Left to right: Kirk Meckem, Lowell Hegg, Phelps L’Hommedieu, Jack Hoverter, Tony Cardillo, Jay Johnson, Joe Vidmar, Mike Collins
Joseph F. Giammarino
The Pool Players of The Brooke’s Billiards Club (PPB) would like to thank MOD Pizza, 4386 N. Oracle Road, 520-448-5838, for sponsoring our Travel Team. The PPB also thanks Voyager’s Billiards Club (VBC) and Ted Beery for the friendly competition and cordial luncheon at SaddleBrooke One’s RoadRunner Grill after the 8-Ball Team Challenge. Another big thank you goes to Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, PPB’s Travel Team captain, for organizing this event.
On Jan. 17 the VBC’s Travel Team ventured up to SaddleBrooke for an 8-Ball Team Challenge. We were competing on four nine-foot Diamond Pro-Am pool tables for temporary ownership of a traveling bronze plaque. The PPB has had possession of this plaque since Jan. 13, 2023, when the PPB defeated the VBC 27 to 21 at Voyager. Our team was made up of four two-player teams, and Voyager also had four two-player teams. Our teams consisted of Joe “Ball Breaker” Vidmar and Lowell “8-Ball” Hegg, Mike Collins and Phelps “Montana” L’Hommedieu, Jack “Crash” Hoverter and Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, and Kirk Meckem and Jay “Destroyer” Johnson.
The format was simple. Each of our teams would play each of their teams three games of 8-ball, with each game won being worth one point for the winning team. There were a total of 48 points in the match. PPB won the first round 9 to 3. The second round went in favor of the PPB again with an 8 to 4 score. After the second round, the score was 17 for the PPB and 7 for the VBC. The third round saw the PPB and VBC split the points at 6 to 6. Going into the fourth and final round, the score was 23 to 13 in favor of the PPB. The final round found the PPB needing to win only one game to tie at 24 all and the right to keep the traveling bronze plaque on their wall in SaddleBrooke. The PPB did better than that! The fourth-round score was the PPB 5 and Voyager 7. The final score was 28 to 20 in favor of the PPB. The PPB will mount the traveling bronze plaque back up on our wall in the Catalina Recreation Center!
This event was the continuation of a friendly rivalry with the Voyager’s Billiards Club. SaddleBrooke is proud of their team, and they thank Voyager for visiting us and competing in this Travel Team match.
The MOD Pizza sponsor’s gift went to the best record of 9 wins and 3 losses to Joe “Ball Breaker” Vidmar and Lowell “8-Ball” Hegg.
Special note: We welcome Jay “Destroyer” Johnson and Kirk Meckem who are new to our club. This was their first Travel Team match.