Crossroads: The Legacy of Johnston City

Tom Fox (left) and Wanderone, shown here in 1966, co-wrote Fats' biography. (Photo courtesy Karen Fox)

As is often the case with both big ideas and bad ones, there was beer involved. Earl Shriver and Marshall Carpenter (The Tuscaloosa Squirrel) had just sidled up to the bar at George Jansco's bar in Johnston City, the J & J Ranch. Shriver and Carpenter were road players, just passing through. Jansco, an old friend of Shriver's, was serving the drinks. This would have been sometime during the long hot summer of 1961, a bad time all around. Shriver and The Squirrel were bored.

"Hold a tournament," someone finally suggested, probably Shriver.

"Make it one-pocket," said someone else.

"Why not?"

The exact details of that casual conversation, peppered with big talk and bad language, have been lost to time. What's clear, however, is that George Jansco, a lover of big ideas, embraced this one in particular. "We were drinking beer and I remember Earl telling [George] that he would call a few people and there would be a lot of action," recalled Carpenter, the last of the 14 original Johnston City competitors. According to the story, Shriver got on the phone with Wanderone, who lived down the road. Wanderone then called Hubert Cokes, who lived in Evansville, Ill. Cokes had deep pockets and was willing to gamble. Eventually more players came.

The first tournament ran from Oct. 25 through Nov. 15 and featured eventual Hall of Fame players Boston Shorty, Cowboy Jimmy Moore and Eddie Taylor. The Janscos put up $5,000 in prizes. They also oversaw the construction of a $25,000 building, the Cue Club. The first tournament was won by Johnny Vevis, of Connecticut, with Moore placing second and Cokes placing third.

But who won and who lost was entirely beside the point. Without the media to bring life to the characters in attendance, the Johnston City tournaments would have been nothing, just the sound of a tree falling alone in a forest. It was only because Fox pitched his story to Sports Illustrated that the Frankenstein monster came alive. Karen Fox, the widow of Tom Fox, said the two had just started dating when they and several colleagues from the Evansville newspaper started making the drives to Johnston City. She recalled Tom was driving an old station wagon.

"When Tom started going over there, he took a bunch of us the 90 miles from Evansville. It was a long drive ... and we couldn't believe that out in the middle of nowhere, in Southern Illinois, were all these incredible pool players. They had this really good tournament room, with good acoustics, and bleachers, in the back. There was a concrete block room where, after the tournament was over, they were heavy-duty gambling. Tom knew it was a national story."

Fox had the good sense not to write about the tournament, but rather the personalities. Boston Shorty made an appearance in his article, of course, as did Handsome Danny Jones and Johnny Irish. There were the shady stake-horses and hangers on. But it was Wanderone, then going by the handle New York Fats, who stole the show. Here's an excerpt from that original Sports Illustrated article:

The spokesman for the Loyal Fraternal Order of Pool Sharks was a roly-poly 250-pounder called New York Fats (Rudolf Wanderone) who thrives on high stakes and egotism but lives not in shadows nor speaks in whispers. Fat Man is short (5 feet 8), with a shock of brown hair, a 52-inch waist and a philosophy to fit all occasions. He announced that the Johnston City promotion drew 14 of the "best one-pocket players in the world," and added modestly that he was once the best of the best.

"I was automatic champion one-pocket player of the world," Fat Man proclaimed. "They never had any tournaments. I always had to give great odds, most of the time two balls. The great champions would never play me. They dodged me at all times."

The hustlers listened when the Fat Man talked. They laughed and poked fun at him. But when an outsider asked questions about the hustlers, they let the Fat Man do the talking. He's the sharks' public relations man.

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