Melinda Bailey
Mike Howerton
Mike Howerton is the face, brains, and workhorse behind AzBilliards.com – the leading online billiards website (and the longest-running). Let’s find out more about Mike and AzBilliards!
Q: Where did you grow up? I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but Dad was military and we were in Bellevue, Nebraska for a few years before we moved back to Arizona. Q: How and when did you start playing pool? I’ve played barroom pool since I was an early teenager. It was something my entire family did.
12 | Billiards Buzz • November 2018
Q: Wow, your entire family? Who else played? My Mom, Dad and Grandfather all played barroom pool. Q: That’s really cool. Btw, I think you got pretty fortunate with the name ”A to Z Billiards” of the website. You started an online billiard website in the mid-90s for the pool scene In Arizona and so you acquired
the URL ‘azbilliards.com.’ However, when the website started to gain major traction and became super popular, you had to change the name. And lucky for you, Az (for Arizona) could easily be transported to “The A to Z of Billiards.” Was it as simple as that to transition from Arizona to a national theme with just that minor, but important change? Or did you contemplate a new name and different URLs?