BCA Insider - Holiday Edition 2021

’TIS THE SEASON FOR GIVING

IN THIS ISSUE

Keith Loria

Charles S. Donnavan

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Keith Loria billiardskeith@gmail.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jason A. Moss

Charles S. Donnavan

Anthony Stoeckert

ADVERTISING

MEMBERSHIP MANAGER

Shane Tyree shane@bca-pool.com (303) 243-5070 x23

DESIGN/LAYOUT

ART DIRECTOR Julie Snee julie.snee@gmail.com

BCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHAIRMAN

Ivan Lee, Iwan Simonis

VICE-CHAIRMAN

Debbie Corvey, Boynton Billiards

SECRETARY

Philippe Singer, The Predator Group

TREASURER

Brian Igielski, GLD Products

BOARD MEMBERS

Shane Bouchard, Maine Home Recreation

Nick Kroll, Viking Cues

Ed Liddawi, Sandcastle Billiards

Robbie Selby, R and R Outdoors

Stephanie Schmidt, A. E. Schmidt Co.

BCA Insider is published by Billiard Congress of America © 2021 bcainsider.com

OPENING LETTER

For many, the Holidays mean getting together with family and friends, making new memories, drinking copious amounts of eggnog, work stress and a lot of last-minute shopping. Regardless of which Holiday you celebrate, or what it means to you, the Holiday season always seems to bring out the best in all of us, because it’s the time of year when we collectively come together to support and celebrate one another.

This Holiday edition of the BCA Insider is aimed to support your business as you continue to navigate during unprecedented times. In this issue, we discuss: the benefits of giving back to the community that support you; how to strategically use LinkedIn for your business; strategies to build lasting relationships with your customers; tips for creating a successful holiday social media plan; and much more.

Along with the Holidays also comes the time of year to renew your dues in the Billiard Congress of America. We know how busy you are, so we want to make dues renewal as simple as possible. To receive an early-bird discount on your BCA annual dues, go to BCA-Pool.com before December 20th and use promocode: BCA2022

As we look forward to 2022, the Billiard Congress of America continues to be dedicated to supporting our members. Many of the stories in the BCA Insider come from member suggestions. If you have any areas for which you’d love to learn more (i.e., marketing, social media, store design, merchandising), please let us know (reach out to editor Keith Loria at billiardskeith@gmail.com). If you’re interested in these topics, chances are, others in our industry are, too.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned during unprecedented periods such as this pandemic, is that there is strength in numbers. Just like a family getting together for the Holidays to support one another, we, as an industry, are stronger together.

Wishing you a very successful and enjoyable Holiday Season!

SHANE TYREE, MEMBERSHIP MANAGER

’TIS THE SEASON

There are so many ways to celebrate the holiday season – kicking off the most festive time of the year with a Thanksgiving Day feast, then rolling right into shopping, decorating homes with lights and a Christmas tree, attending holiday parties, listening to Christmas songs, and, of course, opening presents.

But there is another way to mark the jolly season, one that is uniquely fulfilling – helping others.

It’s the time of year for giving, and getting your billiard store involved with a local cause or charitable organization can be a great thing – both for the charity and your business, so here are some tips on how to get started on what could turn out to be a very rewarding experience.

CHOOSE YOUR CAUSE

One thing you can be certain of, there is no shortage of charities or organizations that need assistance. You can choose either a national or local organization that does good work in your community, or there may be someone living right in your neighborhood who’s in need of a helping hand. Often on Facebook, you’ll see posts about a family that is facing huge medical bills because a family member has cancer or other disease and who the neighborhood is supporting – that kind of personal involvement can be very satisfying.

By Anthony

The important thing is to choose a cause you care about –that will make it more meaningful and also inspire you to go all-out in helping.

Albert Trujillo, president and manager of operations for Fort Worth Billiards in Fort Worth, Texas, found the perfect charity to help with – local food bank in Tarrant County, which the store is supporting by collecting donations of non-perishable foods from customers for the third-straight year in 2021.

“We typically do this after Thanksgiving, right around the first of December, just to help replenish the shelves,” Trujillo says. “What we do is, in order to entice people to come into the store and bring products, we have drawings. So if someone brings in non-perishable items, they have a chance to win a prize, which can be a pool cue, gift cards, things like that.”

He says the store’s regular customers are very active in making donations because they know and trust Trujillo and his business, and that the giveaways bring in new people who want to help and also have a chance at winning a prize.

“I thought it was such a good example to set as a leader of the company,” Trujillo says. “It just fulfilled me and it set an example for other employees who said, ‘Hey, we need to give back as well and do our part for the community.’”

SEASON FOR GIVING

Stoeckert

IT TAKES A LITTLE WORK

One thing business owners should know before deciding to support a cause is that this is a real commitment. Once you tell an organization you’re going to help, you’ve taken on a big responsibility – people will be counting on you. But the good news is that there are varying degrees of commitment you can make, and the organization you decide to help is certain to make the process as easy as possible for you.

“Charities require a high level of commitment,” says Nathan Hughes, marketing director for Diggity Marketing. “Local businesses might feel that their efforts are not making any difference. The level of patience required is high. Donations and efforts can take years before they make any visible change on the ground.”

It’s also important to look into a charity before you dedicate your efforts to it.

“Local businesses should research the cause and the charity,” Hughes says. “There are a lot of frauds out there who take advantage of generosity. Businesses should use trusted sources to find the validity of a charity. Local businesses should also understand that they do not always have to make monetary donations.”

From 2012 to 2018, Games & Things Inc., in Knoxville, Tennessee, held an annual fundraiser, called Game On Against Cancer, or GOAC. Lisa Mellon, owner of Games & Things, says planning for the annual event took nearly a year.

She explained that the event got so large, it needed to move to a different location, and that her store still sets up games for the big day every year, though it’s no longer at her store.

“I’ve been on the board of directors for the Thompson Cancer Survival Center Foundation here in Knoxville for the last six years, and in 2016 went through Covenant Health Leadership Academy classes at various hospitals,” Mellon says. “We are still very passionate in helping the cancer patients and others here in our community. Second Harvest Food Bank is also a must to contribute to for the fall.”

The store is also planning on assisting with a new project for 2022, SMSD – Smoky Mountain Service Dogs – in which service dogs are matched up with veterans, primarily men and women in the southeast who lost limbs or have PTSD.

SPREADING THE JOY

Fort Worth Billiards also makes donations to Cooks Children’s Medical Center, a not-for-profit children’s hospital in

Fort Worth, and to A Wish With Wings, an organization that fulfills the wishes of children with life-threatening diseases.

And that’s not all, the store also donated pool tables to South Dallas Winners Plaza, an area recreation center, so that kids can learn to play the game of pool.

“I think it’s important that we do our part as retailers in the billiard industry to show the support in our communities,” Trujillo says. “Some of our customers, our regulars, they know they can rely on us to help make some kind of donation if someone is in the hospital with COVID and needs help with bills, so we make donations for them too.”

HOW TO GIVE

Organize a tournament:

This is a particularly good option for pool halls or stores that have a working relationship with a pool hall. The charge for people to play in the tournament goes to the charity, of course, but you can also include an auction and solicit donations from people who attend.

“DO YOUR PART TO HELP THE COMMUNITY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN."

Many billiard and home recreation businesses do their part to help a good cause, not only during the holidays but all year long, and there are lots of ways to do so, including the following:

Host a fundraiser:

Set aside a special day where a percentage of all sales goes to the charity of your choice. Provide your customers with information on the cause you’re supporting, so that they know where their money is going to and can tell other people to donate.

Collect items for those in need:

Team up with a local food pantry, veterans organization, women’s shelter, homeless shelter, and ask your customers to donate the things these people need through your business instead of to your business. You can offer a discount, or free item, to anyone who does so.

HELPING OTHERS CAN HELP YOU

Of course, the main reason you should support a good cause is because you want to make a difference. Many nonprofits play an essential role in local communities by helping people at some of the most difficult times in their lives, and knowing that you made a contribution that provided food for a struggling family or a homeless person with a place to sleep, or helped a woman escape an abusive relationship is its own reward.

But doing all of this can also help your store’s bottom line. By hosting a fundraiser or tournament, people know you’re in-

volved. And you can also spread the word of your good deeds on social media – promoting your efforts is a win-win, it encourages more people to help and gets your store’s name out there. If you’re collecting food or supplies to help a food bank or women’s shelter, post pictures of what you’re donating. If you host an event, share the story of it from beginning to end on your social media.

Hughes notes that the benefits for a business that helps a charity include recognition, the creation of a brand image, and tax benefits, but he also explained that it takes some work and a good relationship to establish a successful partnership with a charity.

