Busy Start
Craig Oden, Alex Bradeley, Tournament Director, Jimi Johnson On Memorial Day, May 30, The Broken Rack held its annual open 8-Ball tournament with $150 added to the prize fund. A full field of thirty two players arrived that afternoon to battle it out in a double elimination format (race to 3 winners/race to 2 losers). The field was loaded with great players from all over Northern California. The winner, Craig Oden, went on a tear after losing his third round match to Jimi Johnson; Craig won five matches in a row, prevailing over such players as Billy Palmer and Jeff Gregory, to face Jimi again in the finals. Craig had to beat Jimi twice in the finals to take first place, and he did just that, without losing one game! It was
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The Break - July 2011
a great Memorial Day spent at the Broken Rack! MEMORIAL DAY RESULTS: 1st $300 Craig Oden 2nd $180 Jimi Johnson 3rd $110 Jeff Gregory 4th $70 Billy Palmer 5th/6th $40 Eric Harada and Mike Suhr 7th/8th $25 Jason Williams and Hugo Sanchez Tournament Director: Alex Bradley
CHICO CHAISSON MEMORIAL Many of the same players were back just two weeks later on June 12th for the Chico Chaisson Memorial One Pocket Tournament—a race to two on both sides. Rousseau “Chico” Chaisson, who passed away in December 2010, was a beloved and respected member of The Broken Rack community. Born in 1912 in Louisiana, the youngest of 9 children, he left for New Orleans as a teen. He worked in the kitchens of the great restaurants of that City, gaining skills that were no doubt wasted when he served as a cook in the army during WWII. After the war he migrated to the East Bay where he worked for many years at the Heinz cannery. Billy Palmer remembers Chico as a friend of his father’s who would get off shift and come down to the pool hall to hustle a game. Chico also played infield in the semi-pro Negro baseball league back in the day when some outstanding ball was played at San Pablo Park in Berkeley. Right up to his death, Chico loved to handicap the horses and all the major sports and liked to back up his predictions with cash. He didn’t play much pool in his last years, but he liked to watch and to coach and his mind remained sharp. Chico would have been 90 years old on June 12. The Broken Rack added $300 to the tournament played in his memory. June 20 marked the end of the most recent session of The Broken Rack team 8-Ball league. Sixteen teams divided into two divisions played for 14 weeks with final ranking in many cases coming right down to the wire. The first place team in each division—Those Guys and You’re Buying—took home $840: Top Shooters—Mike Suhr and Eric Ashley—won $100 each. A for fun league, we pay all the way down so every team gets something back from the prize fund. And we always end the session with a payout party with food buffet and a final match giving each team one last chance to win a little money. As usual, a great time was had by all. Our summer session will start July 11. George Michael, Alex Bradley-T
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