(l to r): Chuck Thomas (owner, John Wayne’s Pub) & Shane McMinn
Ten years ago, when Shane McMinn was in the midst of what was his best (recorded) earnings year at the tables, he won three events; two stops on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, including the 5th Annual Bobby Wells Memorial and the Oklahoma State 8-Ball Championships. He finished among the top four in 11 of the 13 tournaments in which he cashed that year. The bulk of his recorded earnings that year came from a runner-up finish in a Midwest 9-Ball Tour Ring Game.
Throughout most of his career, which began (according to records here at AZ) in 1999, the bulk of his winnings came as a member of the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, in which, since that time, he has cashed in over 35 events. Since 2015, though, he’s only cashed in one stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour (July, 2016; he finished in the tie for 5th), as his ‘reach’ has extended to events like (among others) the Texas Open 10-Ball Championship (runner-up in February last year), the Derby City and Music City Classics, the Space City Open, and the US Bar Box 9-Ball Championships in August, 2016, when he was runner-up to Justin Bergman.
McMinn and Bergman met up again this past weekend (March 31-April 1) in another final; this time, at the 38th Annual Midwest Bar Table Classic, where, in the end, McMinn survived to go undefeated and capture the event title. The $5,000-added event drew a full field of 128 entrants to John Wayne’s Pub in Indianapolis, IN.
McMinn and Bergman played twice in this one. They first met in a winners’ side semifinal, while Shane Winters and Louis Demarco met up in the other one. McMinn downed Bergman 9-7 and in the hot seat match, met up with Winters, who’d sent DeMarco to the loss side 9-5. McMinn grabbed the hot seat 9-6 over Winters, and waited for Bergman to complete his three-match, loss-side trek back to the finals.
On the loss side, a lot of familiar Midwest (and elsewhere) faces lurked for a shot at this title, including, but not restricted to competitors like Alex Olinger, Ike Runnels, Dave Grau, and Molly Bontrager. While each of those four cashed in the event, none of them made it past the four-way tie for 13th. Among the event’s final 12, however, were (among others) Dennis Hatch, Shannon Murphy, and Jason Klatt. Bergman came over from the winners’ side final four, and drew Hatch, who’d eliminated Murphy 7-4 and Klatt, double hill, to reach him. DeMarco picked up Josh Franklin, who’d just finished winning two straight double hill matches against Taylor Anderson and DaWayne Pearson.
By identical 7-5 scores, Bergman and DeMarco advanced to the quarterfinals over Hatch and Franklin. Bergman earned himself a second shot at McMinn with two more 7-5 victories; over DeMarco in the quarterfinals, and Winters, in the semifinals. McMinn, though, was not to be denied. He took the opening (and only) set of a true double elimination final to claim the event title.
Tour director John Klotz thanked John Wayne’s Pub’s owner, Chuck Thomas and his staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Bob Meucci and Chris Lawson of Muecci Cues, Accu-Rack, Simonis Cloth, Diamond Tables, and CueStix.com.
The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) presented its 27th Annual Junior National 9-Ball Championships August 4-7, 2015. 130 billiard student-athletes represented 31 states at the South Point Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada for this year’s event which took place in conjunction with the 2015 BCA Billiard & Home Leisure Expo.
Of the 54 competitors, this year’s title of 18 & Under Boys Champion went to California Jr. State 9-Ball Champion Chris Robinson of Ventura, CA. The arena exploded as he pocketed the winning 9 ball in the finals against Atlantic Challenge Cup U.S. team member Josh Franklin from Creve Coeur, IL. Robinson came from the one-loss side after losing his third match against former World Junior U.S. team member, Manny Perez from Kansas. Newcomers Nick Kline from Prescott Valley, AZ and Zach Gurganus of Marietta, GA both made a huge splash and all four boys will be representing the U.S. at the upcoming WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships.
In the 18 & Under Girls division, 15-year-old April Larson went undefeated to continue her reign as girls champion. Minnesota’s star won 9-6 in a single-set finals against 15-year-old Emily Herpel from Freehold, NY. Third and fourth place went to junior nationals first-timers Amber Jackson of South Carolina and Hannah Hohn of South Dakota. All four ladies will be invited to represent the U.S. at the upcoming world championships.
From the field of 46 14 & Under Boys, 12-year-old Nathan Childress of North Chesterfield, VA returned with his sights set high after last year’s third place finish. With proud mom and coach present, the VA junior state champion played a near perfect set against IL & PA junior state champion, 13-year-old Kaiden Hunkins of Waukesha, WI. Both boys will also be invited to be a part of team U.S. at the upcoming world championships. Connecticut’s Lukas Fracasso-Verner and Daniel Sardoncillo of Washington both had notable third and fourth place finishes.
