As Billie explains:
"....For many years the only major title available for women pool players to win was the BCA US Open 14.1 Championship. In 1976, some of the more prominent men players broke away from the Billiard Congress of America to form their own players’ organization, the Professional Pool Players Association, and launched their own major competition which they entitled the PPPA World Open 14.1 Championship. They did not want a women’s division for several reasons. The men were struggling to raise their prize fund and felt that the women might be taking away sponsorship monies that could be going into their own coffers; they were confident that no audience wanted to pay to see the low level of women’s play; the women would be occupying the tables that were needed for men’s games; and most importantly, they believed the women would be taking away media coverage from the men’s event and the men stars.
.....In 1976, months before I became president of the fledgling WPBA, I was a tournament promoter who convinced the PPPA to hold a women’s division within their upcoming 1977 World Open 14.1 Championship. I was motivated to become an organizer because by this time the BCA had announced they would no longer have a US Open straight pool championship and were changing their main event to an amateur 8-Ball tournament. I loved straight pool and did not want women players relegated to playing only short rack games. I felt that it would hurt them in their development to become better players and felt a real need to maintain some level of professional status for women within the billiard
.....My agreement with the PPPA was that I had to raise the prize money for the women’s division myself. Additionally, to sweeten the deal, since I was a professional photographer, I would provide the PPPA with some photographs for their booklet. My writing and public relations expertise would also supply them with some media coverage for their event, before and after, all gratis.
.....Traditionally, prize monies came from two sources. A major source came from selling advertisements in the main event’s booklet. The agreement with the PPPA was that the women would be given some space for their photos and biographies but could not sell any advertisements to sponsors. We had to raise our prize money by other means. Our other resource would come from qualifying fees collected from room owners who hosted 2 day competitions for us in their halls. The qualifying fee was made up of entry fees from the women players participating in the aforesaid event. In some cases, the room owner would volunteer to pay the fee out of pocket and use any entry fees to their event for their own tournament purse. This was to encourage more women to participate in the qualifiers..."
Billie et al raised the required 3k for a prize fund.
But the PPPA failed to raise their own share of the prize fund, and decided that
the money raised by the women could be used to amend their own prize cache ....
Billie didn't agree.
The pppa was not allowed to take the money...
She tells the story in her own words:
www.americanbilliardradio.com
"....For many years the only major title available for women pool players to win was the BCA US Open 14.1 Championship. In 1976, some of the more prominent men players broke away from the Billiard Congress of America to form their own players’ organization, the Professional Pool Players Association, and launched their own major competition which they entitled the PPPA World Open 14.1 Championship. They did not want a women’s division for several reasons. The men were struggling to raise their prize fund and felt that the women might be taking away sponsorship monies that could be going into their own coffers; they were confident that no audience wanted to pay to see the low level of women’s play; the women would be occupying the tables that were needed for men’s games; and most importantly, they believed the women would be taking away media coverage from the men’s event and the men stars.
.....In 1976, months before I became president of the fledgling WPBA, I was a tournament promoter who convinced the PPPA to hold a women’s division within their upcoming 1977 World Open 14.1 Championship. I was motivated to become an organizer because by this time the BCA had announced they would no longer have a US Open straight pool championship and were changing their main event to an amateur 8-Ball tournament. I loved straight pool and did not want women players relegated to playing only short rack games. I felt that it would hurt them in their development to become better players and felt a real need to maintain some level of professional status for women within the billiard
.....My agreement with the PPPA was that I had to raise the prize money for the women’s division myself. Additionally, to sweeten the deal, since I was a professional photographer, I would provide the PPPA with some photographs for their booklet. My writing and public relations expertise would also supply them with some media coverage for their event, before and after, all gratis.
.....Traditionally, prize monies came from two sources. A major source came from selling advertisements in the main event’s booklet. The agreement with the PPPA was that the women would be given some space for their photos and biographies but could not sell any advertisements to sponsors. We had to raise our prize money by other means. Our other resource would come from qualifying fees collected from room owners who hosted 2 day competitions for us in their halls. The qualifying fee was made up of entry fees from the women players participating in the aforesaid event. In some cases, the room owner would volunteer to pay the fee out of pocket and use any entry fees to their event for their own tournament purse. This was to encourage more women to participate in the qualifiers..."
Billie et al raised the required 3k for a prize fund.
But the PPPA failed to raise their own share of the prize fund, and decided that
the money raised by the women could be used to amend their own prize cache ....
Billie didn't agree.
The pppa was not allowed to take the money...
She tells the story in her own words:
www.americanbilliardradio.com