a great guy and a great champion in every sense of the word. Bernie was the best 9ball player in the world, all through the 70's, I personally seen him beat every player that he played, and he beat them handily. Eddie Kelley, Ronnie Allen, Richie Florence, Toby Sweet, Steve Mizerak, Richie Ambrose, Larry Hubbard, Horace Harper, Craig Stevens, Jimmy Marino, Bill Incardona, and every other player that he played during that time. I never seen him lose playing 9ball, and if there is anyone that beat him I don't know who it was Bernie was also the most likeable player of our time along with being the best, and that's hard to imagine considering all the ego's that go along with being the the best of the best. He was loved by many, including myself, he will be sorely missed.

R.I.P. Bernie "The Hawk" Schwartz.

Bill Incardona

Keith McCready said:

Billy, I remember Bernie pretty well. We were up there in Detroit at the Rack when I played him. I believe we were playing a race to 11 for 5 or 10 grand. The set was very close. I nudged him out, but he was a scrapper. I was much younger, of course, and caught him sort of when he wasn't playing quite his best, I believe. I would have liked to see him play in his prime.

I saw him play other people as well. That was back in the Bromberg days, the black guy that used to play good banks. You were there.

I'm sorry to hear the bad news. Sorry for your loss, Billy. Seemed like everybody's going. There ain't many of us dinosaurs left.

Take care of yourself, Pal, and don't be afraid to drop me a jingle once in a while. I'd like to hear from you.

Click to expand...

Thanks Keith for your post and yes we're losing a lot of the guys we grew up playing, really sad.

Love you Keith.
Bill Incardona

I'm sad to hear this, Billy...I'm so, so sorry - I know how much you loved him.

When I first started playing in the mid '70s in North Jersey, Tommy Halliday ("Staten Island" or "Doc"), took me under his wing & he'd tell me stories about all the great players & that was when I first heard of Bernie Schwartz. I remember Tommy telling me what a great guy & great player he was. I never was lucky enough to watch him play - all I ever heard was how if Bernie could get them to light, they were history. And for big money, too...I also remember you, Eddie Kelly & Bunny Rogoff telling stories about Bernie when we all lived in Vegas.

It wasn't until the '12 Derby Classic that I finally got to meet him. Billy, I know you knew how much I'd love to finally meet him & you were right - I was thrilled. I could've sat there all day listening to the stories. Although we only spent a short time together, I know that everything I'd ever heard about the guy was true. Bernie was a very mannered & classy guy - warm, affable, funny, down-to-earth - he was real. We took a couple of photos that day - here's one of them...

I was honored to meet you, Bernie - thank you, Billy. I sure wish I had had the chance to know you better...RIP.

RIP Bernie "The Hawk"

When I think 1970's 9ball I really believe I may have been the glory days for the game Bernie was one of the first names I thought of when thinking of champion 9 ballers during that era Along with guys like Lassiter (very early 70s), Pittsburgh Billy, Ritchie Florence, Mizerak, McCready, Stevens, Goff, Hippy Jimmy Reid, Jimmy Marino, Mark Maryo, Boom Boom Crane, Buddy Hall, Pete Margo, and host of other champions what a great time for short rack rotation. Bernie was a bonafide world beater and his "Hawk's Nest" was a open stop for ANYONE in the world. RIP Bernie