Reader John Kirchel writes in about a story he heard from old-timer Hal Houle, who is the subject of of one of my Untold Stories columns in Billiards Digest. Houle used to run around with Greenleaf, when Greenleaf was nearing the end of his tragic career.
Houle didn't tell me this story, exactly, although he told me similar ones. In the story Houle relates Kirchel, Greenleaf was probably drunk. He may also have been into opium.
I'll let Kirchel relate the rest:
"He (Greenleaf) walked into a hall and started making proposition bets. As the negotiating got to be ridiculous, he bet someone that he could throw 2 balls and a silver dollar out on the table randomly. The bet was after running the two balls he would stop the cue ball so that it was touching the silver dollar. Back in that time people did not carry large sums of money so the bet was agreed at $100 (which in today's value would be easily a thousand).
"Needless to say (Greenleaf) had no issues sinking the first ball and when it came to the second it looked as though he was on the wrong side to get to the coin. The assumed winner started grinning from ear to ear but it quickly faded as the second ball fell and the cue ball traveled 3 rails and crawled up to the coin and pushing it ever so slightly as it came to a stop. The hall erupted with cheers and Ralph took it in stride."
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