NH Steve
Administrator
The late Craig Stevens from Wichita was a great player. He had gotten beat one year in the 60's when he thought maybe he shouldn't have. He came back to Kansas City and went to the pool hall daily as if he were showing up to a normal job. He told me, “I am going to hit a million balls.” When he reached the level he was looking for, he set out on the road and beat everybody he played for a couple of years. He is thought of as a 9-Ball player, but played One Pocket as good as any champion. After he died the surviving champions tell people that they used to beat him, when they didn't. He definitely should be in on the One Hole Honor Roll.
Craig/Greg Stevens was called by both names. I personally called him Greg, which helped the people around us a bit because my name is Craig. It has been a long time but I think his name really was Craig but I will check the obit on that one.
Craig was an enormous eater. I managed a restaurant one time and he came in for dinner one night. He ordered a steak, which included a 16 ounce strip steak, large baked potato, large milk and large side salad. He woofed that down and ordered another complete meal which he woofed down again. When I got off, he was hungry again so we went to a Sambo's Restaurant where he consumed a dozen eggs, 10 biscuits, and a desert.
He told me about being busted in Blytheville, Arkansas with Rudolf Wanderone (Minnesota Fats). Fatty was a big eater also. They pooled their money and returned to the motel where they had an eating contest. I asked how it came out and he said, "I spotted him a chicken and still out ate him." I would have staked him against anybody on the eating table.
One of the only times I ever knew him to get beaten when he was in stroke was when he met another road player named Bill Lawson from North Carolina. Bill, like Craig, spent his life on the road playing pool. They met in KC and neither one had ever heard of the other player. At the end Bill won $3000 after an 8-10 hour session. Bill never missed a ball and Craig only missed a 5 ball in the side pocket. What a great match. They both broke great but a few times the lay of the balls afterward didn't go Craig's way.
Craig was known for very long sessions. I caught up with him once in Tampa. He had been up 5 days and 5 nights. The bar was a known hangout for the top players who came there for the winter from all over the US. He was still giving up the 7,8,9 to anybody who would play him. Don McCaughey told me that the only way to beat him was for players of high ability to tag team him. One guy would play him for 12 hours and the other would sleep. They couldn't break him down until after the 3rd, 4rh or 5th day.
A funny guy Craig was. When he decided to get off of the road, he opened 3 pool halls in Wichita and never gambled again. He would see players walk in to his place and he would usually tell them that they couldn't play there. He protected his regulars like a pit bull.
You mentioned Steve Cook, Jersey Red, Cornbread, and Ronnie. Craig beat them all during his hot years. I think it was Ronnie who put him in practice mode originally, but then didn't want to play him when he went out on the road again.
Another pool story about Craig: He was matched up to play a good local snooker player who wouldn't play him without a good spot. They played on a tight pocket 5' x 10' with a full rack. They played for $200 per game. The spot was that Craig could only score on the black 7 and nothing else. He ran the first 2 complete racks back to back. He did that several times more through the night. He also ran out many other partial racks.
These Greg Stevens stories were sent to OnePocket.org via the Contact page by Craig Rickard -- Thanks, Craig!
Craig/Greg Stevens was called by both names. I personally called him Greg, which helped the people around us a bit because my name is Craig. It has been a long time but I think his name really was Craig but I will check the obit on that one.
Craig was an enormous eater. I managed a restaurant one time and he came in for dinner one night. He ordered a steak, which included a 16 ounce strip steak, large baked potato, large milk and large side salad. He woofed that down and ordered another complete meal which he woofed down again. When I got off, he was hungry again so we went to a Sambo's Restaurant where he consumed a dozen eggs, 10 biscuits, and a desert.
He told me about being busted in Blytheville, Arkansas with Rudolf Wanderone (Minnesota Fats). Fatty was a big eater also. They pooled their money and returned to the motel where they had an eating contest. I asked how it came out and he said, "I spotted him a chicken and still out ate him." I would have staked him against anybody on the eating table.
One of the only times I ever knew him to get beaten when he was in stroke was when he met another road player named Bill Lawson from North Carolina. Bill, like Craig, spent his life on the road playing pool. They met in KC and neither one had ever heard of the other player. At the end Bill won $3000 after an 8-10 hour session. Bill never missed a ball and Craig only missed a 5 ball in the side pocket. What a great match. They both broke great but a few times the lay of the balls afterward didn't go Craig's way.
Craig was known for very long sessions. I caught up with him once in Tampa. He had been up 5 days and 5 nights. The bar was a known hangout for the top players who came there for the winter from all over the US. He was still giving up the 7,8,9 to anybody who would play him. Don McCaughey told me that the only way to beat him was for players of high ability to tag team him. One guy would play him for 12 hours and the other would sleep. They couldn't break him down until after the 3rd, 4rh or 5th day.
A funny guy Craig was. When he decided to get off of the road, he opened 3 pool halls in Wichita and never gambled again. He would see players walk in to his place and he would usually tell them that they couldn't play there. He protected his regulars like a pit bull.
You mentioned Steve Cook, Jersey Red, Cornbread, and Ronnie. Craig beat them all during his hot years. I think it was Ronnie who put him in practice mode originally, but then didn't want to play him when he went out on the road again.
Another pool story about Craig: He was matched up to play a good local snooker player who wouldn't play him without a good spot. They played on a tight pocket 5' x 10' with a full rack. They played for $200 per game. The spot was that Craig could only score on the black 7 and nothing else. He ran the first 2 complete racks back to back. He did that several times more through the night. He also ran out many other partial racks.
These Greg Stevens stories were sent to OnePocket.org via the Contact page by Craig Rickard -- Thanks, Craig!