Pool Expert Okinawa Slim Chalks Up Pocketful of Benefits to His Hobby

It stands to reason that anyone named Okinawa Slim is different. Like Minnesota Fats, sort of.

Slim, as he prefers to be called, one of the better pool players and trick shot artists in Orange County, is a staff sergeant who works as an accountant at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. He also describes himself as a devout family man, Christian and drug hater, and he is an articulate spokesman for pool.

The name clearly fits him.

“I’ve always been slim,” Slim said. “And the name has a ring to it. I like it.”

He admits the name also gives the wrong impression.

“People think I’m Japanese until they see me,” said the 31-year-old Florida-born career Marine who is married and the father of two sons. “I got my name from a reporter after I won the Okinawa International Open in 1980.”

He was stationed in Okinawa for two years.

Slim, who wears a tie and glove when shooting pool to “bring respectability and a positive impression to the game,” is reluctant to reveal his real name (Nathaniel Bryant), but he will talk forever about pool and the benefits it has offered him and can offer others.

“Pool has come a long way from its earlier dreary reputation, and one of these days it will be recognized as a sport along with games like golf and tennis,” Slim said. “Pool is easy for players to pick up and play, as opposed to other sports.”

He also says many pool halls have changed.

“They’re not dark and smoke-filled or drug hangouts like some of them used to be,” he said. “Some pool halls cater to teen-agers and don’t serve alcohol. Today’s pool players can choose the environment they want, and they can even take the whole family.”

That was how Slim started.

“My father owned a billiard parlor and taught me to play when I was 6 years old,” said the team member of the Orange County Hustlers, which competes throughout the western states. “I remember I had to stand on two soda crates to reach the table.”

Throughout his early years, Slim said he made some good money hustling games, but no longer wants or has to hustle.

“I don’t have anything to prove anymore,” said the Irvine resident, who also teaches pool to players ages 9 through 90 at billiard parlors in Huntington Beach and Stanton.

Adds Slim: “I put a lot into pool, and I get a lot from it. I don’t want to die without sharing the knowledge it gave me.”

These days, Slim plays only exhibition games and demonstrates trick shots, and he usually doesn’t charge for his appearances.

“I proved to myself I could be a successful pool player,” he said. “I consider myself a performer, not a player. I put on shows.”

Slim credits the Marines for his success in life and with a pool cue.

“If it wasn’t for the Marines, I wouldn’t have the name; and if it wasn’t for the Marines, I might be out there doing something totally different,” said the 12-year veteran who joined at age 18. “I’m making the Marines my career.”

And his future with pool?

“That’s my hobby,” Slim said. “The Marine Corps is my life.”

Sheldon Marshall, 52, chants Hebraic liturgy at night as cantor of Temple Judea of Laguna Hills Leisure World. So his invitation to sing the national anthem Sept. 6 at Anaheim Stadium is quite a change.

“I may be the only cantor ever to sing the anthem at a ballgame,” said the Corona del Mar resident, who works as an optometrist in Santa Ana during the day. He also performs professionally as a singer.

The temple’s brotherhood bought a block of seats for the game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the California Angels and decided to send a letter to the Angels suggesting that Marshall sing the anthem.

“I’ll tell you the truth,” Marshall said, “I’m more of a boxing fan. But since they want me to sing, I’m going to take more of an interest in baseball.”

And during the seventh-inning stretch, Marshall will lead everyone with his rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Acknowledgments--French Open tennis champion Michael Chang of Placentia will provide an autographed pair of tennis shoes as a special prize during a benefit tennis tournament Sept. 2-4 at the Sunny Hills Racquet Club in Fullerton. Proceeds from the tournament will help support the fine arts program at Fullerton’s Muckenthaler Cultural Center.