The 14 & Under Girls division went to 12-year-old Ashley Fullerton of Lake Park, MN but not without a fight. 12-year-old Tatum Cutting from Diamond, OH was down 8-1 in the finals ultimately losing the set 9-6 but she never gave up. Massachusetts’ players Vivian Liu (first-timer) and Keila Perez finished third and fourth respectively. Fullerton will be representing the U.S. at the upcoming world junior championships.
Interestingly, all the finals finished with a score of 9-6.
* Earned entry into 2015 WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships
Newly implemented this year was the Sportsmanship Award presented by Lindenwood University. Players, spectators and staff all voted for players they believed showed remarkable sportsmanship during their matches. This year’s recipients were:
18 & Under Boys Division
Nick Kline, 17 (Prescott Valley, AZ)
18 & Under Girls Division
Serena Black, 17 (Warrensburg, IL)
14 & Under Boys Division
Nathan Childress, 12 (North Chesterfield, VA)
14 & Under Girls Division
April Czarnecki, 14 (Urbandale, IA)
The winners from each of the four age divisions (18 & Under Boys, 18 & Under Girls, 14 & Under Boys and 14 & Under Girls) received academic scholarships, custom engraved trophies and sponsored prize packages valued at nearly $2,000. Along with their victories, they also earned an opportunity to represent Team U.S.A. at the upcoming 2015 WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships in Shanghai, China in November. The top four finishers also received trophies and prize packages.
Polo shirt sponsors: CueStix International & Presidential Billiards
Good bag sponsors: Kamui, Billiards Digest, Pool & Billiard, Professor Q-Ball, Tweeten Fibre, Aramith, OB Cues, Pechauer Custom Cues, PoolDawg.com, Simonis, CSI, Specialty Incentives, Downtown LV Visitors Center and LV Visitor’s Authority
Winners’ Prize Sponsors include: Predator Group, Worldwise Imports, Dr. Dave, Bullseye Billiards, Ricky Bryant & Omega Billiards, Pool Hall Plushies and Championship
Premier Sponsors of the 2015 Junior National 9-Ball Championships: Iwan Simonis, Inc, Billiard Congress of America, Diamond Billiard Products and Aramith
Official Media Sponsors: AzBilliards.com, Billiards Digest, InsidePool, Pool&Billiard, Professor Q-Ball and, NYCGrind.com
Links to online brackets can be found at http://billiardeducation.org/2015-jnc-updates/ courtesy of Bad Boys Billiard Productions. Live stream (courtesy of Rail2Rail.tv) and live scoring (courtesy of ScoreSaloon.com) were also available at that link.
40 billiard student-athletes with GPAs of 3.5 or higher were recognized at the event’s banquet as this year’s BEF Academic All-Americans. Banquet guests were also treated with special guest speakers “Dr. Cue” Tom Rossman and Hall-of-Famer Allison Fisher.
Also new this year was the new Kamui Quest for Excellence award given to eight recipients this year with a 4.0 GPA. These outstanding student athletes were each presented with a custom Kamui award along with a sponsorship package from Kamui. This year’s recipients were: Serena Black, Joey Bourgeois, Jr., Michelle Jiang, April Larson, Vivian Liu, Andy Poutry, Katlin Schilling and Evan Swett.
Great appreciation go to the event staff and volunteers who have made this a first class event year after year: longtime tournament director Earl Munson, tournament & event assistant Tammy Jo Leonard and her husband Mel, longtime National Head Referee Rick Doner and National Referee John Taylor, Gina Sinlao, Irene Bautista, “Dr. Cue” Tom Rossman, Allison Fisher, Marc Vidal, and Jerry Tarantola for creating the special banquet video. Special Thanks also goes to Jason Secor and Ross Smith. And and extra SPECIAL THANKS goes to Tim Chin for all his amazing support before and during the entire event.
Any young players interested in participating in next year’s BEF Junior National 9-Ball Championships or State Championships should visit the BEF website at BilliardEducation.org or call the office at (303) 926-1039.
The 2015 Illinois Junior State 9-Ball Championships kicked off on May 23rd at Racks on the Rocks in Peoria, Illinois with a field of 22 players and tournament operator KJ Williams of CueSport Billiard Academy. The largest field was the 18 & Under Boys. The 18 & Under Girls only had 3 entrants, therefore we ran a round-robin tournament with them and also allowed them to buy into and participate in the 18 & Under Boys double elimination bracket. All 3 girls bought their way into both events and definitely got the most bang for their buck all day and night. The 14 & Under Boys division had 4 players in a double elimination bracket. The 14 & Under Girls had 3 players ready to rumble in which were also put into a round-robin tournament format.
