Keith McCready
Encyclopedia
Keith McCready is an American
professional pool
player, nicknamed Earthquake.
At one time considered among the top players in America, McCready has been a traveling tournament competitor and notorious hustler
since the 1970s. From 2003 to 2006, McCready was a contributing writer to InsidePOOL Magazine and remains a pro competition contender, known for comedically interacting with the audience. He also had a supporting role as the boorish hustler Grady Seasons in the 1986 film The Color of Money
.
An energetic and aggressive player, he has a distinctive side-arm stroke and, despite his , is well known for strong shot-making offense skills, often executing extremely difficult shots that most other players would not attempt.
McCready was born in Elmhurst
, Illinois
. He realized he had billiards talent at the age of nine, after his father introduced him to bumper pool
, and he soon began hustling his two older brothers out of their allowance money. He initially had to stand on a box to reach the height of the table, and developed his unusual stroke while still a boy.
He was reportedly habituated to gambling by his divorced father when, during custodial visits, Keith and his brothers would each be given US$
20 and required to play various games with him, "usually until he had won his money back."
According to McCready, as a student in Trident Middle School in Anaheim
, California
, he asked his gym teacher to hold his money for him while he attended the first-period class. An established gambler at a young age, McCready had won a large amount gambling the night before at the horse racetrack. He was afraid to leave the money at home, for fear that his two older brothers would help themselves to it, and he did not want to leave it in his school locker for the same reason. When the instructor saw that it was the sum of $14,000 in gambling winnings, McCready was suspended from school, "for having too much money". Danny Diliberto was living in Bellflower, California
, during this time. He learned about the incident when he asked why young McCready was hanging in the pool room instead of attending school. The school officials contacted the California Department of Social Services
to investigate his home environment, which had deteriorated after the death of his mother. His father had developed problems with alcoholism
. Placed in foster care, Keith was removed from his family home and made a ward of the State. The owner of his neighborhood pool room, Bob's Billiards, liked McCready and successfully petitioned to adopt him, providing him a permanent home until he reached legal age.
While growing up in Bellflower, he acquired a proficiency in many pool games from legendary players such as Ronnie Allen, Richie Florence, Allen Hopkins, Jimmy Reid, Buddy Hall
, Irving Crane
, Larry Lisciotti
, Jimmy Mataya
, Luther Lassiter
, Billy Incardona, Joe Balsis
, Danny DiLiberto
, Larry "Boston Shorty" Johnson, Lou Butera
and "Champagne Eddie" Kelly.
McCready as a young boy was inspired by the grandiose spirit of Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone Jr., when he made an unexpected visit to his neighborhood pool room. Upon departure, Minnesota Fats, sharply dressed in a three-piece suit, flashed a large wad of cash and said to the patrons, "Boys, the only difference between me and everybody else is that everybody else drives around in a Volkswagen
, and Minnesota Fats drives around in a Duesenberg
." A decade later, after several tournament wins in California, McCready traveled to St. Louis
to compete in a pool tournament, and Minnesota Fats was in attendance. When he recognized McCready as the young up-and-coming player from California, he began to woof
at him, and the two of them put on a show and entertained a packed house of onlookers.
McCready acquired the nickname "Keither with the Ether" as a teenager, but was considered an old-school player who was fast and very accurate at the table. "Nobody beat Keith...He was a terrific young player...the most perfect pool you ever saw," says Grady Mathews
, "one of those pool phenoms that comes along every now and then."
In an era in American pool when gambling was a norm, "hustling
...was a way of life." When McCready was in his prime and on top of his game, he spent the better part of the 1970s and 1980s traveling throughout the United States as a tournament competitor and hustler. Sometimes the tournament venues would be a gathering place for pool hustlers, and the main action would take place outside of the tournament. With his raconteur style, McCready eventually became a road player, attracting large crowds to his designated table when his appearance was known.
When McCready was 21 and embarked on competing in professional pocket billiards
in his homestate of California
, he made an impression when, coming from behind, he ran nine straight racks of nine-ball in the finals, defeating Larry Hubbart, 11-6, to win the Sacramento Open Nine-ball Tournament.