“Transparency, communication, and appreciation are three pillars for a successful collaboration between businesses and charities,” Hughes says. “Businesses have the right to know where their donation is going and what change they have made. Frequent communication regarding progress and results makes relationships more trustworthy. Businesses also deserve some kind of appreciation for their contribution. Social media mentions or small appreciation ceremonies are a must to appreciate a business for its donation.”

GIVING IS ITS OWN REWARD

There is one other special part about getting involved with a charity, aside from helping people and promoting your store.

“The best part of it is knowing it was given from my heart. It’s something that I always felt was a part of me and who I am,” Trujillo says. “It’s something that I knew I wanted to do, something that just feels good all around. There was no hesitation of coming up with this idea, I just felt like it was something I wanted to do and something I needed to do for the community. And again, setting an example for my employees and saying this is something we need do as a company to get involved.”

And he doesn’t hesitate in recommending that other billiard stores do their part and lend a hand to benefit people who need some assistance.

“I think it’s a good to get this done,” he says. “To get out there, meet other people, and get yourself out there in a way other than a business aspect. Do your part to help the community as much as you can. It’s well worth the time and very satisfying. It’s something that will make you happy.”

MAKING LINKEDIN WORK FOR YOU

By Keith Loria

While Facebook, Twitter and Instagram get a lot of social media love, those in the billiard industry shouldn’t forget about LinkedIn when creating a social media plan.

After all, LinkedIn has approximately 740 million members with more than 55 million registered companies. Of those LinkedIn users who are frequently engaging with the platform, 40 percent access it on a daily basis, clocking up more than 1 billion interactions every month.

LinkedIn is all about making the right connections – and in today’s competitive landscape, this is more important than ever. But the platform provides the ability to do more than just connect with people. Billiard companies that take advan-

tage of LinkedIn’s other features will be primed for success. For instance, posts are just as important on LinkedIn as they are on other social media platforms and these can help a company make strong B2B connections.

Regular sharing of videos is also a great way to promote products or a store, and get some traction.

The newly launched LinkedIn stories are also a great thing for businesses, but these are widely underutilized on the platform. Because these are actively promoted by LinkedIn itself, billiard companies should try and leverage stories to gain new followers.

BCA MEMBERS IN ACTION

Stephanie Schmidt, national sales director for A.E. Schmidt Billiards, Ballwin, Missouri, is a big proponent of using LinkedIn for helping the company succeed.

“We use LinkedIn in several ways,” she says. “First, to connect with existing contacts in the billiard industry, whether that be potential clients, vendors, or old friends. LinkedIn creates many opportunities to continue expanding your network.”

A.E. Schmidt Billiards also advertises industry expos that the company will be attending and promotes new product from its billiard line on the site.

“LinkedIn is great because it’s a business-oriented social media platform, making it easy to connect to key people in similar organizations, unlike Facebook or Twitter,” Schmidt says. “You can really scale down and narrow your search for the right target audience using LinkedIn. While Facebook and Twitter are great for reaching a wide audience, those social media platforms are more for sharing personal updates on a person as an individual.”

She also likes the fact that LinkedIn is a quick and efficient way to promote the brand to a highly controllable network of professionals in the industry, and it allows her to really fine-tune who is seeing the content and show relevant information that others are looking for.

“There is also a great number of contacts for different organizations available on LinkedIn,” Schmidt says. “My dad has a giant rolodex on his desk of contacts that he has gathered over his 35 years in the billiard industry. LinkedIn has changed that, finding leads has never been quicker or easier.”

Jacklyn Ady, product manager, billiards division for Cue & Case Billiard Accessories/American Heritage Billiards, agrees that LinkedIn is ideal for growing a network and connecting with fellow billiard companies in the industry. One look at her connections and you can see her linked to manufacturers, retailers, players and other notable billiard figures.

Albert Trujillo, president/manager of operations for Fort Worth Billiards in Fort Worth, Texas, likes that this form of social media differs from Instagram and Facebook because it allows for a more personal connection to those with a similar business mindset.

“My recent posts have been about how slow inventory is arriving, but we somehow get shipments when we least expect them,” he says. “These days, it is a challenge to balance our inventory because of the limited availability of products. We also make sure to showcase new products by posting photos of them displayed throughout our showroom. By doing so, the images intrigue people to see other products other than the featured product.”

Like other social media, he makes it a point to post consistently, at the least weekly.

“My goal is to show consumers that indoor games are a great way to reconnect with family and friends,” Trujillo says. “In addition, I want to remind them that pool tables, foosball tables, and shuffleboard tables are a great way to converse and bond with their loved ones. One of our business goals is to show people that our products allow them to come together and have hours of endless fun, no matter what age or background.”

For a local Fort Worth business like Fort Worth Billiards, LinkedIn is a great platform to connect even further with the community and those interested in the field.

“It also allows us to share our professional knowledge with others while getting the chance to learn and grow from them as well,” Trujillo says. “In addition, LinkedIn provides us the opportunity to share our products on a different level. We can give recognition to our industry by posting various products and getting the word out that game rooms are more popular than ever. All retailers should capitalize on this wave of business by encouraging home entertainment.”

Talyah Regusters, CMO for Bucks Billiards in Cary, North Carolina, notes while LinkedIn is a social media platform built for business conversation, people will always enjoy fun and engaging content no matter the platform.

“Billiards is a naturally engaging sport, especially in video format,” she says. “There are also plenty of industry leaders on LinkedIn that are worth searching for to connect with.

If you’re a billiard retailer, there’s no reason to not engage with fellow billiard retailers on LinkedIn. Large companies like McDermott have active employees on the platform and giving them a follow is an easy, simple way to keep up with recent moves in the billiard industry.”

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

LinkedIn adds credibility and transparency and has become more than an online tool, it is the foundation for building trusted relationships in the digital economy.

With LinkedIn, you don’t have to wait for a networking event to make meaningful business connections. You get one chance to make a great first impression so make sure every section of your LinkedIn profile is complete, with no blank spaces or gaps. Include a professional logo and powerful headline followed by a summary with highlights of your brand, what you do well and how you can benefit potential customers. Keep this section brief and easy to skim for best results. Keywords are a great way to help them find your profile and strategic keywords in your profile give you an advantage in networking too.

To present yourself as an expert in your industry, post interesting and educational content by sharing a great article you’ve read recently or if you truly want to make valuable connections and represent yourself as a talented thought leader in your industry, you should be crafting your own articles on LinkedIn. This does not require big budgets but it does take time. It is a smart investment to get this right. Authenticity is the key.

Make sure that the company logo and a cover image are placed correctly in the respective profile and cover image boxes on the company page. Also ensure all contact information is correct on both the company and profile pages.

LinkedIn is also one of the most professional platforms for job seekers and businesses to interact. It is an earnest space where personal and company branding coincide.

“Shining a light on the achievements, progress, and experiences of businesses and professionals creates immense opportunities for connection and networking,” says Jonathon Ryan, a social media expert based in Arlington, Texas. “LinkedIn offers multiple ways to describe a business, and companies and businesses should take advantage of the myriad options to define themselves.”

Use video with actual employees for LinkedIn marketing. Not only will it humanize your brand and make you approachable, but you can also attract top talent that way. The trick is to ask your team to contribute the video ideas. They’ll likely be more enthusiastic in videos they helped make. The genuine

enthusiasm will show through to your larger audience, evoking an emotional connection or response.

A solid persona on LinkedIn allows a business to target a specific demographic and audience with whom they can instantly connect.

“Businesses should place priority on their company’s profile as well as that of their employees as they are also visible to interested parties,” Ryan says. “Consumers and other businesses are able to verify that they are dealing with the real company and its representatives when they present a unified image.”

Billiard retailers can make the most of LinkedIn by staying on their customers’ radars.

One way to do that is with a company like CocoFax, which helps businesses generate leads on LinkedIn.

“Clients tell us what kind of people make high-quality customers for them and then we search on LinkedIn for people who fit their criteria, and then introduce them,” says Olivia Tan, the co-founder of CocoFax. “We do it so it looks like the client is introducing themselves, but we do all the work for them. Then we stay in touch with the people who have expressed interest, again using LinkedIn.”

The company also does daily status updates and weekly LinkedIn blog posts to keep the client’s name in front of their network.

“We also send monthly emails that share information about the kinds of problems our clients can solve for their customers and share the results they have achieved for other customers,” Tan says. “We also make offers, such as inviting people to a webinar or offering a whitepaper. The result is a simple, inexpensive, systematic process for doing lead generation, with all the work done through LinkedIn.”

Ryan notes companies should avoid hard-selling and sales-y content.

“The first rule for business on LinkedIn is to avoid the pushy sales talk,” he says. “This will make you lose customers fast, and it just paints your business in a bad light. Instead, focus on engaging and high-value content that makes you an expert or a thought leader in your industry.”

Joining groups is a great way to accomplish that.

