Untold Stories: Jersey Red

PoolSynergy 18: The Ayatolla of One-Hola

2011-05-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Favorite game? One-pocket without a doubt. This is the game of the famous Ayatollah of One-Hola, Jersey Red. He was one of the first people I ever saw playing the game. And boy could Red play.

For our PoolSynergy topic this month, we’ve been assigned the task of writing about pool games. As exhibit number one as to why One-Pocket is the best of all of them, I submit to you the sequence of shots, below. It was executed by Red back in 1969, during a match-up with Ronnie Allen in Houston's Le Cue pool hall. I didn’t see this sequence first hand (I was only six years old at the time), although I don’t doubt Red pulled it off.


From Eddie Robins' Winning One-Pocket.

You can find more about this sequence in Eddie Robin’s excellent book, Winning One-Pocket. As reported there by Grady “The Professor” Mathews, Red was at the table and needed all four balls. It looked like escape was impossible. Appropriately, Red remarked “even Houdini couldn't get out from here” before beginning his run. First he shot the combination seen in the top diagram. That is, he pocketed a ball in the upper right-hand corner while simultaneously sinking another back into his pocket on the lower left side. Notice Red went rail first to make this combination-bank shot. In the next diagram Red got to his wicket while simultaneously pocketing the hanger in the side pocket. He then pocketed the final two balls after they were spotted back up. Notice here the two-rail bank.

This match-up would have occurred within months of Red's second place finish in the 1969 U.S. Open. You can read more about Red and the U.S. Open in my book Hustler Days. That's a picture of him there on the cover. And please go buy Robin's Winning One-Pocket. It's a great read.

About PoolSynergy

PoolSynergy is an online collaborative effort by pool and billiard bloggers, in which each agrees to write about a single theme. PoolSynergy submissions are published simultaneously by each of the participating blogs on the 15th of every month. To read a list of the other fine contributions this month, check out A Journey into Billiards blog, which you can find here.

-- R.A. Dyer

R.I.P.: Houston's Cue & Cushion

2010-01-27T06:05:00.001-08:00

Check out the Houston Chronicle blog post about the demise of that city's Cue & Cushion pool hall. It was a great room, having been a favored haunt of Jersey Red and others. It has been replaced by a tony restaurant -- an upscale joint greeted with great enthusiasm by food critics. There are some who seemed almost to have welcomed the demise of the Cue & Cushion, with one food critic going so far as to note "that the new restaurant sprang forth from the carcass of the old Cue and Cushion dive (which) makes the (dining) experience even more delicious."

But in its prime the Cue & Cushion was a truly great room. The Houston Press recently had named it the best in the city.

Kudos to my old friend Mike Snyder for seeing fit to post a tribute to the room. (I helped!) Mike and I spent many hours there shooting nine-ball. You can find Mike's post here.

-- R.A. Dyer

Jersey Red vs. The Ice Man.

2009-09-02T21:01:00.001-07:00

"Now watch this, Mr. Nagy. I'm gonna bank the eight off the end rail and it's gonna kiss off the deuce and the one ball's gonna tear up the stack and I'M GOIN' OUT! This is the RAIDER! Whoo! Eight off the deuce and racky-dacky! Ha, look at that!"

-- An excerpt from a match-up between Jack "Jersey Red" Breit and Gene "Ice Man" Nagy, as recorded word-for-word in chapter nine of John Grissim's 1979 book, Billiards.

The Jersey Red Shot

2009-08-24T05:14:00.001-07:00

The famous Jersey Red shot -- Eddie Robin describes it in his excellent book, Winning One-Pocket. Red first shot this cool kick back in 1957, in a one-pocket match against James Evans. It was at the famous 7-11 pool room in New York City. Robin said it brought the house down. Red shot it for the last time on Nov. 3, 1997 -- 40 years later --- during a benefit event for Red shortly before his death. You can see it more clearly by clicking here. I've added a clip I found on youtube showing someone making the shot. It's ingenious -- the way it makes use of the kiss to knock the ball back into your pocket.

Jersey Red in 1969: "Even Houdini Couldn't Get Out From Here!"

2009-08-17T17:36:00.001-07:00

I LOVE this sequence of shots. It was executed by Jersey Red back in 1969 during a match-up with Ronnie Allen in Houston's Le Cue pool hall. Grady "The Professor" Mathews was an eyewitness, and he describes it gloriously in Eddie Robin's excellent book, Winning One-Pocket. You can see the shots more clearly by clicking here.

Red was at the table and needed all four balls. The Red Raider looked The Professor straight in the eye, remarked "even Houdini couldn't get out from here" and then began his spectacular run. First Red shot the combination seen in the top diagram. That is, he pockets a ball in the upper right-hand corner while simultaneously sinking another back into his pocket on the lower left side. Notice he goes rail first to to make this combination-bank shot. In the next diagram Red pockets the ball into his wicket while simultaneously pocketing the hanger in the side pocket. He then pockets the final two balls after they were spotted back up. Notice here the two-rail bank.

This match-up would have occurred within months of Red's second place finish in that year's U.S. Open. Luther Lassiter won it. You can read more about Red and the U.S. Open in Hustler Days. And please go buy Robin's Winning One-Pocket. It's a great book.

