A couple of years ago I wrote a short piece on my San Francisco chip collection. Michael Par (a CC&CTCC member and an occasional poster to The Chip Board) was kind enough to publish my essay on his web site, www.chipguy.com . The folks at www.antiqueresourses.com liked the story and asked me if they could publish it on their web site. I was flattered and said, “Yeah, sure… why not?”

One of the chips featured in my essay was from San Francisco’s 924 Club. (The yellow chip is shown in the scan below.* I also have it in red, and suppose white and blue chips are out there somewhere.) Other than the San Francisco attribution, via The Gaming Table, I haven’t done much research on this particular club. (It’s on my to-do list right after “build garage” and “remodel master bathroom” which means I’ll get to it about 2017.)

OK, fast forward to the end of June this year. Out of the blue I receive an email from John Stauffer of Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Re your article, THE CHIPS OF SAN FRANCISCO, the 924 Club was a billiards club operated by Welker Cochran, former billiards champion. He died in 1959. Wow! Now that was interesting. I immediately emailed John to inquire, a.) where this info came from, and 2.) does he know any more about gambling and San Francisco.

John is a billiards / pool aficionado and has a collection of video tapes on the sport. He graciously loaned me one of his videos. The video contained a recording of what I believe was a very early, John says1954, television program titled, “The 924 Club with Welker Cochrane”. The title credits of this program clearly identify the 924 Club as operating in San Francisco, and owned by Welker Cochrane. Even more interesting was that this T.V. show was sponsored by Supreme Beer. Has anyone ever seen or heard of Supreme Beer advertising chip? (I’ll offer you the trade of a life-time for one!)

The video was of high quality, but the original films it recorded were not. Some of it was difficult to view and hear, but… WOW! I occasionally watch pool matches & trick shot competitions on ESPN or another sports channel. The modern player wouldn’t stand a ghost of a chance playing against the old timers. In addition to Welker Cochrane the video had segments featuring Willie Hoppe, Jimmy Karas, & Chas. Peterson. Unbelievable!

As a thank you to John I sent him some chips when I returned his video. I think I may have piqued his interest. If anyone has any information on gambling in San Francisco I would very much appreciate hearing it. If you have a chip from SF... I'll make you a buy or trade offer you can't refuse!

* The red "MC" chip has been tentatively attributed to a joint called the "Music Club" that supposedly was located in a union hall in SF in the early 70's. Another one that needs more research.