13″ x 19″
Origin of the Hustlin’ Lion Logo

When we were about to open the legendary North Shore Billiard Club on Chicago’s North Broadway in 1979, one of our charter members, Jack Gunne from Queens, NY., a television commercial producer, offered us a little help. He had a friend in Texas, a top cartoonist named Dave Bartel who was also a pool aficionado. Dave had previously been awarded Cartoonist of the Year a few years earlier. Jack asked him to draw up a logo for the club. So as a favor, and for a lifetime membership in the club, Dave drew up this unique lion logo. As a sidebar to the story, Dave never stepped foot into the club.

Poster comes autographed by one of the original owners, Freddy the Beard Bentivegna.

Description:New exciting 5 volume DVD instructional series!

750 shots in 50 different categories.

with 250 useful “gems” of the game.

… every shot every pool player should know … and some your shouldn’t. .. all new and original video footage.. the most comprehensive collection of shots ever published… with extensive online resource support… each disc contains much more information than is typically found on instructional videos…. real shots for real people. … all of pool’s secrets revealed… learn all of the shots you need to get you out of trouble, help you be more creative, and win more games and matches…. the definitive video reference and resource for serious pool players and instructors … a “must have” in any pool player’s library.

… organized to help you quickly and easily find the information and advice you want and need.

From Tom Simpson (BCA Master Instructor and ACS Level 4 Instructor/Coach):
“In my opinion, this is the greatest single resource for players ever created. Packed with knowledge, clear demonstrations, simple explanations, and good pool sense.”

Clik here to see a 12 cue Color Slide Show with music

Made in the USA to Buddy’s exacting standards.
produced in small quantities, serial numbered, satisfaction guaranteed
four, five and six point designs, exotic hardwoods: cocobolo,
Bocote, curly maple, bird’s eye maple, ebony, purpleheart
leather wraps, Irish linen wraps, wrapless exotic wood handles
cored for stability, balance, playability & strength
triple tenon “A” joint construction
additional shafts available
$300 to $1200

Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame inductee
Winner of 50+ major tournaments
Two time PBT player of the year
Pool and Billiard magazine player of the year
Billiards Digest magazine player of the year
Two time winner U.S. 9 Ball Championship
Winner International Challenge of Champions

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1. Remembering The Fatman by Randi Givens
2. Mort Luby interviews Minnesota Fats
3. Fats interview with Luby, part ll
4. Mosconi Interview with Mort Luby p.1
5. Mosconi Interview with Mort Luby p.2
6. Fats Hall of Fame speech part 1
7. Fats Hall of Fame speech part 2
8. Fats Hall of Fame speech part 3
9. Mort Luby interviews Irving Crane
10. Crane interview with Mort Luby part ll
11. Dorothy Wise Interview part 1
12. Dorothy Wise Interview part 2
13. Lou Butera interview part 1
14. Lou Butera interview part 2

Remembering The Fatman by Randi Givens

Surfing Internet pool forums I came across a string of posts saying that Minnesota
Fats (Rudolph Wonderone aka New York Fats) was a “B” player. For many years
stories have gone around claiming that Fatty couldn’t beat his way out of a wet paper
bag. However, such fanciful rumors do not conform to my memories of seeing the
Fatman in action in Johnston City in the early 60s.

Three in the side:
I don’t know if this was one of Fatty’s pet banks, but I saw him make it
six times in a row warming up.

