Article Topic: Fast Eddie Parker, Ava Missouri, Benton Township, Douglas County, Missouri, Billiards.
The Original Fast Eddie ParkerPhoto essay compiled by Ken W. Brown, Springfield, Missouri
Preface
by Ken W. Brown: Eddie Parker graduated from Ava (MO) High School in 1949. He was the
son of C.W. Parker, Ava Superintendent of Schools in the 1940s and
1950s. Eddie not only loved pool and was
its ambassador worldwide, but he loved Ava High School and his former
classmates. In 2005 or 2006, the
following press release was loaned by Eddie’s widow, Patty or “Peg” (Berry) Parker,
to his friend high school friend, Jack Singleton, who in turn asked me, Ken Brown, to transcribe it
and scan several photos about Eddie. Below is a my transcription of that press release plus some of the photos, and the entry for Eddie on Wikipedia.com.
PART 1: Press
Release: The Original Fast Eddie
Fast Eddie was born
in Springfield, Missouri, in 1931. He began playing pool at age nine. He
attended school at Ava, Missouri, and he was graduated from high school in
1949. While he was still a teenager, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where
he was tutored by the late, great Benny Allen, a six-time World Champion; and
it was during that time that Fast Eddie became a money player. In 1952, Fast
Eddie joined the Navy and moved to California. After a tour of duty in the
Navy, he continued playing pool throughout the country in the 1950's and 1960's.
He has taught pocket billiards to hundreds of students, and although Fast Eddie
was a money player, he won a number of tournaments, including the “California
14.1 Straight” pool tournament in the1950's.
It was when Fast
Eddie was playing pool down South, in Kentucky, in the early 1950's that he became
acquainted with a young man who had helped pay his way through college by working
in a pool hall. That young man, Walter Tevis, wrote a book in 1959 entitled "The
Hustler", of which a motion picture was made in 1961, starring Paul
Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott. Being a money
player, Fast Eddie would sometimes use assumed names. As well as Eddie Ezzell, Eddie
Santee, Terry McKee, he used the name Eddie Felsen, and it was the latter that
the author changed the spelling to Felson and used in his novel. Fast Eddie's
real name is Eddie Parker.
According to Fast Eddie, only about thirty percent of
the novel is based on fact. The remainder is fiction. For example, Fast Eddie
had told Tevis about Rudolph Wanderone, also known as "New York
Fats." Tevis changed the name to "Minnesota Fats" in his novel.
Fast Eddie also related a few of his own experiences while on the road, such as
the finger breaking incident and the big money match with the wealthy
Kentuckian, which was played in the Kentuckian's home. Tevis changed the events
slightly. Instead of Fast Eddie getting his two thumbs broken, as depicted in
the movie, in reality his right forefinger was broken during the incident.
The big money match
with the wealthy Kentuckian was described accurately, except the match was played
close to Lexington, Kentucky, instead of in Louisville, Kentucky as suggested
in the movie. And Fast Eddie and his
stakehorse (financial backer) won $30,000, instead of $12,000 as depicted in the
novel and in the movie. The error was that Fast Eddie's percentage of the
$30,000 was $12,000, the stakehorse received the remaining $18,000.
The famous pool hall "Bensinger's"
was changed to "Bennington's" in the novel, and to "Ames"
in the motion picture. Fast Eddie
attended Missouri University and the University of Tennessee for one year each.
He had many newspaper and magazine articles
written about him; he made television commercials; he was on television talk
shows; and he had his own television show, "Shooting Stars With Fast
Eddie" and "The Fast Eddie Show."
In 1980 he set a yet
unbroken record by pocketing twenty-two balls in one legal stroke (the old record
of twenty-one balls was, reportedly, set by Paul Gerni). In 1982 Fast Eddie
toured Europe for the Department of Defense. During that tour, he performed in
West Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.
In 1987 he formed a
partnership with a large Japanese company for the purpose of creating an
instructional video tape; he spent nine days in Japan performing exhibitions and
creating the instructional video tape. He was the author of a pocket billiards
workbook entitled "What You've
Always Wanted To Know About Pocket Billiards, But Were Afraid To
Ask." The workbook has been used by
colleges and universities as an instructional tool. The workbook and an earlier
video tape by him was in the possession of actor, Paul Newman, before filming
"The Color of Money." Fast Eddie received a letter of thanks from the
actor and from the casting director, Gretchen Rennell, before filming began.
Because his real
identity was kept secret by himself and by the author, Walter Tevis, in 1987, a
newspaper reporter asked Fast Eddie if he would consent to take a polygraph
test to prove or to disprove his claim to have inspired Walter Tevis to write
"The Hustler." In September of
that year, a lie detector test was administered to Fast Eddie. The results
proved that, indeed, Fast Eddie had told the truth and that his claims are
accurate and truthful.
Since coming out of
retirement in 1980, Fast Eddie performed more than two hundred shows per year,
and he even completed a novel himself. As reported by a newspaper reporter, Fast
Eddie is, indeed, "One of the last of a vanishing breed".
PART 2: From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Parker
"Fast Eddie" Parker (born c. 1932 [s/b 1931], Springfield, Missouri – died February 2,
2001, Brownsville, Texas) was an American pool player,
claimed by many to have been the inspiration for the character "Fast
Eddie" Felson in the 1959 Walter Tevis novel The Hustler.[1][2][3] In
both the 1961 film adaptation and the 1986 sequel, Felson was played by Paul Newman.
Parker
started playing pool at the age of nine when his father, a school
superintendent, bought a used pool table.[1] In
high school, he acquired the nickname "Fast Eddie" for his speed in
football and basketball.[1]
In Kansas City, he met six-time world champion
Bennie Allen, who became the teenager's mentor.[1][2] Parker
later said, "I never had any idea I was going to turn professional and
shoot for money until I started studying with Benny Allen."[2] He
made a living from the game, but did not get rich. According to him, his
biggest win was $30,000 playing three-cushion billiards sometime in
the 1950s,[2] but
his backer got $18,000 of that.[3]
During
his travels, in Louisville he befriended Walter Tevis,
then a young man working his way through college.[3] Parker
stated, "When the [1961] movie came out, I didn't want to be associated
with it. The movie would've blown my cover by the time I got to the next town."[1]
He
died of a heart attack while attending the US Classic Billiards Eight-Ball
Showdown tournament near Brownsville, Texas. He was survived by Peg, his wife
of 50 years, and two children.
1.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Adam
Bernstein (February 5, 2001). "'Fast'
Eddie Parker Dies at 69". The Washington Post.
2.
^ Jump up to:a b c d "'Fast
Eddie' Parker dies at 69". Associated Press.
November 19, 2003.
3.
^ Jump up to:a b c d "'Fast
Eddie' Parker". The Guardian.
February 8, 2001.
