This 1978 ABC Wide World of Sports program featured none other than Howard Cosell hosting an ABC Sports production of outstanding and legendary pool players performing trick shots really brings back some awesome memories of incredible nights at the Madison Square Garden pool tables over the years at Bone Daddy’s sports bar….where he had three regulation 1951 Brunswick Sport King pool tables with 1 1/4 inch slate which guaranteed a level roll….which attracted some of the best pool players to ever pick up a cue stick in the State of Texas.
Bone Daddy’s sports bar, Madison Square Garden, The Sports Place, was located at 302 E. 6th Street from 1976 to 1983,,,,as the building that BD renovated to construct his place had been Soldiers Recreation Hall since 1945,….which showcased a pool hall with the same tables that BD used in his bar…. along with an “out of sight ” card room hidden away in the bowels of the building….so, by the time pool really good players were coming MSG in the 1970’s and 1980’s….many were the same ones that came to Soldiers Rec from the 1930’s to the 1970’s….for there had been a great deal of money that passed from one hand to another after the conclusion of a heated pool game.
There was one match-up on the pool tables at MSG that stands out among many memorable games played by outstanding pool players at The Garden….and that was the a cold winter night in December of 1978 when renowned “quarter table” pool hustler Texas Billy…..generally considered the best bar game hustler in the State of Texas…when he faced off against Austin’s own shark of the pool table, Slick Willie, in a $500/game 9-ball competition….that went on for 6 hours….before Slick Willie left MSG with all of Billy’s money….which was in the neighborhood of $5,000….which was a lot of cash back in 1978.
What Bone Daddy remembers most about this pool match was that for the last four hours of the “famous MSG pool shootout”…..was that it drew a crowd of about 50 people who were conducting “side bets” on the two pool sharks….as BD put it….“there was more cash being passed on the floor where the pool shootout was being conductedthan was being passed thru the bank tellers at City Bank.”
For any person who loves the game of pool….this video is MUST SEE TV…..as legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell brings the viewers at “black tie affair” of trick pool shots on the highest level as provided by Ray Martin, the 1978 world pool champion….Alan Hopkins, 2nd at the 1978 world pool championship….Mike Sigel, an 11 time major pool tournament champion….Steve Mizerak, a 4 time US Open pool champion….and Peter Marco, 3rd in the 1978 world pool championships….in a wonderful display of trick pool shots.
