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Hustler's Story: "Rags" to Riches
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| Fitzpatrick was drafted and served during World War II. (Photo courtesy of Christine Schaffer)
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Christine Schaffer: "He went to a Catholic high school in the D.C. area, but I don't think he went to college. He finished high school - and then he went into the service.
He went to Europe,
and I remember he said he was in Iceland for World War II."
Bill Staton: "He was the best one-pocket player during his era. During his time, there wasn't anybody close to him. The closest to him was Eddie Taylor, and he was a ball under him."
Christine Schaffer: "I remember when I met him. It was in 1946, I was 20, and it was going to be my birthday. He had plenty of money. He said, 'What is it that you always wanted and you never could get?' And I said I wanted a diamond watch. And then he got me a diamond watch. He asked me, and so that's what I got for my 21st birthday.
"And I remember he drove a Cadillac. Back in those days, you could buy a new car for $5,000,
and he was driving a new grey Cadillac. It had two doors, sporty looking. That seems like 100 years ago."
Danny McGoorty (describing a 1947 three-cushion billiards tournament): "My game against Fitzpatrick was a cliff-hanger. As usual, he cried and complained and begged and leaned and scratched and clawed and ran twelves and thirteens. He was awful hard to beat. I needed one point, I remember, when I left him a shot that had a kiss in it. There were several ways for him to play it, but the most tempting was the one with the kiss. I closed my eyes and prayed that he would go for it, that he wouldn't change his mind and play safe. He went for it. He too took the chance. Now anybody who had seen Fitzpatrick knows that his favorite kind of body English is a jump in the air. He puts his feet together and hops one way or the other. When he got the kiss, he went straight up for a whole 40 feet, turning red and white and almost putting a hole in the ceiling with his head."
Christine Schaffer: "I married him in 1947.
I was living in Virginia Beach, and I remember one day [I was approached by a] carload of people. They were people I knew.
And one of the guys said, 'I hear you're getting married (to John).' And I told him no. But he said, 'you better marry him, because he just beat me out of $24,000.'
"The guy he beat was named Whitey [Editor's note: Probably Whitey Howard, a club owner]. At that time, that was a lot of money.
There was nothing but money in Norfolk."
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