You may have heard of “The Zone” as it applies to athletic competition – something like, he or she is playing as if they are in “The Zone.” That state of mind can be experienced in other endeavors like music, art, acting, etc. The state of mind might go back 2,500 years to Ancient China. But, where did the term come from? What were its origins? When did we first hear it described? It is difficult to say and, I guess, that when “The Zone” first came to be used by those in sports is as much a mystery as the state of mind it signifies. Perhaps, it can be traced to a 1961 film and a few statements made by a character named “Fast Eddie.”

Was ‘Fast Eddie’ a Pioneer in “Zone” Psychology?

“You don’t have to look. You just know.”

Fast Eddie Felson, THE HUSTLER

In the fall of 1961, a movie about an ambitious, cocky young pool shark from Oakland, California by the name of “Fast Eddie” Felson hit the theaters across the United States. That movie, THE HUSTLER, starring the legendary actor Paul Newman as “Fast Eddie” (pictured above) would go on to receive nine Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Motion Picture. Newman received a nomination for Best Actor and Piper Laurie, who played “Fast Eddie’s” girlfriend, Sarah, received a nomination for Best Actress. Jackie Gleason, as Minnesota Fats, and George C. Scott, as Bert Gordon, received nominations for Best Supporting Actor. THE HUSTLER did win two Academy Awards in the Black and White Film category, one for Best Art Direction and the other for Best Cinematography. There were other accolades, as some had credited the THE HUSTLER with reinvigorating the game of pool at the time. However, a greater, though perhaps unintended consequence of the movie, was a contribution it made to the fledgling science of sports psychology. First, some context.

In the beginning of the movie, “Fast Eddie” traveled around the country, hustling pool with his elderly partner, Charlie (played by Myron McCormick), to raise money to go to Ames, Iowa. There, he hoped to seek out the legendary pool shooter, Minnesota Fats (pictured above), who was reputedly “the best in the country,” and challenge him to a match of high stakes straight pool, “the expensive kind,” as Eddie called it. Eddie hoped to make $10,000 by beating him. It was a good chunk of change, an amount that was almost twice the median income of families in the United States at the time. (U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1961) All things considered, it would indeed be a challenge for Eddie, and Charlie, for that matter, since, “No one had beaten him [Fats] in 15 years!” (THE HUSTLER)

Walking into a pool hall known to be frequented by Fats, neither realized what they were getting themselves into from not only a pool standpoint, but also from a psychological one. As it would all play out, there would be more on the line than just the outcome of a pool match.

They waited for Fats to show up and he made his appearance, as expected, at “8 o’clock on the nose,” his usual time of arrival. Eddie proposed the challenge and Fats accepted. The match was on. Fats sent Preacher, the pool hall’s dependable and, by the look of him, harmless errand boy, out for a bottle of whiskey. Eddie asked Preacher to get him a bottle of bourbon, while he was at it. They initially agreed to play for the rather modest sum of $200 a game. As the night wore on, the ante would increase to $1,000 a game, raising the psychological stakes proportionately. (THE HUSTLER)

Look

If you had

One shot

Or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted

In one moment

Would you capture it

Or just let it slip?

Eminem

“Lose Yourself”

2002

Playing in front of Fats devotees and an assorted species of pool hall ‘rats’, Eddie got off to a slow start, as the moment seemed too big for him. Attribute it to what you will – nerves, self-consciousness, bad vibes from a home crowd who wanted Fats to humble the brash challenger, the new surroundings - having to play Fats in his ‘go to’ pool hall and on the pool table of his choosing, or any or all of the above. Take your pick. If it were just a case of nerves or “the butterflies,” as they are often referred to in sports, well, anyone would have had them, considering who Eddie was playing – the one and only Minnesota Fats, “the best in the country.” Whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, Eddie wasn’t playing well.

Nevertheless, Eddie soon got it going, so much so, that it seemed that his renowned opponent had no chance of catching him, let alone beating him. Soon, Eddie was up $11,400, playing a style of pool that Eddie liked to say was “fast and loose.” That amount would reach $18,000! Those in attendance were dumbstruck, having only witnessed such pool excellence from Fats himself. Of course, neither Eddie nor Fats would, or could, explain to them what they were seeing, leaving them to continue to watch in amazement. Later, Eddie would try to explain his performance, at that stage of the match, to Sarah, though it would be under much different circumstances. (THE HUSTLER)

