Artist’s rendering courtesy Ray Desell Players that knew ‘Fats’, especially those that knew him during his prime years before he took on the Minnesota Fats moniker, generally describe Fats as a very good player, but still a ball or two below the best. This is the way Eddie Taylor described it in an interview with […]
Like many child prodigies at pool, Jose got an early start because his father owned two poolrooms – one in his own hometown and another in downtown Manila. And his father was a good player, so Jose got to watch many of the best local players as they came in to challenge his father. By […]
Born in 1934 in West Virginia, Marvin Henderson moved as a child to the hill district of Pittsburgh, where an early job shining shoes just down the hill at ‘Woogie’ Harris’s Crystal Barbershop gave Marvin his first glimpse into the enticing world of pool action. It was a classic barbershop in the front with a […]
Elusive under-cover master Jack Cooney is one of the modern icons of action One Pocket, and a prime example of “After Hours Legends who have demonstrated their excellence and their heart by matching up against the best of their time,” to quote from the One Pocket Hall of Fame selection criteria. Jack’s early education in One […]
Pool had suffered a major decline during the 50’s culture of wholesome family idealism and in 1961 tournaments were virtually non-existent. Yet this was also the year that the blockbuster movie, The Hustler, was released. And it just so happened that one of the era’s biggest (and most vocal) pool hustlers lived near the small […]
Pittsburgh Billy Incardona has been a solid One Pocket player and after hours legend for many years now. In fact, he’s still mixing it up against a whole new generation of players today. Of course, as the ‘voice of Accustats’, he has helped educate thousands of players in our favorite game. Recently Billy has also […]
Known as ‘The Philadelphia Flash’, Jimmy Fusco has matured into one of the patriarchs of Philadelphia’s legendary One Pocket scene. For years a top tournament player and action veteran, Jimmy is one of the very few living Johnston City winners. He was the One Pocket champion in the 1972 Johnston City tournament that was interrupted […]
Reportedly Hayden Lingo is second from left, middle row. Although captioned “First Tournament” 1961 in the 1969 Johnston City program, this photo was actually taken later, probably in 1963. Often cited as ‘the man that invented One Pocket’, it is more likely that he was just such a strong early practitioner of the game that he and […]
John ‘Rags’ Fitzpatrick was a very talented player and dapper gentleman whose name nearly always comes up among old-timers as the top all-around road player of his time. Yet he is largely unknown today, and missing from the record books, mainly because he died at the age of 41 in 1960. The date is significant, […]
A lifelong resident of Washington, DC, ‘Strawberry’ was born Dec 10th, 1933, so he just turned 73 earlier this month. He was a family man and a US Army veteran and then worked for the Post Office for a time before he turned to pool full-time to support his family. He had nine sons and […]
Originally from Knoxville Tennessee, Eddie Taylor was the elder statesman of the generation of One Pocket legends that were already strong players well before the first 1961 Johnston City event. Growing up in the heart of Bank Pool country, Eddie became the master at Banks in the early 40’s, and is generally acknowledged as the […]
Leonard Rucker — but everybody called him Bugs — hailed from Chicago, IL, where he developed into a very strong Bank Pool player as a teenager. Like fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Taylor, Bugs took advantage of his tremendous banking skills to go on to develop a very strong One Pocket game. * As a […]