Cornbread Red and a Titanic Game of Pool

Editor's note: Byron "Cowboy" Wolford died of a heart attack in Dallas, Texas, on May 12, 2003. See Dana Smith's tribute to Cowboy on Page 66. In ongoing remembrance of Cowboy, Card Player will continue to publish his column, "Gamblin' With the Cowboy," which is comprised of stories from his book, "Cowboys, Gamblers & Hustlers."

Every Wednesday night, Titanic Thompson and I would take off from the club we owned together in Tyler, Texas, and go to the Elks Club in Longview to play in a big no-limit hold'em game with Sam McFarland, the boss gambler in East Texas. The poker game didn't start until about 6 p.m., so one afternoon at about 4 p.m., Ty and I were sitting around the bar in the club waiting for the game to begin and watching a couple of Elks Club members shoot pool. One of them was a pretty good pool player who had beaten just about everybody in Longview. Ty could play pool and any other game that required good eye-hand coordination, so when the game was over, he said, "Hell, I'll play you a game or two."

"What do you want to play for?" the guy asked him.

"I can't really play that good," Ty lied, "so you'd have to spot me a little." The fella agreed and they started shooting for about $50 a game. After Ty had let the man beat him out of about $200, he said, "Man, you're really good. You oughta be on the circuit. I've never seen nobody play 9-ball as good as you can. I think I'm gonna have to quit; I've got no chance to win."

"I understand," the guy said, sticking out his chest. "Don't worry 'bout it, that's just the way it goes sometimes."

"I've got a nephew over in Tyler where I live who works at the Texaco station," Ty continued, "and he thinks he can shoot pool pretty good. I might just bring him over here next week and let him play you."

"Oh, hell, bring him on! Bring anybody you want to and we'll play for whatever you wanna play for."

That night while we were driving home, I asked Ty about this "nephew" of his. "He's named Cornbread Red," he said.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"He's the best 9-ball player in the world. He's in Chicago right now, but when I get home, I'm gonna call him and fly him down here. Then we'll go back to Longview and I'm gonna take 'em off in pool." I figured it was gonna be quite a show.

Cornbread Red flew to Dallas a few days later and we drove 100 miles from Tyler to pick him up. Driving home, I just listened while Ty explained to Red how the deal was gonna come down. The next day, he went to the filling station and bought a Texaco uniform for Red. A few days later, we took off for Longview with Red dressed up in his Texaco uniform, grease on his hands, and hair uncombed.

About three hours before the poker game started, the three of us walked into the Elks Club in Longview. The bartender was setting up the bar and the pool shooters were all hanging around.

"I brought my nephew over from Tyler," Ty told the mark. "He was able to get off work from the station today."

"You think he's pretty good, do you?" the guy asked.

"Well, I play him sometimes and he's pretty good, but I don't think he can beat you. We'll have to spot him pretty good."

"What kind of spot do you want?"

"I believe we should start off by giving him the 8, 9, and the break."

"That's a helluva spot."

"Well, let him play a couple of games and we'll adjust if it's too much."

"How much do you wanna play for?"

"Oh, I'll bet a coupla hundred to start with."

The guy agreed and they racked up the balls. Cornbread Red had his own pool cue out in the car, but he didn't bring it into the club because that would've looked sort of bad, so he picked out the straightest pool cue he could find on the rack. And the games began.

Red let the guy win the first one. Then, Red won one and the mark won the next two, with the limits increasing. Red won the next one, he let the guy win one, and then Red won the next two.

"Hell, I can't spot him the 8, 9, and the break no more," the mark said.

"Well, I told you we'd adjust. We'll just take the 8 and the break," Ty said.

"All right, I'll try that," the man agreed, and they resumed play with the bets at $400. Red let the guy win the next one, then Red won two and let the man win another one, and then Red won the next three. "I can't beat your nephew giving him the 8 and the break," the man complained.

"Well, hell, let's bet something and I'll give you a chance to get even," Ty suggested. "In fact, we'll just let you play even." They upped the bets to $700 a game and started even, no spots. They seesawed back and forth for a few games. It had taken quite a while to put down the "stall" and get the mark to play even. Now that the time was right, Red turned on the steam and started eating him up. Finally, the man said, "I can't beat him. He's just too good for me."

"Well, hell, I want you to get even," Ty said. Then he turned to Red, saying, "Son, I didn't know you could shoot that good."

"Well, Uncle Ty, I just feel good today, that's all. You know, I've been working every day at the station and then going home with them kids of mine all hollering and my ol' lady griping. But today I'm off work and relaxed, drinking a beer or two, and playing some pool. Hell, I don't get time off like this but every two years. I'm just glad my ol' lady let me come over here today."

So, they started shooting some more, this time giving the pool shark from Longview the 8 and the break. All the suckers from around town (who had a lot of money from oil) were betting on their local hero, thinking he'd make a big comeback at any minute. All the while, Red was drowning them. The final bet they made was that Cornbread Red would get the break, and even if the mark moved the 9 ball to the rail twice and didn't make it, he still would win the game. They went for that one to the tune of about $2,000 more. Of course, Red would take the break, make the first ball, and then run the table. Ty wound up beating them out of $10,000. The Longview hotshot was in shock, and the locals were a lot lighter in the wallet after that episode.

I've got a lot more Titanic stories, but I'll save a few of them till next time.