Fats might have been a touch disconcerted, and, even impressed, though I don’t think anyone would have been able to tell, as Fats sat stoically, smoking several cigarettes as his young opponent ran the table several times. Fats could only wait for Eddie to miss and he, and those in attendance, had to be wondering if Eddie would ever miss. Charlie pleaded with Eddie to quit while he was ahead and to pocket his earnings, so they could get out of town without incident. “The pool game is over when Fats says it’s over,” Eddie growled at his partner. Eddie wanted to play on, and thoroughly defeat his opponent to prove that he, and not Fats, was “the best there is.” Fats didn’t say that “the pool game was over,” so they played on, as the night turned into day. (THE HUSTLER)

However, it is not how you start; it is how you finish, or so the saying goes. Eddie’s success had caused him to grow complacent, which led to him missing his shots again and again. Winning had become aburden to him and the thought must have entered his mind that it was easier to become a winner than it was to be one.

A well-dressed man had been sitting very purposefully watching the match. He had a great vantage point, as his chair was near the pool table and right next to the chair that Fats would sit in when he wasn’t shooting pool. The proximity of the two chairs was not a coincidence. It was meant to facilitate communication between them and allow any advice that the man could give to Fats to flow freely. The man had arrived late, maybe missing the first rack or two of the match. It was unlikely that Eddie noticed the man’s entrance, though Fats would have. It is even doubtful that Eddie was aware of the man’s presence at all, since he wouldn’t have been aware of much in the trance-like state he was in when he was going good, and he had been going good for a while. Eddie’s awareness would become more inclusive, however, as the night went on, and Eddie began to approach his threshold for bourbon intake. As the man continued sitting in that chair, his statue-like posture began to grate on Eddie. Finally, Eddie had had it. “Hey, Mister,” he blurted out. The man calmly replied, “The name is Gordon, Bert Gordon.” Eddie repeated his salutation, this time leaving out the “Hey” part. Eddie stated a grievance, and made a request. “You’ve been sittin’ in that spot for hours,” he complained. “Would you mind movin’?” Eddie said it bothered him. Gordon sarcastically moved his chair an inch or two, if that, and sat back down. (THE HUSTLER)

Who was this man, Bert Gordon? (pictured above) Remember at the outset of the match, when Fats dispatched Preacher, that supposedly harmless errand boy, to get some booze for himself and Eddie? Preacher might have gone for Eddie’s bourbon, but the purpose of his mission for Fats was two-fold. Getting whiskey for Fats was a ruse, at least to an extent, though Fats did want a bottle of whiskey. However, what Fats wanted more was for Preacher to find Gordon and get him to come to the pool hall.

Gordon was a professional gambler and adviser to Fats. Eddie could never have known of that relationship, or Preacher’s complex role in the pool hall’s scheme of things. Charlie couldn’t have either. Unfortunately, the partners’ obliviousness would contribute to their undoing.

Gordon had a keen eye for talent, and the lack of it. He was also a shrewd judge of character, and he quite perceptively sized up Eddie. The more he studied him the more he was convinced that Eddie was flawed, lacking in the requisite character traits to beat the best straight pool shooter around. Gordon concluded that Eddie was doomed to fail. “Stay with this kid,” Gordon told Fats. “He’s a loser.” Everyone in the pool hall heard him, Eddie included. Encouraged, Fats launched a furious comeback against his young and impulsive opponent. Eddie’s seemingly insurmountable lead dwindled, and as Fats continued on his run, Eddie took comfort in his bottle of bourbon. (THE HUSTLER)

Gordon made his living by being right and he was right about Eddie, at least during that match, which would turn into a 25-hour marathon. As a cloud of cigarette and cigar smoke hovered ominously above the pool table, Fats won the match and the $18,000 that Charlie was holding for Eddie and himself. It was more than just a good chunk of change – it was more than 3.3 times the median family income in the United States! (U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1961)

Eddie was left with just $200, the stake for the first few games of the match. He tried in vain to get Fats to play another game, but Fats walked away, victorious, his 15-year unbeaten streak still intact. His final appeal for naught, Eddie fell over, drunk. The bourbon, and Eddie’s character, had taken their toll. He had blown his chance, failing to seize the moment of what was, up to then, his biggest match ever.

What of that state of mind that Eddie was in during that ephemeral moment of greatness, when he so effortlessly made shot after shot, rack after rack? It was gone and, like the $18 grand, lost in a drunken haze. Getting up from that pool room floor, struggling to his feet, he likely knew where he was physically, but that seemingly timeless, indescribable, hard to possess pool shooting groove that he was in, had vanished. The only thing left for him was to try to figure out where it went. He probably wished that he could have put such a state of mind, and superb pool playing, the material manifestation of it, into that empty bourbon bottle, capped it tightly to prevent it from escaping, to imbibe during future matches, but he couldn’t do that. No one could, for it is not how such a state of mind works.

