Dear Fellow Members of The USBA and other idiots who are interested in carom billiards:
As I am now your President I feel that you should know a little about me.
My age will be 63 years when I take office, or rather go on THE JOB as I think about it. I would prefer not to be called Mr. President, but if you want to be formal El Jefe will suffice.
Having said that, you should know that I am really like a little child, whatever bubbles up in my brain I say, no matter what wiser and more mature adults might want to hear. Should I do this in the future [probably], please fee free to call me out on anything and everything I might say. 734-428-1161.
Have been holding a cue and knocking balls around the for table as long as I can remember, but is was not until 1970 when I met Carl Conlon in the billiard room of The Michigan Union that I first encountered the game of three cushion billiards. I has been a love hate relationship ever since. Been a member of both the ABA and the BFUSA since the early 1970's, now of course, belong to the USBA.
Graduated from both The University of Michigan [Linguistics and South Asian Language and Literature] and The University of Viet Nam [as an advisor {co van mi if you speak Vietnamese} to the 18th ARVN Infantry Division, Jun 1967-Apr 70] , not necessarily in that order. Decided in 1973 to both give up pocket billiards for caroms and to become a cue maker.
Still play a little pool now and then and am now a cue builder, NOT a cue maker, there is a difference you know. Call me up and ask me if you are puzzled. Elected by my peers, I am in The International Cuemakers' Hall of Fame. Have also made a cue that is now in The Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. Every cue I have ever made has had someone's name on it, some famous, some not.
Every cue of mine has been one of a kind, like a painting by Picasso. By some I have even been told that they play “ not so bad”. My cues are my children, I don't sell them to child abusers.
Over all those years between then and now I have played billiards, in one form or another, on every continent but South America and Antarctica, as well as in every state of the union except N.
Dakota, in other words a wasted life.
In the course of my cue building life I have been forced to work many jobs to support my art, mostly in the service industry. I have run golf courses [even became a working member of The PGA of America], restaurants, taverns, private clubs and billiard parlors. Waited tables and built golf courses. Hustled pool and backgammon. Done other things I won't admit to here. Even been a member of The American MENSA society until they kicked me out for being too stupid. All in search of the mighty buck so I could afford to pursue my art: cue building. Once, after my first week of attending law school in Omaha, Nebraska [Creighton University] I dropped out to return to my home town [Ann Arbor, Michigan] to run a private club some friends of mine had opened devoted to cue sports, and various board games. As a result I got my first real lathe for cue work. I have not looked back ever since. I have not had a real job since 1990, just surviving as a cue builder.
Being President of The USBA is really the first real job I have ever had in years AND IT DOES NOT EVEN PAY!!! So, I am going to need your help. As a member of the USBA you had better be prepared to do some WORK OFF THE TABLE, because I will be calling you, each and every one, to ask you just that question!!! You don't want to want to know what might happen to you if you say no........ my agents are everywhere !!!
Perhaps one other thing you should understand about me is that I do NOT bring money to the table. However, respectfully said, of all the last presidents, George Aronek, Jerome Karsh, Charles Brown, Bob Jewett, as well as other in the dim, dark, distant past, I will be the poorest of them all, and yet the only one who has spent his life “”working in the billiard industry”” as the sole source of his income, not that that means a rats ass.
I think I have some interesting ideas that have been festering in my mind for years; more importantly over those years I have run into a number of people who seem to agree with me, want to work with me. And that is the true sign of intelligence, that some one's mind warps the same way yours does. The next four years will be exciting, if nothing else..........especially considering the new members that are on the board and the work that they are willing to do.
I am both humbled and honored to be working for you and billiards.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis Dieckman
As I am now your President I feel that you should know a little about me.
My age will be 63 years when I take office, or rather go on THE JOB as I think about it. I would prefer not to be called Mr. President, but if you want to be formal El Jefe will suffice.
Having said that, you should know that I am really like a little child, whatever bubbles up in my brain I say, no matter what wiser and more mature adults might want to hear. Should I do this in the future [probably], please fee free to call me out on anything and everything I might say. 734-428-1161.
Have been holding a cue and knocking balls around the for table as long as I can remember, but is was not until 1970 when I met Carl Conlon in the billiard room of The Michigan Union that I first encountered the game of three cushion billiards. I has been a love hate relationship ever since. Been a member of both the ABA and the BFUSA since the early 1970's, now of course, belong to the USBA.
Graduated from both The University of Michigan [Linguistics and South Asian Language and Literature] and The University of Viet Nam [as an advisor {co van mi if you speak Vietnamese} to the 18th ARVN Infantry Division, Jun 1967-Apr 70] , not necessarily in that order. Decided in 1973 to both give up pocket billiards for caroms and to become a cue maker.
Still play a little pool now and then and am now a cue builder, NOT a cue maker, there is a difference you know. Call me up and ask me if you are puzzled. Elected by my peers, I am in The International Cuemakers' Hall of Fame. Have also made a cue that is now in The Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. Every cue I have ever made has had someone's name on it, some famous, some not.
Every cue of mine has been one of a kind, like a painting by Picasso. By some I have even been told that they play “ not so bad”. My cues are my children, I don't sell them to child abusers.
Over all those years between then and now I have played billiards, in one form or another, on every continent but South America and Antarctica, as well as in every state of the union except N.
Dakota, in other words a wasted life.
In the course of my cue building life I have been forced to work many jobs to support my art, mostly in the service industry. I have run golf courses [even became a working member of The PGA of America], restaurants, taverns, private clubs and billiard parlors. Waited tables and built golf courses. Hustled pool and backgammon. Done other things I won't admit to here. Even been a member of The American MENSA society until they kicked me out for being too stupid. All in search of the mighty buck so I could afford to pursue my art: cue building. Once, after my first week of attending law school in Omaha, Nebraska [Creighton University] I dropped out to return to my home town [Ann Arbor, Michigan] to run a private club some friends of mine had opened devoted to cue sports, and various board games. As a result I got my first real lathe for cue work. I have not looked back ever since. I have not had a real job since 1990, just surviving as a cue builder.
Being President of The USBA is really the first real job I have ever had in years AND IT DOES NOT EVEN PAY!!! So, I am going to need your help. As a member of the USBA you had better be prepared to do some WORK OFF THE TABLE, because I will be calling you, each and every one, to ask you just that question!!! You don't want to want to know what might happen to you if you say no........ my agents are everywhere !!!
Perhaps one other thing you should understand about me is that I do NOT bring money to the table. However, respectfully said, of all the last presidents, George Aronek, Jerome Karsh, Charles Brown, Bob Jewett, as well as other in the dim, dark, distant past, I will be the poorest of them all, and yet the only one who has spent his life “”working in the billiard industry”” as the sole source of his income, not that that means a rats ass.
I think I have some interesting ideas that have been festering in my mind for years; more importantly over those years I have run into a number of people who seem to agree with me, want to work with me. And that is the true sign of intelligence, that some one's mind warps the same way yours does. The next four years will be exciting, if nothing else..........especially considering the new members that are on the board and the work that they are willing to do.
I am both humbled and honored to be working for you and billiards.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis Dieckman
.