![]() Along with the Europeans those folks seem most attracted to the game over pocket pool. So, why is there this resurgence in carom billiards in Houston? I think because Houston in 2018 is one of the most diverse cities in the US with large Asian and Latino populations. All told there are now close to 40 regulation carom tables in the Houston area, placing the city only behind Los Angeles as one of the top two carom markets in the US. Many carom billiards players like myself are willing to drive 30-40 minutes or more to find a decent heated carom table on which to practice and compete. The larger rooms have 6 tables and more - a substantial investment for the room owner, and shear joy for the players. A few scattered rooms can be found in the northwest area and one or two south of downtown as well. Most of Houston's carom rooms, a room with at least one reasonably maintained 5' x 10' heated regulation table, are located on the west side of town. Carom billiards rooms seem to be sprouting up like mushrooms, leading to a resurgence of interest in the sport here in Houston. But beginning with the turn of the millennium the carom games have arrived or - depending on whom you ask - have been re-discovered. When I moved to Houston in 1979 I played pool at LeCue Billiards and later at The Cushion & Cue - both long since shuttered. ![]() A decidedly pocket billiards / pool-player's town since the 1940’s, the city was famous for rooms such as Big Tyme Billiards, Legends Billiards, and Bogey’s Billiards. The winner of the nine-ball event was Filipino Dennis Orcollo.The sport of carom billiards is a relative newcomer to Houston, Texas. The first annual Weenie Beenie Memorial Nine-ball Tournament was held June 22–24, 2007, at Q-Masters Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. He was married for 53 years to Norma Jean Skaggs (1930-2013) Together they had three children. He died in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2006. ![]() Staton was inducted into the One-pocket Hall of Fame in 2004 as an inaugural member. Īn avid golfer, Staton played with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and so he moved to golfing haven Myrtle Beach after developing a love for the game. In the 1960s he won the European Billiard Championship. Some of Staton's titles include the 1972 Stardust Open One-pocket Championship in Las Vegas, and he won the Virginia State Pool Championship five times, as well as other tournaments. He performed trick shots in the Academy Award-winning film, The Color of Money, and is also credited with giving Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone his nickname. He toured with Bob Hope doing pool exhibitions for the US military. At the conclusion of the show on live TV he performed this trick shot of sinking all the balls in the pockets of the Pool Table with only one hit. His "secret" was the ability to sink a full rack of balls into the pockets. Bill Staton also appeared on the TV show "I've Got A Secret". When he became an accomplished pocket billiards player, Staton made several appearances on "Wide World of Sports" and " The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", "The Merv Griffin Show", the Steve Allen show, and was interviewed by David Frost. After he bought a pool table and practiced a couple months, he did! As his game developed, he used his pool earnings to support his business enterprises. Weenie Beenie waited for the cook to finish his game and lost $600.00 waiting, so he vowed to win it back. He was hustled when his cook did not come to work and was at the pool hall down the street. He started playing pool at 22 years of age. Staton was regarded by others in the billiard circuit as the classiest gentlemen on the tournament pool circuit. A second Jack and Jill Club would later be opened.īill Staton attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jack and Jill's was a favorite stop for pool players and hustlers making games on the East Coast, open 24 hours a day for over 20 years. Business went well, and in 1968, with brother Carl Staton, they opened The Jack and Jill Cue Club in Shirlington, Virginia, one of the top- action pool rooms in the 1960s and 1970s, with 32 tables, a pro shop, a snack bar, and a tournament area that seated 180 with tiered seating. In 1950, Bill Staton founded the Weenie Beenie hot dog stand chain in Northern Virginia, offering franks and beans, which is how Staton got the nickname. He was the ninth and last child of Dexter Ellison Staton and Suda Bertha Moore Staton of the Brown-Norcott community of Concord, North Carolina. William "Bill" Paul Staton (born Billy Paul Staton May 23, 1928, in Concord, North Carolina, US – February 28, 2006, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina), was an American professional pool player and restaurateur, nicknamed Weenie Beenie.īorn Billy Paul Staton, he changed his name to William Paul Staton in the 1970s. American pool player and restaurateur Bill "Weenie Beenie" Staton at the 2003 US Open Nine-ball Championship
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