Chuck Bobbitt pays pros.

[Mark Griffin]

In April of 2008, Phoenix had the Desert Shootout. It was a pro event - sanctioned by the UPA. The promoter (Chuck Bobbitt) came up very short in paying off the prize fund.

Initially, about 70% of the debt was covered by me (Mark Griffin) by acquiring some tables he had in a location. All of that amount went to the unpaid players.

At the time, a lot of people called Chuck Bobbitt every name they could think of. While I think his actions were unethical - and actually criminal, I felt he had just gotten in over his head.

In the past he had promoted and contributed to the local pool scene. We were successful in keeping any criminal charges from being filed.

It just makes me happy to provide an update; I received a $4,000 check from Chuck about 3 weeks ago. A mutual acquaintance delivered it to me at the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships being held in Las Vegas.

Upon getting back to our office, I deposited the check and today wrote out $4,000 dollars to the players that were shorted.

So - Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen, Mike Davis, Charley Bryant, John Schmidt, Jay Helfert, and Diamond Billiards each were sent a check to cover the NSF they had originally gotten. They are still owed a total of $6,800 BUT it shows his intent and hopefully the balance will not take as long.

Just wanted to let everyone know that Bobbitt is trying to live up to his end. He acknowledges the debt and is doing the best he can. That is a lot better than others in his position have done.

Mark Griffin
CSI-BCAPL-USAPL-NCS

 

[ALLENJK]

Thanks for the update !!!

Thanks Mark,

It is not very often that you hear of someone in this business trying to do the right thing. Especially after getting beat down the way he did, deserved or not that would have pushed alot of people to do the opposite direction.

 

[JoeyA]

In April of 2008, Phoenix had the Desert Shootout. It was a pro event - sanctioned by the UPA. The promoter (Chuck Bobbitt) came up very short in paying off the prize fund.

Initially, about 70% of the debt was covered by me (Mark Griffin) by acquiring some tables he had in a location. All of that amount went to the unpaid players.

At the time, a lot of people called Chuck Bobbitt every name they could think of. While I think his actions were unethical - and actually criminal, I felt he had just gotten in over his head.

In the past he had promoted and contributed to the local pool scene. We were successful in keeping any criminal charges from being filed.

It just makes me happy to provide an update; I received a $4,000 check from Chuck about 3 weeks ago. A mutual acquaintance delivered it to me at the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships being held in Las Vegas.

Upon getting back to our office, I deposited the check and today wrote out $4,000 dollars to the players that were shorted.

So - Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen, Mike Davis, Charley Bryant, John Schmidt, Jay Helfert, and Diamond Billiards each were sent a check to cover the NSF they had originally gotten. They are still owed a total of $6,800 BUT it shows his intent and hopefully the balance will not take as long.

Just wanted to let everyone know that Bobbitt is trying to live up to his end. He acknowledges the debt and is doing the best he can. That is a lot better than others in his position have done.

Mark Griffin
CSI-BCAPL-USAPL-NCS

That's great news, Mark. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Kudos to Chuck for manning up.

JoeyA

 

[poolhustler]

Good news!!!!

 

[bfdlad]

Wow, I know that the players had basically written this off as a bad experience and although they want the money didn't think it was going to happen. I am very happy that Chuck has began to take care of this situation. At least he is showing his intent to cover the $$. I personally agree with Mark, he got in over his head on this one and had no way out. I am not saying what happened was even close to being the right way to do it but I have to give the guy credit for coming back and working on it.
Also thanks are dure to Mark Griffin and Jay Helfert for their efforts to get this $$ back into the players pockets when they had nothing financially to gain by taking on this project.
I hope that Chuck can get the rest of this settled and regain some of the respect he once had by many in the Arizona pool scene. I would like to know if he has tried to make goo on some of the others that had financial deals with him i.e Kolby's Corner Pocket who at the last min closed down their pool room so this event could be held at all. I know that they had a financial agreement with Chuck also.

At the end of the day again I hope that everyone concerned get their end.

 

[jay helfert]

I appreciate Mark Griffin for all he has done to rectify a very bad situation. If not for him, we would have all been left out in the cold. Unlike Mark, I am not so forgiving. I have my reasons which I will not go into here.

There was a one year grace period when the 30% balance was due. That grace period ended in mid May. Bobbit was well aware of this and knew that I had all the paperwork in order to file on him. Without this partial payment, I was planning on doing so.

I will not be satisfied until ALL the remaining debt is taken care. That was my promise to the players then, and it is still now. Forgive - maybe someday when all is paid. Forget - NEVER!