LoreeJon Ogonowski-Brown - Part 1 (From Basement Beginnings to Queen of the Hill)

Welcome to another edition of Legends of the Cue, and Mark Wilson, I don't know a lot about this royalty stuff, but does a queen trump a duchess?
Boy, I would think so, but let's go to the duchess and actually find out. Allison?
Well, I became a duchess because the queen was taken, and who was it taken by? Our very special guest. Today joining us, we have LoreeJon Ogonowski-Brown.
That's a long name, and what a champion she is, and I'm delighted that she's here joining us. Good morning, LoreeJon.
Good morning. I'm so happy you asked me to do this.
Well, you've got quite the history. Go on, Mike.
We're looking forward to doing your story, LoreeJon, but before we get into the details, let's just cover off this nickname thing, okay? Because I've heard Allison's version.
I think I've heard a little bit of your version, but just for our listeners, you got yours first, LoreeJon, so why don't you start?
So I'm not necessarily thrilled. I like Terminator or something like that, but in My Rise, I seemed to always win from behind. So if somebody had me eight to one in a race to nine, it was never definite that they won, and I would always come back.
And Steve Tipton at the time had stats on me coming back, making it hill, hill, and then winning. And that's, he said, I was like in the high 90s, if it was hill, hill, and I came back, I was winning. So that's what he said, Queen of the Hill.
So it's a difficult thing. You know, I hate, like Duchess of Doom, you just know what that means, you know?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I'm not sure I like the Duchess part. Listen, if you want to be a Terminator or something, go ahead and I'll nick that Queen from you.
You want an upgrade?
Well, there was Queen Jeanne too. Yeah, Queen Jeanne Belukas. So Queen was like kind of technically already taken, but Queen of the Hill, I'm it.
You prefer to be Queen of the Country, you just got a Hill.
Queen of the World.
Yeah, exactly.
That's it.
That's the one.
The universe.
Yeah. There you go.
And the Duchess of Doom thing while we're on the subject.
Oh, how was that created? That was Jerry Ng's husband, Ron Ng, who was a photographer on our tour at the time. And Jerry reminded me that they were sitting around having dinner one night, and they created it from there.
Obviously, the Duchess, a bit of British royalty, with what I inflict on my opponents at the table, and they came up with the Duchess of Doom. I had some really shifty names before that, but that was the one that stuck.
I'm curious now, what's the shifty name?
We won't go into that, but this is about LoreeJon, not about me and my names.
Maybe we will. Just give us one or two.
I've been called some things in the past. I bet LoreeJon's had a few for me in the past too, haven't you?
Nothing for a G-rated show.
Very nice things.
Oh, good.
Yeah. Well, let's get with it then, LoreeJon. So, as you probably know, because we had a prior discussion, we like to talk about everything in your life, starting with where you were born, where you grew up, and where you came to learn pool.
So let's just go back to the very beginning and take our listeners back to Garwood, New Jersey.
Yes, Garwood, New Jersey. I was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which is very close, Elizabeth General Hospital. And grew up in Garwood, New Jersey, very small little town.
Most people, if I said Garwood, they would go, and then I would say Westfield, you know, Scotch, like something like closer to that. And they would go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so Garwood was very small.
I lived a block away from school. And we had a five by, wait a second, wait, four and a half by nine, five by 10 table in my house. So it was, yeah.
So that's what I grew up on. And I don't know. I mean, I didn't, I didn't know any different.
You know, I mean, it was, it was, it was, I don't know, it was a big table. I was tiny, but I loved, I loved growing up in a small town. It was, it was wonderful.
Typical, you know, I watched a video. I have to say this, because I laughed so hard. I watched something on Facebook yesterday and it said, it was like, it was like an older person.
They were like, they were like, they made commercials asking where it's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are? You know, and I remember that commercial.
I'm like, oh my God, I remember that. You know, like, can you imagine today saying that? You know, because like that, but that's what it was.
I mean, you left, I left in the morning and my mom was like, dinner's going to be ready at six. Just be home by six. Okay, you know, and, and it was such a, it was definitely a wonderful time.
You know, just had my best friend, Kim, who I still talk to today, who's still one of my best friends ever and will always be. And she was always proud of me with my pool playing.
Tell us about your folks and what they did for a living and then how they, I guess, encouraged the pool eventually.
So my dad was a lineman for public service until he fell. He fell and got like pretty, pretty badly injured and couldn't be a lineman anymore. My mom was actually, my mom was a teacher.
