Congratulations, New England Pool & Billiards HOF

1pocket

1pocket

Steve Booth
Silver Member
I was privileged to go to Snookers Billiards in Providence, RI Friday night for the New England Pool & Billiards Hall of Fame inductions. The event was MC'd by Tom McGonagle, and I am going to rely on Tom to fill in details of who all the inductees were. I took a ton of photos. Tom was instrumental in getting this regional hall of fame started a few years back, along with the late Ray Desell, and they have a fantastic display wall set up at Steve & Regina Goulding's room. There are biographical collages of the inductees arranged in frames on the wall, along with what appears to be an antique cue rack, converted to hold an array of plaques, with room for new names to be added each year.

A heck of a nice job and a great way to reach the public with remembrances of the great local players, room owners and contributors to the games of pool & three cushion billiards from throughout New England.

The full gallery of photos is here:
Standard gallery view

Slideshow
(it takes about 10 minutes to view the whole slideshow -- get comfortable)​

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Yeah, there was a great turnout -- a really full house. They scheduled this in connection with a tournament this weekend, and I would guess the tournament will also have a big turnout (or did -- it started yesterday).

I should have also mentioned "cuemakers" among the honorees:

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Steve,

Great job with the pictures. I can't thank you enough. It's nice to see everyone in the room smiling for a change. It was a beautiful stroll down memory lane.

In case people are wondering what was going on when everyone was looking up. We put together one hundred and fifty pictures set to music as a salute to the past inductees and the new members going into the Hall of Fame. It was well received.

I have copies for sale at $8.00 a piece.
 
First class event! Snooker's did a fabulous job in the Hall of Fame room. Thankfully Steve Booth was smart enough (as opposed to a dope like me) to bring a camera and posted some great photo's. Snookers is absolutely a beautiful room. Totally top notch. The drinks are priced right and the equipment is just great. I can personally recommend the 9Ball Nachos. I really want to thank Steve and Regina Goulding for what they have done. The wall plaques were classy.After the presentations I remembered why we used to have a saying "never give a microphone to a pool player!". The families of the late Tallman; Ray Desell and Beau McGarret were the highlight of the night. Very sincere and well done.

Tom McGonagle did a superb job putting everything together. It was a ton of work all done as a volunteer. I have to say his passion and appreciation for the game and the people that are associated with the game is evident. Tom really loves those things and it shows. Same can be said for Steve and Regina.

It was great to see so many of the old faces from what can be described now as the "Golden Days" of pool in NE (when was the last time you saw 90 players for a C tournament?). I wish my game was even one-half of what is was ten years ago so I could have played in the tournament. Then again, my wife told me I used up my weekly allocation of unsupervised fun.

Anyway- again- thanks Tom, Steve and Regina, and of course Ray DeSell, the real mover behind the hall. Ray was certainly missed last night.

And by the way, if you ever played or watched the All About Pool tour, you should grab a copy of the CD Tom has for sale. Lots and lots of old faces and some great action shots.

Bob Campbell
HOF 2010
 
The tournament results are as follows:

Stevie Moore 1st

Mike Deschaine 2nd

Jarrow Clowery 3rd

Nelson Olivera 4th

Joey Kosiak & Joey Dupuis 5&6

That's all I can Remember off the top of my head. If you saw the top of my head you would understand.
 
tom mcgonagle said:
The tournament results are as follows:

Stevie Moore 1st

Mike Deschaine 2nd

Jarrow Clowery 3rd

Nelson Olivera 4th

Joey Kosiak & Joey Dupuis 5&6

That's all I can Remember off the top of my head. If you saw the top of my head you would understand.
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Thanks. Did Marty play? How'd he do?
 
Marty Herman, Did play. I believe he finished either top twelve or one out of the money. I know he won his first three matches.
 
I just want to bring this back again. The smiles on the faces of the people tell the story. It was a great evening, even if I have to say so myself.
 
tom mcgonagle said:
I just want to bring this back again. The smiles on the faces of the people tell the story. It was a great evening, even if I have to say so myself.
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There were a lot of smiles, quite a few tears, and a ton of pride, shared by a great crowd.

Daughter & granddaughter of the late Beau McGarrett
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Tom, can you confirm who made this cue for the Desell family? It was a beautiful cue!
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The cue was made by the gentleman in the far right of the picture. One of the finest cue makers in the industry, Mr. Paul Drexler.
 
tom mcgonagle said:
The cue was made by the gentleman in the far right of the picture. One of the finest cue makers in the industry, Mr. Paul Drexler.
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That is what I thought, but I did not want to be guilty of spreading the wrong info if I was mistaken. Nice cue and extra nice gesture by Paul :thumbup:

Here's another view of the cue:
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