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We had a full field of 16 for the World 14.1 Qualifier at Red Shoes yesterday. Many of the usual suspects showed up and a few people new to straight pool decided to see what all the fuss was about and give it a go. The participants were:
1.Robert Crawford, from Madison, Wisconsin who has a high run in straight pool of 132. Robert is retired from working on aircraft electronics and works on vintage audio equipment now. He drives about 3 hours down to Red Shoes every other week to play in our straight pool league.
2.Rich Klein, a native of Chicago, graduate of the University of Chicago, and retired Actuary, has a high run of 50 and has been a member of the 14.1 leagues at Red Shoes and at the Illinois Billiard Club for many years. In fact, he is the guy who keeps track of all of the matches, does all of the scheduling, figures out all of the money in both leagues. In addition, he is a sponsor of the Derby City Straight Pool Challenge and works the tables down there every year. He also is a contributor to the World 14.1 and has been known to help players defray expenses to go to the Worlds.
3.Peter Hull, an attorney from Cleveland, Ohio drove all the way to Red Shoes again to compete. In 2011, he was a World 14.1 Qualifier winner out of Cleveland and he is a member of straight pool leagues there.
4.Toby Crosier, a former firefighter from Lincoln, IL , is new to straight pool but has been spending some time at Red Shoes lately and wanted to help support the event and give the game a try.
5.Brian Davis , operates a life insurance and mortgage protection service and is from Lebanon, Indiana. He just learned the rules of Straight Pool this week, but wanted to give it a try.
6.Tom Karabatsos of Chicago is the self described best Greek player in the midwest. He has a High run of 205 and is a Multiple World 14.1 Qualifier Winner. A student of Hall of Famer, Dallas West, he can often be heard supplying commentary at different Straight Pool events throughout the country.
7.Ron Dobosenski is another great straight pool player who hails from Madison, Wisconsin. His high run is 212 and he was away from pool for many years until he retired from the USPS a few years back. He has been working on his game since then, travelling down to Red Shoes in Chicago to find a game, and even going back to his mentor of many years ago, Sailor Stellman, to help get back in stroke.
8.Jim Colling, a native of the Chicago area who is living in Dallas Texas where he works as an Electrical Engineer. He comes up to Chicago 2 or 3 times a year and Red Shoes usually arranges to have a straight pool tournament going when he gets here. He played in the 2015 75th World 14.1 and would love to go back
9.Bob Cozzolino is a Chicago native. A former restaurant owner, he still manages to do a lot of cookin and in fact, he is the exclusive caterer to special events at Red Shoes. His high Run is over 200, and he has Played in 4 World 14.1s, so far.
10.Ed Latimer, a native of Chicago with a high run of 100 on the nose is a retired product tester for Sears. If he cannot beat you in pool, he can probably beat you in chess. In his 70s, he is still teaching chess at some of the local schools, playing in two straight pool leagues, going for bike rides twice a week when weather permits, and teaching anyone who asks some of the finer points of pool and 14.1. He is a Red Shoes treasure.
11.Ed Dienethal from Kenosha, Wisconsin came down to Red Shoes for the first time. He has a High run of 84 and has been playing the game since the '70s when he used to come down to Marie's Golden Cue in Chicago.
12.Dean Markoshan is a Chicago native and a recently retired Chicago Police Officer who hopes to now be able to devote more time to his straight pool habit.
13.Kevin Deane is a Chicago native who works for the Chicago Public Schools and has been playing in both straight pool leagues for years. He has gone to the World's several times as a spectator and his game has been improving quite a bit this last year.
14.Ted Antle lives in Carol Stream, Illinois and is a great supporter of the Straight Pool Scene in Chicago and elsewhere. He has contributed to the World 14.1 and is a sponsor for the Derby City Straight Pool Challenge and worked tirelessly down there for us last year.
15.Joe Klein is a native of Chicago, who works for UPS and has been a straight pool player forever, it seems. He has been in all of the 14.1 leagues in the area for years, and whenever there is a tournament, he is there. His high run is 76. Usually on the weekends you can find him playing 14.1 all day long on table 11 at Red Shoes.
16.Dennis Walsh lives and works in the Chicago area. Since getting back into pool 10 or 12 years ago, I gravitated to 14.1 as quickly as I could find it, and have been in the Illinois Billiard Club Leagues and the Red Shoes leagues since then. When Bob Jewett opted out of the Derby City Straight Pool Challenge, I was approached by Greg Sullivan who asked if I could try to run the event. With Bill Maropulos helping me, and other volunteers added each year, we have grown that event to a very nice venue for players looking to stretch their straight pool wings. When Charlie needed an extra body to fill in, I was lucky enough to play in the 2009 World 14.1, where my first match was with eventual winner Stephan Cohen. While I like the game, it does not always like me.
So, those were the players.
Bob Cozzolino took the winners side, beating Rich Klein, Bob Crawford, Ed Dienethal, and Tom Karabatsos.
Ron Dobosenski took second beating Joe Klein, Dennis Walsh, then losing to Tom Karabatsos the first time. On the loser's side, Ron beat Ed Latimer and Tom Karabatsos.
Taking third, Tom Karabatsos beat Jim Colling, Peter Hull, and Ron Dobosenski before getting beat by Bob Cozzolino. On the loser's side he was beaten by Ron Dobosenski.
Ed Latimer got beaten by Ed Dienethal in the first round. He then had to fight it out on the loser's side to get to fourth place, beating Dean Markoshan, Dennis Walsh, Peter Hull, and Ed Dienethal, before losing to Ron Dobosenski.
Jim Colling took 5th, losing a close match to Tom Karabatsos, then winning against Brian Davis, Bob Crawford,and Joe Klein before he ran into the determined and experienced Ron Dobosenski.
