MEMORIES OF THE BCA

By Keith Loria

As the Billiard Congress of America celebrates its 75th anniversary, BCA Insider reached out to members to talk about what they love most about the BCA and share their fondest memories. Here are some of the responses.

Skip Nemecek

Tweeten Fibre Co, Chicago, Illinois

For Skip Nemecek, president of Tweeten Fibre Co., the BCA provided him the great opportunity to learn from many successful and dedicated leaders in the billiard industry.

“My years serving on the BCA board saw many changes, including the largest trade shows, moving the national offices, re-writing bylaws, etc., so from a personal standpoint, I grew from all my board colleagues and the BCA staff’s wisdom and experience,” he says. “My fondest memories are when the BCA held the Hall of Fame inductions at the trade show and 50th anniversary celebration.”

Additionally, he notes that the BCA’s involvement in governing the sport both nationally and at a global level is critical to maintaining the sport and elevating the game’s interest and popularity.

“In simple terms, the BCA is the tide that lifts all boats,” Nemecek says. “I also believe involvement with the BCA – the Board of Directors, instructors, junior competitors, etc., gives many people from many perspectives the opportunity to guide and direct the organization and the sport overall. All these positive aspects affect the industry, from increased sales to increased participation.”

He also believes the BCA is an important conduit between the sport, the industry, and the playing public.

“I enjoy seeing the growth of the junior program over the years and I appreciate the annual gathering at the trade show to see long-time friends, new friends, and get the pulse of the industry,” Nemecek says. “The BCA is the industry – it’s the players, the volunteers, the friendships, etc. The founders of the BCA understood what was needed to grow the sport and the industry, and we have the unique luxury of being a fairly small and intimate group that continues 75 years later…I hope there’s another 75 years in the future.”

KIM MORRISON-MURDOCK

International Billiards, Inc., Houston, Texas

While establishing relationships with vendors is the most important thing the BCA has done for International Billiards through the years, Kim Morrison-Murdock notes that being able to see vendors at the trade show and socialize with them helps her know who she can trust to buy from and who she can’t.

“The BCA to me is an organization that I trust to do what will benefit our industry,” she says. “Our industry is very small. Even our large manufacturers and importers are small compared to other industries. So, having everyone in one place at one time – large and small vendors – enables small dealers such as us to enjoy ‘one stop shopping.’”

To Murdock, the BCA has always been a vital part of her life and she has fond memories of the BCA through the years.

“Many of us are third- and fourth-generation billiard store owners and we were raised coming to the BCA when it was with the SGMA, and then when it branched off into its own show,” she says. “When I was very young, I thought Paul Huebler was Santa Claus and Philippe Janssens was my European uncle. We saw how the generations before us worked together, and we had the opportunity to continue those relationships. While there will always be new shiny penny vendors and dealers, I cherish knowing that I’m part of the BCA history.”

Kurt Schmidt

A.E. Schmidt Billiards, St. Louis, Missouri

As a longtime member of the BCA, Kurt Schmidt feels that more than any other organization, the BCA attempts to pull the retailers, manufacturers, and players together.

“It has a long rich history of doing a lot with little resources and helping everyone in the industry in one way or another,” he says, citing the expo, rule book and instructors program as three of the important things it has done for the industry. “The lesser-known indirect benefits are an information resource both for those inside and outside the industry.”

One of his favorite memories of the BCA is the planning that went into the very first trade show.

“Everyone from manufacturers, coin operated, wholesalers, players, and retailers, came together to make this happen,” Schmidt says. “It helped set off an unprecedented era of success for the billiard industry. The lesson for me was, working together makes great things happen.”

The consistency, he notes, has always been there, and that’s what has kept the BCA so vital through the years.

“Though fragile at times, it celebrates a small group of people who have taken this wonderful, wacky game and made it their lives,” he says. “If you doubt that, just check out the BCA Billiard Player Hall of Fame. Without the BCA, none of this would have happened.”

Lynne Cornwall

Encore Billiards & Gameroom, Milford, Connecticut

When Lynne Cornwall of Encore Billiards & Gameroom looks back at her years involved with the BCA, many good times come to mind.

“The BCA was instrumental with giving our industry a community,” she says. “Since our store began in the early 1970s, my dad, Sid Abrams, used to attend the Sporting Goods trade show since we didn’t have a show back then specifically for our billiard industry. The booths he visited back then were just mixed in and very hard to navigate amongst Nike, Everlast, Spalding etc. It was like a little fish in a big ocean.”

So, when the very first BCA show opened, Abrams and his wife Muriel both felt it was sure to become a great source to find new items to fill the store with new merchandise, and they found success with that year after year, finding many new items that customers were interested in.

“I can remember the first time I went with my parents; I was surely one of the youngest to attend, and met the people my parents associated with and did business with on a daily basis,” Cornwall says. “It was great meeting them so I would be in ‘good hands’ in the future as my dad would say. I loved hearing stories and seeing the great camaraderie they all formed. They not only made business connections, but many friendships were formed that we still have today.”

She also used to enjoy watching the pros play and meeting them.

“It was always great to come back into the store and talk about the players with our customers, especially our ‘real’ pool player customers,” Cornwall says. “We have framed autographs we would get of the pro players during the past BCA shows that are still currently hanging on our wall behind our counter, which people still admire.”

Years later, Cornwall would attend the BCA trade show on her own as a buyer on behalf of the store and later with her husband, David, who also joined the family business, with the couple taking over in the early ’90s.

“My husband and I both feel every industry needs a governing body and the BCA is the glue to hold us together in what is such a small industry,” she says. “We’ve been small, big and now small again over the years, and the BCA needs everyone’s support. We need to not branch out but embrace the BCA and make it better and bigger.”

Bob Jewett

Master Instructor, Berkeley, California

For Bob Jewett, the BCA Expo is one of the organization’s finest moments.

“When you can have Eddie Taylor show you how to shoot bank shots, that’s pretty neat,” he says. “One of my favorite parts early on was getting to see the Hall of Famers and the people you only got to see on TV’s Wide World of Sports, and have conversations with them, and even playing them.”

Jewett was able to play Allison Fisher and recorded a winning record against the English legend, though he admits he won on having fewer misses.

“The personal contacts have helped a lot of people,” he says.

Jewett is also a big fan of BCA Insider, the support for the juniors, and of course, the Instructor Training Program, which he has been very much involved in.

“I learned how to play pool when there was no such thing as an instructor, but there was a guy over in San Francisco who had a notebook who would show you a few things, but nothing like real pool instruction,” he says. “I think the instructor program for one-on-one is so supportive.”