Yet, it was being labeled a “loser” that seemed to eat at Eddie even more than the loss to Minnesota Fats, though, that could certainly be debated since both were plainly connected. Regardless, in the aftermath, Eddie fixated on the loss and the label, wondering if he was, indeed, a “loser.”

Determined to make a go of it on his own, Eddie split with Charlie because he felt that Charlie shared neither his aspirations nor his vision. Eddie had to blame his loss on somebody, since he hadn’t the courage to place the blame on himself, where it clearly belonged, and Charlie was an available scapegoat.

Eddie left the hotel room he was sharing with Charlie in Ames, obligingly leaving him $100, half the money left over from the match. He rented a locker in the town bus terminal and tucked away the only belongings he had. Closing the door of that locker, Eddie might have hoped that he was also closing the door on his past. However, it wouldn’t be that easy.

He walked into the terminal’s luncheonette, where he met a woman named Sarah (pictured above), who was seated at a booth. They struck up a conversation and, eventually, developed a relationship. Eddie couldn’t have imagined it at the time, but it would be Sarah who would help him, directly or indirectly, to rid himself of the “loser” tag pinned on him by Gordon. Ironically, he would need Gordon to help him get another go at it with Minnesota Fats.

Afterwards, coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, Gordon ran into Eddie at a bar, where Eddie had just lost $20 in a card game. That meant that Eddie was down to his last $80, but that amount was probably less since he spent some of it on bourbon before he was approached by Gordon. To all intents and purposes, Eddie was almost broke.

Gordon took advantage of the opportunity to make Eddie an offer. Eddie took advantage of the opportunity to get Gordon to buy him another class of bourbon. As they drank together, Gordon proposed becoming Eddie’s manager. Eddie listened. He said that Eddie had “talent” but he was a “born loser,” lacking in character. Gordon explained that it was the latter that was the contributing factor that led him to bet against Eddie the other night, which resulted in him making a lot of money. It was that disclosure, considering how much money Eddie lost, and Gordon calling him a “born loser,” which attributed Eddie’s character flaws to his genetic makeup, that made Eddie listen more intently. However, there was hope. Gordon said that he could develop Eddie’s character and make him into a “winner,” all the while staking him to pool matches that Gordon hoped to make money on by betting on his protégé, which prompted Eddie to start asking questions. (THE HUSTLER)

It was a big time risk even for a big time gambler like Gordon and Eddie wanted to know why he was willing to take it. Gordon had an answer, telling Eddie, “…I like action and that’s one thing I think you’re good for, action.” Gordon was indeed playing a hunch he had about Eddie. However, it was one thing to have a hunch and yet another thing to bring it to fruition. Gordon was more than aware that the amount of money he could make hinged on whether or not he could bring about Eddie’s transformation, how well he could do it, and how fast. Considering Eddie’s complete and utter collapse against Fats, there were no guarantees. (THE HUSTLER) A project like that doesn’t come cheap and Gordon would set a high price for his services. He wanted 75% of the winnings of the matches he would arrange, which he felt would sufficiently cover his risk and the cost of the labor he would expend in Eddie’s character development and “winner” training. What would be required of Eddie as his part in all of this? He only had to play the type of phenomenal pool that he demonstrated at times against Fats. Oh, he also had to pass Gordon’s course in character development and make himself into a “winner.” For such labor intensive work and arduous mental grind, Eddie would get the remaining 25%. Eddie might not have had much of a formal education, but he could read the writing on the wall, and in between the lines too – Gordon was strong-arming him, playing him for a sucker. For a street smart kid from Oakland, that would be one of the worst things someone could do to him or so Eddie must have thought at the time. He knew all too well how to play someone for a sucker since he did it so many times hustling pool. Displaying his characteristic bravado, Eddie disdainfully turned him down, telling Gordon to “kiss off.” Gordon didn’t just sit there and take it. He had to get the last words in. He said, “The word is out on you, Eddie.” Then he issued this dire warning, “You walk into the wrong kind of place, they’ll eat you alive.” Unconcerned, Eddie walked out of the bar. (THE HUSTLER)

Yet, with or without the help of Gordon, there was no denying that redemption for Eddie, and the realization of his dreams, meant playing Fats again and defeating him. Eddie knew that all too well, but so did Gordon. Saying no to Gordon’s offer, Eddie had to raise the money for the stakes on his own. He told Gordon that he would “scuffle around,” by which he meant that he would go back to doing what he was good at – hustling pool. “Word” of his match against Fats spread quickly and he could not hope to hustle as he had done, not without consequences that would be more serious than just losing money, even a lot of money. People were on to him and Gordon knew why. (THE HUSTLER)

Eddie did what he said he would do, so he hit the local pool halls, attempting to ply his trade and find a sucker or two and hopefully more. Picking up a game at a rather small, hole-in-the-wall type of joint, Eddie humiliated a would be hustler, who got Eddie fired up by making the mistake of, not only challenging him, but taunting him as well.

