Question for GRADY.

mnorwood

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
I have been reading your threads about promoting 14.1 and the commentary you have concerning the UPA. I am also aware of your financial sacrifices in an effort to organize tournaments. I enjoyed reading your book and I have the utmost respect for your accomplishments.

In my opinion you are trying to draw blood from a turnip when it comes to drumming up financing for tournaments. However, a person of your standing in the world of pool would be a perfect ambassador to bring pool to the NCAA. I am wandering if you have ever considered approaching the NCAA about making pool a collegiate sport. If they paid you to organize it, would you consider it a worthwile endeavor?
 
mnorwood said:
I have been reading your threads about promoting 14.1 and the commentary you have concerning the UPA. I am also aware of your financial sacrifices in an effort to organize tournaments. I enjoyed reading your book and I have the utmost respect for your accomplishments.

In my opinion you are trying to draw blood from a turnip when it comes to drumming up financing for tournaments. However, a person of your standing in the world of pool would be a perfect ambassador to bring pool to the NCAA. I am wandering if you have ever considered approaching the NCAA about making pool a collegiate sport. If they paid you to organize it, would you consider it a worthwile endeavor?
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I thought it was already a college/ncaa sport. i thought that Nick Varner won the championship in the past. I just checked his bio and nick won the collegiate college championships in 1969 and 1970................mike
 
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Sure, I would consider it and I have drawn up some plans for same. I haven't given up on 14.1 either.
 
cueball1950 said:
I thought it was already a college/ncaa sport. i thought that Nick Varner won the championship in the past. I just checked his bio and nick won the collegiate college championships in 1969 and 1970................mike
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Ah, yes, Nick did win the ACUI straight pool championships whle he was a student at Purdue. Actually, SJM was the runnerup in the ACUI Eastern regional straight pool event in 1980, missing qualifying for the ACUI Nationals by a single match.

Still, the ACUI collegiate championships was a once-a-year event, encomapssing many disciplines (ping pong, for example) and its pool tourney represented the only true intercollegiate competition of the pool year.

I'd say that doesn't mean pool is a college/NCAA sport.
 
Pool is a 'collegiate' sport, but it is not an NCAA sport. The collegiate championship is sponsored each year by the ACUI--the Association of College Unions International.
 
sjm said:
Ah, yes, Nick did win the ACUI straight pool championships whle he was a student at Purdue. Actually, SJM was the runnerup in the ACUI Eastern regional straight pool event in 1980, missing qualifying for the ACUI Nationals by a single match.

Still, the ACUI collegiate championships was a once-a-year event, encomapssing many disciplines (ping pong, for example) and its pool tourney represented the only true intercollegiate competition of the pool year.

I'd say that doesn't mean pool is a college/NCAA sport.
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heard a rumor the other day that purdue got rid of their tables.....
 
I should have drawn the distinction between being a collegiate sport and a NCAA sport. I am refurring to an NCAA sanctioned sport. The rationale behind my suggestion is the exposure it would give the sport to a younger audience. Working with the NCAA would also allow institutional involvement in developing pool talent.
 
PoolBum said:
Pool is a 'collegiate' sport, but it is not an NCAA sport. The collegiate championship is sponsored each year by the ACUI--the Association of College Unions International.
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Glad to be corrected. :D thanks for setting me straight guys. they say you learn something new everyday. well i did today. :cool: .......................mike
 
A sport is never dead until EVERYONE has given up on it. Clearly Grady hasn't given up so more power to him. How else is a revivial supposed to happen?

Sure on a practical level I think he's going to have a hard time getting financing, but what else is new in the world of Pool? How else can you succeed if you never try?

Grady, I can't offer you any direct financial aid in your promotional plans, but if you ever need some help with graphics, flyers, websites etc. let me know.
 
Hi guys,

I'm a newbie in this forum, and yes I would DEFINITELY LOVE TO see this happen beyond a shadow of doubt.

I am an international student from singapore studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign. While I have played in the regionals for the past 2 years, one of the things I looked forward to the most was to really soak in the atmosphere of the sport, something that some might say is made up only of fairy tales in my homeland. Alas, when I came here, I was sad to see that even on a school level, the level of competition wasn't particularly strong, and even in the CU area, pool was sometimes scarce, with very few pool halls and even fewer APA leagues. The closest BCA sanctioned tourney would be the WPBA in Peoria once a year, unless I traveled up to Chicago 3 hours away. I originally thought that I'd be sucked into a world of pool by coming to the USA, but it's not a sport that my school gives much money to, and it's been hard to come by in the community. That said, I started the first pool club at the university and we are hoping to do well in the future, but if Grady would take the lead and throw us all into the NCAA spotlight or at least something even better than would connect all college pool clubs or pool teams, I wouldn't have chosen the wrong place for my college education.
 
mnorwood said:
I have been reading your threads about promoting 14.1 and the commentary you have concerning the UPA. I am also aware of your financial sacrifices in an effort to organize tournaments. I enjoyed reading your book and I have the utmost respect for your accomplishments.

In my opinion you are trying to draw blood from a turnip when it comes to drumming up financing for tournaments. However, a person of your standing in the world of pool would be a perfect ambassador to bring pool to the NCAA. I am wandering if you have ever considered approaching the NCAA about making pool a collegiate sport. If they paid you to organize it, would you consider it a worthwile endeavor?
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Really doubtful it will become an NCAA sport. The only way it will is if schools wanted a cheap Title IX sport for women. They would much rather spend the money on cars for football and basketball players.
 