Fats made the bank above to win a $5,000 one pocket match with “Handsome Danny”
Jones who happened to be the US Snooker Champion at the time.
Fatty’s next customer was World One Pocket Champion Marshall “Squirrel” Carpenter.
Fatty put Squirrel in the ditch by running three racks of one pocket in a row. Tell
me how a “B” player can run 3 consecutive racks of one pocket? People who demean
Fats never played him and probably never saw him play for big bucks.
Fats had enough speed to finish 4th in the World One Pocket Tournament in 1961.
Considering the field and the fact that Fats was almost 50 years old at the time, this
was quite an accomplishment. Despite an abundance of top players in attendance
in Johnston City, no one treated him like a “B” player. Even the best players were
wary about matching up with the Fatman. Fats was dangerous and everyone there
knew it.
Squirrel told me “Fats was a very streaky player. When Fatty got on a roll he could
beat anyone. His best game was 3 Cushion, then banks and then one pocket.” When
Fats went into high gear, he became an unbeatable one-pocket-playing-machine
that made confetti out of everyone who challenged him.
The day after Bill ‘Weenie Beanie’ Staton won the 1972 Stardust Open, Fats beat
him so badly playing even up that Beanie couldn’t breathe. Staton was in dead stroke
when the match started having just defeated the top one pocket players in the world,
but that didn’t save him from a brutal beating. Fats ran the last three racks, eight and
out, to finish the session and Beanie could barely stand up. At an age when most
elite players can no longer win in professional competition, Fatty was still depriving
top players of their bankrolls.
Learning that Fats studied under 1928 World Balkline Champion, Eric Hagenlacher,
for a couple of years as a youth, should dispel thoughts that Fats was a “B” player.
Balkline demands very high levels of cue ball and object ball control to play at all
and Fats was a “good” billiard player. There is no better training to produce a
professional pool player than learning to play balkline with some authority. Fats took Hagenlacher’s teaching to heart and became a professional level player in his teens.
Unlike Willie Mosconi who apparently thought of pool as a “job,” Fats genuinely enjoyed competing against tough players. He loved outplaying and outsmarting elite players. Fats viewed pool as a game of wits and few opponents ever out maneuvered him.
Fatty had a huge round Humpty Dumpty body that looked like a ping–pong ball on toothpicks. According to the freight scales in Johnston City, Fats weighed in at 325 pounds.
One thing no one disputes is Fatty’s appetite. He was barred from every smorgasbord and “all you can eat” joint on the planet. The owner of the cafeteria in West Frankfort, stopped Fats before he got a tray saying, “If I let you in, you’ll eat me out of business.” That was no exaggeration because Fats could eat two complete turkeys with the fixings at one sitting.
Fatty was the most energetic fat man I ever saw. He moved like a ballet dancer pirouetting from shot to shot. He floated around the table like a ballroom dancer light as a feather firing in ball after ball. Onlookers were often deceived by Fats babble, which was designed to lure players who should never play him into big money games. To casual observers, Fats boasting, bragging and tall tale telling were amusing, but more serious analysts recognized a deeper more insidious aspect of his chattering. After convincing victims to get down for some serious cash, Fatty’s talk turned to undermining opposition confidence. What seemed entertaining at first took on a sinister tone that eroded self-assurance. On top of the words, Fats dismayed opponents by running rack after rack.
The fact that so many people think that Fats couldn’t play may be a tribute to his ability as a con man or maybe the Fatman fooled people because of the erroneous notion that fat people are congenitally incompetent. The Minnesota Fats was one of my heroes and I miss him

1. Johnston City 1965 Harold Worst and Larry Boston Shorty Johnson Straight Pool
2. Boston Shorty revisits Johnston City
3. Jim McKay Interview with Harold Worst
4. 1965 Johnston City-Worst & Boston Shorty 9 ball
5. Johnston City 1967 Shorty and Wimpy Video
6. Jean Balukas interview part 1
7. Jean Balukas interview part 2
8. Steve Mizerak interview
9. Jimmy Caras interview part 1
10. Jimmy Caras interview part 2
11. Joe Balsis interview with Mort Luby Jr. part 1
12. Joe Balsis interview with Mort Luby Jr. part ll

INDEX:
1. Irving Crane runs 150 and out
2. Grady interviews, Red, Taylor, Beenie and Rood p.1
3. Grady interviews, Red, Taylor, Beenie and Rood p.2
4. The Glove’s fabulous Domino shot
5. Vintage Video Welker Cochrane
6. Vintage Billiards Charlie Peterson
7. Old Time Three Cushion Greats Video
8. The Willie Hoppe Story
9. Cisero Murphy vs Luther Lassiter p.1
10.Cisero Murphy vs Luther Lassiter p.2
11.Jimmy Fusco/Jimmy Rempe 1pkt Legends tourn Philly

1966 US Open Sherman House Hotel, Chicago. Irving Crane/Joe Balsis parts 1 thru 7 1 hr and 5 sec.Irving Crane runs 150 and out

