KURT SCHMIDT HONORED WITH BCA PRESIDENT’S AWARD By Keith Loria
Kurt Schmidt of A.E. Schmidt is the recipient of the 2018 BCA President’s Award. “I selected Kurt for this award because his company has been a mainstay in the billiard industry for over 150 years, and under Kurt’s stewardship, A.E. Schmidt Billiards has weathered, and even prospered during adverse economic conditions,” says BCA Chairman Brian Igielski. “Kurt Schmidt has spent his entire life in billiards, and his knowledge and history of this business is a living treasure for the game.” A.E. Schmidt, which crafts beautiful pool tables and game room furniture in St. Louis, Missouri, has been family owned and operated since 1850, maintaining a remarkable allegiance to the original ideas of its founder, Ernst Schmidt. 44 | BCA INSIDER • EXPO 2019
“We have always maintained that quality pool tables should be the focus of our business, that we should be the ‘go to company’ when no one else can help,” says Kurt Schmidt, who co-owns the company with his wife, Karen. “A pool table hasn’t changed that much in 100 years; in fact, we still build one model that came out in 1924. We are all for the family-run mom and pop billiard dealers. They are the backbone of this industry year in year out.They need to be protected and helped in every way possible.” Igielski notes that Schmidt doesn’t take shortcuts. “When some in this industry have looked to alternative materials and construction in order to save money and time, Kurt has remained true to ‘quality first,’ because his name is on every
table, literally,” he says. “To me, his biggest accomplishment has been his ability to remain committed to the industry and his ancestry. While most of us have come into the billiard industry as a career choice, Kurt was born into it. And his company has been a stalwart in this industry, successfully managing the ebb and flow of the billiard industry.” It was about a decade ago when Schmidt wondered if the industry would continue supporting a domestically made pool table and he was pleased with what he discovered. “That answer has come loud and clear that this industry still wants a quality, hand-built table. More importantly, they want options – lots of them,” he says. “We have based our business on trying to never say no to what the cus-