On St. Patrick's Day in 1984, McCready won the Clyde Childress Memorial Nine-ball Tournament at The Maverick Club in Richmond, Kentucky
, which had a star-studded field consisting of pool phenoms "Earl the Pearl" Strickland
, Buddy Hall, Ronnie Allen, Allen Hopkins, St. Louis Louie Roberts, and Terry Bell. Handing "Earl the Pearl" an 11-to-2 thrashing earlier in the double-elimination pool tournament, McCready faced him in the finals. Strickland had been a dominating force on the American pool tournament trail, and racing to 11 games for the win, the score became tied, 9-9. McCready triumphed, running out the next two games to claim the victory.
McCready scored his first professional win, in October 1985, undefeated at the then-annual B.C. Open in Binghamton, New York
, pocketing $25,000, which was considered a large purse for a pool tournament at that date. The venue featured capacity audiences each day. "A worthy champion and a colorful, exciting player, he deserved to win," writes pool veteran Grady Mathews
.
Pool players go through definite streaks, according to Bruce Venzke of The National Billiard News, the oldest existing pool, billiard, and snooker publication in America: "Who can forget the one for Keith McCready." When the lines on the 1983 Lake Tahoe Classic were made on which players were the "Tahoe Favorites," McCready was described as "Mr. Cool, the Ultimate Nine-ball Player."
At the 5th Sands Regent Open nine-ball tournament in Reno, Nevada, June 3–7, 1987, won by Earl Strickland, McCready was documented in the "Notable Matches" category by Accu-Stats because of his "brilliant and entertaining" performance, defeating Paul Brienza and Mike Sigel
in the event.
In September 2003, the final match, Filipino Francisco Bustamante
versus American Keith McCready, drew the largest crowd yet of the Falcon Cue Tour in Sterling, Virginia
, where over 100 fans witnessed McCready defeat the Filipino pool champion, 9-7.
In April 2005, he took a Joss Northeast Nine-ball Tour event at the Golden Cue in Albany, New York, winning the final match of the double-elimination format event against Canadian pool player Danny Hewitt. The first set was completely one-sided with Hewitt cruising to a 9-3 win over McCready. The second set was a complete turnaround for McCready as he took an early 7-4 lead and help off a late charge from Hewitt to win the match 9-7.
While records dating back to McCready’s prime as a tournament player are scarce, according to Pool & Billiards magazine, dated December 1998, he was ranked 10th on the men's professional pool tour. Keith won about a half-dozen pro events, mostly in the 1980s. However, it is was his high-stakes gambling
that earned him the lion’s share of his reputation as one of the most feared nine-ball players. With his charisma and gift of gab, he has been heralded as "pool’s ultimate entertainer" McCready plays for the crowd and believes that when there is audience involvement, it creates a better atmosphere.
Danny Diliberto (now an Accu-Stats Video Productions commentator
) has stated: "I like Keith McCready, he's entertaining all the time; he's colorful to watch, because he's going to shoot at a white flag. He doesn't play the score; he could be winning 7 to 1 and he's still going to shoot at a crazy shot that he could lose with. But he's a colorful person, so I like doing commentary on him."
McCready resides on the East Coast and continues to compete professionally as well as putting on exhibitions for charity events. McCready holds the 2005 Virginia State Nine-Ball Championship title, which was held in Richmond
.
In 1986, McCready starred as the character Grady Seasons, a fictional infamous, hustler and top money-winner in all of pool, with Paul Newman
and Tom Cruise
in Martin Scorsese
's Academy Award-winning film The Color of Money, loosely based on the novel by Walter Tevis
(the sequel to The Hustler
). In 1985, Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, and Scorsese's casting director, Gretchen Rennell, had come to Norfolk, Virginia
, to the US Open Nine-ball Championship
in search of actual pool personalities to play character roles. McCready was engaged in a game with Filipino
pool champion Efren Reyes
and was selected to be in the movie because of his entertaining style of play.
After the film's release, there was a boom in the pool industry. One of McCready's more memorable lines, "It's like a nightmare, isn't it? It just keeps getting worse and worse", as he on Vincent, Cruise's budding hustler character, inspired the name of one of the top amateur eight-ball teams in the US, Like a Nightmare. In his earliest scene in the film, McCready also demonstrates an intimidating hustler trick: He literally throws the balls at once into the rack
, and they land in proper position for a of nine-ball.
Accu-Stats Video Productions recorded a match when McCready defeated Filipino Champion Jose Parica
at the 2003 US Open Nine-ball Championship
and describes it as: "The most entertaining match that Accu-Stats has ever offered. Keith steals the show and the audience approval."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional pool
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
player, nicknamed Earthquake.
