RIP Dave Billings aka California Dave

Sorry for the loss of your friend. Good friends are hard to come by, but easy to keep. May he rest in peace. Condolences to family and friends.

My sincre condolences to you and Dave's family and other friends. God bless.

This sux. Dave was one of the first people I met when I moved to SoCal in the 70s. We played an awful lot of pool at Mr Lucky's in Manhattan Beach. He and I lived together in a couple of places and he even worked for me a couple of times.

Dave was always a way opinionated guy and had a very interesting and unique way of expressing himself. Countless stories would start with "Billings claims....". He was also extremely personally stubborn and in his own way, a super disciplined guy. I remember when he was trying to learn to have left-handed shots in his arsenal, he just hunkered down and played completely left-handed for months and months, which meant he would just get hammered by guys who didn't have his game.

I miss him already.

Thanks to you and 12squared for the updates, even though they sucked.

RIP Blings

Kevin

Sad news.
Sorry for your loss.

This is sad news indeed. Dave and I were friends. I bought my McFadden cue from Dave.
Dave was a student of the game ,always trying out different ways of playing shots.
Dave would also help out other players sharing his deep knowledge of the game.
I knew he was sick but this was rather sudden. I had really hoped that the treatments would help.
RIP Dave,you will be missed.

cuesblues said:

My friend Dave Billings passed away this morning.
Dave was a very good player, instructor, and all round good guy.
A few months ago he developed liver & pancreatic cancer, and he didn't respond to the chemo.
Dave had a lot of friends here in Denver, and we're going to miss him.
He was always willing to help other players, and was known for voicing his opinions about cues as well as the game.
For instance, I didn't tell him about a Cognoscenti deal I made because he hated Cog's, and I didn't want to make him feel any worse.

RIP Dave Billings


Peace

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Sorry for your loss. It's rare when we develop friendships over common grounds that last for many years. The great memories are what we gain from the experience and our friends live on each time we remember.

Comes as a huge shock to me as I didn't even know Dave was sick. A good friend and a great teacher. Dave and I would play for hours, and regardless of the score, Dave would always stop me before I would attempt to kick out of a safety, and ask me "what are you trying to do?" and would then proceed to give me a 30 minute less in kicking systems. Learned a great deal from Dave, but regret not learning more. Really going to miss him.

dave

Ted,

Thanks for starting this thread about Dave's passing. It is a very big loss in the pool communities of California & Denver area. He will be missed for sure. Dave & I 1st met while I was living in the Bay Area of CA & found each other again once I moved to Colorado. It was a very pleasant surprise to get to know him again.

And if Dave being Dave isn't enough, he also love to play 3-cushion billiards and met with Jerry Karsh on a regular basis to play. He was a student of all cue sport games - if you were serious about pool/billiards, you loved Dave.

Rest in peace my friend.

Dave

Sincere condolences to Mr. Billing's family and friends.

Sounds like he had some good pals right here on az.

RIP, Sir.

Best,
Brian kc

cuesblues said:

My friend Dave Billings passed away this morning.
Dave was a very good player, instructor, and all round good guy.
A few months ago he developed liver & pancreatic cancer, and he didn't respond to the chemo.
Dave had a lot of friends here in Denver, and we're going to miss him.
He was always willing to help other players, and was known for voicing his opinions about cues as well as the game.
For instance, I didn't tell him about a Cognoscenti deal I made because he hated Cog's, and I didn't want to make him feel any worse.

RIP Dave Billings


Peace

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Sorry about your lost of your friend Ted.

Take care bud.

My condolences to the Billings' family and friends. Dave will be missed by all he shared his time playing our game with and more.

RIP Dave.

Kevin

Never met him, never knew of him, but I share the loss.

RIP Dave, know you were loved and are missed

Very sad indeed. Dave & I were very close friends since the late 70's. Dave, Kvinbrwr & I had a little championship between the 3 of us for many years. Whoever had won previously had "the belt" until one of us took it away, always raising the question "who has the belt"?

He called me some weeks ago and told me he was sick and asked me to keep it to myself, which I did. We spoke another time or two and then I received a call from his friend Caela who was his angel in this. She told me Dave had tried to reach his family from the hospital unsuccessfully.

