NH Steve
Administrator
I have a copy of an old Sports Illust. that has an artist's pictorial of one of the early Johnson City tournaments -- I believe the 1963 event. It includes sketches (literally) of quite a few players, with their nicknames along with their actual names -- along with very little text. Here are some of the players sketched or named that were there:
"Cornbread Red" Billy Burge
"Boston Shorty" Larry Johnson
Joey Spaeth
"Tuscaloosa Squirrely" --> yes, they had a 'y' on the end, in two places in the article in fact! (Now was that just their mistake, or did his nickname evolve over the years from Squirrely to Squirrel??)
"Handsome Danny" Danny Jones
"Weenie Beanie" Bill Staton
"Tugboat Whaley"
"Iron Joe" Procita
"Cowboy" Jimmy Moore
Hayden Lingo
"New York Blackie" A.F. Bonife
"Wimpy" Luther Lassiter (who won that year apparently)
"Detroit Whitey" Eddie Beauchene
"New York Fats" Rudolf Wanderone (in that crowd not recognized yet as 'Minnesota', even though he had probably started using that -- The Hustler movie having come out a couple of years before, right?)
"Knoxville Bear" Eddie Taylor
"Feazle Luttrell"
"Daddy Warbucks" Hubert Cokes
"Youngblood" Javanly Washington
Plus they mention "Pots and Pans"
The color washed look is actually part of the art, not a water stain
"Cornbread Red" Billy Burge
"Boston Shorty" Larry Johnson
Joey Spaeth
"Tuscaloosa Squirrely" --> yes, they had a 'y' on the end, in two places in the article in fact! (Now was that just their mistake, or did his nickname evolve over the years from Squirrely to Squirrel??)
"Handsome Danny" Danny Jones
"Weenie Beanie" Bill Staton
"Tugboat Whaley"
"Iron Joe" Procita
"Cowboy" Jimmy Moore
Hayden Lingo
"New York Blackie" A.F. Bonife
"Wimpy" Luther Lassiter (who won that year apparently)
"Detroit Whitey" Eddie Beauchene
"New York Fats" Rudolf Wanderone (in that crowd not recognized yet as 'Minnesota', even though he had probably started using that -- The Hustler movie having come out a couple of years before, right?)
"Knoxville Bear" Eddie Taylor
"Feazle Luttrell"
"Daddy Warbucks" Hubert Cokes
"Youngblood" Javanly Washington
Plus they mention "Pots and Pans"
The color washed look is actually part of the art, not a water stain
Last edited: