Learning life’s lessons in Pete’s Pool Room

Luck is against the man who depends on it. I learned this bit of wisdom as a kid hanging out in Pete’s Pool Room in Griffin.

Don’t be too quick to judge and think mine was a misspent youth. Pete’s, as we called the pool room, was a very unique place, and many teenage boys were quietly instructed how to handle life’s situations. Today we might say Pete Jones was a mentor to us, but in 1966 we were receiving “life’s lessons” and did not understand what we were getting.

Pete did not sell alcohol, didn’t allow gambling or cussing. In addition to the above quote about luck (which was positioned over the first pool table), he had these rules posted in many places. Pete also did not allow women, as he believed the pool room was a place that men could relax without distraction of the opposite sex. That was Pete’s rule, not those of us shooting pool. He would suspend all caught violating his rules.

In 2003 I served as chairman of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Just prior to adjourning each meeting, that group of Rome’s finest was subjected to my “Life’s Lessons” from Pete’s Pool Room. I learned that in life, if you don’t remember where OTIS RAYBON Illustration by Lee Field, RN-T LField@RN-T.com

you’re from, you couldn’t know where you’re headed.

Some of my life’s lessons were learned from the signs posted on the wall. Others I learned by experience.

The “luck is against the man that depends on it” was not just about depending on luck to help you make a shot and win a game of pool, but rather that we must be prepared for all the situations we would face.

Pete, at one time, explained that if I had not studied for an upcoming test and resorted to luck to get me through, I should be prepared for a bad grade. Too many times I learned he was right.

“No Cussing” meant just that and was explained on a separate sign that read: “Profanity is the effort of a feeble mind trying to express itself forcibly.” That message remains as vivid in my mind today as it did then. Its meaning was and still is … oh well, we all know what it means, but we don’t always follow its instruction.

“No Gambling.” Pete knew the trouble that kids losing or winning money could face. We thought he didn’t allow gambling because he would lose business when he suspended us. We were wrong. Pete understood the addictive nature of gambling and the problems it could cause, and he was not going to allow that habit to start in his pool room. What I failed to recognize then was an important lesson in integrity.

There were many other life’s lessons I learned in Pete’s.

The main lesson I learned is that kids today still need adults willing to offer quiet guidance to help them make better choices in life.

There are many organizations and individuals that help kids today and could use your help. Volunteer opportunities are available at the Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts, your church youth group, local schools and many more. Find a way to be a Pete in a kid’s life.

Pete Jones owned a pool room. He recognized that he could quietly use that place to help build young boys into young men.