How many pool players have been adopted or have adopted?

rackmsuckr

rackmsuckr

Linda Carter - The QUEEN!
Silver Member
I thought it was unusual to have a disproportionate amount of women at AZB having been adopted so I'm just throwing this out. Do you know of any other pool players or posters that are adopted? How about any that have adopted children? I don't want to embarrass anyone, so if something is not generally known, or if the person might take offense, then please don't volunteer it.

I know Kevin Trudeau, JAM, Timberly and myself were all adopted.

Sweet Marissa has adopted out, so did Dawn Hopkins. So did someone on our regional tour.

Vivian 'adopted' and so did Jeanette.

Speaking as an adoptee, it takes courage for someone to give up their babies to give them a better life and it takes courage to raise an adopted child, and I commend both.
 
rackmsuckr said:
I thought it was unusual to have a disproportionate amount of women at AZB having been adopted so I'm just throwing this out. Do you know of any other pool players or posters that are adopted? How about any that have adopted children? I don't want to embarrass anyone, so if something is not generally known, or if the person might take offense, then please don't volunteer it.

I know Kevin Trudeau, JAM, Timberly and myself were all adopted.

Sweet Marissa has adopted out, so did Dawn Hopkins. So did someone on our regional tour.

Vivian 'adopted' and so did Jeanette.

Speaking as an adoptee, it takes courage for someone to give up their babies to give them a better life and it takes courage to raise an adopted child, and I commend both.
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Linda,
That brings up an interesting observation I have had. Some of the better players I know have been adopted. I believe that playing pool gives an adopted child a chance to bond closer with the parents. After a while the child may want to improve to the point where they play better then the parents. I knew a great junior player who shared a great nineball game with his father. they travelled and the son performed at a very high level before he passed away. His father was able to "live through his son" while his son competed. The father did not have the eyesight or athletic genes the son had, but the shared the game togather.

Huck
 
I won't use her name, but I know another Korean girl just outside of Columbus who plays pool and is adopted. An incredible observation and I'm curious as to the response this thread gets.
 
Having seen some of the posts by Marissa in the past and disagreed strongly with some, I bow to commend her for the wise choice not to have had an abortion. It takes courage and strength to come to that conclusion. Many take the easy road out and kill their babies. My hat's off to you.
 
I live with & take care of a child who's not biologically mine. It makes no difference to me that he's not - he's my son, I just had him in a different way than usual. Technically I didn't adopt him, though I would if I could.

The whole family plays pool. He and I do bond over the game and his experiences with it and with other players. Perhaps surprisingly, the game does in fact give me subtle entry to a lot of opportunities to talk with him about some of life's real core issues. :)
 
rackmsuckr said:
I thought it was unusual to have a disproportionate amount of women at AZB having been adopted so I'm just throwing this out. Do you know of any other pool players or posters that are adopted? How about any that have adopted children? I don't want to embarrass anyone, so if something is not generally known, or if the person might take offense, then please don't volunteer it.

I know Kevin Trudeau, JAM, Timberly and myself were all adopted.

Sweet Marissa has adopted out, so did Dawn Hopkins. So did someone on our regional tour.

Vivian 'adopted' and so did Jeanette.

Speaking as an adoptee, it takes courage for someone to give up their babies to give them a better life and it takes courage to raise an adopted child, and I commend both.
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I once was hanging out with Dawn and she introduced me to her son. Somewhere along the line he is talking to his mom and says "that was the first time i saw you.....".
I didnt understand the comment at the time but it was later explained. Turns out he was 'adopted out' when Dawn was 17-18 and he went looking for her and found her maybe 2 yrs ago when he was 25 or so. Although they live a bit apart, it is quite clear that they are very close now and very happy to be reunited.
 
Nostroke said:
I once was hanging out with Dawn and she introduced me to her son. Somewhere along the line he is talking to his mom and says "that was the first time i saw you.....".
I didnt understand the comment at the time but it was later explained. Turns out he was 'adopted out' when Dawn was 17-18 and he went looking for her and found her maybe 2 yrs ago when he was 25 or so. Although they live a bit apart, it is quite clear that they are very close now and very happy to be reunited.
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That's a great story. I had never heard that before. Thanks
 
The_Ref said:
That's a great story. I had never heard that before. Thanks
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The rest of that story is very intriguing as well. Billy had cancer, refused to have any more treatments and ran away. The adoptive parents went on national TV to implore him to come home. Somewhere in there Dawn found out about it or was contacted for genetic info. They found a 'Natural Cure' in Canada and takes daily shots of that and has been in remission since. Billy, Dawn and I talked quite a bit in Vegas last year, since Billy was running the speed pool challenge tables at the BCA. Great young man.