Gold trophy + $50 scholarship + State Title certificate + $40 tourney winnings
2nd Place
Tyler Howell, age17
Davenport, IA
Silver trophy + $25 tourney winnings
3rd Place
Timmy Bly, age16
Decatur, IL
Bronze medal + $10 tourney winnings + Paid entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
Colton Adams, age16
Cerro Gordo, IL
Invitation to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
Zachery Johnson, age 16
Mount Zion, IL
Invitation to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
18 & Under Girls Division
1st Place
Kindra Hurlbert, age18
Northfield, MN
Gold trophy + $50 scholarship + State Title certificate + $10 tourney winnings + Paid entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
2nd Place
Serena Black, age 16
Decatur, IL
Silver trophy + $5 tourney winnings
3rd Place
Katelin Ballou, age15
Granite City, IL
Bronze medal
14 & Under Boys Division
1st Place
Brandon Roady, age13
Alton, IL
Gold trophy + $45 scholarship + State Title certificate + $15 tourney winnings + Paid entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
2nd Place
Joshua Goodknight, age 13
Davenport, IA
Silver trophy + $5 tourney winnings + Invitation to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
3rd Place
JJ Kogel, age 9
Decatur, IL
Bronze medal + Invitation to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
14 & Under Girls Division
1st Place
Christian Kogel, age 13
Decatur, IL
Gold trophy + $45 scholarship + State Title certificate + $10 tourney winnings + Paid entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls
2nd Place
Jaylen Hentz, age 9
Peoria, IL
Silver trophy + $5 tourney winnings
3rd Place
Pia Schoenbein, age 8
Deer Creek, IL
Bronze medal
The 14 & Under Boys saw Josh Goodknight face off against JJ Kogel, where Josh sent JJ to the left-side. The other half had Brandon Roady battling against Asher Franklin, in which Brandon won and sent Asher to the one loss side. On the left one loss side we had JJ and Asher go back and forth to see who would be going home and ultimately JJ took the match to eliminate Asher from the tournament. Josh and Brandon fought it out in the winner’s side final to see Brandon take the hot seat and wait patiently for his opponent in the final match. Josh then went back to the west side of the bracket on the one loss side to match up with JJ for the 2nd elimination bout. Josh took out JJ and earned another chance at Brandon in the finals. JJ finished the tournament with a beautiful Bronze Medal for 3 place. The final match of the 14 & Under Boys was intense with some excellent runs and strategic safeties and a few rolls back and forth, the in the end Brandon sank the final 9 ball to win the Gold Cup, IL State Title and courtesy shake hands with Josh on an excellent 2nd place Silver Cup finish. Brandon also won a $50 BEF college scholarship and a paid entry in to the 2015 BEF Junior Nationals in Las Vegas during August 4-7th, 2015.
The 14 & Under Girls round robin tournament had each girl playing one another twice and earning 1 point for every game they won to be accumulated at the end for final results of 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. After 6 hard fought matches back and forth with every girl winning some matches, Christian Kogel came out with the highest score of 24 points and total games won to take home the Gold Cup and State Championship! Jaylen Hentz placed 2nd and won the Silver Cup with 14 total points and games won. The energetic Pia Schoenbein came in at a very close 3rd place earning herself a shiny Bronze Medal with 12 points and games won. Pia then went on to perform some trick shots setup for her by Master instructor KJ Williams for all of the parents and kids to see. Christian also won herself a paid entry into the 2015 BEF Junior Nationals and $50 scholarship. Jaylen and Pia didn’t receive a paid entry, but they both received official invitations to BEF Junior Nationals as well!
