![]() “You can’t do that because every table’s different.” “This guy worked it out by trial and error,” he says in disgust. “I’m the kind of guy that turned one vote into two,” he jokes.Įrnie opens the Gilbert book and flips quickly through it. ![]() He says he has long been in city politics and for many years was an adviser to political heavyweights and a top organizer in the 43rd Ward. Marvin lives alone on the near north side and is vague about the kind of work he’s done in the past–he was an OSHA investigator, that sort of thing. He says proudly that he once beat two billiard champs in tournament games: Harry Sims and Bob Ameen. Marvin Goodman, who is 84, has a face that crinkles easily into deep laughter lines. “You’d better hurry up,” Marvin chuckles. Ernie then introduces me as someone who wants to meet some billiard players. Yeah, but he’s never seen a copy bound the way this one is. Marvin insists that Ernie must at least know who Gilbert is. He pushes it at Ernie, who says he’s never seen the book before. He says he’s heard that Ernie is the only guy in the room who could understand Gilbert’s book. Marvin comes over and stands in front of Ernie, waving a spiral-bound book–Gilbert’s book, he calls it. He still plays every day, including Sundays, at the Chicago Billiard Cafe on Irving Park at Austin. He started playing billiards when he was 16 and at one time was probably one of the ten best billiard players in the country. You know, to impress people.” Like who? “Oh, the bartender,” he says, smiling.Įrnie was an engineer with the Cook County highway department for 40 years until he retired. “Sometimes I buy the $2.85 kind–after I have a good meal at a restaurant. ![]() Smoke another half and throw it away.” Cigarettes, he says, are too expensive, though he occasionally buys an expensive cigar. “Every day I smoke a grand total of one,” he says. He often has part of an unlit cigar somewhere close by. He wears wing-tip shoes, a brown shirt that is buttoned tight at the collar, and baggy slacks that are cinched in by his belt. “Sometimes Tony gets mad and starts yelling at Marvin.”Įrnie Presto is 81 years old. The next time he comes in he tries to look it up, but he forgets what sheet he wrote it on.” A smile lifts one of Ernie’s cheeks. Marvin writes the answer down in a little book he carries. “Marvin comes in every day and he always asks Tony the same question. “And neither do they.” His hand swats the air. I turn to Ernie Presto, who is sitting next to me in the row of chairs that runs down the center of the pool hall, and ask him if he knows what they were trying to figure out. He picks up his cue, retrieves the one red and two white balls from the table, and sets them in their cardboard box. Marvin, whose head is tilted toward Tony and slightly back, nods. Tony points again across the table, then back at the rail in front of Marvin. Every pocket of light is dull with cigar and cigarette smoke. It’s late Saturday night, and the other two billiard tables are dark, as are many of the room’s 13 pool tables. The hall is dim, most of its light coming from fluorescent lamps that hang only a few feet above each table and are turned on only when a game is being played. ![]() Their voices are lost in the large room and in the click of balls on the other tables. Marvin points across the table with his cue, drops the point on the felt, and then pivots the stick around its tip, checking the angles. Using both his hands, Tony gestures toward the side rail, then toward the opposite end of the table. Tony and Marvin have finished playing billiards for the night and are standing close together at the far end of the table. Best of Chicago 2022: Music & Nightlife.Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & Recreation. ![]() The CEB is responsible for the carom billiards sports in Europe in general, and its affiliated national associations. The dispute had been settled the following year. They and the Union Internationale des Amateurs d'Fédérations de Billiard (UIFAB) competed in 1957 to host the CEB European Three-cushion Championship, and thus two championships were held this year. Its predecessor was the Fédération Internationale de Billard (FIB). The CEB was founding on 12 July 1958 in Geneva. The Confédération Européene de Billard (CEB) is the European governing body of carom billiards and is affiliated to the world federation UMB. ![]()
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