My partner, Tom Elder, and myself, Tom Gearhart, have reluctantly decided to pull the plug on Toledo's Glass City Open. Although record crowds packed the seats every night, it still wasn't enough for this great tournament to break even. Simply put, without serious sponsorship, the Glass City Open costs much more to put on than we were able to take in.
We want to thank Diamond Billiard Product's Greg Sullivan and Chad Scharlow for their sponsorship and financial support; Scott Smith for the superb tournament direction he provided and all the laughs he gave us and the crowds for the last four years; Fred Bollinger, Scott's assistant, who has tirelessly worked every Glass City Open since Larry Kahan started them in the Mid-Eighties, Rob Sykora from Billiard Club Network and Pat Fleming from AccuStats for making our dreams come true by televising the event for the whole world to see; a special thanks to our friends Johnny Archer, Nick Varner, Buddy Hall, Jim Rempe, Earl Strickland, Steve McAninch, Tommy Kennedy, Keith McCready and Jennie Malloy who helped us get the word out among the other pro players to play in our event; all the other pro players who included the Glass City Open on their tour stop, all the amateur players with dreams of playing their favorite pool stars...and beating them!, Diana Hoppe who captured some wonderful moments...frozen in time... with her camera, our friends, vendors, and especially the volunteers who made the Glass City Open one of the best tournaments in the country.
We also thank AZ Billiards for reporting the event as it played out for all our internet friends. A great thanks to the beautiful Clarion Hotel Westgate for hosting our event and we also want to thank Billiards Digest, Inside Pool, Pool & Billiards, The National Billiard News, Inside English and all the billiard publications who took the time to come and report on the action. I also want to thank my partner, Tom Elder, and my wife, Becky, who worked from opening to close each and every day of the event without complaint.
But most of all I want to thank you, the fans, for supporting our event. By necessity, we probably had the highest prices in the country to watch professional pool but you didn't blink an eye and understood that the high prices were what it took to bring the best players in the world to Toledo, Ohio. I, and all the others who have attended a Glass City Open, will always recall the superb playing, great match-ups, unbelievable shot-making, the approachability of the great players for autographs and conversation, bellying up to the bar and listening to the never-ending tales of stories while on the road, plus...who will ever forget all the entertaining bark-fests between top players and amateurs alike trying to get in action morning, noon, and night? Folks, you can't put a price on those kind of memories! Again, thanks to all who made this tournament possible.
