Anybody remember Edgar White from Motown?

Its been almost 30 years since I last saw Edgar White. I had lots of respect for him as a one pocket player but only saw him in action a few times in the Detroit area. He was a very likable man and often smiling/ laughing. My one time mentor Tommy Lazlo (deceased) also respected Edgar and his game. For the guys that knew or played Edgar, how strong was his game? How did he stack up against some of the better one pocket players of the 70's and early 80's? Would he be hall of fame worthy?

Martin

I never met him but remember reading about "Shake and Bake" back in the early 1970's in the National Billiard News. From what I can remember, his strongest game was 9B.
I know from Freddy's blog that he's played him in 1P. The Beard would be better able to opine on his speed, but I'd venture to say that he was a really good player but he was not in the upper crust of the pecking order in any pool discipline.

jazznpool said:

Its been almost 30 years since I last saw Edgar White. I had lots of respect for him as a one pocket player but only saw him in action a few times in the Detroit area. He was a very likable man and often smiling/ laughing. My one time mentor Tommy Lazlo (deceased) also respected Edgar and his game. For the guys that knew or played Edgar, how strong was his game? How did he stack up against some of the better one pocket players of the 70's and early 80's? Would he be hall of fame worthy?

Martin

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I never played Edgar one-pocket or saw him play it either. I wasn't a regular fixture at the Rack and that's where I did see him when I did see him. I did watch him play Poochie some $300 9-Ball sets one night and that match was the impetus for this verse:

Watch Edgar play Poochie till deep in the night
Shakin' & Bakin' till he gets it right
Salami will stake him for something to do
While Waterdog's nodding, he'll wake up at two

Freddy Salem put a chair up on the 1st table by the door and put cardboard squares under each leg. Then he helped Rosie up on the table where he could sit like a king and watch the match as he was staking one of the players and Freddy was staking the other. Several sets were played and Edgar played very good as did Harry. I don't remember who won. I do remember that Edgar had a smooth black fellini case with Shake & Bake carved into it.

I did play your mentor Tommy many times (one-pocket) when he ventured to Cue Corners in Romulus, Mich.. He was a great guy to gamble with and I learned a lot from him. I think we also played at the Kelly Cue when I was out that way.

Sorry for not answering your question but I hadn't heard anyone mention Edgar for quite a while now.

Dennis

Edgar was an anomaly at that time, a black Nine-ball player. Meaning he didnt specialize in banks or One-pocket. He did pretty good in a few tournaments but I rated him as upper level shortstop in Nine-ball.

Beard

That's a fairly good description of Edgar's game by Freddie. He played 9ball fairly well, needing maybe 4 or 5 games in a race to 11 against the best players. He played bar table 9ball very good, and was capable of beating the best at the game. However, he still was an underdog by 2 to 3 games going to 11 against the best. As far as I remember he didn't play much one pocket at all. He was a very sociable guy who always had a smile on his face (win or lose) very likeable guy. If i'm not mistaken I believe he was one of the fortunate players who had the opportunity to play Rosie, (back in the day) and made a nice score.

Dr. Bill

This is one of Bill Porter or Mike Haines photos:

Shake passed away around 12-14 years ago from cancer. Extremely likeable guy. Carried himself with alot of style and class. Great guy to have in a poolroom.

I remember he made the cover of one (or more) of the pool mags when he won a big tournament -- not sure what tourney it was.

Saw him in action against a young Earl Strickland in 1983(IIRC) at the Clyde tournament in Richmond Kentucky. Earl gave him the 8 and beat him two sets for 1k per. I do remember he seemed to be a man who was just happy about life.

Shake & Bake! I remember his huge smile! Edgar & I were the men's & women's champs at Richie Florence's '80 World ProAm at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. I used to have a photo of the two of us that someone took after winning the tournament but I have no idea what happened to it...He beat "Little Al" Romero in the finals - what a match that was! Neither one of them missed a ball!

NH Steve said:

I remember he made the cover of one (or more) of the pool mags when he won a big tournament -- not sure what tourney it was.

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he lived in the DC area for quite some time, was certainly a nice fella with a constant smile

believe he won a national APA tournament one year. thinking this may be the tournament Steve is referring to

a good person, good for the poolroom, carried himself well. sorry to hear that he has passed