At one time considered among the top players in America, McCready has been a traveling tournament competitor and notorious hustler
Hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
since the 1970s. From 2003 to 2006, McCready was a contributing writer to InsidePOOL Magazine and remains a pro competition contender, known for comedically interacting with the audience. He also had a supporting role as the boorish hustler Grady Seasons in the 1986 film The Color of Money
The Color of Money
The Color of Money is a 1986 film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Richard Price, based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis....
.
An energetic and aggressive player, he has a distinctive side-arm stroke and, despite his , is well known for strong shot-making offense skills, often executing extremely difficult shots that most other players would not attempt.
Early days
Elmhurst, Illinois
Elmhurst is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. The population is 46,013 as of the 2008 US Census population estimate.-History:...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. He realized he had billiards talent at the age of nine, after his father introduced him to bumper pool
Bumper pool
Bumper pool is a pocket billards game played on an octagonal or rectangular table fitted with an array of fixed cushioned obstacles, called bumpers, at the center of its surface.- Table :...
, and he soon began hustling his two older brothers out of their allowance money. He initially had to stand on a box to reach the height of the table, and developed his unusual stroke while still a boy.
He was reportedly habituated to gambling by his divorced father when, during custodial visits, Keith and his brothers would each be given US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20 and required to play various games with him, "usually until he had won his money back."
According to McCready, as a student in Trident Middle School in Anaheim
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, he asked his gym teacher to hold his money for him while he attended the first-period class. An established gambler at a young age, McCready had won a large amount gambling the night before at the horse racetrack. He was afraid to leave the money at home, for fear that his two older brothers would help themselves to it, and he did not want to leave it in his school locker for the same reason. When the instructor saw that it was the sum of $14,000 in gambling winnings, McCready was suspended from school, "for having too much money". Danny Diliberto was living in Bellflower, California
Bellflower, California
Bellflower is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is a suburb of Los Angeles. It was incorporated on September 3, 1957. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 76,616, up from 72,878 at the 2000 census....
, during this time. He learned about the incident when he asked why young McCready was hanging in the pool room instead of attending school. The school officials contacted the California Department of Social Services
California Department of Social Services
The California Department of Social Services is a California state agency for many of the programs defined as part of the social safety net in the United States, and is within the auspices of the California Health and Human Services Agency...
to investigate his home environment, which had deteriorated after the death of his mother. His father had developed problems with alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. Placed in foster care, Keith was removed from his family home and made a ward of the State. The owner of his neighborhood pool room, Bob's Billiards, liked McCready and successfully petitioned to adopt him, providing him a permanent home until he reached legal age.
While growing up in Bellflower, he acquired a proficiency in many pool games from legendary players such as Ronnie Allen, Richie Florence, Allen Hopkins, Jimmy Reid, Buddy Hall
Buddy Hall
Cecil P. "Buddy" Hall has been an American professional pool player for three decades. The International Pool Tour heralds Hall as a "living pool legend." He is nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his accuracy...
, Irving Crane
Irving Crane
Irving Crane , nicknamed "the Deacon", was an American pool player from Livonia , New York, and ranks among the stellar players in the history of the sport...
, Larry Lisciotti
Larry Lisciotti
Larry Lisciotti was an American professional pool player and notable road hustler, nicknamed "the Prince of Pool".-Early days:...
, Jimmy Mataya
Jimmy Mataya
Jimmy Mataya is an American professional pool player, nicknamed "Pretty Boy Floyd".In 1982, Jimmy Mataya, 31, wed Ewa Svensson, 17, of Sweden , forming pool's first "power couple". Their daughter Nikki was born in 1985, but they later divorced.Mataya enjoys other games of stake...
, Luther Lassiter
Luther Lassiter
Luther Lassiter , born Luther Clement Lassiter, Jr. and nicknamed Wimpy, was a world-renowned American pool player from Elizabeth City, North Carolina...
, Billy Incardona, Joe Balsis
Joe Balsis
Joseph Balsis , nicknamed "the Meatman", was a professional pool player, and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1982.-Early life:...
, Danny DiLiberto
Danny DiLiberto
Danny DiLiberto is an American professional pool player, nicknamed "Buffalo Dan".A veteran player from the Johnston City era, a teacher, an author, and today working as a commentator for Accu-Stats, DiLiberto is an active member of the pocket billiards community...
