The local paper in Oklahoma did an interview with Gabe's 92 yr old grandmother and his aunt. 
BROKEN ARROW DAILY LEDGER
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
A GRANDMOTHER’S PRIDE – Amy Woods points to a picture of her grandson, Gabe Owen, depicted as “Superman” on the front of a billiard’s magazine. Woods recalls playing pool with Owen when he was 5. His success in the field is a source of great pride for her.
Grandma’s Pride: Billiards ace grandson
Amy Woods was one of first to play the game with now-ace grandson
By Lucienda Denson
Lifestyle Editor
ldenson@neighbor-newspapers.com
Amy Woods doesn’t play pool -- or billiards -- but her magazines of choice these days have to do with the sport.
Her grandson, Gabe Owen, is one of the hottest up-and-coming billiards players in the country.
“He is being compared to Tiger Woods,” said Peggy Howland, Amy Wood’s daughter and Owen’s aunt. “Some of the pool and billiards magazines are calling him the greatest young gun.”
Woods, now 92, grew up in a time when girls, especially grandmothers, usually didn’t know much about things like pool.
She was born in rural Missouri, one of 10 children and grew up being “busy” helping with the family. After she married, she was a housewife and earned extra money by cutting onions and picking cotton and strawberries.
Peggy Howland remembers her mother as a tireless worker.
“Mother would get up really early in the morning and start a fire in the wood stove, cook breakfast, get everyone fed and dressed and then head out to work herself,” Howland said.
“She ran a lunch wagon. In the summer, we would go with her. In the evening, when everyone came home, she would feed everybody, do the dishes, clean the house, and the next morning, get up really early and start all over again.”
Woods and her first husband, Thomas Conduff, lived for many years in Arkansas and in Wichita, Kan. Finally, they decided to move to Broken Arrow “so Thomas could work with another man building houses,” she said.
Conduff died in 1971. Woods married Henry Woods in 1973 and was widowed again in 1976. She now lives in a small apartment in Broken Arrow where she keeps up with what all her children and grandchildren are doing.
Right now, she’s paying a considerable amount of attention to what is happening in Owen’s career.
Owen was very young when his parents, Wood’s daughter Kathy and husband Bob Owen, separated. Woods often baby-sat the boy.
“I remember when Gabe was about 5 years old. His brother, Bobby, was in school and they had a pool table in the basement. Gabe would say, ‘Grandma, will you go down to the basement and play pool with me?’” Woods said.
She remembers he was a better pool player at age 5 than she was as an adult.
Even so, Owen didn’t develop a strong interest in pool and billiards until his teen years. With his grandmother’s and mother’s encouragement, he played often.
“I know Mother often gave him money so he could play,” Howland said.
Woods ticks off Owen’s wins like a veteran billiards fan: 2004 U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion, a member of the winning U.S. team in the Mosconi Cup held in Amsterdam in 2004, and a member of the 2006 International Pool Tour.
“That’s one of the biggest things in pool now,” said Howland.
Owen recently moved from the Broken Arrow area to Florida, where he will be a house pro for Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville, voted the third most prestigious pool hall in America.
“Anytime he’s in the area, Gabe always comes to see me,” Woods said.
Owen has turned an interest into a very lucrative career with often high-dollar rewards. But for Woods, those rewards take second place to visits, letters and phone calls from her grandson.
end
BROKEN ARROW DAILY LEDGER
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
A GRANDMOTHER’S PRIDE – Amy Woods points to a picture of her grandson, Gabe Owen, depicted as “Superman” on the front of a billiard’s magazine. Woods recalls playing pool with Owen when he was 5. His success in the field is a source of great pride for her.
Grandma’s Pride: Billiards ace grandson
Amy Woods was one of first to play the game with now-ace grandson
By Lucienda Denson
Lifestyle Editor
ldenson@neighbor-newspapers.com
Amy Woods doesn’t play pool -- or billiards -- but her magazines of choice these days have to do with the sport.
Her grandson, Gabe Owen, is one of the hottest up-and-coming billiards players in the country.
“He is being compared to Tiger Woods,” said Peggy Howland, Amy Wood’s daughter and Owen’s aunt. “Some of the pool and billiards magazines are calling him the greatest young gun.”
Woods, now 92, grew up in a time when girls, especially grandmothers, usually didn’t know much about things like pool.
She was born in rural Missouri, one of 10 children and grew up being “busy” helping with the family. After she married, she was a housewife and earned extra money by cutting onions and picking cotton and strawberries.
Peggy Howland remembers her mother as a tireless worker.
“Mother would get up really early in the morning and start a fire in the wood stove, cook breakfast, get everyone fed and dressed and then head out to work herself,” Howland said.
“She ran a lunch wagon. In the summer, we would go with her. In the evening, when everyone came home, she would feed everybody, do the dishes, clean the house, and the next morning, get up really early and start all over again.”
Woods and her first husband, Thomas Conduff, lived for many years in Arkansas and in Wichita, Kan. Finally, they decided to move to Broken Arrow “so Thomas could work with another man building houses,” she said.
Conduff died in 1971. Woods married Henry Woods in 1973 and was widowed again in 1976. She now lives in a small apartment in Broken Arrow where she keeps up with what all her children and grandchildren are doing.
Right now, she’s paying a considerable amount of attention to what is happening in Owen’s career.
Owen was very young when his parents, Wood’s daughter Kathy and husband Bob Owen, separated. Woods often baby-sat the boy.
“I remember when Gabe was about 5 years old. His brother, Bobby, was in school and they had a pool table in the basement. Gabe would say, ‘Grandma, will you go down to the basement and play pool with me?’” Woods said.
She remembers he was a better pool player at age 5 than she was as an adult.
Even so, Owen didn’t develop a strong interest in pool and billiards until his teen years. With his grandmother’s and mother’s encouragement, he played often.
“I know Mother often gave him money so he could play,” Howland said.
Woods ticks off Owen’s wins like a veteran billiards fan: 2004 U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion, a member of the winning U.S. team in the Mosconi Cup held in Amsterdam in 2004, and a member of the 2006 International Pool Tour.
“That’s one of the biggest things in pool now,” said Howland.
Owen recently moved from the Broken Arrow area to Florida, where he will be a house pro for Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville, voted the third most prestigious pool hall in America.
“Anytime he’s in the area, Gabe always comes to see me,” Woods said.
Owen has turned an interest into a very lucrative career with often high-dollar rewards. But for Woods, those rewards take second place to visits, letters and phone calls from her grandson.
end