She taught special needs. She did like special needs kids and things like that. And my dad always, always was involved with Pool.
I mean, his best friend and business partner at one point was Allen Hopkins.
Steve Mizerak was a good friend of his and like all of, just everybody in that, you know, Jim Rampe, everybody in that like, that little core group from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania area.
And my dad just always loved, he just was always around it. Always, you know, always, you know, he was a gambler. I mean, he loved to gamble here and there.
And, you know, I mean, he, I don't know, that's how I grew up. So we had a pool table, like I said, in our basement. It was a five by 10 Gandy.
And I started playing. My sister Nancy was playing in these eight ball tournaments and she started playing first. But I think she did it more for my dad, you know, more for him versus like her loving it.
And then when I was like four, I just, I would go downstairs every single day and take that cue stick.
And I could, you know, and I would, I'd line the balls up and I'd do that with one hand and I'd line it up and I would make the shot and I'd, you know, set it up again and make the shot.
And my, my mom was like, you know, she, she seems like she likes this, you know, like we're not telling her to do it. She goes down every day and does it. And then my dad, he, he did.
He took wooden boxes and put it around the whole pool table and, and taught me like mechanics because he figured, you know, if, if you're going to learn how to play pool, Mark would understand this more than anyone.
And so Allison, you too, with your, with your, you know, with your mechanics being the same, that was, that was what he was, he didn't want me growing up with a side arm because I couldn't reach the table. So he, you know, yeah.
So he built that platform. And I started, started, I just started playing. I just, you know, I started playing when I was six years old.
I actually ran a rack of balls, just, you know, he just, just threw them out. And I, and I ran the whole rack. And like today, I think, oh my God, that was on, on a huge table.
Like that was really good.
You realize how good you were at that age.
It's amazing. And I just loved it. I don't know.
I mean, I, I loved it from, I can tell you when I was seven.
So, so my dad, anyway, after my dad, I don't know when my dad got hurt in, as alignment, timelines kind of like, you know, when you get older, like timelines are kind of like whatever, they all kind of go into each other.
But when my dad, my dad always wanted to, to open up a pool room, I know. And the pool room was open, but it was open when I was about seven, eight, maybe like eight years old. And he opened it up with Allen Hopkins initially.
And, and it was called Hopkins Billiards. And then, I don't know, then Allen didn't, and they were still good friends. I mean, it wasn't like they broke off because of something bad.
It was Allen had other things he needed to do and wanted to do. So my dad bought him out and then named it LoreeJon Billiards.
Nice.
And, and, but when I was seven, I, I did Charlie Orsetti, who was a big part of my life as well. Charlie always, you know, he's like, he would tell me when I was like, I remember I was so little.
And he, you know, he, he's like, he was like that, like Italian mobster type guy, you know, he'd come over and he's like, listen, he says, you're going to be a great pool player. You're gonna, okay. He goes, I'm just telling you that.
He goes, but he said, you have to learn how to entertain. He goes, you've got to learn the trick shots. You have to learn those trick shots and you have to learn how to talk to people.
And he says, and that will take you, that will make you a lot of money. I was like, all right, okay. Okay, so he would sit there and like set up little easy, you know, little four ball trick shots and stuff like that for me to make.
And he would make me talk to him. And it was so funny. He's like, I would, I'd be like, you know, talking, like setting up the shot, looking down.
And he's like, is your audience on the pool table or is it out here?
That's great, isn't it? I know Charlie, I remember.
Like he's so, he was so forward. Just very straightforward. And so I learned.
So when I was seven, I did my, like an exhibition, I did three trick shots at the Men's US Open tournament in a straight pool tournament in Chicago. And I was so, I mean, I was nervous.
My mom made me a little yellow gown, you know, and then I had a little yellow, you know, a little pink, a little yellow bows in my hair and stuff. And I went out there, you know, I went out there to, you know, to do the trick shots.
And right before Minnesota Fats was there and I was just petrified. And Minnesota Fats looked at me and he goes, he goes, honey, he goes, I've never made a shot in my life. People think I'm the greatest player in the history of pool.
He goes, why? Because I tell him. He goes, so if you mess up, he goes, if you mess up, he goes to tell him it's impossible.
Tell him the trick shots impossible, of course, because you couldn't do it. Whatever. He goes, whatever.
Make him laugh. So he calmed me down a little bit. I went out there.
I did the shots, made them. Came back and I sat down and I wouldn't move. I sat down, I was like this and my legs were just like up and down.