“Joining LinkedIn groups lets you in on the circle of potential customers,” Ryan says. “Here, you can create conversations about your industry and gain insights from like-minded experts as well.You can also use groups to listen in to what your audience is talking about, and share your expertise when there’s an opportunity. And if you think there’s no group that fits your company at all, start your own group – maybe others are looking for it too.”

Finally, advertising on LinkedIn often pays off. Because most of the people on there are professionals, they are more likely to buy from you. Using the Matched Audiences feature lets you optimize conversions and your cost per click.You can also retarget website visitors and know who you’re advertising to.

At the top-most level know that the LinkedIn audience is primed to think about business, business opportunities and to make decisions about business.

“A billiard retailer should test content types and see what really pulls for the audience,” Ryan says. “When a business publishes substantial, interesting, thought-provoking and visually compelling content, that business will see returns on the investment in terms of audience support and evangelism for the products.”

days12the relationship building

By Keith Loria

The pandemic brought in a lot of new customers to home recreation stores as people were drawn to billiard retailers to find activities to play while quarantined. And with the holidays coming up, it’s important for retailers to ensure that these new relationships are solid so customers continue coming back into the stores.

With the popular Christmas song in mind “The 12 Days of Christmas,” here are 12 relationship-building tips for the Holidays.

1 Provide a Great Atmosphere

If your billiard store has competition, you need to quickly establish a point-of-differentiation to ensure that customers choose your store over others. One of the best ways to do that is to focus on the atmosphere. If you provide customers with an outstanding atmosphere, they’ll be more likely to develop positive and long-lasting relationships with you. Some steps you can take to provide a great ambience are to play music, add lots of light and greet people as they come in.

2 Stay in Touch

One of the first things you need to do is to assume your customers will forget about you as soon as they step out of the door. This is important because you always need to give your best effort when trying to maintain customer relationships. So make it a point to stay in touch. You don’t want to lose communication with any of your customers if you want to make them come back. Keeping open communication lines through automated reminders or follow-ups on the phone is the key to turning regular customers into loyal and repeat customers. So the next time you have a new billiard product in the store, send your customers an email or a text message to let them know.

3 Invest in Promotional items

Another great way to build relationships with customers is to give them something to remember the store by. Promotional items with your logo and branding will make you stick out. Items such as promotional pens, water bottles, T-shirts, and flash drives are great ways to promote your billiard store and make a lasting impression.

4 Don’t REst on Laurels

Even the largest retail stores may lose customers if they do not develop over time. Customers become tired of seeing the same items over and over. They are looking for something fresh to keep their attention. It is your job to switch things up and keep the store looking fresh. Making your consumers happy is the key to success. If you want to keep growing, you must first figure out what your consumers want and then give it to them.

5 turn to social media

Leverage your social media profiles to keep customers engaged. Post updates that will keep customers feeling happy and included even beyond product placement. Have contests or host virtual activities that everyone in your online community can take part in. Tweet out about news and events at the store. Add photos on Facebook and Instagram and ask your customers to post their favorite billiard images from home. This will get more people involved and increase your likes and engagement.

6 Provide a sense of Security

People today are more worried about their private information than ever before, so retailers should make it a point to let their customers know that they are mindful of one’s privacy and security. Assuring the security of sensitive customer data by investing sufficiently in the right, up-to-date technology, or partnering with the right companies that will protect customers’ privacy, is an excellent first step toward establishing trust and loyalty with customers. Additionally, retailers should be transparent about the use and storage of customers’ data. Retailers need to understand that consumers are willing to share personal information in exchange for improved services and recommendations.

7 offer discounts and specials

When you have a new customer, provide them with a special coupon for a return visit. For established customers, you can have a loyalty program where more purchases add up to more rewards. People love getting a deal or things for free, so think outside the box for ways to provide special deals that will keep them coming back again and again. With each in-store purchase, present a printed coupon along with the receipt that includes your branding and important store information.

8 Make it all about them, not you

Most people don’t care about you; they care about themselves, so keep the focus on your consumers.Tell them how you can satisfy their unique requirements and go out of your way to do so. So, by making everything about them, you can establish strong connections with consumers and make them feel unique.

9 exceed customer expectations

Going the extra mile for a customer is always appreciated, but more so at the present time when people are still on edge over the pandemic and politics. Staying in touch, and expressing concern for them personally will go a long way toward establishing a loyal customer bond. When in-store, strike up conversations about their lives and show the personal touch. Go out of your way to explain the background of a product and offer up options that might be better for them – even if they don’t bring in as great a dollar amount. People will appreciate the honest approach.

10 focus on customer service

Encourage a culture of competent customer service among employees as the final stage in solidifying connections between store management, staff, and consumers. Allow workers to handle client concerns and provide training to ensure that employees understand how to serve consumers. Employees that are happy provide superior customer service. Customers are pleased when they receive better customer service. Creating an employee-centered culture in your store, where workers feel empowered to address customer problems and have opportunities to advance professionally, may lead to stronger and more enduring connections on all levels.

11

add Value to Their Lives

You need to add value to your customers’ lives if you want these business relationships to continue. To add this value, you need to understand your customers' current needs, as well as accurately predict and service their future needs. Adding value to their lives can also come in the form of selling high-quality products to them. You can also make their lives better by freely sharing your knowledge with them, as well as being a trusted guide when it comes to billiard-related issues.

12 ask for feedback

No one can tell you more about customer retention than customers themselves. Create a method of collecting feedback and develop your retention strategy around it. You can incentivize feedback by offering people who answer a survey a complimentary discount on billiard accessories. This will not only give you an insight into what your customers are thinking, but will most likely provide some great ideas on how to make the store better and entice even more people to walk through your doors.

JUNIOR INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM

Creating Tomorrow’s Champions

THE BREAK AND RUN PREMIER JUNIOR INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM OFFERS:

ā Free coaching/instruction to youth nationwide.

ā On-going, individualized instruction tailored to junior players at all ages and skill levels.

ā Structured instruction at no cost to junior players who wish to play competitively.

ā Support to local coaches and instructors of players who are playing, or wish to play, at a competitive level.

ā Training materials, regular feedback and assessments of participant progress.

ā Regular instruction in person or via video exchange, such as Facetime or Skype interaction.

PBIA instructors associated with this program do so as a service to the PBIA and in furtherment of the sport. They receive no compensation for their participation. Each instructor has gone through extensive training and has a verified background check to participate.

If you are a junior player interested in this program, please email questions

CREATING A WINNING HOLIDAY SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN

By Charles S. Donnavan

Billiard retailers can leverage social media for holiday marketing but they must be prepared to put in the time and effort to capture the attention of their target audience.

Social media is a powerful tool that can help create buzz and increase customer engagement during the festive season. It also ensures that brands are present on platforms that their customers rely upon.

A savvy social media strategy must focus on building relationships with customers, share valuable content, incentivize customer loyalty, and use analytics to measure success or failure of campaigns.

Here are 10 Tips for doing things right this holiday season.

1. FOCUS ON YOUR CUSTOMER BASE

Not all holiday marketing efforts are created equal. Contrary to popular belief, do not simply copy your competitors’ strategies. Knowing your target audience is critical to a successful holiday marketing campaign.

That’s why when creating a successful social media plan for the holiday season, retailers should focus on their own customer base. They must learn what motivates their audience and how they like to be reached out to. They should also make sure that they are using the most effective platforms for reaching them.

2. USE A HASHTAG (#) CAMPAIGN

Social media campaigns simultaneously are fun and helpful. A hashtag campaign will make your brand presence unique and will help your business stand out.

A hashtag campaign will help a business gain followers, but retailers need to create a plan ahead of time. The first step of the project should be to identify, complete and memorize a hashtag that sounds cool. Then, start promoting it on social media once you find that perfect hashtag. You can use various channels to promote your hashtag campaign. Do not stay to one channel alone while your hashtag campaign is being promoted. If you have begun your Twitter campaign, you can also start promoting it on Instagram or Facebook.

The Instagram posts accompanying the perfect hashtag create trendy news feeds for billiard lovers.

3. OFFER FREE MERCH

Giving away free stuff is always looked upon favorably and can be a terrific holiday social media strategy. Giveaways are something that every customer likes. Run contests where the 25th person to share a post gets a gift certificate, or invite people to post photos of their billiard activities, and award the best holiday-themed one with a prize.

Retailers can also make use of user-generated content by giving out a challenge to either make the most unusual score or the best trick shots, giving away something to the winner.

4. PRICE-CONSCIOUS MESSAGING

Holiday season marketing is all about the money. Most consumers have a strict budget that they stick to when it comes to gift shopping. That’s why billiard retailers need to focus their content for social media on the price point. Post content about the various discounts and deals that you’re offering this holiday season. Your strategy for social media should be concise and clear about the message that you’re trying to send to your customers. And that message is that you offer the best holiday discounts in town. Your social media posts need to be colorful and catchy, hovering around the holiday theme. Tell your customers that you make premium billiard items and accessories more accessible and affordable to them so that they can enjoy the true spirit of the holidays.

