Leaving the Post Office area, we go through a big set of
doors leading off to the left. We go through these doors into another
large room. Off to the right, we see another room separated by a railing
from the room we are in. This is the Pool Hall and it is filled with pool
tables. We’ll come back to that room.
Straight ahead of us and just outside the Pool Hall, toward
the middle of the room, there was a counter and sort of an office area.
That is where Mr. Brownie Trent worked. I think that Mr. Trent was the
manager of the YMCA but I am not sure. He seemed to be pretty much in charge
of things in the Pool Hall area.
Just as we had come into the room, before the pool area,
there were several items. If I remember correctly, on the left side was
a real phone booth with a real door. I’m not sure but I think that there
might have been some pinball machines close to the phone booth.
At different times there were also two coin operated game machines that
I always played when I got to go to the Hall. I would love to know just
how many quarters I put into these machines. One was a little shooting
gallery with a Mauser pistol on it. After you put in your quarter, you
could shoot the pistol. The more times you hit the targets the more you
could shoot. Back in those days, I fancied myself quite a shot and played
the game many times.
The other game was similar but it was in two parts. The
target was a bear that went in a circle. The second part was the rifle
and it was located about 10 or 15 feet away from the target. You put in
your quarter, picked up the rifle and tried to shoot the bear as he went
around the circle. The bear had photo cells on it and the rifle shot out
a light beam. When he was hit the bear, reared up, roared and went back
the other way. It was serious fun and took many, many of my quarters.
Off to the left there was another big
room. I don’t know what it was originally for, but when I was young,
it served as a place to display the many trophies of Pacolet Mills sports
teams through the years. There was a huge glass trophy case just for the
town’s baseball mementoes. No trip to the movie to see Bob Steele
or Ken Maynard was complete without stopping by to look at the yellowed
baseballs, the silver trophies and. the photographs. In retrospect,
the photographs made the most impression. There was picture after picture
showing Pacolet’s team from the past. It was a pictorial record of
the evolution of baseball uniforms. But more than this, they showed
stern faced, proud men who had succeeded. Some faces I knew only from
legendary reputation of their skill as base players. However, three
of them, I knew personally. They were my uncles Monroe and Lee "Bo"
Teaster and Jesse “Toby” Campbell.
The Pacolet Mills Team of 1927
Leaving the trophy room, let’s walk
back over to the Pool Hall. We see that it is a very large room that holds
many large pool tables. Each table is covered with green felt and has a
light suspended over it. Along the walls there are several long racks that
hold pool cues. Several games of pool are being played and pool was a very
popular for many men. The Pool Room was off limits to children when I was
young and I don’t believe that I ever went passed the railing. I know that
I never played a game of pool.
