(l to r): Tommy Kennedy, Stephen Richmond & Anthony Meglino
Anthony Meglino chalked up his best earnings year, to date, in 2017, winning stops on the Sunshine State Pro Am, J. Pechauer Southeast 9-Ball and 8andOut Florida Amateur One Pocket Tours. He was among the top 10 finishers in nine other stops on the Sunshine State Pro Am and SE 9-Ball Tour, and cashed in the Derby City Classic’s (DCC) One Pocket and 9-Ball Banks Division. He opened his 2018 campaign at the tables with runner-up finishes in the DCC One Pocket Mini (to go along with a 19th in the One Pocket and 28th in 9-Ball Banks), and the February 10-11 stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am. He chalked up his first (recorded) win of the year on Saturday, February 24, going undefeated through a field of 62 on the AllOut Pool Tour. The event was hosted by Shooter’s Billiards in Port St. Lucie, FL.
After being awarded an opening round bye (one of two; the other went to Andy Breslin), Meglino started out by giving up only a single rack through his first 15 games; that one, to Javier Chirino, before he (Meglino) shut out Danny Christian. Kris Clark gave him a run for his money in a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal, but Meglino prevailed to meet James Sandaler in one winners’ side semifinal. Douglas Tittle, in the meantime, who’d defeated Meglino’s eventual finals opponent, Stephen Richmond in a winners’ side quarterfinal match, faced Kenny Willis in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Meglino went back to the quicker route, giving up only a single rack to Sandaler to get into the hot seat match. He was joined by Tittle, who’d sent Willis west 7-5. Meglino doled out another lone rack to Tittle and claimed the hot seat. Going into the finals, Meglino boasted a 35-10 game record.
On the loss side, Sandaler ran into Richmond, who’d defeated Mark Coats and Gaston Leblanc, both 6-4. Willis drew Tommy Kennedy, who’d been defeated by John Ditoro in the event’s opening round, and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would propel him as far as the quarterfinals. Kennedy had most recently shut out Chris Gentile and given up a single rack to Jason Sheerman, to pick up Willis.
Richmond downed Sandaler 6-3, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Kennedy, who’d eliminated Willis 6-2. Sandaler put an end to TK’s loss-side run 6-4 in the quarterfinals and then, earned his re-match against Meglino with a 6-2 win over Tittle.
Sandaler gave Meglino a run for his money in the finals, chalking up more racks against him than all (but one) of his opponents combined, but it wasn’t enough. Meglino concluded his undefeated run 9-5, having, throughout the course of the event, chalked up (just shy of) three out of every four games he played.
Kyle Bova, who used to ply his trade on the Western New York Tour, and for the past three years or so, has switched his base of operations to Florida, came from deep on the loss side to win the August 5-6 stop (#5) on the Sunshine State Pro-Am Tour. He challenged Kenny Willis, aka Jimmy Neutron, in the finals and defeated him to claim the $400-added event that drew 45 entrants (nine women and 36 men) to Stephanie Mitchell's pool room, Corner Pocket in Largo, FL.
Bova was awarded an opening round bye, and downEd Martin Mora 7-2, before being sent to the loss side by Justin McNulty 7-3. McNulty followed him over in the next round, when he was defeated by Dale Stanley 7-2. Stanley advanced to face Mike Delawder in one of the winners' side semifinals. Neutron, in the meantime, following victories over Todd Moir, Nikki Cuellar, and a double hill win over Michael DeStefano, faced George Saunders in the other winners' side semifinal.
Neutron sent Saunders to the loss side 7-3, and in the hot seat match faced Stanley, who'd defeated Delawder 7-5. Neutron claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Stanley and waited for what turned out to be the return of Bova.
Over on the loss side, Bova opened his campaign with three straight 6-3 wins, over Kelly Cavanaugh, Mark Wathan, and DeStefano, before downing Angel Martinez 6-4 and drawing Delawder. Saunders picked up Mubarak Sulaiman, who'd defeated Ron Hollifield 5-3 and denied Bova a second shot at McNulty by defeating him 5-2.
