Awe Man, I just seen him a few weeks ago for the first time in ages. He use to sell me beef jerky up at Cabs, to help out an old friend of his. For some reason, whenever he told me stories, he reminded me of someone famous, but I could never put my finger on who. Sorry to see him leave us.

Our prayers are with his family too.

Doc Rutter sent me this article he had written about Bruce and I want to share it with you. If anyone has a photo of Bruce please send it to me. I would like to post it on the home page along with this article.



Curmudgeon Chronicles
Who the Hell is Bruce Doerr?
He’s nobody you know. His whole life has been spent as a Poster Boy for a Billiard Aficionado. He plays, better than average, he attends, he reads, he argues, he collects, he scrap books, and he could be you. He’s not. Bruce is a long time resident of St. Paul, Minnesota. He has played in several local leagues and small time tournaments most of his life and it is hard to imagine the billiard world without Bruce. As is normal, he has had some successes and some failures. As we all know a 16-man tournament has one-winner 15 losers, the odds are against us all.

The year before Johnson City was busted.
Bruce was there.

One year at Johnson City, about 1972, Jimmy Reed busted everybody, for the cash, to the tune of about 10 grand, in a ten-ball ring game. They started at $50.00 per rack and ended up at about $200.00 per rack. Richie Florence made some early money in the game and pulled up. The other ring players said, ”Nobody quits winners after this”; only losers are allowed to quit. It came down to the last two players. Billy Incardona battled with Jimmy for 28 to 30 hours. The game was close between these two young Lions, (At the time). Billy came in second. Jimmy took all the cash.
Bruce was there.

The first 2 or 3 Early McDermott Pro Tournaments at Milwaukee, along with, Louie Lemke.
Bruce was there.




Traveling through Chicago and around the circuit with Louie. As a backer & side better.
Bruce was there.

The Sands Reno Casino had several 9-ball tournaments, two a year, one in the summer, after the VNEA event, and the 2nd in the winter, 1st week in December.
Bruce was there.

The year the IRS closed down the Jansco event at Johnson City. Was Bruce there? You ****ed spiffy, he left 2 hours ahead of the IRS.

How did he know?

Grady Mathew’s famous one-pocket tournaments held at the Reno Hilton.
Bruce was there.

The year Eddie Kelly was at the top of his game and cleaned out most of the back room boys at Johnson City.
Bruce was there.

The Grand Casino in Mille Lacs, Minnesota hosted a coin-op table event in 1998. This was “South Side” Louie Lemke’s last tournament as Louie died of cancer, I believe in January of 1999. Bruce lost a good billiard friend.
What is he up to lately? Bruce still plays in the Master Division of the local M-8 pool leagues. His health is not the best, but he is still able to give me a ration of “Who Shot John” and reminisce about how it used to be. We started competing against each other in 1974; 32 years later we are still friendly adversaries. Last time I played Bruce he came out firing, & had me down a couple of games. I mentioned, to him that, “He still looked pretty good for his age”. While he was busy admiring himself in the bar mirror, I ran 2/3 racks and caught up enough to squeak out a slim win.

Bruce, ever since has been threatening me with what is going to happen, next time we play. We usually go through the, “Do you remember, this guy, place, or event”, routine, whenever we meet. He doesn’t go to as many events as when he was younger, but still has the good fan attitude. Do you need some Bruce attitude?
· What happened to the poolrooms I loved?
· Why do poolrooms, today, have windows?
· Where did all these women players come from?
· Older guys used to play all afternoon, One pocket, & Golf, & the night crowd would play 9-ball, Straight pool, Snooker, and Rotation (3 & 11).
· What’s up with 8-ball? It used to be a kids game.
· Why are the 8-ball rules different everywhere you go?
· Poolrooms were larger, 50 tables & up.
· Attendants used to clean tables between players.
· Cues were sanded, waxed, & tipped regularly.
· Fresh chalk came with the balls.
· There used to be wall-to-wall action. Now the old guys are home watching TV & the younger ones are playing hold-em, for faster action that requires very little skill, as you don’t need a good stroke to draw cards.
· Could it be I am turning into a dinosaur?
· Why are all the poolroom guys playing Hold-em?
· What happened to the nicknames that seemed like part of the poolroom air we breathe? Here are a few from Bruce’s memory. I added a couple.

Boots, Blacky, Ricky, Pinky, Rush, Iron Duke, Captain Ken, Pig Farmer, Pu, Pee Wee, Hot Dog, Tweety Bird, Ted The Painter, Art The Milkman, Billy Z, Hawk Eye, The Bomber, Speedy, Cappy, Reggy Van, Hoot, South Side Louie, Mineow, Worm, Moony, Jungle Jim, Peanuts, Sully, Zam, & Sweet Pea, to name a few, all from the Twin Cities of Minnesota.





Somewhere, wherever the action is there will always be a “Bruce” the Billiard Aficionado, student, fan, teacher, sweator, side better, & some times backer. He will have a question, or an answer, or maybe a proposition. You can bet, for sure, he is interested in the event on hand and will explain it to you vigorously when asked. He can usually brings a smile to my face, and a billiard situation to ponder, hmmmmm. The billiard spirit is alive and well in Bruce and those of you, out there, just like him. Rock on Bruce.



See yah in the cheap seats,

Doc Rutter
Coon Rapids, Minnesota
docshot08@msn.com

P.S. I have been advised that Bruce Doerr died February 12, 2009, he was 62. God Bless you old friend, I among others, will miss you.

Doc wrote a wonderful eulogy for Bruce! (even if he didnt know it at the time) Bruce was a good friend of Louies and was there watching in many of Louies big tournaments. Every time I saw him he would have a story to tell me about thier travels. I will miss reminiscences with "Big Bruce"

This is heartbreaking news.
Bruce was joy to sit and BS with well watching others play the game with the grace most of us wished we had. I had the pleasure to play with Bruce on a few teams over the years and his story telling was always the highlight of the night.

Jomama