, Larry "Boston Shorty" Johnson, Lou Butera
Lou Butera
Lou Butera is an American professional pool player and an inductee into the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1986....
and "Champagne Eddie" Kelly.
McCready as a young boy was inspired by the grandiose spirit of Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone Jr., when he made an unexpected visit to his neighborhood pool room. Upon departure, Minnesota Fats, sharply dressed in a three-piece suit, flashed a large wad of cash and said to the patrons, "Boys, the only difference between me and everybody else is that everybody else drives around in a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
, and Minnesota Fats drives around in a Duesenberg
Duesenberg
Duesenberg was an Auburn, Indiana based American luxury automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937, most famous for its high-quality passenger cars and record-breaking racing cars.-History:...
." A decade later, after several tournament wins in California, McCready traveled to St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to compete in a pool tournament, and Minnesota Fats was in attendance. When he recognized McCready as the young up-and-coming player from California, he began to woof
Woof
Woof may refer to:* Bark , the sound a dog makes* Weft in weaving, the threads or yarn that run from side to side on a loomIn music:* Woof , a record label* "Woof" , a 1999 single from rapper Snoop Dogg...
at him, and the two of them put on a show and entertained a packed house of onlookers.
McCready acquired the nickname "Keither with the Ether" as a teenager, but was considered an old-school player who was fast and very accurate at the table. "Nobody beat Keith...He was a terrific young player...the most perfect pool you ever saw," says Grady Mathews
Grady Mathews
Grady Mathews , also known as "The Professor", is an American pool player and was the first inductee into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame in 2004....
, "one of those pool phenoms that comes along every now and then."
Professional career
Hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
...was a way of life." When McCready was in his prime and on top of his game, he spent the better part of the 1970s and 1980s traveling throughout the United States as a tournament competitor and hustler. Sometimes the tournament venues would be a gathering place for pool hustlers, and the main action would take place outside of the tournament. With his raconteur style, McCready eventually became a road player, attracting large crowds to his designated table when his appearance was known.
When McCready was 21 and embarked on competing in professional pocket billiards
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
in his homestate of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, he made an impression when, coming from behind, he ran nine straight racks of nine-ball in the finals, defeating Larry Hubbart, 11-6, to win the Sacramento Open Nine-ball Tournament.
On St. Patrick's Day in 1984, McCready won the Clyde Childress Memorial Nine-ball Tournament at The Maverick Club in Richmond, Kentucky
Richmond, Kentucky
There were 10,795 households out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.2% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.6% were non-families. Of all households, 34.7% were made up of individuals and 8.8% had...
, which had a star-studded field consisting of pool phenoms "Earl the Pearl" Strickland
Earl Strickland
Earl "The Pearl" Strickland is an American professional pool player and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 2006...
, Buddy Hall, Ronnie Allen, Allen Hopkins, St. Louis Louie Roberts, and Terry Bell. Handing "Earl the Pearl" an 11-to-2 thrashing earlier in the double-elimination pool tournament, McCready faced him in the finals. Strickland had been a dominating force on the American pool tournament trail, and racing to 11 games for the win, the score became tied, 9-9. McCready triumphed, running out the next two games to claim the victory.
McCready scored his first professional win, in October 1985, undefeated at the then-annual B.C. Open in Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
, pocketing $25,000, which was considered a large purse for a pool tournament at that date. The venue featured capacity audiences each day. "A worthy champion and a colorful, exciting player, he deserved to win," writes pool veteran Grady Mathews
Grady Mathews
Grady Mathews , also known as "The Professor", is an American pool player and was the first inductee into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame in 2004....
.
Pool players go through definite streaks, according to Bruce Venzke of The National Billiard News, the oldest existing pool, billiard, and snooker publication in America: "Who can forget the one for Keith McCready." When the lines on the 1983 Lake Tahoe Classic were made on which players were the "Tahoe Favorites," McCready was described as "Mr. Cool, the Ultimate Nine-ball Player."
At the 5th Sands Regent Open nine-ball tournament in Reno, Nevada, June 3–7, 1987, won by Earl Strickland, McCready was documented in the "Notable Matches" category by Accu-Stats because of his "brilliant and entertaining" performance, defeating Paul Brienza and Mike Sigel
Mike Sigel
Mike Sigel is an American professional pool player.Sigel has won over 102 major pool tournaments, including 3 US Open Nine-ball Championship tournaments and 5 world pocket billiard championship titles...
in the event.