My dad goes, my dad puts his hand on my leg and he's like, he goes, you okay? And I went, he goes, he goes, are you okay? And it's like this because I wouldn't say anything.
And I looked at him and I go, yeah, I go, dad. I go, I really liked it when they clapped. I said, I think I'm going to be doing this for a long time.
And that's, how old were you?
Seven.
Oh, wow.
What year would that have been?
Yeah.
72.
She don't want to discuss that part. How rude of you.
I know.
No, I'm not.
No, because I might have been there.
I'm embracing it now. I'm going to be 60 years old in November. So I was whatever, 65, 70, 77.
Oh, 71 or two probably.
Oh, no, 71 or 10.
Yeah, I wasn't.
How's my math?
You were there.
Mark was there. How fantastic. Do you remember anything about it, Mark?
No, I was 15 or 16 and that was a pilgrimage to the US Open Strait Pool.
I remember you talking about that on your live story.
Oh, yeah.
It's pretty good. My mom also, when I was little, from kindergarten to 8th grade because that's the way the school system worked back then.
Sometimes you switch schools in middle school now and all of a sudden, it was kindergarten through 8th grade, like one school, and it was not even a block away. And my mom would have a sandwich made for me every day.
She would make peanut butter and jelly and a glass of milk and I would shovel it in and we'd run downstairs and we'd play a 25-point straight pool match.
That's really cool. You were doing all the right things at a young age. I have a question for you.
Did you have brothers? Do you have brothers?
Yes, my spoiled brother because it's brother. So, there's four girls and then my brother Mark. But my sister says that we were both spoiled because I was the pool player and he's the only son.
Well, did he play?
That was my question.
He would like to think he plays, but no, I kick his butt every day, all the time.
You know where the Queen thing really came from though, I think, long before her nickname for Queen of the Hill. As the youngest of five, can you only imagine what life was like for her after her older sisters and brother blazed the trail for her?
I was really spoiled. Like I was really, I was really, like, I still today, I talked to my sister the other day and so my sister, Cheryl's the closest to me in age.
Nancy is the one who used to play and then my brother Mark and then my sister Linda and my sister Linda and it's not, it's okay. But I mean, she passed away when she was 64, something like that. She was 12 years, 13 years older than me.
And she wasn't in like great health or anything. But they sit there. I'm like, how did you even tolerate me?
Like honest to God, like I don't know how my sisters or my brother, really my sisters though, because my brother was like kind of out of the house by the time I was in the nasty phase. But like my sisters, I would be like, where are you going?
And my sister would be like, I'm going to the movies. And I'm like, well, I want to go too. And she'd be like, no.
And I'm like, when I cleaned your room the other day, I found this and I, I don't know if mom should see it or not.
Oh, bribery at a young age.
Blackmail, forget bribery.
Wow.
And they still love you. I got to go to a lot of places.
That's so funny. I love that. Going on from that, you were practicing at home with your dad, playing these straight pool matches, which was wonderful.
At what point did you step into the pool room? Did your parents think it was appropriate for you to be in there?
So before, and this is funny because I met Joanne Mason Parker, like at this one pool room and it was called the High Cue. And it was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Mike Ash and Brian Ash, his son, Mike Ash owned it.
And there were like little tournaments there, you know, so my dad would always bring me there. And the straight pool player, do you remember Jack Calavito? Jackie Calavito, he would be there.
And his daughter was there, Cindy. And, you know, and so that's, that was like my first pool room experience. And I used to go there.
It was really a nice place. Everybody was so nice. And I would play, you know, I'd play, my dad would put me in the little tournaments there and stuff like that.
So that was like my first. Yeah, that was, that was definitely my first pool room. And then, then when I was about eight, they did that whole, the Hopkins Billiards and then LoreeJon Billiards.
And it was, it was like eight, nine, ten, you know, and we had that, that pool room until, gosh, until after, after high school. Gosh, yeah.
Now, how old was Joanne when you met her then?
Two years younger than me. So I met her, it was about five. She was about five and a half, seven.
And they came in and they, and they, we were so brutal. It was just, I mean, I'm telling you. And like, I knew Mary, Mary Keniston and stuff like that.
So like, if Mary was there, I'm like, like Joanne and her mom, her mom and her sister walked in with, with Harvey. And I, I like looked over and they're, and like back then, you know, like I, you know me.
I mean, I'm not like a major dress person, you know. And there they are in like, like pink, blue and yellow little house on the prairie dresses, you know, all three coming in. And I'm like.
You're not Nellie Olson, are you?
Please don't say it.