America's Best Ever Pool Player? You Decide

2009-08-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Who is America's best ever pool player? The poll on the top right of the pool history blog lists some all-time favorites, including recent Hall of Fame inductee Johnny Archer. I've left Willie Hoppe off the list because he was known as one of the best-ever billiards players, as opposed to one of the best-ever pool players. Neither have I included one of my personal favorites, Efren "Bata" Reyes. As he's from the Philippines, I figured I'd save him for a future poll of the greatest international players. I've also tried to get a good mix of players from different eras. (Van Boening vs. Greenleaf?!) Vote early. Vote often. I'll leave the poll up for awhile. Also, if you have a write-in candidate, feel free to comment at the bottom of this post. I'll tally up the write-ins later, along with those listed on the ballot.

Houston, circa 1968-69-70

2009-06-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

The great Grady "The Professor" Mathews has a wonderful story about Jersey Red, Big Train Stevens and Houston's famous Le Cue pool hall from the 1960s. "It really was “Big Train’s” establishment," writes Grady. "I mean, he held court. When he would first get out of bed, he wouldn’t play anybody for two days, then all bets would be off. He’d match up and he had a ton of gamble laced with much heart. If you wanted to beat him, you had to pack your lunch. By the way, he was a renowned fast eater. I spotted him one hot dog in a race to ten for $1,000 and I won handily. People used to buy us dinner just to watch us eat."

You can read more about Big Train and Le Cue at the Professor's blog, Grady's Place.

Ned Polsky Interview: April 14, 1998

2009-05-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

A little more than 10 years ago I interviewed Ned Polsky, the late author of Hustlers, Beats and Others. We spoke about the 7-11 and Jersey Red and where pool's been and where it was going. Polksy had interviewed Red up at the 7-11 pool hall, in Manhattan, and the two became friends. The 7-11, as you may recall, was then one of New York's great action rooms.

I started thinking about my interview with Polsky recently when I realized that it was the 40th anniversary of the publication of his book. So here it is -- or at least, here's most of it. This interview was conducted on April 14, 1998. It has never before been published -- although I used bits and pieces of it for Hustler Days.

The interview is somewhat lengthy, so I'll divide it up. Also, in my transcript, I never wrote down my own questions. That means the following comments are Polsky's only, with a bit of my explaining material here and there, which I denote with italics. Because the interview is so long, I'm only reproducing the first section in this blog. To read more, you'll have to jump to the separate "Pool and Pool Players" blog.
Also, forgive the typos. I'm go through and clean this up when I can.

OK, here's the first part:

Polsky:

He (Jersey Red) was the player that was barred in the 1963 tournament because of his profanity. In 1963, he was at his peak. He was one of my main informants, back in 7-11. He was on the road (a lot) and he was based up here. The main action room was in 7-11, in '62 and '63. He (Red) would go on the road.

He was regarded, probably, as the top one-pocket player. People used to argue whether it was Red, or Ronnie Allen, or Mark Henderson. This was in 1962 or 1963. A lot of people said that Red was the top one-pocket player in the country. Red was the guy who was absolutely fearless. He would spot anybody to get a game."

Polsky says that his interviews with Red that were reflected in his book were before Red moved to Texas, where he became entranced with his future wife and settled for good. "I lost track of him when he moved in the early 60s," said Polksy. He said he referenced Red two or three times in his book.

Polsky, a student of both pool and sociology, said there are big differences between the pool room culture at the time of the interview (1998) and during Red's heyday, in the 1960s.

Polsky:

"There is more of a middle-class clientele. There are more yuppie poolrooms. And one thing that is very important here, and in the Midwest and the West Coast -- has been terribly important -- is Asian immigration. ... The Koreans -- they're big on carom billiards. And of course, there's a big change in pool, largely made by television. 14.1 is pretty much dead, and it's all nine-ball and to some extent 8-ball. Everybody wants the short, fast game. The TV producers do. There is hardly ever a straight pool tournament.

"I did research in several pool rooms, the main research was in 7-11. That was the main action room in the East. He (Red) was the resident hustler, or was one of the resident hustlers. Red was there, and Boston Shorty, although Shorty was on the road a lot. Johnny Irvolino. Cicero (Murphy) was there. ... (But) Red was one of the main people. Everybody thought that he could play any pool game, but pretty much his main game was one-pocket. That was what he was known for."

To Read More, Jump to the "Pool and Pool Players" blog

Memories of Red

2008-03-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Brian Goodwin, of Texas, writes: "I worked a 24hr pool hall in houston called playoffs @45 south and college around 1994 1995 as a bartender. jack aka Jersey Red would often visit to check out 9ball action or one pocket. At the time i had no idea who he was. he would come in ask 4 coffee and a rack. The owner would always say, if red comes in help him to his 9ft table and rack balls at absolutely no charge. I can remember him in his last days making 5-8racks straight w/o missing a ball and he would say my eyesight is not as good as yours as he would tell a story about a game in 1961 and how he should have played baseball."

March 17, 2009

Jersey Red's One-Pocket Hall of Fame Page

2007-09-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to Jersey Red at the One-Pocket Hall of Fame. There's a cool old picture from Life Magazine here with a very young Red purported to be in the background.

http://www.onepocket.org/BreitHOFpage.htm

Jack "Jersey Red" Breit

2007-08-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Jack "Jersey Red" Breit
Originally uploaded by jakedyer.
Mike Haines took this photo of the Red Raider during a tournament in Houston during the 1980s. To see more of his great pool photos (including more during that Houston tournament) go to www.billporter.smugmug.com.

Jersey Red

2007-08-19T19:57:00.001-07:00

Jersey Red
Originally uploaded by jakedyer.

Here's one of Jack Breit, the famous Red Raider. He was a dominant New York player during the 1950s, and then became a major tournament player during the 1960s. Recently, Red was inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame. Read all about it at www.onepocket.org.