In September 2003, the final match, Filipino Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.-Early life:Bustamante is the...
versus American Keith McCready, drew the largest crowd yet of the Falcon Cue Tour in Sterling, Virginia
Sterling, Virginia
Sterling, Virginia is a census-designated place in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population as of the 2010 Census was 27,822.It is located northwest of Herndon, east of Ashburn, and west of Great Falls, and includes part of Dulles International Airport and the former AOL corporate headquarters...
, where over 100 fans witnessed McCready defeat the Filipino pool champion, 9-7.
In April 2005, he took a Joss Northeast Nine-ball Tour event at the Golden Cue in Albany, New York, winning the final match of the double-elimination format event against Canadian pool player Danny Hewitt. The first set was completely one-sided with Hewitt cruising to a 9-3 win over McCready. The second set was a complete turnaround for McCready as he took an early 7-4 lead and help off a late charge from Hewitt to win the match 9-7.
While records dating back to McCready’s prime as a tournament player are scarce, according to Pool & Billiards magazine, dated December 1998, he was ranked 10th on the men's professional pool tour. Keith won about a half-dozen pro events, mostly in the 1980s. However, it is was his high-stakes gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
that earned him the lion’s share of his reputation as one of the most feared nine-ball players. With his charisma and gift of gab, he has been heralded as "pool’s ultimate entertainer" McCready plays for the crowd and believes that when there is audience involvement, it creates a better atmosphere.
Danny Diliberto (now an Accu-Stats Video Productions commentator
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
) has stated: "I like Keith McCready, he's entertaining all the time; he's colorful to watch, because he's going to shoot at a white flag. He doesn't play the score; he could be winning 7 to 1 and he's still going to shoot at a crazy shot that he could lose with. But he's a colorful person, so I like doing commentary on him."
McCready resides on the East Coast and continues to compete professionally as well as putting on exhibitions for charity events. McCready holds the 2005 Virginia State Nine-Ball Championship title, which was held in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
Filmography
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's Academy Award-winning film The Color of Money, loosely based on the novel by Walter Tevis
Walter Tevis
Walter Stone Tevis was an American novelist and short story writer. Three of his six novels were adapted into major films: The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Man Who Fell to Earth...
(the sequel to The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
). In 1985, Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, and Scorsese's casting director, Gretchen Rennell, had come to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, to the US Open Nine-ball Championship
US Open Nine-ball Championship
The U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
in search of actual pool personalities to play character roles. McCready was engaged in a game with Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
pool champion Efren Reyes
Efren Reyes
Efren Manalang Reyes is a Filipino professional pool player and a two-time world champion. Reyes is considered by many to be the greatest all-around pool player in the history of the game. He is affectionately nicknamed "Bata" and "the Magician".-Early life:Reyes was born in Pampanga in 1954...
and was selected to be in the movie because of his entertaining style of play.
After the film's release, there was a boom in the pool industry. One of McCready's more memorable lines, "It's like a nightmare, isn't it? It just keeps getting worse and worse", as he on Vincent, Cruise's budding hustler character, inspired the name of one of the top amateur eight-ball teams in the US, Like a Nightmare. In his earliest scene in the film, McCready also demonstrates an intimidating hustler trick: He literally throws the balls at once into the rack
Rack (billiards)
A rack is the name given to a frame used to organize billiard balls at the beginning of a game. Rack may also be used as a verb to describe the act of setting billiard balls in starting position in billiards games that make use of racks , as well as a noun to describe the balls in that starting...
, and they land in proper position for a of nine-ball.
Accu-Stats Video Productions recorded a match when McCready defeated Filipino Champion Jose Parica
Jose Parica
Jose Parica is a Filipino professional pool player from Manila, nicknamed "Amang" and "the Giant Killer." As a Philippine Hall of Famer, he pioneered the "Filipino invasion" in the United States, especially in the game of nine-ball.Also known as "the King" and "the Legend" in Philippine pool,...
at the 2003 US Open Nine-ball Championship
US Open Nine-ball Championship
The U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
and describes it as: "The most entertaining match that Accu-Stats has ever offered. Keith steals the show and the audience approval."