Ronnie Allen (pool player)

When Ronnie was 11 years old, his father was killed in a motor vehicle accident, leaving his mother to raise his brother, sister, and himself. She bought a restaurant in Oklahoma City on the corner of 40th and May Avenue. Living the carnival lifestyle for much of his youth, Ronnie had never been in one place for more than a week, and now he had a permanent home and stayed in the same school all year, developing steady friendships.

For several decades from the early 60s to the late 80s, Allen was considered one of the best One Pocket players in the world. He was inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame in 2004 for his contributions to the pocket billiard game of one pocket.

Brascha attempted to salvage the script and not leave himself liable with Ronnie Allen and Ed Kelly. He eliminated certain scenes and substituted others, and the original script, which was supposed to be tailored after Allen and Kelly, then became the film The Baltimore Bullet (1980).

At a well-known annual pool event held in Johnston City, Illinois, it was in 1972 that Ronnie Allen grabbed the microphone before a standing-room-only crowd and offered to play any living human being a game of one pocket, spotting them a handicap of 10 to 8. And nobody raised their hand. This was known as Ronnie's standard offer to anyone who wanted to gamble with him.

In a 1972 news broadcast showcasing the Johnston City annual pool tournaments promoted by the Jansco Brothers, the anchor man said this about Ronnie Allen: When "Fast Eddie" Ronnie Allen steps into the red-carpeted pit for a game of 9-ball, the Texas carnival owner will give you a $200 bet faster than Fast Eddie can chalk his cue, and the hustler will shoot as long as the action lasts. More money changes hands in the stands in one hour than a cashier at the Bank of Johnston City sees in a week.

In 1972, Allen owned a pool room in North Hollywood, California. One of the frequent patrons was John Brascha aka "John the Dancer," who was a well-known professional dancer in the movies. Brascha agreed to finance a road trip for Ronnie Allen and Ed Kelly, with one stipulation. They must keep him abreast of what happened by reporting to him every couple days. When the trip ended, the three of them cut up $20,000.

The first pool tournament he ever entered in 1961 was held at Cochran's, a popular pool room that stayed open all night long in San Francisco, California, and he won it. In an interview on onepocket.org, Allen was asked to describe himself, to which he replied, "I've led two kinds of life. I've raised three children, led a Christian life. But when I was on the road, I was a predator and a hustler."

Ronnie Monroe "Fast Eddie" Allen (July 12, 1938 – February 6, 2013) was an American professional pool player. He was labeled as a pool "super star" in the prime of his pool-shooting career by his peers during pool's golden era.