National team pool tourney set
All systems are "Go" for the first
nationwide team pool tournament
which is scheduled for May 31
through June 2 in Rochester ,
Minnesota ; and already operators in
Minn esota ,
Wisconsin ,
Florida ,
North and South Dakota , Colorado ,
Iowa , and Illinois have expressed a
desire to participate .
What appears to make this
national tournament so attractive is
that it does not require coi n operators
to list their pool table locations .
The tournament , the All-Ameri-
can Championships , which will be
conducted by the Billiard Congress of
America (BCA) , will bring together
all-star and championship teams
from operator-run pool leagues
across the country .
D&R Star of Rochester , Minne-
sota , an operating firm which has
been running pool leagues for several
years , will supply the referees for the
national championships .
According to D&R's Bill Nemgar,
the planned BCA tournament has
been designed with operators in
mind . "Any operator can get into it
and get his league sanctioned by the
BCA ,' said Nemgar. "All the BCA
wants is a roster of the teams that
make it to the finals . The operators
don 't have to divulge locations ."
The tournament scheme is, in fact ,
being kept quite simple : the league
committee will be dealing with only
one tournament official from each
league, and the communications
between the BCA and that league
will go through this individual.
Except for teams playing in the
championships in Rochester , the
leagues need not reveal the names
and addresses of their members to
the BCA .
BCA president , Paul Luchessi ,
said the tournament guidelines
would "leave it up to the individual
leagues to determine which men and
women will represent the league at
the championships ." The only quali-
fication , he said , is that all the
contestants in the final competition
must have played in at least 51
percent of the normal league season .
The championship competition in
Rochester will be double elimination
and will be based on an innovative
point system which will award three
pOints for winning a game of
eight-ball and an additional point for
each opponent's ball still on the table .
Each member on the team will playa
three-game match against a competi-
tor , and the team accruing the most
points in the fifteen -game series
PLAY METER , September, 1978
Three key figures in the deuelopment of the new All-American 8-Ball
League Championships are Jerry Leeper, Clinton, Iowa : Sarah Raney ,
Tulsa , Oklahoma ; and Bill Nemgar, Rochester, Minnesota . Representing
tauern owners, billiard league officials, and operators respectiuely , they
drew up the tournament plans for the BCA and Valley Company , which
are co-sponsoring the euent.
(there will be five players per team)
wins the match .
Notably , the championships will
not be played for cash , but rather for
prizes and trophies . Each player on
the men 's and women 's champion-
ship teams will receive a trip for two
(destination still to be determined) ,
which will include transportation ,
housing , and funds to defray the cost
of food and entertainment.
As for how the individual leagues
will be run , this is being left up to
each operator. But if they choose to
use the same point system which will
be in effect at the finals in Rochester ,
operators could conceivably have
one of two ways of ranking teams in
their weekly standings : either by
won -lost records or by total pOints.
Lucchesi emphasized the free
hand operators would have in
running their own leagues when he
said , "Since the championships
follow the fall and winter season , the
leagues can select their teams by
individual points , winning teams ,
special playoffs , or whatever." He
added that one team will be invited
for every 1 ,000 players (or fraction
thereof) in each league .
The minimum participation fee
has been set at two dollars per
player . [n addition , players will pay
for the games with their quarters . To
take part in the championship
competition , a league must generate
at least $700 in fees to qualify ,
though BCA officials have left the
door open for a smaller fee
requirement for the
women's
leagues , which may not draw as
many participants.
The advantages of an operator
running pool leagues , says Nemgar,
are twofold : 1. It increases table
collection-Nemgar reports that with
D&R Star for instance , pool league
promotions have created a significant
increase in table collections and that
this increase has been accomplished
without any added costs . 2 . It creates
a closer bond between the operator
and his locations - Nemgar reports
also that the pool leagues create
added business for the locations and
that this in turn creates feelings of
good will and loyalty in location
owners . This , obviously , discourages
location owners from readily switch-
ing their operator allegiances and
from buying their own tables.
Valley Company , the co-sponsor
of the event along with BCA , will be
supplying the tables for the finals
competition and will also award a
pool table as a door prize at the
finals . [n addition, other BCA
manufacturers are also expected to
donate items to the league cham-
pionships .
For further information , operators
should contact Bob Goodwin , Bil-
liard Congress of America , 717 N.
Michigan Avenue , Chicago , Illinois
60611 , or telephone 312-944-0246 .
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