I'm not Nellie. But I mean, I was just like, like I will never forget that.
And then, and then Joanne and I got in trouble because we were, we were, we were, we, we took, this is when, you know, we're young, you know, like really young, we were taking toilet paper and making it soaked and throwing it up on the ceiling and
making a stick in the bathroom. And we got in trouble. And then I, and then I loved her from there.
Oh, and you're still very good friends this day, aren't you? Yeah. She came back on tour, you came back on tour, but we'll get to that later on.
But that's wonderful. So you grew up five years old and seven years old. That's amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
So LoreeJon, this question is really for Mark's benefit and all of his many fans out there.
Your recollection is to when you had your first run of seven balls.
Well, seven balls were definitely, definitely when I, yeah, definitely when I was like seven. Yeah. I was like six or seven when I ran a whole racks.
Like 20 years before Mark.
Exactly.
Going back to the high cue though.
Yeah, change the subject. Go ahead. That's right.
Before LoreeJon knows that that was the pool room in the United States and you would see ads all the time.
And it wasn't just Jack Calavita. It was Ray Martin, Steve Mizerak, Fusco, Hopkins, everybody was there. And it was always like, I didn't get to go there.
But we read about it in magazines and it just seemed like pool heaven. It was top players, top tier players. She was around when she was seven.
All the time, one of my greatest pig photos ever with me.
We did an exhibition for the Heart Fund Association and I had a little red and white smock top with the heart on the pocket, because my mom made my clothing.
And I have a great picture, a lot of pictures with like Allen Hopkins and Q-Ball Kelly, who was a great trick shot artist. But yeah, you're right, like I did.
I grew up, I was very, very lucky because I grew up with so many great players and they all, you know, my dad was a good, when I teach now, I always tell people, especially females, my God, they're going to have 18,000 people telling you, you're
standing too straight, you're standing too crooked, you're this, you're that, you're this, you hit too hard, you hit too soft. I told them, I said, if you listen to everybody, you're never gonna get it. You have to, you know what I mean?
Like don't, like, but my dad said at one point, he said, you've got your basics down, your mechanics are perfect. He said, so if somebody tells you something, you know, they might know something that I don't, that I don't see.
He said, so let it go in one ear, and if it's garbage, you let it go at the other. And he goes, but talk to me about it. And then that's what I used to do.
I would be like, you know, Allen told me da, da, da, da, da, you know, and, and what do you think? You know, whatever it would be, you know, and, and, and that's, and that's how I learned because people were very, very nice overall.
And I do have a story and I might as well say it because he's older and we're, we're good now. But I was in the pool room. I was probably, probably 10 at this point, like 10 years old, something like that.
And it was LoreeJon Billiards. And so Ray Martin came in and I was like, oh my God, that's Ray Martin, you know, world champion. I was all excited.
So my dad was like, all right, you know, don't like, and he always respected players, you know, don't father him, you know. So he was in the corner. He played, he practiced for a few hours.
And my dad was like, okay, you know, when he was done, he was clearly finished. And I went up to him and I was like, you know, my dad said, you know, introduce yourself and just see if he has any pointers, you know. And I said, you know, Mr.
Martin, I said, you know, I'm LoreeJon Ogonowski and, you know, I'm Jon's daughter. And, you know, I play all the time and I want to be a world champion. You know, do you have any tips for me?
And he went, kid, he'll never be a world champion. And he goes, go back to playing with Barbies.
And I'm like, no, no way.
I'm thinking Barbies, the heads are off of my Barbies. I hated Barbies. Oh, wow.
I'm like, oh my God. So I, he left and I went up to my dad and it was like, you know, the face, I was like, you know, and the tears are coming down. And I remember, and it did again.
Like I do thank him because he did tick me off enough to make sure that I did what I did. Because I said, look at my dad and I'm like, I said, how many world titles does he have? Because I'm going to have more.
And the day I have more, I'm going to tell him, do his face. You know, and it was funny because you're like, I don't know how many years ago it was. It was his birthday though, and we were in Florida doing a billiard exhibition.
And I was ready. Like I wanted to say something to him. And lo and behold, he was so stinking sweet and nice.
And who cares? You know, I gave him a big hug. I told him, happy birthday.
We sang to him. I was like, and his daughter was like, oh my God, he just loves you so much. And, you know, it's just, you know.
Did you tell his daughter that you've got more world titles or?
No, no, that's right.
But I know in here, I know in my heart.
Yeah, we've told the world.
But it is amazing, those little comments. With some people, they fire you up and you never forget it. And it marches you on to make sure you achieve those titles, doesn't it?