5. OFFER DISCOUNTS

The holiday season is a promotional time for all businesses to showcase appreciation towards their customers, so a great way for billiard retailers to do this is to roll out unbreakable discounts on new and old products and advertise it all on social media.

For example, if you have a special discount on a billiard table and get the word out by social media with great photos and videos of the table, it would tempt customers to come in and make a purchase, or at the very least, bring consumers into the store to see what else you might have, give out the proper size and quality guides through social media posts so that customers can figure what they want best.

6. UTILIZE APPS FOR CREATING A POSTING PLAN

Create an editorial calendar for your holiday social media marketing efforts. It’s essential to put together a plan for what you’re going to post, when you post it, and how.

Many great apps can be used for attracting customers, and should be part of a social media strategy. For example, there’s Hootsuite, which allows retailers to create posts in advance and schedule them for specific days and times, making it easier to organize posts for the whole month of December without spending all day on social media. This way, there won't be any gaps in your social media activity.

You can also create a calendar on a desktop version of Excel to keep track, but you must post regularly and frequently throughout the holiday season.

7. BE DISCOVERABLE

Another vital way for billiard retailers to create a good holiday social media strategy is to make themselves discoverable. Go digital with your store because that is pretty much where most consumers are – even during the holidays.

Due to the possibility that your customers will be unable to visit your physical store because of COVID concerns, ensure that they can quickly locate you online. Update the channels you’ve been running and point people in the right direction on all your social media feeds. Several pieces of information are worth double-checking as well, including your business’s opening hours, website address, and contact information.

8. USE AN INFLUENCER

Influencer marketing is a strategy in which you work with an influencer with a more considerable following and a similar specialty to yours. You team up with that influencer to promote your brand/product/service and broaden its reach.

This is one of the most current marketing strategies, and it's also one of the most effective. A billiard store can connect with a noted player, trainer or someone who the community just knows.You’ll also need to make a strategy to execute influencer marketing flawlessly. To begin, you must first establish your objectives for working with an influencer. Goals may include everything from expanding your audience to boosting revenue.

9. LOOK TO THE PAST

Don’t be complacent with your social media plan, even if it seemed to work well the prior year.

Retailers should analyze the data from last year or the previous years and learn from it. Note what platform brought the most traffic to your website, content that received the most engagement, or which channels brought the most conversions.

Social media marketing tools such as Google Analytics can perform analysis, scrutinizing previous data to help you create a better targeting plan with improved results.

Generate holiday-themed content and have a theme to create your visuals around. This makes a cohesive theme and shows your involvement in the holiday. Additionally, people remember visuals more than anything they have read. Hence, you should carefully curate this content.

10. UTILIZE GIFT GUIDES

When developing a holiday social media strategy, include gift guides to provide an easy way for people to find and buy products for their loved ones. The search for online gift guides rises dramatically on Google every year at the start of December and doesn’t slow down until Christmas has come to a close. Many people are in a rush, so having gift options right in front of them where they can easily find the perfect present will be appreciated and lead to further sales.

MEET YOUR BIGGEST

AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2021

EVERY LUCASI RIVAL COMES STANDARD W/ AN 11.75MM

LUCASI ZERO FLEX SLIM 10-SPLICE SHAFT

LHRV21 - MSRP $563.84

METALLIC BLUE PAINT & BLUE RIVAL GRAPHIC RIVAL G5 RUBBER GRIP W/ BLUE PAINT

LHRV22 - MSRP $563.84

METALLIC SILVER PAINT & SILVER RIVAL GRAPHIC

RIVAL G5 RUBBER GRIP W/ SILVER PAINT

LHRV23 - MSRP $563.84

METALLIC RED PAINT & RED RIVAL GRAPHIC RIVAL G5 RUBBER GRIP W/ RED PAINT

LHRV24 - MSRP $563.84

METALLIC GREEN PAINT & GREEN RIVAL GRAPHIC

RIVAL G5 RUBBER GRIP W/ GREEN PAINT

LHRV25 - MSRP $563.84

METALLIC ORANGE PAINT & ORANGE RIVAL GRAPHIC

RIVAL G5 RUBBER GRIP W/ ORANGE PAINT

NEW LUCASI RIVAL CASES 2B/4S • 3B/4S • 4B/8S AVAILABLE 2022

THE MICHAEL J. REPICI MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR GIRLS IN BILLIARDS HONORS A LEGACY AND SUPPORTS YOUNG BILLIARD PLAYERS

When Laura Matera lost her husband, Michael J. Repici, on July 25 at the young age of 63, she wanted to find a way to honor him and his legacy. This, after all, was a man who gave so much of his life to the game of pool and who was respected and loved by people in the industry throughout the country.

The idea she came up with is the Michael J. Repici Memorial Scholarship for Girls in Billiards, and it is a perfect tribute to Repici, as it combines his love for pool and the boundless excitement he would exhibit when he saw young people, especially girls, play pool.

By Anthony Stoeckert

Among the many happy memories Matera has for her husband are his reactions when they attended trade shows and saw kids participating in Billiard Education Foundation programs show their stuff.

“Michael was just amazed,” Matera says. “We would stand there for hours, watching these kids play. And he would be talking non-stop, pointing to the kids and saying, “Laura, Laura look – this kid can barely see over the top of the table!’

“But when he saw a young girl, he would go nuts, because he would say, ‘Laura, you need to understand, when I was coming up in the pool rooms, there were no girls – ever. You never saw girls, now look at these girls!’ And I’ve always been an advocate for women’s issues and girls, so I thought, what better way to honor his memory, and have my passion involved, so the scholarship is geared to girls.”

SUPPORTING YOUNG

POOL PLAYERS

The Michael J. Repici Memorial Scholarship for Girls in Billiards will bestow three $1,000 awards to young female players at the BEF Junior National Pool Championship – one each to the topplace finishers in the 14&U, 16&U and 18U Girls 9-Ball Divisions. The money is intended to help these budding bil-

liard stars with their expenses as they compete in events, with the goal of encouraging them to continue to strive for excellence in the sport that they love and which Michael dedicated so much of his time to promoting and growing.

“I started thinking about this within two days after he passed,” Matera says. “I needed to do something, and it has brought me a lot of peace and comfort, I have to say, putting this together.”

Among the people who are supporting this endeavor are Michael’s teammates from his Tuesday night 9-ball team, who changed their name to Player #9 in his memory and who, along with members of the local APA, hosted a memorial tournament in August that raised more than $2,000 for the scholarship program, including more than $900 in a corporation donation and a man who offered $20 for every drink purchased at the bar during a specific hour.

And Laura notes that the best part of the event is that a woman, Kelly “Kels” Carnes, won the event.

Michael made quite an impact among his teammates and competitors, winning league MVP in his skill class three years in a row. That team of Michael’s was based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where he moved to three years ago after retiring from his business, Repici’s Custom Billiard Service. His pas-

Michael J. Repici

sion for billiards was sparked at a pool room in Northeast Philadelphia, where he spent a lot of time as a teenager.

DISCOVERING HIS PASSION

That pool room was also where the seeds for his long and successful career were planted.

“That’s where he found his love of billiards, in this pool room as a young teen,” Matera says. “A guy who had a billiard business who re-covered tables – he was an installer – took Michael under his wing and taught him the business, and very early on, the guy ended up retiring and Michael took over the business.”

Michael purchased the guy’s van and tools and got to work on building his career. He was a craftsman who moved, installed and refurbished tables from 1976 until his retirement in July of 2018.

“Michael is known across the nation, really,” Matera says. “As a matter of fact, at one point Brunswick wanted to hire him when he was ready to retire, somebody was kicking around the idea of Michael teaching installers. “

When asked what made her husband so good at his work, Matera pointed to his dedication and his remarkable memory, which helped him create real relationships with his customers and clients.

“People nicknamed him the Rain Main because he remembered every single detail about everything,” she says. “Somebody could pick up the phone and say, ‘You did my table 20-something years ago,’ and he would start and he would go on and on and on, and tell you every detail about your table, about your home, about what kind of day it was when he went out to do your job. It was amazing, his attention to detail.”

His extraordinary memory also came in handy in his personal life, as he never

forgot the birthdays and anniversaries of his family and friends.

He traveled the country and met many celebrities whose tables he installed. Michael and his brother, Frank, were renowned as “The Brothers” who could be counted on to do outstanding work on pool tables.

Another of Michael’s defining characteristics was his generosity, as he sponsored youth sports teams and charity events. In addition to Frank, he had another brother, Philip, and three sisters – Marie, Joanne and Paula. He was also close to his many nieces and nephews and held a special place in his heart for his godchildren, Alyssa, Joey and Nicolina.