It wasn’t a mistake but a well thought out plan and after the game, Eddie was confronted by three other men, who were there watching. One of them, serving as the spokesman for the group, called Eddie a “pool shark.” Trying to gauge what was going on as fast as he could, Eddie quickly turned his head from one shoulder to the other, alternately glancing at the man, who was calling him out, and the challenger he had just defeated. (THE HUSTLER)

Getting a grasp of the situation, Eddie first tried rationalization as a tactic. Nodding towards the challenger, who said nothing, Eddie said, “So is he,” forcing a smile in an attempt to ease the tension. Needless to say, his smile failed to have the intended effect. The spokesman replied, “But you’re better than he was, much better.” In a menacing tone, he said that they had, “No use for pool sharks.” He ordered Eddie to pick up the winnings from the pool table. Eddie didn’t comply, perhaps thinking that not taking the money might bring a peaceful end to the matter. The spokesman then picked up the money and stuffed it in Eddie’s shirt pocket. Then, all four men dragged Eddie into the men’s room, where they proceeded to callously break his thumbs. (THE HUSTLER)

Though, the door to the men’s room at the pool hall had a sign on it that read, “Gentlemen,” those men were not gentlemen, not even close. They were hoods hired by Gordon to teach Eddie a lesson, actually several lessons, for which they were surely paid well. Those lessons were:

Lesson #1: Retribution – Gordon wanted Eddie to know that he couldn’t tell him to “kiss off” and get away with it, and that he, and not Eddie, was the alpha-male in the pool halls around Ames and would win any clash of egos and moneyed interests.

Lesson #2: Power – how to get it, how to use it, and how to keep it – Gordon had power because he had money, which he got by knowing how to gamble, and who to gamble on. Eddie had no money, but there was a potential source of power in his ability to shoot pool, if he could only harness it. That involved him sustaining the moments of greatness he displayed against Fats, instead of squandering them.

Gordon knew how to use his power, getting others to do his bidding, Fats included. His money and ability to skillfully manipulate those who were dependent upon him, ensured that he kept it. Eddie could not use power because he didn’t have it, at least not yet. He also couldn’t keep it for the same reason.

Lesson #3: Control – Gordon’s power enabled him to exercise control over Eddie, and everyone else. With two broken thumbs, Eddie certainly wasn’t in control of his situation and there was no telling if he ever would be.

Lesson #4: Need – Gordon needed Eddie for the “action” and the money he could make by betting on him. Eddie needed Gordon because Gordon was the only one who could get him a rematch with Fats. Gordon figured that Eddie’s latest setback would force him to accept his offer, and, terms. If he was inclined to wager on it, Gordon would have won, but he wouldn’t have gotten good odds. Any two-bit gambler on the streets in Ames knew that Eddie would acquiesce. It was just a matter of time.

Eddie didn’t connect the dots, though they were arranged with such symmetry, he should have. So much for him being able to read the writing on the wall and in between the lines. Yet, he had to realize that pool hall that he last hustled in was “the wrong kind of place,” the one Gordon had warned him about.

Nevertheless, Eddie, most importantly, was yet to grasp how extraneous factors that seeped into his pool shooting – his relationship with Charlie, his presence in Ames and the friction it created, Gordon’s mode of operations and his plans for him, even Sarah – all of the dots, so to speak, adversely affected his performance. All were considerable obstacles to him being able to get in the moment in pool matches and stay there.

However, he would show that it was coming to him and that he was starting to understand what it was all about. There was power and control in such understanding. His need? He had to learn to shut out the extraneous factors and get to really know, and fully embrace, the state of mind that was the key to the actualization of his potential. Then, he had to be able to access it when the moment(s) arose. There would be redemption in such understanding, maybe even some retribution, though that couldn’t be his priority since it wasn’t what he needed. One thing, though, hustling pool was definitely out of the question, at least for the time being. First, he would have to rehabilitate those thumbs.

