PRESS RELEASE
Leonard Bludworth will be inducted into the International Cuemakers Hall of Fame on July 10th 2010 during the Southern Cue and Case Show at the Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta, Georgia. The Cue and Case Show is held in conjunction with the Gem City Classic 10 Ball Open July 9th-11th. The cue and case show is Saturday July 10 from 12 to 8pm in the luxurious Scorpion Room. Admission is free and several of the south’s finest cue and case makers will be there as well as collectible cues from past cuemakers. There will be some very rare and high end collections on display. But one of the highlights of the event will be Leonard’s induction into the Hall of Fame.
Leonard commonly referred to as BLUD, started doing cue repair in 1976. Around the same time he developed the Bludworth Ball Cleaner. Since then he has sold thousands of these machines. He was a master pool table mechanic and served as the equipment coordinator for both the men's pro tour, as well as the senior tour, for about 15 years. He came up with the idea to take pool tables and travel the country setting them up for pool events. He gave the plans to Valley Tables and they ran with it. In the 1980’s he converted Sears wood lathes into a workable cue repair machine so others could make good money repairing cues. He sold over 400 of these machines around the world. He also made the first video showing how to do cue repairs on these modified wood lathes. After a few years, nearly every major tournament had a qualified repairman there repairing cues for the pros and spectators alike using one of his lathes.
Leonard started building cues in the 1980’s and many top pros rapidly started playing with his cues. The most notable was Leonard’s long time friend Buddy Hall. Leonard also built a line of cues for Buddy. Leonard became known for building very solid cues with a slightly thinner profile than most other cues. Leonard was probably the first cuemaker to sell a cue for $100,000. In 1992 Leonard founded the American Cuemakers Association and served as the president for a few years. His late wife Janice worked along side of him for decades and he also passed his vast cuemaking and machinery knowledge down to his son Donald.
Leonard went on to develop many other mechanical and CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) cue building machines. Some were shaft tapering saw machines. Many were CNC cue lathe/milling machines, and some of those were combo's, (saws and mills), from single cutting heads to multi-heads. The largest machine was a CNC mill with eight heads that went to Bangkok, Thailand. He traveled over 100,000 miles a years for about 22 years setting up tables and doing cue repairs at the pro events. So Leonard was indeed the pioneer of the travelling pro shop, and the one who made the first cue repair lathes available to the public in the modern era. It was Leonard being at all those tournaments and selling his cue machinery that inspired many others to get into cue repair and cue building.
Leonard Bludworth will be inducted into the International Cuemakers Hall of Fame on July 10th 2010 during the Southern Cue and Case Show at the Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta, Georgia. The Cue and Case Show is held in conjunction with the Gem City Classic 10 Ball Open July 9th-11th. The cue and case show is Saturday July 10 from 12 to 8pm in the luxurious Scorpion Room. Admission is free and several of the south’s finest cue and case makers will be there as well as collectible cues from past cuemakers. There will be some very rare and high end collections on display. But one of the highlights of the event will be Leonard’s induction into the Hall of Fame.
Leonard commonly referred to as BLUD, started doing cue repair in 1976. Around the same time he developed the Bludworth Ball Cleaner. Since then he has sold thousands of these machines. He was a master pool table mechanic and served as the equipment coordinator for both the men's pro tour, as well as the senior tour, for about 15 years. He came up with the idea to take pool tables and travel the country setting them up for pool events. He gave the plans to Valley Tables and they ran with it. In the 1980’s he converted Sears wood lathes into a workable cue repair machine so others could make good money repairing cues. He sold over 400 of these machines around the world. He also made the first video showing how to do cue repairs on these modified wood lathes. After a few years, nearly every major tournament had a qualified repairman there repairing cues for the pros and spectators alike using one of his lathes.
Leonard started building cues in the 1980’s and many top pros rapidly started playing with his cues. The most notable was Leonard’s long time friend Buddy Hall. Leonard also built a line of cues for Buddy. Leonard became known for building very solid cues with a slightly thinner profile than most other cues. Leonard was probably the first cuemaker to sell a cue for $100,000. In 1992 Leonard founded the American Cuemakers Association and served as the president for a few years. His late wife Janice worked along side of him for decades and he also passed his vast cuemaking and machinery knowledge down to his son Donald.
Leonard went on to develop many other mechanical and CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) cue building machines. Some were shaft tapering saw machines. Many were CNC cue lathe/milling machines, and some of those were combo's, (saws and mills), from single cutting heads to multi-heads. The largest machine was a CNC mill with eight heads that went to Bangkok, Thailand. He traveled over 100,000 miles a years for about 22 years setting up tables and doing cue repairs at the pro events. So Leonard was indeed the pioneer of the travelling pro shop, and the one who made the first cue repair lathes available to the public in the modern era. It was Leonard being at all those tournaments and selling his cue machinery that inspired many others to get into cue repair and cue building.