JPB said:
Really doubtful it will become an NCAA sport. The only way it will is if schools wanted a cheap Title IX sport for women. They would much rather spend the money on cars for football and basketball players.
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Sadly your assessment of college sports is correct. Our local university stocks it teams with players by giving them money under the table. However, the title IX approach is an excellent idea. The initial goal of organizing on a college level is simply to have the sport sanctioned. It the organizational infrastructure that is needed. Serious money for facilities and scholarships wouldn't come until much later. Making pool work as an NCAA sport would be a long process not an over night event.
 
cubswin said:
heard a rumor the other day that purdue got rid of their tables.....
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they had i think 24 9 footers and 2 9 foot snooker tables, dunno if it's true or not but i heard they traded them to muellers for the 15 or so new tables that they put in their new room in the basement of the union next to the bowling alley, i spent a lot of time playing in the old room, went once to the new room to play on the new tables 2-3 years back and it rolled off a lot for a brand new table, didn't go back till a couple weeks ago, used to play a lot with leonard the guy who ran it, was told he died a few years back, eales on here was saying in a thread about trying to get the tables refelted
________
 
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raemondo said:
Hi guys,

I'm a newbie in this forum, and yes I would DEFINITELY LOVE TO see this happen beyond a shadow of doubt.

I am an international student from singapore studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign. While I have played in the regionals for the past 2 years, one of the things I looked forward to the most was to really soak in the atmosphere of the sport, something that some might say is made up only of fairy tales in my homeland. Alas, when I came here, I was sad to see that even on a school level, the level of competition wasn't particularly strong, and even in the CU area, pool was sometimes scarce, with very few pool halls and even fewer APA leagues. The closest BCA sanctioned tourney would be the WPBA in Peoria once a year, unless I traveled up to Chicago 3 hours away. I originally thought that I'd be sucked into a world of pool by coming to the USA, but it's not a sport that my school gives much money to, and it's been hard to come by in the community. That said, I started the first pool club at the university and we are hoping to do well in the future, but if Grady would take the lead and throw us all into the NCAA spotlight or at least something even better than would connect all college pool clubs or pool teams, I wouldn't have chosen the wrong place for my college education.
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If you played in the regionals the past two years I'm sure you've seen some good players. The regional fields are not usually that deep in good players, but weren't the players at the top of your regional good players?
 
PoolBum said:
If you played in the regionals the past two years I'm sure you've seen some good players. The regional fields are not usually that deep in good players, but weren't the players at the top of your regional good players?
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Hi PoolBum,

Sounds like you know this region pretty well.

Currently, the player that came up BOTH tops in our region and nationals for the past 2 years running is Lars Vardaman, and it's his 2nd year in college. Apart from him though, I have to say that the playing field isn't really that intense, and honestly the runner-up can hardly compare to him in terms of skill. Lars pretty much came into the competition for the past 2 years and already won it before he begun...he's an awesome player, a great person, and I sincerely repect him. He's also a very focused individual and has a 4.0 gpa!!! Lars pretty much beat every single person by a scoreline of 6-2 or less, and I was the luckiest POS in the tourney to get 3 games off him!

In addition, the top female player in our region goes to the U of I, she helps me run the school club too and in Nationals, she placed 2nd last year and 3rd this year. So I guess in terms of top players, it does seem that our region produces the cream.

In past years though, our region has seen decently strong players, and the U of I has kept a strong tradition of sending players to Nationals..I wanna say for the past 5 or 6 years or so...the highest ranking something somebody got in nationals was like 3rd or something. Alas when I came in as a freshman, everything started going downhill!

So, when I saw this post, I was excited cos I felt that there might still be hope....Grady please do something!!!
 
raemondo said:
Hi PoolBum,

Sounds like you know this region pretty well.

Currently, the player that came up BOTH tops in our region and nationals for the past 2 years running is Lars Vardaman, and it's his 2nd year in college. Apart from him though, I have to say that the playing field isn't really that intense, and honestly the runner-up can hardly compare to him in terms of skill. Lars pretty much came into the competition for the past 2 years and already won it before he begun...he's an awesome player, a great person, and I sincerely repect him. He's also a very focused individual and has a 4.0 gpa!!! Lars pretty much beat every single person by a scoreline of 6-2 or less, and I was the luckiest POS in the tourney to get 3 games off him!

In addition, the top female player in our region goes to the U of I, she helps me run the school club too and in Nationals, she placed 2nd last year and 3rd this year. So I guess in terms of top players, it does seem that our region produces the cream.

In past years though, our region has seen decently strong players, and the U of I has kept a strong tradition of sending players to Nationals..I wanna say for the past 5 or 6 years or so...the highest ranking something somebody got in nationals was like 3rd or something. Alas when I came in as a freshman, everything started going downhill!

So, when I saw this post, I was excited cos I felt that there might still be hope....Grady please do something!!!
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I agree with everything you say about Lars. He's a good guy, and a very good and focused player. He did have the benefit of a very fortunate draw at the nationals this year though. ;)
 
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PoolBum said:
I agree with everything you say about Lars. He's a good guy, and a very good and focused player. He did have the benefit of a very fortunate draw at the nationals this year though. ;)
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Hi Poolbum,

Perhaps you play in the regionals or nationals yourself?

Yea having good luck is the best weapon....I always say that 9 ball is the game where luck counts the most, what can anyone do if all you do is break and sink the 9 all the time?!
 
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