Mike Vuolo got the FEB’s on ebay for us last week. I just got mine from him Friday at the Super Show in Las Vegas. Thanks to “Friend Of The Hobby No 2” I got the ID on them before the chips arrived. As soon as I saw the ID, I had a good feeling about it. Not sure why, just one of those hunches everyone gets on occasion.

Enter “Friend Of The Hobby No 2”

J.A. Rampanelli
111 E. Market Street
Akron Ohio.
12/19/32

There was no club name on the Mason Card, only a name, address and date. On second thought, I might be in dire jeopardy of having a bad hunch. My second thought was, they might be home game chips.

I sent the ID to “Friend Of The Hobby No 1. I also got the research back before I got the chips. As you will read I was not disappointed, my hunch was correct.

Enough of that:

Ohio:

Enter “Friend Of The Hobby No 1”

J.A. Rampanelli
Far East Billiards
111 E. Market Street
Akron Ohio.
12/19/32

John Anthony “Jack” Rampanelli around 1909 started operating cigar stores and billiard halls in his native Akron and did so until his death in 1947 at age 68.

He opened Far East Billiards around 1928-29 and operated it until around 1936. It was located at 127 South Main. The chips were delivered in 1932 to 111 E. Market St. In 1932 Rampanelli was operating a second billiard hall called Portage Billiard Academy (there were over 140 billiard halls in Akron at the time, pop. over 250,000). In 1932 Portage was located at 115 E. Market St.,
but in 1928-29 when FEB opened, Portage was located at 111 E. Market St. A theory: Rampanelli ordered FEB chips when FEB was about to open in 1928-29, had them delivered to Portage Billiard Academy at 111 and when he re-ordered in 1932 they didn’t update his address to 115.

My note: (there were over 140 billiard halls in Akron at the time, pop. over 250,000). Although I never made it to Akron, back in the 1960’s Akron was talked about in Newport, KY billiard halls as the “place” to play if you were a serious pool shooter.

My note: We firmly believe there is a 2nd FEB Mason Card somewhere. There are roughly 13,000 record cards in binders. They are photo copies of the original cards. Only 1 FEB could be found. From experience I know some are out of order as I have about 30 hubs that no card could be found. Hopefully they will be digitalized soon and proper searches can be done.

In addition to billiards, FEB offered cigars and business men’s lunches. FEB was raided in March and August 1935 and October 1936. The structure which housed the address no longer exists.

FEB was located in the heart of downtown Akron.

Here’s a couple of pics which show the street scene where FEB was located.

Pic from around 1928-29; FEB located directly across the street from the round neon sign in the lower left that says “Kay”:

Pic from the 1930’s-40’s; point of view is looking north from almost directly in front of where FEB was located:

New York Times—25march1917; Rampanelli was operating the Great Northern Billiard Parlor at the time:

This champion was way before my time. Maybe Andy Hughes has heard of him. Interesting that Rampanelli was able to outbid New York for the game.

20sept1932; another law suit:

My note: Another sore loser suing the winner. Interesting he was a City Treasurer and his books were in oirder.

Cleveland Plain Dealer—7july1942; at the time Rampanelli was operating the Sportsman’s Cigar Store:

The top 10 bookies in Akron arrested for the 1st time in 1942. Rampanelli was one of them. Where were the cops as early as 1909? Where were they in 1932 when the City Treasurer sued Rampanelli for gambling losses?

I think we can safely assume Akron had the same pattern of police corruption as most other cluster of illegals had over the years. I also feel certain we will eventually find chips from some of the other 9 addresses listed in the above article.

I just had to show off my new trinket!

It was a gift from our “Friend Of The Hobby No 2,” mentioned above. Without him our “Friend Of The Hobby No1” would not have the beginnings of the information needed for research on many “Illegal Of the Day” posts.

I saw it on ebay but was way too cheap to bid on it.
I reckon I got the gift for aggravating him all the time.
Thank you friend.