The 18 and Under Girls round robin was very intense with all 3 girls playing one another twice and having some really tough matches. Katelin Ballou and Kindra Hurlbert started off with a really tight hill-hill race to 7 with Kindra sinking the final 9 ball to win 7-6 and serve Katelin her first loss. Katelin played very well, but missed a few 9 balls and completed her run in a hard fought 3rd place Bronze Medal finish! Serena Black also played well winning 2 of her 3 races including the final race between her and Kindra. The only problem was Kindra went into the final match with a score of 21 and Serena had 19 with a race to 7 yet to go. Then the nearly impossible happened when Serena won by exactly 2 games with her 7-5 victory over Kindra and this brought both of their cumulative scores to a dead even 26 points! So, we then had to play a sudden-death tie breaker race to 3 to see who takes home the Gold! This set was all you could ask for in a final set, let alone it being a tie breaker as each girl played well and also traded back and forth some missed opportunities they would’ve made with their eyes closed had there been less pressure. All the while this match is being played on the Live Stream TV table for everyone in the world to see and they both had plenty of friends and family sweating their match both in person and back home! Kindra started out looking like she was going to sweet Serena as she jumped ahead 2-0 going to 3, but then Serena dug deep and showed some real heart while clawing her way back to a dead even hill-hill score of 2-2. The final game was tough as each girl played the layout differently than they had intended, which definitely increased the difficulty and caused shots to be passed back and forth for almost 10 minutes. Finally, the smoke cleared and Kindra managed to run the final few balls to win by a single game in the end with a score of 29 to Serena’s 28. Kindra overcame her 2nd place finish in Indiana with a 1st place title of the BEF 2015 Illinois Junior State 9-Ball Champion! Serena Black had previously finished 1st when she won the Missouri State 18 & Under Girls title only 1 month prior. Kindra finished off the day with a 1st place Gold Cup, $50 BEF scholarship to put towards her schooling at the University of Evansville, Indiana and of course a paid entry to the BEF Junior Nationals. Serena took home a very nice Silver Cup for her 2nd place finish and well fought match of the ages with Kindra!
The 18 & Under Boys event was also an open division in which all 3 of 18 & Under girls also entered to bring the total to a nearly full field of 15 players in a 16 player bracket. There were so many talented young men in the field competing from 5 different states total. Tyler Howell bested Justin Swank to play the winner of Timmy Bly in his match defeating Douglas Tuttle both from the same hometown of Decatur, Illinois. Zach Lafferty then made it past Katelin Ballou to play Mario Mendoza after Mario squeaked by Zach Johnson. Chase Wright fought back and forth to send Colton Adams to the one loss side and play another hometown local of Ian Lucera after Ian sent Serena to the left side of the bracket. At the end of the 1st round, we saw 2 more local Peoria players go head to head with Josh Franklin getting the win over CJ Majors. Kindra Hurlbert drew the only lucky spot in the first round of a Bye and advanced to round 2 without ever having to shoot a ball. It’s always funny when these players travel to great length to meet up in the 1st round with players from their very own hometown that they probably see every other weekend. Tyler Howell and Josh Franklin were the last 2 on the winner side when all of the smoke cleared and patiently waited to play the hot seat match while the rest of the players on the one loss side of the bracket duked it out to stay in the tournament and stave off elimination. Kindra Hurlbert let Zach Lafferty squeak by again with an astonishing 4 hanging 9 balls to finish 5-6th and also as the highest placing female. Timmy Bly eliminated Ian Lucera to advance to the one loss side semi-final with Zach Lafferty to fight for 4th place. Timmy had the momentum and shots falling for him as he sent Zach out in 4th and earned a 2nd chance at Tyler Howell whom beat had sent him to the left side of the bracket in the 2nd round. Tyler hit a gear and once again overcame Timmy’s excellent play and strategic safeties. Tyler was just on fire as he sent Timmy home with a 3rd place Bronze Medal finish and exclusive invitation to the 2015 BEF Junior Nationals. All the while hot seat winner Josh Franklin is warming up on the next table over to prepare for the Final match! In typical fashion, the finals started out with a twist as Tyler jumped up 4-0 on Josh and looked poised to double dip Josh in the true double elimination finals. Then, all of the sudden the momentum shifted once Tyler made a mistake on a routine shot during the 5th game. It was as if Josh had then woken up as he made sure to take advantage of this rare chink in Tyler’s armor when Josh ran rack after rack after rack. Soon enough it was tied at 4-4 with a race to 3 left to decide whether or not Josh would win or Tyler would force a 2nd set to decide the ultimate fate of the tournament. Josh just kept his foot on the gas and allowed Tyler only 1 more game as he almost flawlessly shot his way to a 7-5 win over his very good friend and QC Young Gunz teammate Tyler Howell. Tyler went home with the Silver Cup, Timmy earned a Bronze Medal and both also earned an invite to the Junior Nationals in Vegas. Josh won the Gold Cup trophy, a $50 BEF scholarship and a paid entry to Las Vegas for the 2015 BEF Junior Nationals!
It was a VERY good event all around with lots of fun, everyone making new friends and parents enjoying watching their children enjoy their passion in this wonderful sport of 9 ball billiards! See ya again next year!!!
