Left to right: Mike “The Lip” Collins (bronze medal) and Tony “The Snake” Cardillo (gold medal)
Joe Giammarino
Tucson Parks and Recreation and Pain Institute of Southern Arizona presented the 41st Annual Senior Olympic Festival. This festival is a celebration to promote fitness, health, and an active lifestyle among adults 50 years of age and older. Events include volleyball, billiards, bowling, bridge, racquetball, basketball shoot, pickleball, archery, golf, tennis, horseshoes, badminton, and so much more.
On Jan. 20 and 21 the 8-Ball competition took place at Pockets Billiards in Tucson. All matches were two out of three. The Pool Players of The Brooke Billiards Club (PPB) had six members competing: Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, Joe “Ball Breaker” Vidmar, Phelps “Montana” L’Hommedieu, Dominic “The Doctor” Borland, Mike “The Lip” Collins, and Dick “Pocket Blocker” Dunbar. We ended up with two PPB members winning medals.
Mike “The Lip” Collins won a bronze medal in the 65–69 age bracket against 15 other cueists. He accomplished this by winning his first match, losing his second, and winning the next four before being knocked out of the tournament by losing his seventh match.
Tony “The Snake” Cardillo was in the 70-74 age bracket and took home the gold medal against many other cueists the hard way. He lost his first match. He then proceeded to get into stroke by winning eight matches in a row to take the gold.
Congrats to all our PPB participants and especially our gold medal winner Tony “The Snake” Cardillo!