A REMARKABLE MEMORY, AND A TRUE FRIEND

Michael was a lifelong Beatles fan and sports fans, and with that memory, he was also a wiz at sports trivia. When his friend, Adeeb Ibrahim, gave a eulogy for

Michael, he talked about his remarkable knowledge of pool players and billiards.

“Many arguments and discussions were had about who were the greatest pool players of all time,” Ibrahim says. “In his opinion it was Mike Seagal. Michael shared countless stories about local Philly legends like Jimmy ‘The Philly Phlash’ Fusco, ‘One Eyed Henry’ Basheer, Willie Mosconi, and many more. Michael knew them all.”

Ibrahim described his friend as a man with an outgoing personality who was curious about various cultures and traditions.

“Mike was one-of-a-kind, a stand-up guy, the type of friend that was by my side during the most difficult time of my life, when I lost my father,” Ibrahim remembers. “Every culture mourns in their own unique way, and in my Islamic faith, we gather at the home every evening for a few weeks.

“Imagine a hundred-plus relatives and friends gathering in my home every night for nearly a month, to help with our grief and to help us celebrate my father’s life. I was touched that he showed

Most of Michae’ls family wearing Recipi’s Custom Billiard Service T-shirts.

up a few times at my home, and that he embraced my family and our traditions.”

A LIFE’S WORK

Michael took tremendous pride in his work, and so did Laura.

“I used to joke around and say, I’m not single but I’m really not part of a couple either, because Michael was so dedicated,” she says. “He would be out the door by 8 in the morning and there were nights where I would give him dinner and he’d fall asleep at 11 o’clock at night with his dinner sitting on his stomach while he was watching TV. He was so dedicated and worked so hard and long. Six days a week he worked like that.”

His commitment to the highest standards of quality was essential to the success of the many stores to which he lent his expertise and service.

“You can sell as much as you want, but if you don’t have someone at the other end, delivering and setting that table up in the proper manner, you’re done,” Matera says. “And that’s what Michael brought to these businesses. He did so much more than just install,

he knew everything. There were companies calling him about older tables, so many companies. They’d call and ask, ‘Hey Mike, did you ever do this? Did you ever install this kind of table?’ It was amazing.”

And throughout all those years in the billiard business, he made countless friends with people across the nation.

“Everybody knew Michael,” Matera says. “He went to all the BCA trade shows, everybody knew him, everybody knew who he was. He was just so outgoing, he would talk to everybody – we spent hours in each booth, and he just knew how to work it. He was very, very well respected in the industry.You could pretty much ask anybody about him and they’ll know who he is.”

Another thing he loved about attending BCA Expos was getting the chance to meet and catch up with his fellow billiard professionals in person.

“Some of our best pictures were from the trade shows,” Matera says. “We have some great photographs together over the years, especially in Vegas. It seemed every other year, the trade shows went to Vegas, so we went there the most.”

A LIFE TOGETHER

Laura and Michael’s love story started in 1986, when Laura was the manager of a bank in the Philadelphia area. And the tale of how they first met sounds like something out of a charming romantic comedy.

“He was one of those customers that walked into a bank at one minute of closing on Christmas Eve Day – that was my Michael,” Matera says. “He was a cutie, so all my tellers, they absolutely loved him and melted all over him. And that’s how we met – one minute of closing on Christmas Eve Day at my bank.”

Another Christmas memory Laura has of her husband was when she decided to surprise him with the gift of a quality pool cue, and she spent about $300 on one, which she thought was a big deal.

“When Michael opened it for Christmas, he just kind of looked it and said, ‘Ah thanks,’” Matera says. “Little did I know that a really good pool cue will run you a couple of thousand dollars. I was like, ‘Oh, you can use this as your break cue.’”

Kelly “Kels” Carnes won a tournament held in Michael’s honor.

When it is pointed out to Laura that the idea of giving her husband a cue as a Christmas present was a lovely thought, she replies with a laugh, “Yes. It was a naïve, lovely thought on my part.”

REMEMBERING THE MAN

She describes her husband as an incredibly generous man who loved his family and worked tremendously hard. And Philly remained close to his heart, though for some reason, he wasn’t a fan of his home city’s sports teams.

“Michael loved talking sports – and I love Mike – but one thing that bothered me was his hate for the Eagles and other Philadelphia sports teams,” Ibrahim said in his eulogy. “I didn’t let that get to me as I was the first person to call Mike when the Eagles finally won the Super Bowl! We ar-

gued for weeks about the officiating and the outcome of the game.”

Laura has even “challenged” Michael’s friends in the City of Brotherly Love to hold a tournament and top the fundraising accomplishments of Michael’s Florida teammates.

She has so many wonderful and joyous memories of Michael, but the sadness of losing him is inescapable, as she talked about their life in Florida.

“Everybody loved him,” she says. “We’d only been down here for three years and it’s like these people knew him forever.”

There are also reminders. Michael and Laura were in the middle of a massive home construction project, turning their garage into a billiard room while adding a garage and workshop on the back of their property.

“Unfortunately, his pool table is still in pieces, all quilted up in my living room, waiting for him and the room to be finished,” Laura says.

She will miss her husband, of course, as will so many other people, including countless members of the billiard community. And Michael J. Repici will always be remembered for his kindness and dedication.

And now, he will always be remembered for the scholarship that bears his name, and which will encourage the talents of young girls who play the game of pool.

Donations to the Michael J. Repici Memorial Scholarship can be sent directly to: Billiard Education Foundation c/o Billiard Congress of America, 500 Discover Parkway, Suite 125, Superior, CO, 80027. For more information go www.billiardeducation.org

Michael's niece Alyssa Repici; wife Laurea Matera; great-niece and Nicolina Boggi

THE CRAFTSMANSHIP AND ARTISTRY OF J. PECHAUER CUSTOM CUES

By Anthony Stoeckert

It all began with a wager.

In 1961, Jerry Pechauer played a game of pool against a coworker of his at International Harvester Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Jerry worked as a truck mechanic apprentice. Jerry won the match, and his colleague, lacking money, paid off the debt by giving Jerry a cue.

Not a bad deal, you say? Well, consider the fact that the cue was broken and didn’t have a shaft.

Still, Jerry accepted the stick as payment and got to work repairing it.

What he didn’t know at the time was that he was also taking the first steps that led to the establishment of J. Pechauer Custom Cues, which over the decades has earned a reputation as one of the most renowned cue makers around.

“In the process of making that shaft, he tried until he finally got it made,” said Jerry’s son, Joe Pechauer. “Along that point, others asked him to fix their cues, and then it started. From trial and error and researching, he found different materials that he was looking for to make the various parts he wanted to make. Fred Mali helped along the way, and we even drove to New York in our homemade camper/bus to visit Fred and learn more from him. He is the mentor who really helped us, and I will never forget how wonderful of a man he was!”

A SHOP OF THEIR OWN

Jerry repaired and sold cues out of the family’s basement for many years until the 1980s. At that point, he decided to quit his job and join the pool profession full time. He began by selling Playmaster pool tables, a few brands of cues, and making the occasional custom cue.

“At that time, I just turned 16, so after school I installed the pool tables we sold – around 100 per year,” Joe remembers. “As we got more into the cue making, my dad took classes at the local tech school and built some machines as he figured out what he wanted. Those first couple years were mostly about table sales and other brand cues.”

Slowly but surely, more focus was applied to custom cues.

“I started doing more with the cues as we kept growing,” Joe says.

In 1983, the Pechauers bought a CNC machine and a few more lathes, then moved to a new location, which they remodeled to include a showroom, bar, six pool tables, a volleyball court, and a shop in the back.

“I ran the shop in the day and the bar at night,” Joe says. “As the cues got more in demand, we moved more shop space into the bar area until finally we were out of room. Our big expansion was in 1993, when we built our current 15,000-square-foot facility. It’s climate controlled to within 2 percent humidity.”

A HISTORY OF QUALITY

It’s in that space where Joe Pechauer continues to develop his craft, and where he and his staff are hard at work, making cues that reflect the commitment to quality that has earned J. Pehauer Custom Cues its stellar reputation.

“That started with my dad,” Joe says. “Always striving for perfection is really how we started out, and that forced us to do everything that has to do with our process in-house. We don’t contract any work out – every part that goes into our cue we make in-house, from joint screws to the butt plates to the joint collar.”

Joe and Jerry still drive many hours to select logs and talk with loggers in order to find the best birdseye and curly maple available. The beginnings of the cue starts when logs are cut in the shop and dried in their own vacuum kiln.

“The only way that we can ensure the quality of what we do is to kind of be in charge of all those different aspects of the materials,” he says.

A question that comes to mind when talking with Joe Pechauer is, “How long does it take to make a cue?” But because there are so many elements to the work, he is unable to give a specific answer.

