Magic w/ Mike Massey, Winning the National HS Championship 🔥 Inspired by Earl Strickland in Chicago
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- I had an unusual route to winning the National Highschool Championship as a teenager. I had to qualify at the state level in Kansas City and the Regionals were in Rockford Illinois - in this Adventure on the Road I share how I qualified in both tournaments without having to play a single game!
The Nationals were in Chicago along with the Pro Nationals when Mike Massey won and also showed me some "magic" - I also tested my skills in a Pro mini tournament getting 3rd after Earl Strickland put me out - Earl gave me some encouragement and inspired me to train and someday play him on ESPN.
The Game is the Teacher
To learn the highest level fundamentals and techniques I used to win the ESPN World Open and be named Professional Player of the Year (Pool & Billiard Magazine).
Great to hear you reminisce. I started playing in 1958 and also have some really great memories. And, I've loved the game ever since. Keep the stories coming.
Thank you Sir!
CJ, Rick used to joke that he once went into Raytown Rec for a pack of smokes and didn't come back out for 2 years. Lol! That was truly the weirdest place back in the day. They were open 24-7, 365. If you walked in there at about 3 AM, .they'd stop playing and stare at you, scared to death you were a cop. Everyone in the entire place was walking around like a zombie. And I'll never forget the echo when guys would break the balls. Made everyone's break shot sound like Bustamante'. Anyhoo, loved the video. Keep up the great work.
Yes it was definitely Loud in that room - I liked the 5/10 table in the front.....Don Brink was nice to me and Steve Hassel was a tough opponent back then.
Mahalo 🔥
Mike did that same trick to a pretty wealthy car dealer here in Chattanooga probably 40 years ago. They didn't bet anything to start with, but the guy told Mike that He'd bet him 5k that he didn't get the coin. Of course he did, but Mike didn't make the guy pay him anything. He was really great player back in the day. We had several around here back then.
Love your stories
I agree with you on buddy and cue smith.
Great stories & congrats on the high school champion funny no kids to acknowledged it/you. I also had to entertain myself too growing up in the country with not many kids around. Had a full dirt bike track got into karate, barefoot waterskiing 9 years of soccer & swam 4 miles a day for years won the local ping pong championships as a 12 year old, played pool to 135 Usppa then quit about 30 yrs ago started golf and became a scratch golfer then 10 months ago started back at pool & now playing to about a +4 in golf terms. Best game ever! Cheers
Yes Golf and pool are similar at the higher levels - I traded pool lessons for golf lessons with Hank Haney for 15 months when he was working with Tiger under the radar.
The Games are our Teacher
@@cjwiley1541 and congrats on all your other pool achievements too
The Sands Regency, after sitting empty for years, has been renovated and is now J's Resort. Be great to see big time pool return to Reno. Probably never happen. All the pool halls have shutdown the last several years.
Did it close, I hadnt heard about it in many years - it was kind of a dive casino but I had some life changing experiences there and they didn't even involve pool very much - the last time was 1999 I remember that year very well!
Great story!! Did you ever run into buddy Evans from st charles MO? He owned ABC billiards. Close to teachers pool hall. I won an autographed cue from Mike Massey at side pockets in st charles in 2010. Really good time. I had to beat him In a race to 3, 9 ball to get a raffel ticket to win an auto McDermott cue. I beat him and then I won the raffel for the cue. Great memories I will keep the stick auto forever!!!!
I don't recognize the name but probably ran into him if he played in St Louis in the 80s.
@cjwiley1541 yeah he was never your caliber but I was thinking u might have been to his pool hall in st. Charles. I think Mike was letting me win so at least a few people could have a shot at winning the cue. Lol
He did talk about buddy hall often
You got the double spot spot
Can’t wait for your book to go on sale soon
It's probably 3 weeks away and will come out in October - thanks I appreciate you my friend.
I remember when TONY ELLIN came on the scene CJ.
He was a real good player and seemed like a real nice guy. How did he die? I was saddened to hear about that.
He was hit by a train - literally
@@cjwiley1541 What!? I never knew that. That's even more sad. Thanks for the clarification CJ.
Awesome stuff. Do you have any stories of Tony Ellin? He lived down the road from us in Summerville SC.
I played him a few times - got "trapped" into giving him the 8 on a bar table and out ran that game somehow - he beat me soundly in the finals of the Reno Sands Regency tournament it's tragic he passed so soon!
@@cjwiley1541 wow you giving him the 8 ball and still ran it! yea tragic. His daughter seems to be doing so well and his widowed wife lives up on the river in the upper county now. Thank you for sharing! ❤️
About 30 years ago Jeff Hooks told me after you came to Atlanta (not sure the year you came here first) ya'll were staying somewhere with a piano and he came downstairs one morning and you were playing and he couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I think he also said you gave him the 7 on the bar table when you first got here and beat him. Both accomplishments seemed impossible to me; I am vague on the details it's been a minute...
yes I used to play for the school jazz band and played classical piano contests - Jeff was right, we had some unusual things happen a few times!
You got the best education by playing on the road and meeting all the characters that life threw at you.
Have you ever heard of the bank bandit pool aiming device made by lou butera had 1 back in the day really teaches you how to kick and bank
@jackwolfe9674 no I haven't heard of that
@@cjwiley1541 there actually is a you tube video of Sal butera demonstrating it it came out in mid nineties and eventually didn't sell very well but it is actually pretty good device it is a pocket on a stick the height of the table and you measure the distance of the rails from I side to inside and sit it out that distance from pocket then aim at it centerball
@@jackwolfe9674 - too bad it didn't work out
I got the P right. Lol
close enough! 😉
How did you pay your gambling taxes
With a forced smile 😎