Local Paper does article on Jason Miller
This was in today's Dayton Dailey News front page of the Sports section. Thats really saying something because in the past anything pool related was in the local section of the paper. ...enjoy!
Pool-Hall Wizard
1. Dayton player part of push to put carpeted table on world stage
By Kyle Nagel
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | Jason Miller sits in the afternoon calm of Airway Billiards, the internationally known Dayton pool hall, and sips an ice water. The quiet 34-year-old sports-bar owner continues to take questions about his life, his pool game and his experiences with the same coolness he uses in his pool matches.
"There's not much to say, really," Miller says.
Give it a few months. Miller, who has been a star on the local pool scene for close to two decades, last month took Master of the Table honors at the Derby City Classic in Louisville, Ky., one of the most respected pool tournaments in the world. Then, days later, he won a qualifier to earn his card on the International Pool Tour, the burgeoning hope to bring pool to the same level as poker in the national consciousness.
That's where Miller could fit in.
Televised poker exploded across the country around the time that the aptly named Chris Moneymaker, an accountant, qualified through an online tournament and won the World Series of Poker (and $2.5 million). It was the weekend player cashing in against the professionals.
To advance as far as it wants, the IPT, a brainchild of billionaire and "infomercial king" Kevin Trudeau, will need its Everyman. Like, say, a business owner whose financial struggles following Sept. 11, 2001, and a brief lack of passion kept him from playing much pool for years. Then, when he again entered competition, he rolled over some of the world's best.
"He's the kind of guy who, if people see him win, they'll say, 'Maybe I can play with the big boys, too,' " Trudeau said. "He's a magnificent player, but he's also very much of a regular guy. He's a guy who does plenty of things outside of pool. He's not practicing for 10 hours every day."
Quite the opposite. Between his personal practicing and his two league nights a week, Miller doesn't come close to the table time of the top pros he'll be facing in IPT events.
But, as he has since he was a 12-year-old stopping at Airway's old location on his way home from school, Miller maintains a mental advantage. Even though he doesn't say much, his brain is constantly moving, sizing up shots, calculating chances.Whether he's winning or losing, you get the same stable stare.
"So many of these players are good, but they'll miss shots and be upset, and it kills their game," said Hal Johnson, Airway's co-owner who used to let Miller clean tables for free practice time. "With Jason, he never shows any emotion. He's exactly the same all the time."
It takes a village
On Jan. 1, 1986, Johnson officially became the Airway Billiards owner after buying the pool room and bar from Bob Drake. Within a few years, Miller became a regular, practicing for hours, mimicking shots he saw from the regulars during Airway's weekly Monday night tournaments.
When he wasn't at Airway, Miller was traveling to Cincinnati with fellow regular Joe Brown, a skilled player 10 years his senior, to spend time in the Queen City pool halls. First on the list of players to study was Gary Spaeth, the world bank pool champion and one of the best players on the planet.
There were others. Through his early teenage years, Miller studied and competed against the top players in Ohio, if not the country.
"Some people, you can tell if they want it bad," Brown said. "He always was a kid who wanted to be a good player. He had that will and desire to play. Everyone around the pool room saw that."
By the early 1990s, Johnson started a pool team to compete on the local, state and national level. It instantly became a power with Miller, Spaeth, Brown and several others. In fact, after the team's first world championship, in 1990, Ohio passed a rule forbidding players younger than 21. Miller was 18.
The rule eventually was eliminated, and the team continued success until many in the pool world knew the name Airway Billiards. Meanwhile, Miller also was honing his skills in Dayton, and by his late teens he was beating some of the best.
"The road players coming in who wanted to gamble, he would always beat them," said Todd Recher, who became co-owner of Airway when it moved to its current location in 1994. "It was really an awakening process for those around him to see how good he really was."
Pool also provided him professional opportunities. When a friend of Johnson's bought some land with sand volleyball courts and asked Johnson to recommend a manager, Miller was the first to mind. Several years later, in March 2001, the owner became ill and arranged a deal for Miller to take control.
Today, Miller's bar, Setters, hosts more than 200 members in its outdoor volleyball leagues, has numerous dart leagues and survived the post-9/11 slowdown. With his business stabilized, Miller recommitted himself to practicing pool two years ago and now has reached the high point of his career.
Serious prize money
Like many, he hopes the IPT, which plays 8-ball matches, can wake up interest in the game.
"If you went into a pool room six months ago, everyone was playing 9-ball, because that was the dominant game on television," said Deno Andrews, the IPT tour director. "Now if you go into pool rooms, they're playing 8-ball. The buzz is out there."
The IPT plans to make pool a profession. In at least six events this year, which have yet to be scheduled, no purse will be less than $1 million. The opening tournament, the North American Open, will feature a $2 million purse and a $350,000 first prize.
"For our final event last year, we gave last place $6,200," Andrews said. "There have been some modern world championships where the winner didn't make that much."
Miller supporters say his mind-set and natural skill should help him make a good amount of that money. Along the way, he could do plenty to help the young tour.
