Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 22, 1994 TAG: 9405220032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They call him "The Tennessee Tarzan" because he looks like Johnny Weismuller.
But the fact is, Mike Massey really did have to make his way through a jungle to rule in professional billiards.
"It has been a real fight to get here," said Massey, in town for the inaugural Roanoke One-Pocket Tournament that wraps up today at Guys & Dolls Billiards.
The jungle Massey had to fight through made Tarzan's travails look as simple as a straight-in shot on the eight ball.
"Somehow I made it," Massey said, shaking his head. "Looking back, it's a wonder. Somebody must have been looking out for me."
Massey's youth was an accident waiting to happen.
"I was chugging beer at age 6. I was smoking cigarettes at 7. When I was 8, I played all night and busted up my first poker game," Massey said. "My father was an alcoholic. I quit school in the eighth grade to go hustle pool. Heck, I thought I was going to drink and gamble the rest of my life.
"I hit the road at 15 to hustle. Went all across the country. I had a gun pulled on me three different times."
The accelerator on his life still pushed to the floor, Massey crashed at 23 on a hustle in Denver.
"Somebody put a bunch of LSD in my drink one night," he said. "It really messed me up. I was walking the streets, and all I could see was clothes walking around, and the people in them looked like monsters. I ended up in jail first, then the hospital.
"I was in really bad shape for a long time. It took me a year to find out what happened."
His life in shambles, Massey turned to religion for guidance.
"I became a Christian and quit gambling," he said. "It turned my life around entirely. As it turned out, the overdose of LSD somebody put in my drink turned out to be a great blessing in my life."
Today, the strapping 6-foot-5, 260-pounder has become world renowned for his talent pushing a cue stick. Massey, 47, is one of the globe's best pool players.
He ran a world-record 330 racks playing nine-ball in a 24-hour period in Austria. He pocketed 11,230 balls in 24 hours at a charity event in Sacramento, Calif. He made 8,090 balls shooting with one hand in another 24-hour benefit.
Massey generally is considered the world's foremost trick-shot artist.
"The guy is simply a magician with the cue ball," said Julian Robertson, Guys & Dolls' manager and a longtime friend of Massey. "He does stuff with the ball that defies logic."
Massey isn't wasting his talent anymore.
"Yeah, it's nice to be considered the best," he said. "It makes me feel good that the top players think I've got the best stroke. God gives us gifts, and he gave me the gift to shoot pool."
Massey and his second wife, Francine, travel around the world to tournaments and exhibitions 11 months a year. The itinerary in 1994 includes trips to Europe, China, South Africa, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
"There's a lot more money in the entertainment part [trick-shot exhibitions] than playing in the tournaments," Massey said.
His hustling days history, Massey said it doesn't bother him if somebody else wants to gamble. He doesn't go around preaching the gospel.
"I'm not morally against gambling," he said. "If somebody wants to gamble, that's not my business. A person has got to know what they can and cannot do. I just know I can't do it anymore."
Massey estimated he probably won and lost more money gambling by age 20 than most people make in a lifetime.
"I had some good hustle jobs," he said. "I was a con man, no doubt about it.
"I went into Detroit one time and stayed a couple of months. Before people found out that I was a good player, I had 'em all thinking I was crazy. I went into the pool hall there and acted like I couldn't play. I had a guy give me lessons and stuff. And I had all the people there believing I had a lot of money.
"Pretty soon, I had guys giving me spots when, truth be known, I played as good as anyone even. That was working out real well until a guy came into town one day and told everybody who I was. Then I had one guy who wanted to shoot me."
Just another trap in the jungle. But Massey escaped.
"You know, considering everything, I'm lucky to be alive today," Massey said. "I count my blessings every day now. I've got a great wife, making a good living and traveling all over the world.
"I guess you can accurately say that I've defied the odds to get to the top of the mountain."
And he doesn't even have to beat his chest.
by CNB