Ain't No School Like The Old School

runout1961 said:

It sure is Jamie. Back when I was in Afghanistan I bought this cue. When I purchased it, the cue had dents and dings all over the place, the finish was cracking and chipping all over, it had a green with white speck linen wrap that was frayed, the Tascarella signature was missing. The guy that had it for sale sent me all the pics I requested. The cue was beat to hell. It was definitely a "players" cue. It was in really bad shape.

I sent the pics to Pete Tascarella and he confirmed it to be one of his. So I bought the cue from the guy and had him send it directly to Pete for a refinish. Mr. Tascarella brought the cue back to life and restored it back to new. This was back in 2008 of I remember correctly. It sat at my home in Texas until I returned home from Afghanistan for vacation. The cue was like an extension of my right arm for many years. Then I got into some trouble with the law and had to sell it to help pay for the lawyers. It killed me inside to let the cue to but life happens sometimes.

A couple years after I sold it, the cue came up for sale right here on AZB. I saw it as I was browsing the wanted for sale section one day. I couldn't afford to buy it back and was saddened to see that it had sold never to be seen it again. Last November I'm browsing the for sale section and there it was AGAIN! My old tascarella cue is for sale and yet again I couldn't afford to buy it back and it made me sick to my stomach that my cue was beyond my grasp again. Sure enough someone bought it and it was gone. Again it was sold to someone out in the world and who knows if I'll ever see it again. Probably not.

This past summer I sold a couple cues to a guy here on AZB that I've never spoken to before that transaction. He calls me to say he got the cues in and we start talking about random pool stuff. He says he has a few cues in his collection that he plans on selling at some point. Just for shits and giggles I asked what he had and he says one of the cues is a Tascarella. He described the cue to me and sent me pics and sure enough it was my old Tascarella cue that I brought back to life years ago. He assured me he was not in any hurry to sell the cue and if I was ever able to come up with money I would have first shot at buying the cue back. So I started putting in some extra overtime at work and was recently able to buy the cue back. It arrived today.

Getting this cue back means more to me than just having a nice cue to play with. To me its kind of a symbol of getting my shit back together after life kicking my ass for a few years.

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JimmyRayK said:

John, congrats on reacquiring your Tascarella. Life is a ***** sometimes and things are hard to understand. Personally, I think Karma brought this back to you.

Hit 'em straight,
JimmyK

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phil dade said:

First, thanks for your service for our country. Congratulations on getting your Tascarella back. It is a great looking cue and I am certain it plays great. It looks like a winner.

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franko said:

That is a great story and I know from personal experience how great it feels to get back a cue that means so much to you. Good Luck with it and never let it go.

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runout1961 said:

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I want to have Mr. Tascarella put my name on the cue. I'm thinking of either having him hand write my name on the forearm or having a single ivory rectangle inlay put Into the butt sleeve with my name on it.

Any votes?


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No names please...keep it as is. (trust me)