Keith McCready - Part 1 (The Early Hustle: From Elmhurst to El Diablo)
In this first installment of our Legends of the Cue four-part series, hosts Mike Gonzalez, Allison Fisher, and Mark Wilson sit down with one of pool’s most electrifying personalities—Keith McCready—to trace the raw, unfiltered beginnings of a life that could only be described as cinematic.
Born in Elmhurst, Illinois, and raised under the California sun, Keith’s early years were anything but ordinary. By age ten, while most kids were trading baseball cards, he was already gambling, running pool tables, and learning the delicate art of survival. After losing his mother at a young age, Keith found refuge in the game—and in the smoky glow of California pool halls where legends like Louis Lemke and “Cowboy” Jimmy Moore tested his growing talent.
Adopted at 13 by Bob Wallace, the owner of a local poolroom, Keith’s new family gave him both stability and access to the best action on the West Coast. By fifteen, he was on the road, matching up against future world champions, and earning a nickname that captured his fearless spirit—El Diablo. His stories of those days—standing on Coke crates to reach the table, running 56 balls at age twelve, winning thousands at the racetrack before eighth grade, and learning from icons like Ronnie Allen—paint the portrait of a natural-born competitor with an edge as sharp as his stroke.
This episode captures the roots of a player whose talent, charisma, and streetwise grit later caught the eye of none other than Martin Scorsese, who cast him as Grady Seasons in The Color of Money. Join us as Keith McCready takes us back to where it all began—before the fame, before the film—when the hustle, the game, and the gamble were one and the same.
🎱 A story only Keith could tell, and only pool could create.
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Music by Lyrium.
About
"Legends of the Cue" is a pool history podcast featuring interviews with Pool Hall of Fame members, winners of major championships and other people of influence in and around pocket billiards. We also plan to highlight memorable pool brands, events and venues. Focusing on the positive aspects of the sport, we aim to create and provide an engaging and timeless repository of content that listeners can enjoy now and forever. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher, Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, our podcast focuses on telling the life stories of pool's greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”
Pool Professional
Keith “Earthquake” McCready, also known to many fans as “El Diablo”, is one of pool’s most unforgettable originals: a fearless shot-maker, a born entertainer, and a road-seasoned money player whose life story feels like it was written for the movies… because, in a way, it was. Born on April 9, 1957, in Elmhurst, Illinois, McCready’s early years became a collision of natural talent, turbulence, and survival, with pool providing both a refuge and a proving ground.
In the four-part Legends of the Cue conversation, Keith’s beginnings come through as equal parts gritty and mythic: a kid learning to navigate grown-up environments far too young, discovering that a cue, a table, and a fearless heart could open doors, or start fires. The story traces his move to Southern California and the formative years that followed: the childhood runouts, the early gambling, and the immersion into a West Coast poolroom culture that was as much apprenticeship as it was trial-by-combat. By the time most kids were worrying about school and sports, Keith was learning to compete under pressure, to read people as well as angles, and to understand that in certain rooms the score wasn’t the only thing being wagered.
Part of what makes McCready’s story so compelling is that it’s not a tidy rise, it’s a raw one. He describes a life shaped by loss and instability, and he talks openly about how pool became an anchor during times when not much else felt steady. In those early years, he encountered larger-than-life characters and influences who left permanent marks on his approach to the g…Read More