For more information on sponsoring, hosting, or participating in a Junior State Championship, visit billiardeducation.org or call (303) 926-1039. Complete list of nationwide junior events listed here: http://billiardeducation.org/events/
The twentieth stop on the 2013-2014 Pure X Cues All American Tour – presented by the American CueSports Alliance (ACS) was hosted in Cedar Rapids, IA at 2nd Avenue Corner Pocket – on Saturday, February 15. The $500-added, handicapped 9-ball tourney on 7-foot bar boxes drew nineteen players.
The A-side action finished with Josh Franklin (Peoria, IL) [rated a “5” on a regional rating system used] taking down his semifinals match over Danny Pena (Davenport, IA) [5], while Christ Airdo (Davenport, IA) [6] outpointed Bruce Ribble (Swisher, IA) [7] in the other bracket. In the A-side finals Franklin took advantage of the one-game spot and defeated Airdo 5-5. In the B-side money rounds, Shawn Reicherts (Cedar Rapids, IA) [6] eliminated Danny Pena (Davenport, IA) [5] 6-3 at 5th place, where Travis Mulnix (Cedar Rapids, IA) [6] tied Danny at the hands of Bruce Ribble [7] 7-5. In the next elimination round at 4th place, Ribble [7] ousted Travis Mulnix [6] 7-4. In the B-side finals, Christ Airdo [6] took out Bruce Ribble [7] at 3rd place 6-6. The tourney finals then featured undefeated Josh Franklin versus once-defeated Christ Airdo, and the first set proved to be the deciding set, as Franklin clipped Airdo 5-5 again for the title!
By virtue of Josh Franklin also being the highest-finishing ACS member in the event, he qualified for a free 9-Ball singles entry into the 2014 Universal Cues ACS Nationals at the Tropicana Las Vegas – courtesy of the ACS. The ACS wishes to thank sponsors Pure X Cues, Championship Billiard Fabric and Nick Varner Signature Cases for their support in donating “Value-In-Kind” product for this and all stops on the Pure X All American Tour. Sponsorship opportunities and tour stop openings are still available for the 2013/2014 All American Tour by contacting the ACS.
The next Tour stop in Iowa is a $500-added 8-Ball (No Elites) stop at Legend’s Sports Bar in Clinton, IA on Saturday, March 1 (contact David Holmes at 563-243-4266). Further information, entry details and schedules for the 2013/2014 Pure X Cues All American Tour are available at www.americancuesports.org.
The seventeenth stop of the 2013-2014 Pure X Cues All American Tour stop – presented by the American CueSports Alliance (ACS) – was showcased at Sharky’s Billiards in Davenport, IA on Saturday, January 25. The $500-added 10-ball handicapped tourney on 7-foot Valley bar boxes drew 22 players.
The A-side concluded with Danny Pena (Davenport, IA) [rated a “6” on a regional rating system used] knocking off Roy Smith [6] (Galesburg, IL) 6-3 and Josh Johnson [9] (Bettendorf, IA) winning a “hill” match over Billy Spatafora [5] (Rockford, IL) in the semifinals. The A-side finals was also a “hill” match, as Danny Pena [6] clipped Josh Johnson [9] 6-8!
On the B-side Josh Franklin [5] (Peoria, IL) eliminated a past Sharky’s tour stop winner – Billy Spatafora [5] 5-3 at 5th place, while Scott Franklin [6] (Peoria, IL) ousted Roy Smith [6] 6-2 – also at 5th place. In the next rounds Scott Franklin kept his hot hand by finishing off Josh Franklin [5] at 4th place, and then outpointing Josh Johnson [9] at 3rd place by a 6-4 margin. The finals went two sets, as Scott Franklin dominated undefeated Danny Pena [6] 6-2/6-2 to collect the title!
By virtue of Scott Franklin also being the highest-finishing ACS member in the event, he qualified for a free 9-Ball singles entry into the 2014 Universal Cues ACS Nationals at the Tropicana Las Vegas – courtesy of the ACS. The ACS wishes to thank sponsors Pure X Cues, Championship Billiard Fabric and Nick Varner Signature Cases for their support in donating “Value-In-Kind” product for this and all stops on the Pure X All American Tour. Sponsorship opportunities and tour stop openings are still available for the 2013/2014 All American Tour by contacting the ACS.
The Tour stays in Iowa with the Saturday, February 8 stop at Sticks N' Stones Bar & Billiards in Muscatine – a $500 8-Ball affair (contact Dustin Krueger at 563-260-3964). Further information, entry details and schedules for the 2013/2014 Pure X Cues All American Tour are available at www.americancuesports.org.
