Bill Stroud Inducted into the International Cuemakers Hall of Fame

[cueman]

Bill Stroud: Inducted 2022
Bill was a very accomplished pool player who played under the road name Colorado Slim. In 1968 he and his good friend Dan Janes were tiring of the road player lifestyle and decided to start their own cue building company. They called it Joss Cues. In 1972 Bill decided to go out on his own and started building cues under the name Joss West. Bill is credited with being among the first to go the high tech route on his cues with CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) machinery. He never produced the many thousands of cues that his old company has, but instead concentrated on higher end cue building. Bill started the International Cue Collectors Show and served as President of the American Cuemakers Association for a period of time. Bill has been considered one of the top cuemakers in the world for decades now and his cues are highly sought after by both players and collectors. Bill passed away in March 2020. During his lifetime he won many awards for his cue designs and left a legacy with a body of work that few will ever come close to matching.


Below are some videos featuring Bill Stroud:

 

[Hungarian]

That's an great interview. When I was a teenager I took pool lessons from Willie Elder at his home. His wife was really nice and she would make sandwiches. One day UJ Puckett shows up. Guess they were buddies and he was staying with them. This was roughly 83 to 85 time frame. Willie ran local pool tourney's and UJ would show up while he was in town. I was memorized by UJ. He was funny and charismatic and would always be holding court and telling stories. Might have been around the time that the Red's tournament happened but at the time I didn't even know it was happening. Then he vanished and a few years later he re-appeared. I guess he hit the road as they always do...

 

[Glenee]

Pool Hustling stories with Bill Stroud is one of my favorite interviews. His low keyed and mellow personality really show through. I hope to find one of his cues that I can afford for myself someday.What a wonderful person.