I made some calls and his sister Carmella was there the next day, followed by his older brother and then Fred, his younger brother. I have a 16 year old in my care until the 3rd so I couldn't go to Colorado but Caela kept me up to date on his condition and made sure I spoke to him when he was lucid. I haven't met Kayla but Dave was fortunate to have her as a friend and it was because of her that Dave was surrounded by family at the end.

So, to my dear old friend Dave, you will be missed by many, none more than me, may you rest in peace.

junksecret said:

Very sad indeed. Dave & I were very close friends since the late 70's. Dave, Kvinbrwr & I had a little championship between the 3 of us for many years. Whoever had won previously had "the belt" until one of us took it away, always raising the question "who has the belt"?

He called me some weeks ago and told me he was sick and asked me to keep it to myself, which I did. We spoke another time or two and then I received a call from his friend Kayla who was his angel in this. She told me Dave had tried to reach his family from the hospital unsuccessfully.

I made some calls and his sister Carmella was there the next day, followed by his older brother and then Fred, his younger brother. I have a 16 year old in my care until the 3rd so I couldn't go to Colorado but Kayla kept me up to date on his condition and made sure I spoke to him when he was lucid. I haven't met Kayla but Dave was fortunate to have her as a friend and it was because of her that Dave was surrounded by family at the end.

So, to my dear old friend Dave, you will be missed by many, none more than me, may you rest in peace.

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I have the belt. Blings is ducking.

Dave Billings

Sorry to hear about Dave.Idid not him that well. Sorry to hear about his passing.

California dave

I did not know the individual either but Dave sounds like a great person. Sound like the pool/Billiards world for several states will not be the same without him around.
Don't forget to leave him with a cue ball and a extra leather tip
R.I.P
-
Rob.M

cuesblues said:

He also used to play 3C with J. Cho quite a bit when Jay was going into Hanks.

I'm going to head over to Hank's.
All of the usual suspects will be there, and they were all friends with Billings.

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I take full credit (what's new there?) for Billings playing 3-C. I had been out in Los Angeles maybe a year, playing a lot of pool with Billings and Joe Richland (and I mean a lot) when one of my friends from Ann Arbor Michigan, Dennis Dieckman, came out to visit. Dennis wanted to go out to North Hollywood Billiards (I think it was Tiffs at the time), home of Allen Gilbert (also RIP) and Frank Torres, and play 3-Cushion Billiards and learn what Bert Schrager (also RIP) could teach him about building cues. Tiff's was a 3-C mecca at the time, and I ended up dragging my pals Billings and Joe up there so they could be introed to the game. They later brought Dennis Tillotsen and Rick Davis out there, spawning a whole crew of SoCal 3-C players. Davis plays out of a wheelchair with a huge long fabulous Ginacue, now on flawless equipment in a flawless space in his beautiful home high in Laguna.

Speaking of Ginacues. Joe and I are quite good pals now with Ernie Gutierrez. As matter of fact and self-confident positive a manner Billings had about expressing his opinions, coupled with his knowledge of Engineering, anyone that knows both Ernie and Dave would have to amused thinking of the possibilities for discussion between those two (Ernie shares some of that self-confident air and also claims to know something about Engineering and wood also). I'm sorry not to have seen that meeting happen.

Rest in peace Dave. You have the belt. Take it with you man.

Anyone mentioned in this post who is NOT RIP, hang in there guys and good luck to us all.

Kevin

cuesblues said:

My friend Dave Billings passed away this morning.
Dave was a very good player, instructor, and all round good guy.
A few months ago he developed liver & pancreatic cancer, and he didn't respond to the chemo.
Dave had a lot of friends here in Denver, and we're going to miss him.
He was always willing to help other players, and was known for voicing his opinions about cues as well as the game.
For instance, I didn't tell him about a Cognoscenti deal I made because he hated Cog's, and I didn't want to make him feel any worse.

RIP Dave Billings


Peace

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My condolences go out to you and Dave's family and friends. I am sorry to hear about Dave passing. Keep praying and keep strong! Good friends are far and few these days. Thanks for this post.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.