ONE ON ONE WITH BILLIARDS DI GEST PUBLISHER MIKE PANOZZO

By Keith Loria

Billiards Digest is known throughout the billiard industry as the go-to full-color, glossy magazine covering every aspect of billiards worldwide.

The publication’s content includes some of the top instructional columns anywhere (with such high-caliber names as pool legends Mike Sigel and Nick Varner), professional and amateur coverage, industry news, personality profiles, billiards history, plus unique, innovative and highly informative billiard articles.

A Little History

Billiards Digest first published in 1978 with Jim Rempe as the magazine’s first cover subject. A bi-monthly at the time, when the magazine hit its 20th anniversary in 1998, owners Luby Publishing transformed it to a monthly offering.

In 1980, Luby hired Mike Panozzo to be the magazine’s editor, and over the years, he would grow, improve and strengthen the magazine to its present high-class status and become an influential voice in the billiard world.

In 1994, Panozzo and business manager Keith Hamilton acquired the company, becoming the company’s publisher and president, respectively.

“I think it’s important to the industry to have an independent voice and something that goes deeper than 500 words on a website or social media,” Panozzo says. “I think it’s important for people outside the industry to see that there’s something like that that exists. There’s a place for real story telling, and whether that remains in print or more goes to a digital platform, we’ll have to see.”

Through The Years

Through Panozzo’s vision for the publication, it became well respected and told interesting stories and introduced players and those in the billiard industry to a broader audience.

“We held the industry’s feet to the fire when it needed to be and offered our opinions and opinions from others,” he says.

Although there is an online presence of Billiards Digest today, it’s not that impactful, as the publication hasn’t ever put issues online as a flipbook.

“I never thought that was the way people read, so I am not going to go digital until I can find a platform that is contemporary and functional, one that today’s younger audience relates to. I know they convey things differently, and flipbooks just don’t do it, and looking at PDFs doesn’t do it.” Panozzo says.

He knows that the billiard demographic skews a bit older and a lot of the things that have kept the print magazine relevant is the old traditional values and ideas that have always been associated with the publication.

“We’ve proven over the years that we’re someone worth listening to and someone worth reading,” Panozzo says. “We’ve maintained our independence and are not afraid to take on hot topics and challenge people and even the BCA. And to be able to do that for 40plus years and still have respect around the industry, means we’ve been able to challenge people and not burn bridges. We could educate people without overly being too much of a cheerleader.”

Panozzo has found the fine line of doing that, and Billiards Digest has been able to straddle that line really well.

Impact On Hall Of Fame

One of the most notable things Billiards Digest has done through the years relates to the BCA, as it’s helped with the development of the Hall of Fame.

“That’s always been a big part of the BCA, and it’s also very important,” Panozzo says. “There’s something in the BCA Hall of Fame that gives credibility to the whole industry. The sport has been around with these great players and people for over a hundred years.”

Billiards Digest started the Billiards Media Association and part of the reason for doing that was to bring billiard writers to the attention of the tournaments and promoters for the better of the industry. But that also helped create a traditional voting structure for the Hall of Fame.

How it started: How it’s going:

“In the early years, BCA would do it by board vote, but then they ended up switching it to everyone who was a voting member of the BCA had a vote, which got to be hundreds of people who were members but didn’t make anything that was a billiard product and didn’t know anything about the Hall of Fame,” Panozzo says. “We took over the voting and did it like the baseball Hall of Fame did, with our media members. I’ve been really proud of that.”

Columns And Features

Each month in the magazine, international billiard icon Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee answers readers’ questions about life, love, and everything else that happens in the pool hall. For instance, in April, someone asked her how to improve their mental game and Lee offered her typical insightful answer.

“Like every part of your game, the mental game takes practice,” she wrote. “You just can’t will yourself to stay focused. Learn to stay in the moment, even when you’re practicing. Always be ready.You have to want to make the ball more than you are afraid of missing it.”

Consulting Editor George Fels, who has been writing for Billiards Digest since 1980, does a monthly “Tips & Shafts” column, providing great info and news.

Then there’s Billiards Digest House Pro, written by Tony Robles, a longtime teaching pro at Amsterdam Billiards Club in New York City, which provides great tips on instruction. Other notable names write instruction content every issue as well.

The magazine also offers an updated events calendar, a schedule of any TV events and plenty more.

Looking Ahead

While he hopes to continue the monthly print format, Panozzo knows that digital has taken over a lot of publications over the years, and he’s going to fight to keep it in its original format as best he can.

“Hopefully it will stick around for a long time,” he says. “It has a lot of history and I think it’s just important for the entire industry.”

To learn more about Billiards Digest, visit www.billiardsdigest.com.