Bova shut Delawder out and in the quarterfinal match, faced Saunders, who'd eliminated Sulaiman 5-3. Bova chalked up his fourth 6-3 win against Saunders, and then, his fifth 6-3 win against Stanley in the semifinals.
Bova's five 6-3 wins on the loss side seemed to indicate a preference for winning 66% of the games he played. That dropped a little in the longer-race-to-11 final against Neutron, when he chalked up only 61% of the 18 games played, for an 11-7 final that earned Bova the event title.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Frank Garza thanked Corner Pocket owner Stephanie Mitchell (who, along with Kaylee McIntosh, shared $40 in a tie for the top-finishing female) and her staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors JQ Images Cues, Billiard Buzz, and AZBilliards. The next stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour, scheduled for Aug. 26-27, will be hosted by Brewlands Bar & Billiards in Tampa.
(Administrative note: Though Kenny Willis has been consistent with his usage of 'Jimmy Neutron' as his preferred pool name, and we're willing to go along with references to him as 'Jimmy Neutron' in reports of his appearances on tours, we will be equally consistent in using his real name (Kenny Willis) when assigning information about him in our database. He does bear a passing resemblance to the cartoon Neutron character, minus the hairdo, which on that cartoon character looks like the tip of a chocolate ice cream cone from Dairy Queen, but opening the database door to the usage of 'fake names' would inevitably lead to the inclusion of no-doubt creative names, as pool players looked to cement their reputation with suggestive name alternatives like 'Run 'em Out Ron, Pool Stud Pat, or who knows what else. We'll use "The Scorpion" nickname in a story, too, and include that nickname in his page on the site, but he goes into our database as 'Johnny Archer.'
In the absence of the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour's winner from its third stop on the tour last month (Donny Mills), and the somewhat quick exit of that stop's runner-up (Steve Richmond), Anthony Meglino and Mike Delawder, who finished third and fourth on that stop, stepped into the void and battled in the finals of Stop #4; a $750-added event held on the weekend of July 15-16 that drew 57 entrants to Uncle Waldo's Billiards in Daytona Beach, FL. Delawder had to win nine on the loss side to get into the finals, but it was Meglino who hung on to go undefeated.
Meglino opened his winners' side campaign against Richmond, whom he'd missed in the latter stages of Stop #3 (Richmond was in the hot seat for that one, and Mills downed Meglino in the semifinals). Meglino defeated Richmond and then went on to victories over Dreama McMahon, co-tour director Bobby Garza, and Bill Mallen, to draw a winners' side semifinal match against Jesus Borjas. In the other winners' side semifinal, Kenny Willis (aka Jimmy Neutron) faced Brian McBride, who'd won three straight double hill matches to get there.
Both of the battles to get into the hot seat match went double hill. For the first time, McBride ended up on the wrong side of a double hill fight, sending Willis to the hot seat match. Meglino, in the meantime, downed Borjas double hill to join him. Meglino claimed the hot seat over Willis 7-3 and waited for Delawder to finish his loss-side run.
Sent to the loss side by Jeannie Seaver in the second round, Delawder moved west and went to work. He got by Jay Stock, Mark Swisher, Smokey Jacobs, and Chris Gentile, before eliminating the top female finisher, Michell Monk 6-2 and shutting out Bill Mallen, to draw McBride (six down, three to go). Borjas picked up Garza, who'd recently eliminated Jason Lancaster 5-1 and Sam Kantar 5-3.
Delawder chalked up win #7, 6-3 over McBride (McBride's first, non-double hill match all weekend), as Borjas eliminated Garza, double hill. Delawder then defeated Borjas 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and Willis 6-3 in the semifinals.
Meglino and Delawder came within a game of forcing a single deciding game in their final matchup. Meglino pulled ahead to win it by two at 11-9 and claim the event title.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza thanked the ownership (AJ and Tony Condercuri) and staff at Uncle Waldo's Billiards, as well as sponsors AZBilliards, Billiardbuzz, JQ Image Cues, Jacksonville Roofing, Bill Katchusky (photography) and McDermott Cues.