Did you experience a lot of chauvinism being a female in the sport, especially a young female?
Yeah, probably. You know, everybody was very nice. I never, you know, what you see on TV and all that garbage, that stuff, never.
I never experienced that, you know, like bad things or fights or this or that. But even if people thought you were great, there was always the comment about being.
And I would always smile and say, that's okay, I'm going to be the best female in the world. Like I just didn't like I never like I don't care like you, you know, like, who cares?
And then at some point, I would say, you know, I am the best and like, are you afraid? You know what I mean? Do you make those comments because you're afraid that I might beat you or another female might beat you?
You know? Well, now, you know, no.
And when we've and we've seen, yeah, we've seen enough of people, you know, of the women, you know, playing and I'm not I'm not a big advocate to say, we can compete with the men and we can, you know, I think we still have a long way to go.
But I know that the more the more you do compete with men, the better your game is, you know, why is it definitely?
Yeah, I wasn't talking in it from that point of view, just so you don't belong here type of thing. This is not a place for young girl.
Yeah, yeah. You know, like, like, why, why, why, why am I not doing something else?
Yeah, I'm playing with your Barbies, for example.
Yeah, I'm playing with my Barbies. I never had Barbies, I think.
Me neither.
We've had that a lot on our, the golf podcast that we do, LoreeJon, we've talked to probably 52 women golf greats by now, you know, and especially the older ones that, we have had some that were winners, champions in the 50s, certainly in the 60s.
So this is a little bit before, you know, when you were really coming into your prime, but they dealt with the fact that back then, there was a place for women, right? And the place was not as an athlete.
If you were going to be an athlete, yeah, maybe you could play tennis, maybe you could play badminton.
There might have been one or two other sports that were, what I would say, socially acceptable to participate in for a woman, but to be, you know, another kind of real athlete, track and field or basketball or something like that, it was unheard of
in the 50s and the 60s. You know, as Title IX came along in the mid 70s, it sort of tried to equalize the playing field as far as funding for women athletics, but it was just not acceptable for a period of time to be an athlete as a woman.
I understand that. I'm glad, you know, I'm glad that everybody in the 50s and whatnot have paved the way because each, you know, each era and everything, you have better players, better opportunities, better, you know, and I'm thankful.
I mean, without the past, there is no present.
The pioneers.
Yeah.
Did you play other sports as a kid?
I played field hockey.
Me too.
So brutal. I mean, I just, that, I have my, my poor shins. Oh my gosh.
Even though, even though you wore the shin guards, you know, they'd miss the shin guard and get your knee, or right above, right above the shin guard, or right on the, you know, or the ball would be hit in the air and just slap you right in the
thigh, you know? And there's, there you have this big black, but I loved it. I did. I loved, I loved, I loved playing the field hockey, but other than that, not, not really.
I mean, I love golf. I love, but nothing, nothing like pool.
Yeah. So you won your first world title, or I say world title, national title, I guess, at age 11, right?
Yeah. I was going to say that was the Ruth McGuinness, like it was a Ruth McGuinness Cup. And that's, you know, Billy Billing was, that's, that's when the, the WPBA kind of first started.
And it was, you know, the WPBA really, it's funny because you know, when an organization starts, it's, it's, it's difficult to get it like all over.
So when it started it because it was in New York, it was like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. Those were, you know, Sayan Dali's pool room, you know what I mean?
Like that, like that's where you, you played in this little section and, and somehow eventually we, you know, got out to California, you know, for, for Robin and stuff like that. But yeah, it was the Ruth McGuinness, Ruth McGuinness Challenge Cup.
It was a great, that was a great, great tournament.
Who started the WPBA at that time? Who was, who were the founders of it right then?
Billy, Billy. Yeah, I was going to say, I remember, I mean, I know there were others and, you know, whatever. I mean, I know that other people had, you know, Frank Cremie and, and, Yes.
You know, Billy, Remember? Yeah, Belinda and Belinda Bearden. And just, yeah, there were a few, but Billy was a real push.
She was the, she was the, the rock behind the whole thing.
So Allison, you were asking about the formation, the WPBA, which sort of began in the 70s back when Gene Lucas was undisputedly the hottest player on the table.
And six-year-old LoreeJon Ogonowski at the time had to stand on her boxes around the table to learn how to play, play a shot. Palmer Bird was another top-flight player back in that day, probably the first outspoken missionary for Women's Billiards.
She signed an exhibition deal with Brunswick, becoming, I think, the first, at least for Brunswick, the first female player rep for them.
