If you can give me a week, I can write one. I'm swamped with jobs right now. Let me know, yea or nay, and I'll start on it. Meanwhile, there's this from July 18, 2015, edition of
The Denver Gazette: Cue the History Lesson. Like Wikipedia articles, it's hard to write one and provide print proof of every happening in one's life.
Here's a snippet:
Smith moved to Colorado Springs in 1974, but began playing pool long before that. In high school, he’d skip class to practice in an Arizona pool hall. The habit continued when he attended Arizona State, where he frequented the school’s student union pool tables. His career took off in Colorado Springs, though, where he opened three pool bars. Smith’s team won the Billiards Congress of America amateur national championship in 1982, besting another team from Colorado Springs.
His playing career spanned the period where pool was at its most popular, and Colorado Springs was one of the epicenters for amateur competition.
As successful as Smith was as a pool player, his true contributions to the sport are in tournament directing. He’s announced almost two decades of U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, which gather the best pool players in the world and are broadcasted on ESPN. “He would rack the balls, he would announce the players, he would referee. He made a perfect announcer,” [Joanne] Bostrom said. “He gave nicknames to everybody. It wasn’t just ‘and now up, this and this.’ He gets into it.”
It’s easy to see his announcer alter ego reflected, even when he’s playing Friday morning. Smith’s low, hoarse voice carries conversations seamlessly. And as he walks along the walls once again after his first-round loss, he tells stories of chartering planes to attend tournaments; of Southern California bicycle clubs; of an award a magazine gave him for his hair, which still retains its boyish spikes. “I called it ‘Rogaine meets Viagra,'” he laughs, quoting the article.
There’s one story, however, that Smith cannot tell. At least not yet. The top row of photographs depicts members of the BCA Hall of Fame. Smith badly wants to be a part of this exclusive club. “I’m a bona fide candidate,” he says, looking up at the line of portraits. “There’s never been a tournament director in there.” His voice quiets and his eyes are serious when he talks about earning a spot in the Hall of Fame. There have only been 15 non-player, or meritorious, members in its history.
It was kind of chilling typing this closing line of the article:
“It’d be nice to get up there one of these days, but I don’t know,” he says. “When I die, maybe.”
Because Scott was a player himself, he was extremely knowledgeable about the game, which was a bonus. The players liked Scott, too, a lot. When Scott would announce Keith McCready at pool tournaments, this was his intro: "Sponsored by Budweiser Beer, we have Keith "The Earthquake" McCready. Me being sober as a judge since 1978, I wasn't fond of that intro, but everybody laughed and enjoyed it. It was all in fun, I realize, of course. At that time, Keith was the only competitor drinking beer at his table, and nobody said he couldn't, unlike today's rules in professional tournament competition.
Keith and Scott would hang out on the offs together. I have a few stories of their antics. Here's a cute pic of Scott autographing his cigar for a U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship fan at the Chesapeake Beach venue. Oh, yeah, he loved his cigars.
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