"When he's competing on the tour, competing on a full-time basis like the other players, he's got as good a chance as any of them," Johnson said. "And he's such an easy guy to root for."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/daily/0207miller.html
This was in today's Dayton Dailey News front page of the Sports section. Thats really saying something because in the past anything pool related was in the local section of the paper. ...enjoy!
Pool-Hall Wizard
1. Dayton player part of push to put carpeted table on world stage
By Kyle Nagel
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | Jason Miller sits in the afternoon calm of Airway Billiards, the internationally known Dayton pool hall, and sips an ice water. The quiet 34-year-old sports-bar owner continues to take questions about his life, his pool game and his experiences with the same coolness he uses in his pool matches.
"There's not much to say, really," Miller says.
Give it a few months. Miller, who has been a star on the local pool scene for close to two decades, last month took Master of the Table honors at the Derby City Classic in Louisville, Ky., one of the most respected pool tournaments in the world. Then, days later, he won a qualifier to earn his card on the International Pool Tour, the burgeoning hope to bring pool to the same level as poker in the national consciousness.
That's where Miller could fit in.
Televised poker exploded across the country around the time that the aptly named Chris Moneymaker, an accountant, qualified through an online tournament and won the World Series of Poker (and $2.5 million). It was the weekend player cashing in against the professionals.
To advance as far as it wants, the IPT, a brainchild of billionaire and "infomercial king" Kevin Trudeau, will need its Everyman. Like, say, a business owner whose financial struggles following Sept. 11, 2001, and a brief lack of passion kept him from playing much pool for years. Then, when he again entered competition, he rolled over some of the world's best.
"He's the kind of guy who, if people see him win, they'll say, 'Maybe I can play with the big boys, too,' " Trudeau said. "He's a magnificent player, but he's also very much of a regular guy. He's a guy who does plenty of things outside of pool. He's not practicing for 10 hours every day."
Quite the opposite. Between his personal practicing and his two league nights a week, Miller doesn't come close to the table time of the top pros he'll be facing in IPT events.
But, as he has since he was a 12-year-old stopping at Airway's old location on his way home from school, Miller maintains a mental advantage. Even though he doesn't say much, his brain is constantly moving, sizing up shots, calculating chances.Whether he's winning or losing, you get the same stable stare.
"So many of these players are good, but they'll miss shots and be upset, and it kills their game," said Hal Johnson, Airway's co-owner who used to let Miller clean tables for free practice time. "With Jason, he never shows any emotion. He's exactly the same all the time."
It takes a village
On Jan. 1, 1986, Johnson officially became the Airway Billiards owner after buying the pool room and bar from Bob Drake. Within a few years, Miller became a regular, practicing for hours, mimicking shots he saw from the regulars during Airway's weekly Monday night tournaments.
When he wasn't at Airway, Miller was traveling to Cincinnati with fellow regular Joe Brown, a skilled player 10 years his senior, to spend time in the Queen City pool halls. First on the list of players to study was Gary Spaeth, the world bank pool champion and one of the best players on the planet.
There were others. Through his early teenage years, Miller studied and competed against the top players in Ohio, if not the country.
"Some people, you can tell if they want it bad," Brown said. "He always was a kid who wanted to be a good player. He had that will and desire to play. Everyone around the pool room saw that."
By the early 1990s, Johnson started a pool team to compete on the local, state and national level. It instantly became a power with Miller, Spaeth, Brown and several others. In fact, after the team's first world championship, in 1990, Ohio passed a rule forbidding players younger than 21. Miller was 18.
The rule eventually was eliminated, and the team continued success until many in the pool world knew the name Airway Billiards. Meanwhile, Miller also was honing his skills in Dayton, and by his late teens he was beating some of the best.
"The road players coming in who wanted to gamble, he would always beat them," said Todd Recher, who became co-owner of Airway when it moved to its current location in 1994. "It was really an awakening process for those around him to see how good he really was."
Pool also provided him professional opportunities. When a friend of Johnson's bought some land with sand volleyball courts and asked Johnson to recommend a manager, Miller was the first to mind. Several years later, in March 2001, the owner became ill and arranged a deal for Miller to take control.
Today, Miller's bar, Setters, hosts more than 200 members in its outdoor volleyball leagues, has numerous dart leagues and survived the post-9/11 slowdown. With his business stabilized, Miller recommitted himself to practicing pool two years ago and now has reached the high point of his career.
Serious prize money
Like many, he hopes the IPT, which plays 8-ball matches, can wake up interest in the game.
"If you went into a pool room six months ago, everyone was playing 9-ball, because that was the dominant game on television," said Deno Andrews, the IPT tour director. "Now if you go into pool rooms, they're playing 8-ball. The buzz is out there."
The IPT plans to make pool a profession. In at least six events this year, which have yet to be scheduled, no purse will be less than $1 million. The opening tournament, the North American Open, will feature a $2 million purse and a $350,000 first prize.
"For our final event last year, we gave last place $6,200," Andrews said. "There have been some modern world championships where the winner didn't make that much."
Miller supporters say his mind-set and natural skill should help him make a good amount of that money. Along the way, he could do plenty to help the young tour.
"When he's competing on the tour, competing on a full-time basis like the other players, he's got as good a chance as any of them," Johnson said. "And he's such an easy guy to root for."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/daily/0207miller.html
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