Eddie, with casts on both hands, went on a picnic with Sarah. As they sat and talked, he recollected what happened that fateful night in the pool hall when he lost to Minnesota Fats. He told her about it all, especially that Gordon said that he was a “loser.” He gave her a lecture, as if he was a teacher and she was a student, sitting attentively in the front row of his classroom. He spoke about what it was like to experience excellence in any occupation or field of endeavor, but pool in particular.

That scene may have gotten the neurons firing in the brains of those who thought about such things at the time (1961). It just may have caused some to explore the meaning and pursue the implications of what “Fast Eddie” said. That scene just may have laid the foundation of what is an essential component of the mental aspect of athletic competition today.

Why was that? What was it about what “Fast Eddie” said that was so profound and inspiring? Simply, though there was nothing simple in what he said, it was Eddie telling Sarah what it was like when he was playing pool at his best.

Gesticulating with his casted hands, he told her that, when doing so, the “…pool cue’s part of me, you know. It’s, uh, pool cue. It’s got nerves and it’s a piece of wood. It’s got nerves in it,” he claimed. “Feel a roll of those balls,” he urged. “You don’t have to look. You just know.” Sarah’s response was just as poignant. She took issue with Gordon’s psychological profile of Eddie, telling Eddie that he was not “a loser” but that he was “a winner.” She said that anyone who experienced what Eddie described was very fortunate, for not many people could say that they shared such an experience. “Some men,” she asserted, “never get to feel that way about anything.” (THE HUSTLER)

Sarah’s words of encouragement were evocative of something the late 19th century American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, William James, (pictured above), once said. “Most people live in a very restricted circle of their potential being,” he contended. He explained that, “They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole organism, should get into the habit of using and moving only his little finger.” (THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES, 253) If James could have seen THE HUSTLER (James died in 1910), he would have agreed, that what Eddie said to Sarah, demonstrated that Eddie knew what it was like to experience his “potential being,” at least for a while, during that match at that pool hall in Ames. James could have learned something about “consciousness” from THE HUSTLER as well, as Eddie tapped into a different type of “consciousness” when he was shooting pool “fast and loose.” (THE HUSTLER)

Such statements by Eddie and Sarah in THE HUSTLER were sure to arouse curiosity of anyone with more than a passing interest in psychology, perhaps even more so for those who saw the movie and were up on their William James. Were there the rudiments of a psychology of sport in Fast Eddie’s claims and Sarah’s interpretation of them, a subject replete with the characteristic rigor of academia? Was there a seed planted in THE HUSTLER that would be harvested decades later? Maybe, just maybe. Was “Fast Eddie” a pioneer, implying that there was a new intellectual and scientific frontier that was to be crossed?

Was it a realm so mysterious that even the utterance of its name would perplex many and lead to the most dogged of pursuits, both physical and psychological? Yes. That realm, that “Fast Eddie” tried his best to describe, was “The Zone.”

References

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial Modern

Classics: 1st Edition.

Eagleman, D. (2011). Incognito: the secret life of the brain. Canongate Books.

Eagleman, D. (2017). The brain: the story of you. Pantheon Books.

Eagleman, D. (Writer) & Barden, G. Clifton, D. Gale, C. Gibbon, J. W. Jones, J. Stacey, N.

Trackman, T. (Directors). (2015). Who’s in control? [TV series episode]. Beamish, J. (Producers)

Kershaw, J. The brain with David Eagleman. PBS.

Herrigel, E. (1999). Zen in the art of archery. Vintage Books.

James, W. and James, H. (1920). The letters of William James. Atlantic Monthly Press.

Kotler, Steven. (2014). The rise of superman: decoding the science of ultimate human performance.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing.

Maltz, Maxwell. (1960). Psychocybernetics. Simon & Schuster.

Maslow, Abraham H. (1993). The farther reaches of human nature. Penguin/Arkana

Maslow, Abraham H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being, Second Edition. Simon & Schuster.

Mathers, M. (2002). “Lose Yourself.” [Recorded by Eminem]. 8 Mile. Shady Inter Scope.

Rossen, R. (Producer) & Rossen, R. (Director). (1961). The hustler. [Motion Picture]. Rossen Enterprises.

Shainberg, L. (1989, April). Finding the zone. The New York Times Magazine, p.35.

Tsu, L. English, J. Feng, G-F (Translators). (1972). Tao te ching. Vintage Books.

United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. (1961). Current population reports:

consumer income. (Series P-60, No. 35). https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1961/demo/p60-

035.html#:~:text=Average%20money%20income%20of%20families,or%206%20percent%2C%2

0over%201958

Was “Fast Eddie” a Pioneer in “Zone” Psychology? A Story about Ambition, the Moment, and “The Zone”