ALL ABOUT EARL

One of the great African-American pool players, on par with Cisero Murphy, James "Cornbread" Thomas, and Joseph "Strokey" Armstrong, Earl Herring was a rising star in the '70s.

Nowadays you can catch him playing regularly at Gallery Billiards.

Raised in the South, Herring grew up playing marbles, so he was competitive from an early age. He thinks that experience helped him recognize the angles when he began playing pool seriously. But an uncle of his was killed in a pool room, so Earl wasn’t allowed by his parents to go to pool rooms. It wasn’t until he moved north around 1960 and was living on his own in Newburgh that he was able to play regularly. He worked in the mechanical department at Dupont and practiced on a table in their clubhouse every night. Naturally he began playing in pool rooms as well. He says he spent half a year trying to learn to run balls before he started getting good, and it took two-and-a-half years before he could run a hundred. Soon he had beaten every player in Newburgh.

Then he began traveling to play more competitively, though it took a while before he was successful. “I tried to play their game. There was an older fellow who knew me from Newburgh who told me, ’Stop that and play your game.’ I didn’t realize I was doing that.” That got him back into the groove of long runs.

He started joining qualifying tournaments for the US Open and World Championships in New Jersey while working as an iron worker. He won a qualifier to the national in 1970 or '71, finishing tenth. He won several major tournaments, including the New England Open after winning eleven consecutive 150-ball games. He also won the Tournament of Champions playing Nine Ball.

It was after becoming the house pro at Empire Billiards in Newburgh that his first major accomplishment took place. Because of his position at Empire, he was picked to oppose the great Willie Mosconi in an exhibition.

Beating the 19-time World Straight Pool champion—by running the table after a Mosconi miss—made Herring a Newburgh legend.

Another exhibition win is also part of the Herring legend: in the '70s he beat Steve Mizerak at a Bronx pool hall, sparking a long rivalry that eventually resulted in gaining the respect of “The Miz” and the two becoming friends.

Herring finished as high as fourth in the Worlds, in 1976 in Asbury Park, and the next year finished sixth. After also competing in the Worlds in 1978 in New York City, having established himself as one of the most-feared players in the country, he left pool to become a minister, raise a family, and eventually start his own church in 2001. As he says, “I had a family, and I had a higher calling, and I had to answer that call.”

He returned to playing after his children were out of school. Now he plays as a hobby. He enjoys the environment at Gallery Billiards, which he considers his “home room.” At age 78, he finds the mental and physical exercise enjoyable. He has also found some success in tournaments. In 2013 he beat two-time World 14.1 Champion Thorsten Hohmann, 100 to 58, at the Olhausen World Tournament.

In 2018 he beat the #1 American player, Shane van Boening, and became the oldest player to be undefeated in the round-robin portion of the championship.

Respected by his fellow players, he was chosen to be one of the speakers at the first Straight Pool Hall of Fame induction ceremony, celebrating the induction of his peer Ray Martin, and later was the induction speaker for Pete Margo and Jim Rempe.

Earl has mentored younger players, teaching lessons at Gallery, and as of 2022 is still able to run 100 balls.

Writing by Steve Holtje