Hustler's Story: "Rags" to Riches

High-roller Fitzpatrick met 20-year-old Christine in 1946. They married a year later. (Photo courtesy of Christine Schaffer)

What do we know about John Joseph "Rags" Fitzpatrick? Well, first off, some of the most respected players with the longest living memories consider Fitzpatrick as the best ever - at least when it came to one-pocket, the quintessential hustlers' game. So in this regard, reader McVeigh is not alone. Eddie Taylor, who turned 86 in October, said Rags Fitzpatrick was the best one-pocket player he'd ever seen. The same is true for fellow champion Bill "Weenie Beenie'' Staton, who as a young man played Rags. "During his time, there wasn't anybody close to him,'' Staton, now 76, told me.

I recently caught up with both players, as well as Rags' widow, Christine Schaffer, in an attempt to puzzle back together a few pieces of Rags' life. I've also referred to Eddie Robin's excellent book, "Winning One-Pocket," and Robert Byrne's wonderful book on Danny McGoorty, "McGoorty, A Pool Room Hustler." The result is a very modest oral history, going from Rags' birth, to his time with Eddie Taylor, to his tragic death more than four decades ago.

Eddie Taylor: "Johnny Fitzpatrick - him and I were the same age. I was born on Oct. 1, 1918, and he was born Sept. [6], 1918 - so we were the same age, except for a day or two.

Christine Schaffer: "His father died when he was 18 months old, so [John] never knew him. … His father was an electrician, and his father was working and he got electrocuted. He touched a live wire on a job, and that was how his father died."

Eddie Taylor: "Rags, he dressed like a king. He got that name when he was a kid."

Christine Schaffer: "He got that name when he was out in the back, and his grandmother called him in. He had been playing, and his grandmother said he looked like a bunch of old Rags. …

"He was raised around his grandmother, and his whole family was close, but he lived with his mother. She was a homemaker. She got a pension, and I don't think she ever had to go work. She lived good. ... He had one brother, ... an older brother. "His mother bought a [toy] pool table for the brother, and that's how they learned to play pool. They were just skilled at it. He [Rags] was playing professional at [age] 14, over in Baltimore. His mother used to take him, and he played tournaments."

Eddie Taylor: "Johnny Fitzpatrick lived with me for six months, when I lived in Knoxville [Tenn.]. My mother had an apartment downstairs, and I had an apartment upstairs, and I had plenty of room. We didn't go on the road - not really. But later on, I'd see him in Hot Springs [Ark.] I'd see him in Lexington and Louisville. I'd see him in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., which is where he usually was from. We were always very close friends.

"But he lived with me [earlier], and the only reason he left was that his mother called and said Uncle Sam wanted him. That would have been about 1942 [when he was drafted]. That's about as close as I can remember. We were doing pretty good at the time."

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