His amazing story is recapped here:
http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2005/03/29/news/news03.txt
 
huckster said:
Linda,
That brings up an interesting observation I have had. Some of the better players I know have been adopted. I believe that playing pool gives an adopted child a chance to bond closer with the parents. After a while the child may want to improve to the point where they play better then the parents. I knew a great junior player who shared a great nineball game with his father. they travelled and the son performed at a very high level before he passed away. His father was able to "live through his son" while his son competed. The father did not have the eyesight or athletic genes the son had, but the shared the game togather.

Huck
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While I agree that playing pool gives a family another way to bond, it may be because of deeper underlying issues of approval.

One issue adoptees have to work through is the sense of abandonment, of not being good enough, of being throw-away children. Over-achievement is a by-product of this need. Another is that the sports I excelled in were gymnastics and pool. Certainly both can be team sports, but ultimately, the final outcome is based on your sole participation as an individual. It is an area that we feel we can control. I also see this behavior from children who come from alcoholic/drug/abusive/controlling families, as we have a need to be able to control all aspects of our lives, without becoming controlling people ourselves. This might explain part of the draw for people with these compulsions (as some of them are supposedly hereditary) to pool.

Another issue for an adoptee is the need to please. You learn early to walk the tightrope so that you will not be abandoned again, so that you can remain a part of this family. I may have it worse than others, as I was adopted into a family that was highly abusive, so I have the double whammy from the paragraph above. Also, by the age of 10, I had 8 different sets of parents! This need to please may account for my lack of killer instinct sometimes in pool and also why I am looking for nice things to say when I beat someone! LOL.

On the bright side, I have a highly-developed nurturing side and appreciate my own children that much more.
 
rackmsuckr said:
The rest of that story is very intriguing as well. Billy had cancer, refused to have any more treatments and ran away. The adoptive parents went on national TV to implore him to come home. Somewhere in there Dawn found out about it or was contacted for genetic info. They found a 'Natural Cure' in Canada and takes daily shots of that and has been in remission since. Billy, Dawn and I talked quite a bit in Vegas last year, since Billy was running the speed pool challenge tables at the BCA. Great young man.
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That is an amazing story. I had to chuckle when I read this:
‘‘He gets a girlfriend, and the girlfriend says, ‘You're spending more time with the skateboard than me,' and leaves,'' his father, Bill Best Sr., said with a smile. ‘‘Someday, he may settle down.''
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Reminds me of how many of us have heard similar ultimatums.
 
I think there are two different meanings of adoption. One that I think most people immediately think of is a orphan or abandoned child. The other is a child that is adopted by their stepparent as a result of a divorce and a remarriage. I think the former is more rarer and the later more common.
 
TheBook said:
I think there are two different meanings of adoption. One that I think most people immediately think of is a orphan or abandoned child. The other is a child that is adopted by their stepparent as a result of a divorce and a remarriage. I think the former is more rarer and the later more common.
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True, and I was thinking of the former when I made my other posts, but there are several ways people become families, and adoption by stepparenting is also valid. What that would indicate to me is the loss of at least one parent, due to death, negligence, abuse, or ignoring their existence - all examples of emotional abandonment in my book.
 
TheBook said:
I think there are two different meanings of adoption. One that I think most people immediately think of is a orphan or abandoned child. The other is a child that is adopted by their stepparent as a result of a divorce and a remarriage. I think the former is more rarer and the later more common.
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When I think of adoption, I think of someone giving that life inside her a chance instead of terminating it.
 
Sweet Marissa said:
When I think of adoption, I think of someone giving that life inside her a chance instead of terminating it.
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Marissa,
I have said this to you privately. I admire you for what you did, you gave your daughter the gift of a beautiful family, and you blessed that family with a wonderful child. Don't ever let anybody discount the significance of what you did.

I have had 2 miscarriages, a stillbirth, and my son Brian died when he was 1 day old. I will never be able to have any children of my own - ever. I do know that adoption is an option for me. It gives me hope. Without strong, courageous women like yourself, adoption would not be possible. Hold your head high and be proud of the fact that you blessed the world with an angel.
 
Gunn_Slinger said:
No offense but why is this post under pool, and not under NPR?
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Well, I originally wanted all posters and pool players to find this and respond if they were adopted/adopters. A lot of people don't go to the NPR section because they think it is only jokes. Forgive me if I did the wrong thing. Mr. Wilson can move it if it is in the wrong place, I guess. I just thought that pool as a game draws more adoptees?
 
rackmsuckr said:
Well, I originally wanted all posters and pool players to find this and respond if they were adopted/adopters. A lot of people don't go to the NPR section because they think it is only jokes. Forgive me if I did the wrong thing. Mr. Wilson can move it if it is in the wrong place, I guess. I just thought that pool as a game draws more adoptees?
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This thread does have something to do with pool. The number of those involved in an adoption (including adoptees) that play pool are obviously are high. We are discussing that fact, including why that is.
 
Gunn_Slinger said:
No offense but why is this post under pool, and not under NPR?
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Well, there was no offense taken until I noticed you gave me a black mark for this thread. :( The least you could have done is give me the time to respond to your question before you marked up my reputation. :mad:
 
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