An Inspired Event to Honor an Inspirational Legend

By Brad Swain

Iwould like to tell you all about one of my favorite events that I just attended last weekend. The Larry Gayle Memorial Tournament and Juniors for Larry Gayle is a clinic to offer Junior players of all ages and skill levels a chance to play and grow in the sport. Before I talk about either of the events, I’d like to tell you a little about Larry Gayle himself. After all, he is the man that inspired a whole community. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to become acquainted with Larry during my early years and gain knowledge from his teachings and mentorship. Larry played pool for over 50 years, and not only was he a top player in the Southeast, but he also deeply loved the game and its community. He was also known to be quite the talker. It didn’t matter even if Larry was in an important match, and he always had time to chat. He was as friendly of a pool player you’ve ever met!

Larry was a family man who loved his daughter, but he also loved all kids too. Especially the kids that like to play pool. Larry wanted to see pool grow, and he was always vocal about wanting to see more kids learning to play pool. In Larry’s time, most pool halls still allowed smoking and were not kid-friendly. Gayle just wanted to see more kids in the pool halls. He believed that the smoke prevented them from coming in more. I recall him mentioning his desire to encourage more young people to develop a passion for the sport and start learning it early.

The Larry Gayle Memorial tournament and Junior’s for Larry Gayle was held at Qball Beaches at 1226 Beach Blvd in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The owners of Qball Beaches were highly accommodating for the event, and the Qball team worked around the clock all weekend to ensure a smooth and successful weekend despite having just opened a few months ago! They even spent the first day of the Junior’s event hanging a mirror wrap on the front windows to prepare for the event. The Qball team deserves a massive shout-out for helping to create such a magical event!

Creating Tomorrow’s Sharpshooters

One of the most important aspects of keeping the USA relevant in the World pool stage is training and teaching our upcoming players. I’m a huge fan of seeing juniors with the passion and devotion to putting in the work it takes to master the game we all love.

For the second year in a row, Jeremy “Double J” Jones and Joey Gray have taught an outstanding Junior Clinic starting two days before the start of the Memorial tournament. My son Thomas has had the privilege to attend both clinics, and my only complaint is how tough he is to keep up with after the event has ended! Watching the juniors improve leaps and bounds in three days is truly inspiring. It’s unsurprising, considering the Mosconi Cup Captain and Vice-Captain are coaching them.

Double J was kind enough to talk to me after the event. Mr. Jones knew Larry Gayle very well! Jeremy lived in the area briefly in the early 2000s, and he told me that he initially met Larry through another of our local legends, Harley Bryan, who happened to be in attendance this weekend. When I asked Jeremy why he would go through so much trouble to help the local kids each year, he said he knew Larry’s stance on juniors, and he felt it was the perfect way to honor Mr. Gayle. Jeremy said that since he started playing pool at 17, he missed out on playing in the big events for Junior’s but that didn’t stop him from watching and taking inspiration from respectable Junior players of his time, such as Shane McMinn and Michael Coltrain. Jeremy said he had wanted to help attribute to junior players after taking inspiration so many years ago. Jeremy also commented about how he associates the Jacksonville pool scene with its feeling of being a part of a big family spread out amongst several pool halls. Having attended both the clinic and the tournament, I can attest that Marianne Raulerson and the staff of MT Productions (Marianne’s Tournaments) is largely responsible for the magic behind the Larry Gayle Memorial.

On Saturday the 22nd, they held a BEF Jr. Nationals qualifier at Beaches QBall on 7ft Diamond tables in the middle of the room while the Open tournament was played on the 8 ft Diamond around the outer edges of the room. The Junior’s qualifier had some action-packed and dramatic moments, and in the end, Roman Boone and Aidan Rigsby qualified for BEF Junior nationals. Mercedes Supply and the Dunnski Dungeon both provided contributions and sponsored a Junior entry into the event.

The Sharks emerge in Jacksonville Beach July 21-23

The Larry Gayle Memorial Tournament held at Beaches QBall hosted a large field full of monsters. If you’re a fan of top-tier pool, then you would’ve really loved the experience that this event offers! At any given point, it felt like you could look anywhere in the room and be watching a break and run in progress! That’s one of the many reasons that I love attending big events like this. There were so many memorable moments throughout the weekend that I couldn’t possibly name them all. The event really brings out a passion amongst players, and that’s how we really grow the game.

I remember warming up early Saturday morning with a drill that helps me to dial into a table and adjust to its speed when Mike Delawder came up and joined me in rotation. He pulled his cue out completely cold and hit the shot well over 25 times before getting out of line. As he grabbed the cue ball and started to reset the drill, he asks me, “You think I could hit this shot 100 times?” We didn’t have enough time to get to 100, but I bet he could! Next thing you know, Jordan Burden and Dominic Dunn joined us as we all shared tough drills and challenged each other with tough shots and crazy banks. My favorite part about these big events is to see how passionately players can come together. Once again, Josh “the beast” Roberts has snapped the tournament off, managing to best Runner Paul Song twice to take this year’s title. Trenton White took third after playing an incredible tournament! One of my favorite parts of the event was watching Trenton White battle with BJ Ussery. Their first match ran hill-hill, and after Trenton made an unfortunate mistake BJ closed out the set. Their second set also turned into a frantic setting, but Trenton came out on top this time.

Top 24 results

1. Josh Roberts

2. 2. Paul Song

3. Trenton White

4. Lee Heuwagen

5. 5-6. David Grossman

6. 5-6. Shannon Fitch

7. 7-8. Nick Applebee

8. 7-8. BJ Ussery Jr

9. 9-12. Kristian Dimitrov

10. 9-12. Billy Burke

11. 9-12. Jesse Link

12. 9-12. Jeremy Jones

13. 13-16. Adam Poole

14. 13-16. Gregory Pugh

15. 13-16. Jack Smith

16. 13-16. Mike Delawder

17. 17-24. Thomas Swain

18. 17-24. Aidan Rigsby

19. 17-24. Matt Deweesee

20. 17-24. Clayte Davis

21. 17-24. Jason Wells

22. 17-24. Kyle Smith

23. 17-24. Wayne Kelly

24. 17-24. Johnathan Stafford

The best outcome for a nearly tragic accident

Late Friday night, one of our local staples, Tim Bob, who runs the Facebook page The Jacksonville Voice of Pool, was involved in a tragic incident that landed him in the hospital early Saturday morning. While in the hospital, Tim Lee kept the community updated on Facebook, and by Sunday morning, he was back in the commentator’s booth, fulfilling a long-time dream of commentating next to his Commentating idol Jeremy Jones.

A word from Marianne Raulerson from MT Productions

Kat Day the Editor in Chief of SPM Billiards Magazine reached out to Marianne to ask about the event and I cannot express enough how special the Larry Gayle Memorial Tournament is to Marianne.

“This event is more than a tournament, it holds a very special place in my heart. I don’t really know what I would say that could be good enough for Larry. t’s just how I feel. Larry loved pool and he loved teaching kids about life and the game he loved” stated Marianne Raulerson of MT Productions! “