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k06-M12lQWE&feature=related 9:59 part 1
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSbZaQADc8&feature=related 10:13 part 2
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlxOU6a0dwM&feature=related 10:12 part 3
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4aldfgdQAU&feature=related 10.07 part4
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udCgvbO34nY&feature=related 10:08 part 5
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bg_TjRYhxI&feature=related 10:01 part 6
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WCZ06zOjgM&feature=related 5:05 part 7

Vintage videos from YouTube off Sports Illustrated
Ralph Greenleaf/Andrew Ponzi match and Greenleaf trick shots 9:17 min

Frank Taberski plays chinese billiards 1:06 min

Mosconi/ Caras/ Ponzi video 1:23 min

Vintage Willie Hoppe/Irving Crane video 7:37 min

The 22 Best Sports Illustrated Pool Articles
In chronological order from 1954 to 1978

Nov 15, 1954 Willie HoppeLittle Willie Hoppe played matches crawling around on billiard
tables, confounding and infuriating his grown-up adversaries

Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1128672/index.htm

April 4, 1955 Vest-pocket Master Of Six-pocket BilliardsWillie Mosconi, world’s best pool player, goes after his 12th title this month and he is understandably worried. He is so good he has run out of competition.
Robt Coughlin
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1129513/index.htm
Feb 16, 1959 The End of a 60 Year Reign
The Death of Willie HoppeHttp://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1070195/index.htm

March 20, 1961 The Pool Hustlers
by Jack Olson
http://Vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1072373/index.htm

Dec,04 1961 Hustler’s Holiday In The Lion’s DenNew York Fats, self-proclaimed greatest pool hustler of them all, battles his peers with cue and quips and action on the side. Tom Fox
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1073280/index.htm

Feb 25, 1963 Battle Of The Hottest Sticks The hustlers sidle into Johnston City, Ill. for the World’s Pocket Billiards Tournament, and the action is hot and heavy and fast.
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1074551/index.htm

Mar 23, 1964 You Don’t Beat Wimpy At The Game He Loves
Bible-reading Luther Lassiter, who in time past has overcome ulcers, the “swolls” and pool-shooting sinners who are not above duping their foes, makes a memorable last-gasp comeback to defend his world title. Tom Fox
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1075775/index.htm

Jan 9, 1967 Wimpy was a Sleeping Beauty
Luther (Wimpy) Lassiter, champion of all pool, began by allowing as how he was feeling poorly and finished more or less fast asleep, but Cicero Murphy, the challenger, turned out to be the man caught napping. Bob Ottum
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1079430/index.htm

July 10, 1967 US Open St Louis, Grandma Shot the Lights Out
Jimmy Caras wins. Ted O leary
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080050/index.htm

August 5, 1968 What Can A Girl Give A Hustler Who Has Everything? Answer: A Jeweled Ginacue
Donald Ploski, Sean Holland
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1081471/index.htm

Oct 14,1968 Victimized By ‘a Kid’s Game’To the foreign stars, veterans of snooker and billiards, the straight pool at New York’s international tournament was a costly surprise. Pat Putnam
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1081692/index.htm

Oct 13,1969 The Frail Gray Man With The Strong Pool Cue
He is 55 years old, his build is slight, his taste in clothes is that of the conservative businessman he is—but Irving Crane happens also to be one of the greatest pool players of all time. Kim Chapin
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082924/index.htm

Feb 8, 1971 Wimpy Tackles An Ex-Tiger at Jack and JillsAnd finds the claws still sharp as Champagne Eddie Kelly disappoints a host of country folks by beating their perennial hero, Luther Lassiter. James Morgan
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1084567/index.htm

Aug 28, 1972 US Open Chicago, The Kid Hustles to a Title
Pool prodigy Jean Balukas, 13, breezed through the best women players to take the crown from 57-year-old Dorothy Wise. Barry McDermott
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1086453/index.htm

Mar 4, 1974 Big Fish In A Pool That’s Too SmallAs a two-time U.S. Open champion at 14, Jean Balukas seemed to have run out of competition, but in the first world tournament for women she was lured into lapses and a Japanese made an unexpected splash. Richard W. Johns
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088318/index.htm

Dec 16, 1974 Coolest Hand With A Cue
Into the fast company at the hustler’s tournament came Buddy Hall from Shreveport and soon the question was, would he ever lose? Walter Tevis
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1089351/index.htm