“Because of the process, I can’t even put a time frame on it,” Pechauer says. “In between the stages, the cue’s always sitting. If we bought our materials from a supply house and

just assembled the cues, it would be a lot easier to pinpoint that time frame. But because we control 100 percent of the process, there are so many steps involved, you can’t really give an accurate number.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TEAM

Joe took over as president of the company in 2007, while continuing to benefit from the wisdom and counsel of his father. Key to the company’s success is its team of dedicated employees, and when talking about the company and its work, Joe uses the word “we” as opposed to “I.”

“Everybody in the shop, we’re all working together,” Pechauer says. “That’s important, and maybe that’s part of why I have such a great retention of people who have been with us for 20-plus years. That’s reinforced why the quality remains what it is – these dedicated people who have stuck with me and keep helping to make the process better.”

Those people have made the company what it is today.

“I’m blessed to have an amazing team working with me,” Pechauer says. “They’re a second family, for sure. Because of the longevity of our group, we can keep quality standards as our

top priority. Our process has not changed much throughout the years. Every component is made in-house, and I am involved in every step along the way. We make hundreds of cues a year and I hand-sign every custom and Pro Series cue we make. I am always striving to improve my craft.”

THE ART OF CUE MAKING

In addition to being extraordinary cues for playing, J. Pechauer’s cues are stunning in their design and are true works of art. That is one characteristic where the teamwork Pechauer talks about comes into play.

“That’s pretty much a collaboration between myself and a couple of my guys in the shop and the sales team,” he says. “We work together and bounce ideas around, one of us comes up with something, and then someone else adds an idea. When you look at how a cue comes together, it’s taking in the ideas of people, and when you come down to the end of it, we have something pretty amazing.”

STRIVING FOR PERFECTION

Pechauer and his team work on each cue for as long as they possibly can. For example, on the day he did an interview for this story, Pechauer said that work on the new Pro Series line was just getting finished that day, with photos being taken the following day, a timetable that pushed deadlines to their limits.

“The reason is because when we finish up these prototypes, there’s always that one more thing we can do to make it really complete, and that’s what I find myself doing – that next little change you can to make it really a knockout,” he says. “That’s what makes it fun.”

And while there is artistry to his cues, Pechauer says he’s never considered himself an artist.

“I just put together what appeals to me,” Pechauer says. “Starting out early, every time I would make a cue in our retail store, I would set it on the cue rack and within that week, my dad would end up selling it. I never had a cue for long, but it forced me to have to keep making myself a new cue.”

A DEVOTED STAFF

Among his loyal employees is Steve, who was the first person that Jerry hired.

“Steve is my right and left hand,” Pechauer says. “I still remember him coming in late the first few years because he rode his bike to work over 20 miles. The early years were a few mistakes and a lot of learning. I still remember our first trade show and the biggest order we received. It was a big retailer, and we skipped a coat of finish. We got every cue back, redid them, and learned the value of quality no matter what. At the time it was devastating, but in reality, it was the start of ‘quality first.’”

As a testament to the caliber of the work of Pechauer and his team, many of pool’s top players use Pechauer cues.

“From Oliver Ortmann in the early years to Jin Powell today, to every pro and junior player in between,” Joe says when talking about the athletes who compete at the game’s highest levels who use Pechauer cues. “I can’t possibly name all of them, but I will say it has been my absolute honor to get to know these people and their families and call them my friends.”

He also takes pride in sponsoring players from around the world.

“I don’t look to sponsor the No. 1 player, as far as someone who’s going to win first place in tournaments all the time, I look for someone who’s a No. 1 as far as their personality,” Pechauer says. “Just a good all-around person who we enjoy working with and who is of value to the sport. That, to me, is worth more than first-place trophies and big prize amounts.”

LEARNING ON THE JOB

As successful as he’s been, Pechauer has also had to deal with his fair share of challenges.

“The biggest challenge for me started when I became president of the company in 2007,” he says. “At that time, in addition to running the shop, I took on the weight of everything else in the company – marketing, sales, finances, you name it. The COVID problem added the new aspect of,‘Will we be open tomorrow or next month?’ More specifically, ‘Will any of our people get sick? Will the shop have to shut down?’ I never run out of challenges!”

Things have obviously changed over the years – how could they not? And one of the biggest factors has been advances in technology.

“It seems that there is a race to come up with the next best thing,” Pechauer says. “I still believe that if we can make a great, solid-playing cue, we are most of the way there.”

But with all that change, the basics of Pechauer’s craft have remained consistent.

“Our equipment and workshop haven’t changed much,” he explains. “We have to be as efficient as possible to keep prices

down and maintain the highest quality. There really are no fancy machines, just good people!”

BUILDING ON A LEGACY

With its roots dating back 60 years, J. Pechauer Custom Cues is steeped in tradition, but that doesn’t mean the company is stuck in the past. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

“As the sport evolves, we evolve with it,” Pechauer says. “We try to listen to the needs of our players and adjust our products accordingly. For instance, we considered the increasing importance of breaking and safeties in the game and how jumping balls has become more popular. This observation led to the development of break and jump cues. Likewise, due to higher demand for accuracy and the increased competitive nature of the game, we have accommodated the changing field with new low-deflection and carbon shafts.”

Joe Pechauer’s success comes down to a lot of hard work. A typical workday for him begins at 6 a.m. and ends around 3:30 p.m. “The old days were much longer,” he says, adding that the business has been his full-time job pretty much since the day he started driving, and that it’s been non-stop ever since.

When asked how much longer he wants to continue to work, and what he hopes the legacy of J. Pechauer Custom Cues is, Joe says he’s still working on that.

“It’s a passion, but it’s still a job, it’s both, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else,” he says. “I’ve been recharging my brain by getting away a little bit more during the summer, and that’s helped me a lot. That’s something that is difficult to learn when it’s your business and you’ve done it all your life.”

Nothing beats the flavor of wood fire cooking… and no one make it easier than Memphis

Prepare a perfectly seared steak, smoke fall-off-the-bone ribs, bake a wood fire pizza or roast your Thanksgiving turkey all on one grill. With temperature ranges from 180° to 700°, a convection oven system and stainless steel double wall insulation, you can do it all with a Memphis Wood Fire Grill.

New IntelliBurn Technology™

Our new IntelliBurn Technology™ gives you the ability to grill your meals to perfection with precise temperature control. With a secondary combustion system, our new pellet grills produce more heat with less fuel, providing the most efficient and clean burn available in wood fire grilling today. In addition to conserving pellets and extending cooking time per hopper load, our award-winning grills are more convenient than ever before. The Bluetooth Wi-Fi app lets you monitor your cook from the golf course, on the lake or anywhere in the world. 304 stainless steel carts, built-ins and doors/drawers available.

SEE MORE AMAZING FEATURES AT WWW.MEMPHISGRILLS.COM • 1-888-883-2260

JEANETTE LEE “THE BLACK WIDOW” RECOGNIZED WITH BCA PRESIDENT’S AWARD

By BCA Insider Staff

The Billiard Congress of America’s board of directors presented the 2020 BCA President’s Award to Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee.

“I’m extremely honored to receive this prestigious award,” Lee says. “I have always worked hard to be both a serious player and a great role model. To be recognized like this means so much to me. I really hope to continue in this sport and stay deserving of this honor.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lee is one of most recognizable pool players in the world.

In 1993, Lee set out to become the No. 1 player in the world, and did so by winning three WPBA Classic Tour events, the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship and the WPBA Nationals in 1994. Those achievements led her to Player-of-the-Year honors from both Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine

Lee took home seven more ClassicTour titles from 1995-1999, and added two ESPN titles to her resume – the Tournament of Champions and the Ultimate Shootout. In 2001, she won the gold medal at the World Games in Akita, Japan and spent the next few years racking up wins in tournaments such as the WPBA Florida Classic and BCA Open Championship.

“Her early history tells us that she was determined to play at a high level and she never quit even when she had reached that level of play,” says Ivan Lee, BCA’s chairman. “There was always another challenge to face and she would turn toward them and not away from them. Her willingness to take on the challenges and continue to strive for excellence has made her a role model for people in general, not just within the billiard community.”

In addition to her stellar play, Lee is also a great promoter and marketer, and her charisma has helped her create a business empire that has resulted in untold amounts of exposure for both her and the sport.

“You can’t take away that she has performed as a top competitor and holds many titles as a result of her ability,” says Ivan Lee, BCA chairman. “However, I think that Jeanette has brought a real personality to the sport and that personality has energized parts of the sport and actually transcended our sport and touched people who might otherwise not have noticed billiards.”

What makes her accomplishments even more amazing is that she has battled scoliosis, arthritis, bursitis and more, which resulted in Lee undergoing more than a dozen surgical procedures. In 2021, Lee is currently battling stage 4 ovarian cancer that has metastasized throughout her body.

“Here is a pillar of the billiard community who has brought a ton of attention to the sport and has performed at top levels throughout her career and at times through great personal difficulties,” Ivan Lee says. “Faced with the situation that she

finds herself in now, I felt that there was no time to waste in presenting her with a recognition that she definitely deserves.”