But it was in 1976 that several women players, including Palmer, Gloria Walker, Vicki Paskey, I guess, or Fretchen, was that correct? Fretchen. Fretchen.
Madeleine Whitlow, along with National Beards News editor Larry Miller. They met at Mitch Housey's Restaurant Lounge in Lavonia, Michigan on Memorial Day weekend and cooked this idea up.
That meeting gave birth to the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance.
Yeah, it was Alliance at first.
Yeah, yeah. And over 100 women sent in their dues to join this new organization and off you guys went.
That is amazing. So it is a really great story. And I'm just curious about, you mentioned Jean in that, Jean Baloukas.
How old was she when you first met her?
Gosh, I wish I knew. I don't know. She was young.
But yeah, because she's a little bit older, isn't she?
She's about maybe mid-60s now, I think, I want to say.
Yeah, definitely.
So she was quite young, wasn't she?
She was, but she was like her formation. Like, yeah, she definitely, you know, and I mean it like in all goodness, she played like a guy. I mean, she just-
Yeah, and her parents had a pool room too, didn't they?
Yes, they did. I don't know what time. It's so interesting that all you youngsters grew up in pool rooms or were playing pool at home and came to these tournaments so young.
That is amazing.
And I sort of pictured them all playing up on these, Mark, you remember these old soda boxes, right? The 24 bottles of pop would come in, but LoreeJon actually had custom-made boxes, it sounded like, for her table, huh?
Yeah, my dad had the, he built like boxes, like, yeah.
So when you played that first tournament, how did you feel? How did it feel to you?
Great. Like great. Winning is great.
I can just say that. I am very competitive. I have raised, you know, three children who are extremely competitive and, and we're horrible.
I mean, like, we played Farkel the other day, you know what I mean? And like, and I finally won and it was like winning a tournament. I was like, yes!
You know, it's great.
That is funny.
And it's just, yeah, it's, it's, uh, yeah, I definitely, I, I, it felt great. It felt great. And it was great for my, you know, it's great for my parents and, you know, everything because all the work and hard work that they did.
And, you know, my dad, a lot of people, so when my dad opened up the pool room with Allen and stuff, and he was not working for public service anymore, you know, my mom was, she was really a smart lady.
I just, you know, my dad was a great, so, and I mean, I don't care if people know this. It just, it doesn't really matter. But the, like, my dad sent four girls, okay, to Mount St.
Mary Academy, all-girl Catholic high school, okay, not because he had the money, you know, from being a lineman, but because he was good at craps.
Well, there you go.
I swear, my mom was the money. She was the financial. So when my dad would go out, and I remember when we were adults, we'd give him 100, we'd be like, dad, like, just do something with this, you know?
So he would, he played both sides. He would play, he would play, you know, he was like, you don't want to be with me, like, at a crap table. And he goes, I'm not the person, you know, who's liked on the crap table.
He goes, so, so, but he would have his little feelings. He'd go back and forth and he did. He made a ton of money.
He would go to Atlantic City, he'd make a ton of money. Allen and him would go down and he would give my mom the money and my mom always invested and always did. So, so like, I had no idea how good they did until both of them passed away.
And I was like, holy cow. Like my sister called me, she goes, did you have any idea? And I'm like, no.
You know, I'm like, no. You know, but my mom took the pool room. You know, my mom, I remember we had this big building and there was a large section, maybe, I don't know, maybe a thousand square feet, maybe a little bit bigger than that.
And my mom said, John, take the pool tables out of there. Nobody's renting them. It's dead.
She said, give me that section. Let me do something. And she started selling pool tables and going to, you know, she would drive to Imperial and pick up all the cue sticks.
And she would have barrels of, I remember these sticks were just, I'm like, mom, they're warped. She goes, I know. She goes, and I have them for a dollar.
She goes, and people will know that they're, and she'd sell them. She'd sell the suckers. I'm like, oh my God.
So she started, what my sister and my brother still have today is the Pool Tables Plus. So, you know, that she was like, she was a real business, she was pushed into a business woman without wanting to, but she did. And she saved the pool room.
And she said, you know, she was an incredible, I gave my mom a lot of credit. You know, my dad, my dad, yeah. And my mom was a very strong woman, but my dad, like, she loved him to death.
So whatever he wanted, he got.
You mentioned your father's name, John. Let's mention your mother's name.
Gloria.
Gloria.
And Loree came out of Gloria because she said that Gloria Jon had too many, there were too many syllables.
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