TLDR: Guy who's now old AF, had a shitty childhood, ended up spending a few years in local BR pool hall, tells stories nobody will really give a shite about.

Been lurking here since all the way back to the OG days of TD. Only posted a few times under an old acct in the days leading up to the 2003 NC. Game had personal meaning to me on so many levels. Paid $1k a seat which was way more than I could afford for me and my uncle to go see the Tigers beat OU in the Dome. One of the best memories of my life.

Anyway, seeing the Buddy Hall thread yesterday had me thinking about the few years I spent practically living at Greenway Billiards and all the memories and crazy things I saw during that time.

1982 I had just moved back to Baton Rouge from living alone for seven years with an alcoholic, abusive father in Norman, OK. He had recently remarried to this God-awful bimbo and i figured my time of taking care of him was through.

Growing up in the 70s my mom was a hippie in a local BR band and quite a bimbo in her own right
but by 82 she had found AA and had been sober for a couple years. Her life seemed to have settled down with a great husband and my youngersiblings seemed to be doing well.

About two months after I had moved back and my father disowned me for breaking my word to him, she woke me up around 3AM one morning and said I need to tell you something. I am not in love with (stepfather), I don't believe never loved him, and I am actually in love with Calvin (her psychotic ex-BR cop AA sponsor) and that we were leaving right then and she needed my help with bro and sis.

Things turned to instant and absolute chaos in our lives with these two psychopaths embroiled in a crazy and nightmarish relationship. We moved so many times over the next two years nobody here would believe me if I started listing all the addresses around BR we lived in briefly. It is literally dozens.

Anyway, I know this is way TLDR. Trying to provide some background and context to what lead me to Greenway Billiards.

When I was almost 15 I had been beaten up by the a-hole cop one too many times and heard my mom moaning like a whore through the walls and ceilings to the point I had to leave. I got a job at a local gun store (that place deserves its own thread) and I moved in with a good friend I had met at school who had been emancipated by his parents.

My buddy loved to play pool and so we would spend days at a time in Greenway shooting pool and playing video poker on the old machines where they paid out in cash behind the bar.

Got to know Jesse Romig really well who was the owner and quite a character. Jesse was about 6'3, coonass as it comes, from Grosse Tete and was a commercial hoop netter by day in the Atchafalaya River but would spend his evenings, nights, and many times well into the mornings at Greenway.

Jesse always carried at least $20,000 - $30,000 cash on him and was always looking for action of any kind. He carried one wad of all $100s about the size of a softball in one pocket and another with $20s, $50s, and more hundreds in his other pocket. He also carried a .22 Derringer in his pocket. He was not bashful about flashing the cash and the gun on the reg.

He was also kind enough lol to teach me how to play Tonk and Cadillac which there was always a game of going on at one of the back tables. We also played bouray and poker at times. If you ever got up a few hundred on Jesse man would he go to crying and bitchimg and talking shite.

One night during a game of 10/20 Cadillac, Jesse beat me out of a few hundred bucks and by the time I quit I was into him for close to a thousand. I came up with the brilliant idea to paint the storefront green as a means to mke the old ratty place stand out from the road and he accepted. So I am the one who painted Greenway green and painted all those pool balls on the front entrance. From that point forward i was known by everyone there as Painter. Lol I fricking hate painting but you gotta do what you gotta do right?

During that time I got to see some of the best pool players of the day including Buddy Hall whowould come a couple times a year and stay a few days. He was unreal how smooth he played and would play one pocket, straight pool, snooker, and of course 9-ball.

Buster Merchant was a semi road player that used to frequent the place. I saw him win some incredible bar bets including racing Jesse in his corvette in the parking lot while he was on foot! I forgot the distance but he snapped Jesse off for a thousand on that one.

Also saw him place a cue ball in the front doorway of the hall and take another cue ball placed at the very back of the hall where the hall lead to the bathrooms and jump the cue ball all the way across the length of the bar and smash the one placed at the front doorway. To be fair he missed the first time, bet again, and smoked it the second time. Most incredible shot I ever saw. I can't remember the dimensions of the place but I would guess that building had to be 150' deep or so with the shot being probably well over 100' in the air from where it was made.

Hop Singh was a local roadie who was a runout player who I went to Laplace with one tme as his stake horse for one pocket tournament which he won. He used to give me break, ball in hand, and the last five and would still oftentimes win. If I missed it was over; he'd run out 9/10 times with the other time being a safety play leaving me hooked every time lol.

I got jumped in there one night by about 6 Phillipinos playing roller ball or money ball, can't remember the name of it. You had this wooden board with holes in it that was placed like a ramp at one end of the table. I can't remember how exactly but I remember one of them trying to pull a fast one on me and when I called him out on it they all got in my face when I shoved the front guy they all just started punching and kicking me and wore me ot pretty good. The wost part of it was my buddy I was there with just stood there with his cue stick in hand and was too much of a pussy to do anything. Bartender screamed she had called the cops and they dispersed leaving me with some bumps and bruises.

Jesse became a pretty good friend to me an actually took me hunting out on some of their property in Grosse Tete. Didn't kill anything but when we got back his wife and kinfolk put up a spread of some of the best cajun food I ever ate. Sauce piquante, gumbo, fried fish, hushpuppies, man it was awesome.

I pretty much spent most of every waking hour when I wasn't at school or work there until my senior year of high school when I met a girl and went to college but that's another story.

I really miss those days when I think about it. The songs on the jukebox, always (most of the time) having a pocket full of money and ot gaf about anything.

Please share any memories of the place if you got em.

Oh, and no pics of wife, mom, sister, or daughters you sick fricks lol!