Away from the billiard table, Lee’s contributions to the sport have been recognized in her 1998 selection as WPBA Sportsperson of the Year and her ranking as one of the industry’s most powerful people in the bi-annual Billiards Digest Power Poll in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007.

“Jeanette has a gregarious and engaging personality,” Lee says. “She is comfortable speaking in front of groups as well as

engaging in personal discussions. She always has a smile and a quip or a comment or a story about something interesting or relative to the conversation at hand. Definitely a fun person to talk to and never one to shy away from getting involved in whatever is happening around her.”

Lee was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Asian Hall of Fame in 2015.

DR. DAVE ALCIATORE TAKES HOME JERRY BRIESATH INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

Each year, the Professional Billiard Instructors Association (formerly the BCA Instructor program) honors a PBIA instructor who has made exceptional contributions to the goals of the organization with an award named after the legendary Jerry Briesath.

In 2021, Dr. Dave Alciatore was selected as the winner of the prestigious Jerry Briesath Instructor of the Year Award.

“It is a tremendous honor to be included with the list of past award recipients whom I have always respected, especially Jerry Briesath,” Alciatore says. “It also feels great knowing people appreciate and value the work I do.”

Known in the billiard industry as “Dr. Dave,” Alciatore is a retired mechanical

By BCA Insider Staff

engineering professor who worked at Colorado State University from 19912020. His teaching and writing experience helped him develop skills for presenting and illustrating difficult concepts in a concise and understandable way.

After retiring from teaching, Dr. Dave decided to go into billiard instruction full time. Today, he is a PBIA Advanced Instructor and an instructional author.

“The secret to being a good instructor is always being willing to learn and share your enthusiasm with others,” Alciatore says. “It also helps to be a good listener and observer and resist the urge to just tell or show a student what to do. A good instructor instead helps a student discover what to do and how to do it through proper guidance and suggestions.”

He feels the key to his success as a pool instructor is having a strong desire to share his passion and enthusiasm for the sport with others.

Over the years, he has written the book, The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards, created a website (billiards.colostate.edu), started his own YouTube Channel (DrDaveBilliards), and has penned the long-running instructional column in Billiards Digest. He’s also published numerous instructional videos, including the Video Encyclopedia series.

“I think my most important contribution to the sport is the billiards.colostate. edu website, where I have created and compiled a wealth of free resources for people wanting to learn and teach pool,” Alciatore says. “I am also very proud of my 30-degree rule peace sign used to visualize rolling cue ball motion.”

He’s also used social media to get more attention to the sport and help people along the way. For instance, on YouTube, he has more than 9 million views in the past year and his channel has climbed to 200,000 subscribers. Dr.

Dave's favorite catch phrase in social media responses and online videos is, “I aim to swerve.”

“Dave Alciatore has had perhaps the widest impact of any PBIA instructor recently, particularly through social media,” says Bob Jewett, PBIA committee chair. “One recent video in which he presents and explains in detail amazing shots from tournaments has had a million views. He has also contributed greatly to the resources that the PBIA offers its members.”

Currently dean and co-founder of the website, Billiard University, Alciatore was instrumental in developing the BU assessment tools, rating system, and instructional resources at BilliardUniversity.org.

Among his favorite memories are from the time he spent with Jewett and Tom Ross working on the Video Encyclopedia instructional video series.

“I learned a lot from Bob and Tom, and we had lots of fun creating these videos,” Alciatore says. “I have also had lots of fun with Samm Diep and Randy Russell teaching our Billiard University Boot Camps to many great groups of students over the years.”

Dr. Dave offers private lessons and intensive courses through his websites Dr. Dave’s Pool School and the BU Summer School Boot Camps. He is a member of the BCA PBIA Instructor Committee and he took the lead role in improving and expanding the new instructor manual used as a resource for new instructors and instructor training. He has also developed many systems and technique useful in playing, learning, teaching, and evaluating pool.

The PBIA Instructor of the Year Award is given annually to honor exceptional contributions by a PBIA Instructor.

JUNIOR NATIONAL POOLCHAMPIONSHIPS

June 21-25, 2022

South Point Hotel & Convention Center | Las Vegas, NV

It’s never too early to prepare for next year!

THORSTEN HOHMANN ENTERS BCA HALL OF FAME

The Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame has added three-time world champion Thorsten Hohmann to its prestigious club in 2021. The German-born player is the winningest straight-pool player of this generation.

“Like everyone else, I long for validation,” Hohmann says. “Playing and winning tournaments lies to some degree in my own hands. Being accepted into the realm of the greatest our sport has ever produced by fellow peers and pool experts is special and fills my heart with pride.”

Hohmann, in his second year on the ballot, was named on 24 of the 39 submitted ballots. The 42-year-old

“WHEN I STARTED, IT WAS NEVER ABOUT COMPETING OR WINNING.”

By BCA Insider Staff

narrowly edged Philippines star Dennis Orcullo in voting and entered the Greatest Players wing of the BCA Hall of Fame in October.

In addition to Hohmann, the 2021 BCA Hall of Fame Banquet will also feature the formal induction ceremony for women’s world champion Kelly Fisher, who was elected to the Hall in 2020, but no ceremony was held due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Born in Fulda, Germany, Hohmann burst onto the pool scene in 2003 when he defeated Canadian Alex Pagulayan, 17-10, in the final to capture the WPA World Pool 9-Ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales, at the age of 24. It was then he made the decision to move to Jacksonville, Florida to compete on the U.S. professional tour.

For those who know Hohmann’s story, getting to where he did was not easy.

“I was suffering from social anxiety disorder, and taking the leap of faith and moving to America was probably the

most important decision of my life,” he says. “My first World Championship in Cardiff in 2003 will always be my most memorable win.”

Once in America, Hohmann was a force to be reckoned with. He finished second to American Gabe Owen at the 2004 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, then won three major titles in 2005 – the BCA Open 9-Ball Championship, the Sudden-Death 7-Ball crown and the Matchroom-produced World Pool League. A year later, Hohmann earned his second world title, winning the 2006 WPA World Straight Pool Championship.

Hohmann’s biggest-ever win also took place in 2006, when he defeated Filipino Marlon Manalo in the final of the International Pool Tour North American Open 8-Ball Championship to earn the $350,000 top prize.

As an international competitor, Hohmann earned significant titles in Asia, including the 2009 China Open and the 2014 Manny Pacquiao Cup. But Hohmann’s real

dominance was in straight pool, where he won the World Tournament of 14.1 four times (2011, 2013, 2015, 2018), the 2013 Maryland 14.1 Challenge (later renamed the American 14.1 Championship), the 2008 Lucasi 14.1 Championship and the Accu-Stats 14.1 Invitational.

“I’ll never forget walking into the World Cup of Pool Matchroom Arena in Manila/Philippines with my playing partner Ralf Souquet in 2009,” he says. “We were about the face the dream team of Reyes/ Bustamante in the finals and the atmosphere was just electric with thousands of fans screaming and cheering. That moment I felt a big gratitude for playing and representing such an amazing sport.”

He credits growing up in a beautiful environment in Fulda with people that challenged him as helping him to become the star that he is.

“They supported me and guided me, not only to train to be a champion, but also to be a good human being,” Hohmann says. “Then there was the pure love for playing pool and my ability to focus and blend out all other distractions. My discipline and open mind to expand my comfort zone helped me to reach an international level, stay hungry, always learn and never give up.”

When people one day look back through the annals of billiard’s greatest players, he hopes they remember him as somebody who was extremely successful all around as a player, represented his sport in a professional manner and influenced many people to share his passion and develop their game, while helping to grow the sport.

“When I started, it was never about competing or winning,” Hohmann says. “All I wanted to do was play pool. I was fascinated by the game. With all that invested time into practice plus the support of my environment, things just started falling into place.”

ONE-ON-ONE WITH NICK KROLL, OWNER OF VIKING CUES

Each issue, BCA Insider will sit down with one of our members and discuss some of the latest trends and happenings in their billiard business.

For our holiday issue, we sat down with Nick Kroll, the new owner of Viking Cues and one of the BCA’s newest board members.

GETTING INTO THE BILLIARD BIZ

With more than 25 years of manufacturing experience behind him, businessman Nick Kroll acquired Viking Cues last year.

By Keith Loria

“After graduating from college, I went down a manufacturing path and grew through a variety of different businesses, all manufacturing, or in some cases, a hybrid of manufacturing and industrial distribution,” he says. “For the past 20 years, I’ve served as president and CEO for three different family-owned businesses as an outside executive.”

His responsibilities for each was to run and grow their companies, and he found success at every turn.

