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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

West Tuckerton's 15 Minutes Of Billiards Fame

Andy Warhol once said, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." 
Andy Worhol

 I submit that the same applies to towns as well as people, and present the following Tuckerton Beacon articles as evidence for West Tuckerton's 15 minutes of fame. 

The world spotlight in Billiards briefly shined in late January, 1933 on a hitherto unknown small billiard parlor on Route 9 in West Tuckerton owned by Arthur Speck. Somehow, Speck enticed undefeated world billiard champ, Thomas A. Hueston to appear in West Tuckerton for an exhibit of trick and fancy billiard shots. Undoubtedly, anticipation of this unprecedented sporting event swept the little village of West Tuckerton, as local residents lined up to pay their 25 cent admission charge to view this historic event.


Thomas A. Hueston
World Billiards Champ


If you travel along present day Route 9 looking for Speck's West Tuckerton Billiard Parlor, you will find the small building directly across the street from Doyle's Pour House. "Oppie" Speck, Arthur's son, confirmed the location for me.


Speck's Billiard Parlor building today.
(Photo by Pete Stemmer)

In addition to a trick shot exhibition, Speck had arranged a match between local billiard champ, Charles Pullen, and World Champ Hueston. Pullen, to his credit, was able to rack up 24 points before Hueston scored the match winning 125th point.


I wonder if any of Charles Pullen's relatives recall his 15 minutes of fame or have any billiards memorabilia from the historic match. If so, it would be interesting to see.

Pete S
Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 13, 2014 at 5:46 AM

    Great story, Pete - Fast Eddie meets Minnesota Fats! I hope Charles Pullen's family sees this and gets back to you. Nancy Gale in Seattle

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 21, 2015 at 9:55 AM

    Hi Mr Stemmer. Charles Pullen was my great grandfather. His grandson (my uncle) never heard this story & was excited to see it. Unfortunately Charles' daughter, Adelaide Mitchell, passed away last year at the age of 99 so we aren't able to get any more info. Thanks for this!! --Kelli Reeves Nutt

    ReplyDelete
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