"Relaxing as a Carefree Local Youth" - Time Out #134

A different time, a different pace.

Our Town in the 2 decades of 1950's/60's was certainly a simpler/gentler time to experience this magical place we call home.

I was given the leeway of riding my bicycle all over our small town, from sun up to sun down, and well beyond. My daily schedule was, of course, modified when our public schools were in session, Labor Day until Memorial Day, way back then. Hanging out with my peeps was certainly high on my relaxation list, but I have always been a creature involved in many various activities. City little league sports, visiting various pinball machine establishments, delivering my Tulsa Tribune afternoon newspaper route, and just being outdoors, all consumed a great deal of my non-school, waking hours as a youth. There was another major hobby, mostly nighttime, I thoroughly enjoyed, too.

Playing snooker.

What you ask???

For those of you that need an explanation, snooker is a table game, very similar to pool. However, purists will tell you, pool is a much easier game to play since the 6 pockets (holes) on the table are larger, as are the pool playing balls. Back in the day in Our Town, most all the hot spots were full of snooker tables, with only a few, token, pool tables. Therefore, back then, snooker was THE game!

My place of choice was the Campus Club, occupying the entire second floor above Swim's. This icon Our Town building was on the northeast corner of South Knoblock and West Elm, currently occupied on the ground level by the Garage restaurant. In that era, my dear friends, there was no Eskimo Joe's, south across the street. Instead, business establishments in those locations were Andy's Grocery and Williams' Dining Hall. Lunch at Williams' was $1 and dinner $1.25 for all-you-could-eat, served family style, on long tables, so you really got to know your dining neighbor as you ate that delicious food. I know that for an absolute fact because I ate there many times during my OSU undergraduate career, 1965-69.

But, I digressed---back to my snooker-playing days across the street!

For the purpose of full disclosure, I did play some snooker games, several blocks south, at Pop's. Pop's is no longer there, either, but was located just southeast of the front entrance to the campus fire station. However, snooker folks back then were extremely social animals that liked to know the fellows they were playing with, night in and night out. Therefore, my comfort level was at the Campus Club.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention The Cue, located halfway down on The Strip. However, this establishment came later in the 1960's, and my prime playing years preceded The Cue's construction.

Most all of the Campus Club crowd knew each other, especially those of us who were in Stillwater public school members. There were always college-age guys upstairs playing, too, on the many tables the place maintained. The way it usually worked was the challenger would always play for the game, so as long as you won, you played for free. To the best of my recollection, the charge-per-table was 25-cents per game. I vaguely remember a little "hustling" by good players with some extra money-wagering involved, but not too much of that among our younger set. The familiarity factor was big here, too, so that if you didn't know the other player's ability, you were reluctant to bet your hard-earned money on the game since you might easily lose it!

I remember spending literally hour-after-hour in the Campus Club, continually sharpening my snooker skills. I certainly wasn't a great player, but recall being better than average. Some of the best shooters actually owned their own cue sticks, but those guys were far above my pay grade snooker skills during those adolecent years.

Today, every time I am in that neighborhood, my thoughts recoil to those times long, long ago. My eyes gaze upstairs, and my mind's eye remembers the felt tables, the snooker balls, the wooden cues, the cue chalk, and the wooden triangular ball rack. However, my fondest memories of all, are the great times I had with my friends, in those gentler and simpler times in Our Town.