“I decided I wanted to identify a business of my own to acquire, own and operate, and through some contacts I was introduced to the former owner of Viking Cues,” Kroll says. “Although

he wasn’t actively marketing the business, he was quietly contemplating his future, and we struck up a rapport, put a deal together and closed on that deal on Dec. 23 of 2020.”

Kroll was attracted to the company because it had proprietary products, specialized manufacturing, a strong team of people and its tremendous growth potential.

NEW TO THE SPORT

Although he had played some pool in his life for fun, Kroll was not an expert by any means and entered the billiard business with lots to learn. One thing he re-

Austin Billiards

alized quickly is the value in having a top cue like Viking when playing the game.

“It’s an incredible blend of performance and artisanship,” he says. “All the different shafts and the weight and the fit all come into play, and it’s a real interesting and exciting blend between that artistry and performance.”

This summer, Kroll went to his first billiard event, checking out the BEF Junior Nationals in Las Vegas, with Viking Cues being one of the only manufacturers present.

“I was amazed at the passion, especially from the young people, and the skill of these players,” he says. “Even when the kids weren’t playing, they would spend hours at the table watching. For me, it was heartwarming to see a bunch of young people who weren’t sitting on their phones or sitting in front of an X-Box, and were interacting and enjoying a game of pool.”

EARLY STRATEGY

Once taking over the company, Kroll’s first goal was to try and assimilate with the team.

“It’s a strong group of people who are very passionate about billiards and Viking Cues, and very proud,” he says. “They didn’t ask for an ownership change; it happened upon them, and I wanted to make sure they were comfortable.”

In his first nine months on the job, he’s found everyone to be very accepting and great to work with, and the transition is going smoothly.

“Goal No. 2 is to try and make this as transparent as possible on the customer base,” Kroll says. “That means no disruption of service, to maintain our quality and our delivery, and overall, we’ve been able to accomplish that goal as well.”

Still, like many in the industry, Viking Cues is facing some supply chain

“I’M A BIG BELIEVER IN ACCOUNTABILITY, INTEGRITY AND SERVICE TO EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS, AND OUR COMMUNITY.”

disruption due to the impact of the global pandemic.

“When we make a promise to a supplier or make a promise to a customer, that promise will be fulfilled,” he says. “I’m a big believer in accountability, integrity and service to employees, customers and our community.”

Kroll tries to be a servant leader and be a team player – and showed his commitment by doing tasks like cleaning

A UNIQUE CUE

Viking Cues has long been regarded as a top custom pool cue manufacturer since it first started more than 50 years ago. Every Viking Cue is meticulously handcrafted in the U.S., from the finest materials and subject to the strictest quality control standards in the industry.

“The craftsmanship and the pride that our team puts into the manufacturing of every cue is something that we feel is special,” Kroll says. “We have a lifetime warranty on our product and I think that is emblematic of the fact that we put quality as our No. 1 priority. We want to make sure we put a quality product in the hands of anyone who chooses a Viking cue.”

The inlay material, choice of woods, designs, aging process and sustainable footprint are all part of what makes the product special.

Viking also has a carbon fiber shaft, introduced last year, that is gaining in popularity.

“Demand is incredible and it’s interest-

FUTURE GROWTH

Viking Cues has a number of employees who have been with the company for more than 35 years, and they are invaluable. Still, Kroll would like to see the company become more professionalized with more defined processes, cross training and more workforce flexibility.

“I would like to see us continue to grow and invest in capital equipment,” he says. “We can get more productivity and efficiency. I would love to see our volume grown and in the course of the next couple of years, I would like to see us double our production of high-quality pool cues for the industry.”

One thing’s for certain, Viking Cues is alive and well and its future is very bright.

BILLIARDS: MORE THAN A GAME, IT’S A GAME SHOW

Two months ago, English game show host Tom O’Connor sadly passed. One of the shows he hosted, though it never aired, was Pick Pockets, which paired traditional trivia with snooker and featured top players.

Today, it’s beyond fanciful to imagine a game show dedicated to billiards. Especially in the U.S., no players are household names. Ask most people about the sport, and they’ll stare confusedly at you. To my knowledge, Jeopardy! was the last game show to feature billiards. That was in 2014 with the elementary Pool Shots category.

But while modern game shows have not been kind to billiards, TV game show history tells a more complicat -

By Jason Moss

ed story that echoes the rising and receding popularity of our favorite cue sport.

The first billiard-themed game show was ABC’s Ten-Twenty, which aired in 1959 and lasted approximately 13 weeks. Conceived by billiard evangelist and promoter Frank Oliva, Ten-Twenty was intended to bring pool out of the murky pool halls. Quite the challenge as this was still two years before both the movie The Hustler popularized the sport and the Jansco brothers organized the first Johnston City Hustler Jamborees.

Ten-Twenty pitted top players of the era, such as “Cowboy” Jimmy Moore and Irving “The Deacon” Crane, against one another in games compressed for

30-minute television watching intervals. Though Ten-Twenty was hardly a national success, the fact it ever aired is downright impressive.

The first billiard tie-in that I could find occurred one year earlier, when World Straight Pool Champion Willie Mosconi appeared on To Tell the Truth in 1958. Mosconi subsequently appeared on I’ve Got a Secret (1962) and What’s My Line? (1962), in which celebrity panelists questioned contestants to determine their occupations. Perhaps it was a harbinger of the future that none of the panelists successfully guessed Mosconi’s job.

Other billiard players similarly appeared on these celebrity panel shows,

Proud Sponsors

including a six-year-old Jean Balukas on I’ve Got a Secret in 1966, but the next big step in the billiard-themed medium was Minnesota Fats Hustles the Pros in 1967, followed by the more successful Celebrity Billiards with Minnesota Fats in 1968. Fats, the quintessential showman and impresario, was the perfect host for a game show in which he entertained audiences by playing celebrities for charity. The game show ran for four seasons and starred a who’s-who of the era’s A-listers.

But, by the early ’70s, America’s appetite had waned. Indeed, it took 16 years before another billiard game show appeared. This time it was in the UK, where snooker was truly catching fire, as evidenced by 18 million TV viewers watching the 1985 World Snooker Championship. In 1984, the Stuart Hall-hosted quiz show Pot the Question launched. Contestants were paired up with a snooker player, and the points per question were determined by what the snooker player potted.

Surprisingly, Pot the Question lasted only one season. The aforementioned Pick Pockets was the next attempt to cash in on snooker’s popularity, but that too failed. It took a few more years before the BBC’s Big Break nailed the formula, launching by far the most popular billiard-themed game show, with 222 episodes across 11 seasons.

Hosted by off-color comedian Jim Davidson and former snooker player John Virgo, Big Break paired three contestants with three professional snooker players in a series of rounds that combined trivia and snooker play. Many of the snooker giants of the era – e.g., Dennis Taylor, Jimmy White, Alex Higgins, Willie Thorne, and Allison Fisher –appeared on Big Break.

Back in the U.S., billiards was back in the shadows. The sport had disappeared from game shows, with 2002 being the one outlier. That year, in the “Billiards for Gross Eats” episode of Fear Factor, contestants were given a cue ball to sink four balls in five shots. The missed balls had pictures of the gastronomic horrors they would have to eat. In the “Beat the Shark” episode of Dog Eat Dog, a contestant competed against a billiard professional to sink four balls before he cleared two tables. It didn’t help that the opponent was Dave “The Ginger Wizard” Pearson, who set the Guinness World Record by potting two consecutive racks of 15 pool balls in 82 seconds.

In 2005, what many hoped would provide an industry resurgence proved to be the final nail in the coffin. That game show was Ballbreakers. Executive produced by Mars Callahan, director of Poolhall Junkies, and featuring commentary by Ewa Mataya Laurance, the show consisted of contestants competing in 9-ball for a chance to win $20,000. Intended to be the “coolest pool show ever,” according to its creator, Ballbreakers was an unmitigated disaster, lasting only one season and proving there is no joy watching amateur players compete in 9-ball.

Assuming Jeopardy! emerges from its current PR apocalypse and begins its 38th season, I have a suggestion – or more precisely, an answer – for whomever replaces Mike Richards as executive producer.

This sport, often maligned and portrayed unfairly in popular culture, is overdue for some recognition.

Answer: What is Billiards?

Jason A. Moss is author of “8 Ball on the Silver Screen” (www.billiardsmovies.com), a blog dedicated to the portrayal of billiards in film and television.

Why?

to determine the shape of your tip, lifting the leather fibers without removing the surface of your tip. And the lifetime guaranteed grit means you’ll never have to buy a new one.

The Brad Scuffer. Often imitated. Never duplicated.

FEATURING OUR

Our VBP technology features a patented internal rail system on which weights can be repositioned forward and backward inside the cue. This allows you to fine tune the weight and balance point for ultimate comfort and feel.

Stabilizers on the VBP weight system drastically reduce vibration that is inherent in traditional cues

Adjustable VBP weight bolt provides complete control over the weight and balance point of your cue