Karsh to Barki letter re USBA and UMB

I know a lot of folks here may not be on Darrell Martineau's Billiards Buddies list and will not have seen this:


From: Jerry Karsh [mailto:jkarsh@karshcpa.com]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2018 11:58 AM
To: farouk.barki@umb-carom.org
Subject: UNITED STATES BILLIARDK ASSOCIATION



Mr. Farouk Barki

President, Union Mondiale De Billard



Farouk,



I have been out of touch and when I looked up the UMB on the internet to write this letter, lo and behold, your name came up as President. As you may, or may not know, organized billiards in the U.S.—at least in my estimation—is about to go the way of the Do Do bird (extinct). All of the politics as well as changing social dynamics that brought us to this situation are really beside the point and are a discussion for another day. What is important is how we proceed in trying to keep the USBA alive and hopefully to progress beyond what has been experienced over the last several years. Based on our small number of members, we have always been a minor part of the UMB but, none the less, we have been the engine—under the umbrella of the UMB—that has kept organized billiards operating in the United States.



This brings me to my first issue: the USBA as part of the Pan American Confederation. I will discuss this later in this correspondence.



You and I have both spent a great part of our lives in promoting billiards, not only in our respective countries, but throughout the world. You and I, together, were instrumental in stopping Dr. Bayer and the BWA from becoming the controlling body for billiards. I worked out a compromise with Jean Graus to reinstall the UMB Board after they resigned because of our vote to stop Dr. Bayer from becoming an equal member of the UMB and then Dr. Bayer did not live up to his commitment that he made with the organization. In either regard, that is past history. What is important is how we go forward and that is the reason for this letter and hopefully the assistance of the UMB. I need your help and the help of the World billiard organization.



Mazin Shooni, the current president of the USBA has said that he is leaving after the first of the year. The organization has not followed the “Constitution” that was approved by the membership for many years and for the current election—if there will be one—they have asked for volunteers to be on the Board and the Board will then select one of the Board Members to be the President.



I have not been asked to do the following so this may all be in vain. I have no real desire to be president again (for the fourth time); however, I also don’t want to see its demise and/or be abandoned by just a select group of people who make up their own rules. What I would like to do is reconstruct the USBA based on its Constitution as voted by the membership. The first order of business of a selected group (past Presidents and Board Members) would be to run a legitimate election (and I am certain that I can entice people who are willing to work—not just offer lip service—to make this a viable organization). I have one condition, however, assuming I can get past some of the personal sentiment of people who would not want me at the helm again—even on an interim basis—is that the UMB reinstate the organization as its own Confederation of the UMB. The Pan American Confederation offers us nothing and provides no status to us and the only function is a “Pan American Championship” that could still be run by the two Confederations together, rather than one. If the UMB will make such a concession (and with the approval of the majority of the members), I will be willing to put in the time and effort (and probably the necessary money) to keep the USBA a viable entity. On the other hand, I have no desire to do so without the UMB’s endorsement and this concession and the approval of the membership.



As always, dear friend, I hope this finds you and your family well. I wish you and your family the best for the holiday season and the New Year.



Jerry



P.S. My wife, Nan, also sends her regards. She still talks about our time in Egypt and how gracious you were to us.

I can't imagine why you would dredge up a 14 year old post from someone we've never heard of to undermine a guy who is trying to keep organized 3C alive in the US.

Yeah we get it, you are stirring up $#it. You have made your opinion of 3C abundantly clear here.

If you were sincere and knew who the guy is, as you apparently do, you could have PMed him to satisfy your curiosity.

I don't know what did or did not happen 14 years ago, but I've known Jerry slightly for a couple of years. On a couple of occasions he has come up to our senior center with a 3C player named John, who was called Korean John, so John could practice for the Carom Cafe tournament. Jerry was also instrumental in getting our senior center our second heated 3c table. Byrnes thought enough of him to ask him for a cover blurb for his book.

You're trying to build something with the small games, and no one is going around posting negative things about you to undermine your effort. And I will remind you of a brief PM exchange you and I had not that long ago when you mistakenly thought I knew something about table mechanics and sent me a question. You should treat other people as fairly as you've been treated.