Rainmakers: Feeding the Pool Food Chain

When Vaughn was set to bet, Fats (l.) and Cokes (r.) were on the spot.

Cleo Vaughn

The "stranger" in our first story is none other than Bill "Weenie Beenie" Staton, who by no means is a loser. Instead, Weenie serves as our narrator, recounting for us the story of Cleo Vaughn, a bookmaker and poolroom owner whose willingness to wager a wad - and lose it - attracted gleeful high-rollers from Washington, D.C., to Tuscaloosa, Ala. When Weenie Beenie walked into Cleo's street-level poolroom during the winter of 1960, he found there Rudolf "Minnesota Fats' Wanderone, Marshall Carpenter, Earl Shriver and Hubert "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes. They'd all come for a piece of Cleo - but then ended up gambling with each other.

"And remember, this was a small ratty poolroom in this little town," said Weenie Beenie. "Everybody went out there to play this guy. He was a bookmaker, and he had a lot of money, and he spread it around. … He was the one who attracted people there. … They all congregated there, and there was action galore."

Cleo's poolroom was in Blytheville, in the upper northeast corner of Arkansas. So besides high-rolling 9-ballers, Cleo's place also drew Big Time gamblers like Titanic Thompson, as well as lesser-knowns from the horse tracks in Hot Springs and West Memphis. Weenie also recalls the presence of pimply-faced teen-aged hangers-on, who eventually drew the cops. "We were in a tough place, and the action was so high, the chief of police said, 'You got to take this somewhere else.' You know, the kids were coming in after school, and the money was exchanging hands.

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