Nov 10, 1975 Easy Nine The Hard WayBurlington, IA 9 Ball Tourn. He was up against the hotshots, but Jimmy Rempe outcooled them. Pat Putnam
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1090462/index.htm
Aug 30, 1976 Money Out of their own Pockets
Unkown Larry Lisciotti chalked up a PPPA tourney funded by his opponents. Mike DelNagro

Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1091479/index.htm

June 27, 1977 A Hustler Meets An Artist
The $10,000 Challenge of Champions matched up two opposite U.S. titleholders, the ultimate gamesman Larry Lisciotti against organization man Tom Jennings. Mike DelNagro
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1092545/index.htm

Aug 8, 1977 Easy Times The Hard Way
After long years on the hustle, pool shooter Danny Di Liberto realizes that he bought a dream. He has also discovered—too late—that the price was exorbitant. Barry McDermott
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1092683/1/index.htm

Aug 28, 1978 Unruffled At The BiltmoreUnder a news blackout, Ray Martin got a second chance and won the world pocket billiards title in the small hours. Michael DelNagro
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1094012/index.htm

Oct 9, 1978 A Thing of Beauty
The graceful, solid dignity of an English Billiards table bespeaks the charm of a game that in its varied forms—billiards, snooker or just plain pool—has fascinated its devoted followers since the invention of the cue tip. Robert Byrne
Http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1094170/index.htm

Scroll down to see full size photo layout.

These shirts are the same high quality as the Old School Pool and Bank on Brother line of shirts. They come in all sizes, long and short sleeve, but in black only. They all have the original“North Shore Billiard Club” Lion logo, from the famous action room in Chicago in the 80s. You have choice of your personal favorite pool game, or “Billiards Forever!” spelled out in different languages and printed above the Lion logo. “Taking it on the road” is also spelled out on the left sleeve.

Pool Wars –autographed copies
On the road to Hell and back with the
World’s greatest money players.

Lifetime pool player/promoter/enthusiast, Jay “Toupee Jay” Helfert — and I recite his nickname with affection — has taken us on a fun ride through what I call the Golden Years of pool and pool hustling. Jay’s misspent youth turns out to be our good fortune, as he has chronicled many of the events that have heretofore have been known only to the participants. Pool has never received much air or tabloid space, so many of our exploits have stayed alive only through word of mouth, or the efforts of a few lonely billiard writers, myself included of course.
So climb aboard and see what it was like to navigate throughout the shady shark-infested war zones of Chicago’s Bensingers, New York’s 711, LA’s Big Mama’s, Hollywood’s Ye Billiard Den, and so on, with the best players/hustlers of that generation.
Autographed copies $19.95 plus shipping

Hustler Days by R A “Jake” Dyer –autographed copies

There are some very complimentary reviews of this book, made by some very competent, accredited book reviewers. Throw ‘em all out the f’in window. What the hell do they know about what R A “Jake” Dyer wrote? How could they possibly know how right on Dyer was in his chronicling of the old Wild West days of pool hustling? I know. I was there, and I knew and played with the people he was talking about. I read the book and was amazed at the accuracy of his observations about the players, many of whom he had never met. Usually books like this, written out of mainly research, are trips through fantasy land, rife with hyperbole and exaggeration. I’ll be damned if Dyer didn’t get it pretty much right. I endorse this book completely. Forgot about what those square johns have got to say about it, just listen to me. The book is filled with Jersey Red, Minnesota Fats, AKA New York Fats, and Wimpy Lassiter. What else do you need to know?
Autographed copies, $19.95

Freddy the Beard Bentivegna

The following is a “professional” review that I (the Beard) can live with:

Minnesota Fats was a brilliant pool player, but he was even better at lying about his past. Wimpy Lassiter, the gentlemen hustler, started playing at age seven and for the rest of his life lived for the rush of victory and high stakes. Violent and determined, Jersey Red made and lost a fortune at the table.
With a passion for the game evident on every page, R.A. Dyer’s Hustler Days takes us through the smoky bars and the late nights where a win was just as dangerous as a loss.
Readers will embrace Fats, Wimpy, and Red—the fool, the poor-boy-done-good, and the hustler with a heart of gold—as their stars rise and fall. Complete with a glossary of pool terms, a list of tournaments, and profiles of other top players, this is the definitive book on a time when pool was king and those three player, its princes.