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 […]
Standing: Artie Bodendorfer, Steve Lomako, Marshall Carpenter, Truman Hogue & Fred Bentivegna Seated: Ken Cook (Steve’s father), and Bugs Rucker Congratulations to our new Hall of Fame inductees! A packed house gathered in Louisville, Kentucky on January 10th to honor three great players for One Pocket and six players for our first class of Bank […]
Nick Varner was inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame at a special ceremony held at Fast Eddie’s Sports Bar and Grill during a break from the Carolina’s Open tournament action on Wednesday night. Grady Mathews acted as master of ceremonies, and the owners and staff of Fast Eddie’s bent over backwards to make […]
The crowd filled Dave Egdal’s Brighton Billiards Thursday evening for a special local One Pocket Hall of Fame event honoring the late Larry ‘Boston Shorty’ Johnson. Many of Shorty’s old friends and companions on the road came out to exchange stories and remember the legendary pool and billiards star. Though barely more than five feet […]
Gary showing his winning form at the Clyde Childress tournament photo courtesy of Bill Porter Gary Spaeth grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and was introduced to pool at a very early age by his father, Joey ‘Cincinnati Kid’ Spaeth, who just happened to be a Johnston City and Stardust regular. Joey Spaeth was one of […]
Truman Hogue grew up in the heart of Bank Pool country, in Louisville, Kentucky. Born January 11, 1946, Truman grew up in Danville, Kentucky, about 30 miles outside of Lexington. He got his start playing pool at about eleven years old when his mom used to work at a restaurant that had pool tables in […]
Freddy at Grady Mathews’ 2004 Gulf Coast Classic Freddy ‘the Beard’ Bentivegna grew up in Chicago, where he first took to pool in a neighborhood bowling alley that had a few well-worn pool tables. Later, he started to make trips to the shark-infested environs of Bensinger’s downtown poolroom. At first repeatedly sent home broke, Freddy […]
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 […]
‘Champagne Eddie’ Kelly was born May 17th, 1938 in Waterbury, Connecticut, and it was in Waterbury that he first began to wander into the local poolroom. He found a natural calling for the game, which led him to start a little hustling by the time he was fourteen. After a stint in the Marine Corps, […]
One Pocket legend Steve Cook died in his sleep at his home in Lima, Ohio at the age of 56. Under the tutelage of Junior ‘Lefty’ Goff he took to One Pocket as a young man, surprising the field with his 1970 Stardust victory. His boyish looks belied his fierce competitive talent, earning him the […]