Ken Crossman, one of our outstanding volunteer umpires (photo by King Mitchell)
Joe Giammarino
The Pool Players of The Brooke’s Billiards Club (PPB) would like to thank Voyager’s Billiard Club, Ted Beery, and Voyager’s billiard team for their cue skills, camaraderie, friendly competition, and a cordial luncheon at Fat Willy’s Clubhouse after the 8-Ball Challenge. Another big thank you goes out to Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, PPB’s Travel Team captain, for organizing this event. On Jan. 13 the PPB’s Travel Team ventured over to Voyager for an 8-Ball Team Challenge. We were competing on four 9-foot Olhausen pool tables for temporary ownership of a traveling bronze plaque. Voyager has had possession of the plaque since Jan. 8, 2022, when they defeated the PPB 26-22 in SaddleBrooke.
Our team was made up of four two-player teams, and Voyager also had four two-player teams. Our teams consisted of Fred “The Baker” Dianda and Lowell “8-Ball” Hegg, Dominic “The Doctor” Borland and Phelps “Frnchfye” L’Hommedieu, Dave Parker and Joe “Ball Breaker” Vidmar, and Tony “The Snake” Cardillo and Jack “Crash” Hoverter. The format was simple and interesting. Each of our teams would play each of their teams three games of 8-Ball with each game won being one point for the winning team. There were a total of 48 points in the match. PPB won the first round at 8 to 4. The second round also went in favor of the PPB with an 8 to 4 score again. After the second round, the PPB was on top 16 to 8. The third round saw the PPB continue expanding their lead with a score of 7 to 5 in favor of the PPB. Going into the fourth and final round, the PPB was up by a score of 23 to 13. The final round found the PPB only needing to win two games to win the right to take the bronze plaque back to SaddleBrooke with them. The PPB did it! The fourth round score was the PPB 4 and Voyager 8. The final score was 27 to 21, and the PPB mounted the bronze plaque up on our wall!
This event was the continuation of a friendly rivalry with Voyager. SaddleBrooke is proud of their team, and they thank Voyager for hosting us and competing in this Travel Team match.