LEONARD GRAY

Green felt and fights – pool rooms and frights

As anyone who has known me for any length of time knows, I love to read. At Hahnville High School, it gained me a reputation for being something of a bookworm or nerd. Probably didn’t help my social life at all, but then I really didn’t miss not having one. And, as anyone who has known me for any length of time knows, I’m different and I do things differently. Likely hasn’t done wonders for my career, but so it goes. This is a different type of column this week – a book review. I’ve been sent a book which has me fascinated like few books have in quite some time. It’s not just for the local names named or the weirdness of the adventures of the author, it’s the totality of the thing. It’s something you really ought to read if you have even the slightest knowledge or interest in that particular realm of society – pool rooms. Let me say at the outset that I’m not any kind of real pool player. I know how to shoot a little eight-ball, but no one should bet on me. The book’s author may even be familiar to people in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, since he mentions several local pool players and football players whose names may be familiar. Since not all the names are mentioned in favorable or complimentary circumstances, I won’t stick my neck out and name any of them here. Read the book. It’s called “The Green Felt Jungle: The Dark Side of Pool,” and it’s by an Algiers native named Gerald “Humphrey” Huber, who bills himself on the cover as “the meanest player in town (any town!)” He talks about invading Algiers pool halls in his mid-teens and developing his natural-born talent for running the racks, quickly becoming a pool hustler of the first rank by the time he hit 21 years of age. By then, few in Orleans or Jefferson parishes could beat him. The story also follows his ups and downs as a river pilot, his family life, his second career with the Gretna Bengals semi-pro football team (naming people from Reserve, Hahnville and LaPlace) and his return to what he calls “the green felt jungle.” He’s had his personal ups and downs, been in more than a few bar fights, busting heads, and likely caused his family untold grief. However, this now retired pilot and grandfather is still out there, hustling games. The book is available on the internet at www.awesomebooks.com for $14.99. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You might want to pick up a cue stick and crack him in the eye. But you’d better be moving fast – this doesn’t sound like a man to get angry. And keep a hand on your wallet. He does say he’s the meanest player in town. LEONARD GRAY is assistant managing editor for L’Observateur.