Since some of you are so negetive, lets try this a different way. At this point I don't really care if someone takes my ideas and trys to copy them and do what I'm planning to do, if that be the case I'll simply retire and go fishing for the rest of my life and not give a damn, or look back.
First of all, I've been patiently waiting and planning on how to take over the world of Professuonal Pool since May 1983 when i got out of the army. I tried playing pool to support my wife and kids, and did so for several months, but soon realized that without a support program and no ladder to climb to increase my income, i would be forced to gamble for every dollar i made, there wws no way that was going to last, so i basically quit playing pool way back then to get a job as a waynof supporting my family. The first job i ever worked besides being in the Army for 9 years, i landed goingntonwork for Queen City Billiards, actually building home style pool tables. Well, having a pool player background and a natural math ability, i soon started talking with the owners about making their lool tables play better, so when my ideas made sence to them, they let me make changes to their pool tables, and i have to say, to this day i can safely say we built the best playing home style pool tables I've ever played on to date. But, after 9 months of employment with Queen City, i didn't feel as if i was doing enough because no matter where i went to play pool after work, the pool tables in the bars still played like shit, so i felt that maybe that was my calling, so i gave notice that i was quitting to start my own service business fixing the bar tables in my area as there was a shit ton of them as Washington State at the time only had ONE pool hall, and that was the OLD 211 Club down on 2nd and Union, upstairs. Man, i hated riding in that shit and piss smelling elevator up to the second floor, and leaving there at night sometimes, well lets just say you might be risking your life putting it lightly!!
I told the owners my reason for quiting was because i wanted to try and improve the bar table industry, and that one day I'd buildnthe best bar box in the world, they laughed at me and said good luck, so i went out on my own. I worked from June 1984 to June 1989 in the bar table business fixing, recovering, rebuilding, and otherwise and successfully built up 328 accounts and serving over 1,000 pool tables a year, BUT didn't feel as if i was changing or improving the conditions of playing pool as instill didn't see anyone coming along and organizing or straightening out pool for the Professional's at all, SOOOO....I decided maybe whatni needed to do was open a pool room and maybe I could effect the desired change that way. Opened my first pool room in Oct 1989 with my then partner Rich Gieler, but soon after opening, realized we had some problems that couldn't be overlooked so I sold my half of the business to him and got out, i still had my service business to fall back on so i went back to work. But i still hadn't gotten the pool hall idea out of my head, so i opened another pool room in April 1990, after it was up and running, i opened another pool room in 1991, now i had 2 pool rooms, BUT without the sale of food and alcohol in either location, it didn't take long to realize i was on the Titanic waiting to meet the Iceberg and sink like a lead balloon, so i ended up closing my pool rooms down in 1992, and back to my service business again. Well, a few yesrs later, i just didn't see anything changing so i once again decided I'd try something different, so, in June 1995 i gave my service business away to ny younger brother who worked for me for several years, didn't charge him a dime, as i had no intentions of stepping back into it again, i was NOW going to follow through with my promise i had made when i quit Queen City Billiards and build my own best in tbe world coin opersted pool tables!!! So, freed up from all distractions, i set out on my new path. By July 18th, 6 weeks later, i had designed my own King Cobra coin operated pool table and sold it for $3,000....and the bar owner wanted more of them, he liked it so much. Well, over the next 4 years, i built and sold 128 King Cobra pool tables, always refining them, making them better and better. The pride of my tables were sitting in 4 different casino's, 9ft coin operated pool tables.....9 FOOT COIN OPERATED POOL TABLES....IN CASINO'S, can you just imagine that!! One casino in Renton had 4 tables at 75 cents a game and was pulling in $7,500 a month, it was crazy. Had another casino in Auburn with 3 9fts at 75 cents a game pulling in $5,000 a month, another casino in Tukwila with 3 9fts at a $1 a game, OR $3 per half hour as i designed in a timer system that would allow the customer to choose how they wanted to pay, and they were producing $5,000 a month like clock work. Last casino was up in Everett, it had 4 9fts at 75 cents a game and was pulling in $6,000 a month! So, i had finally taken the steps to bring a pool table to the market place that could change pool, but i needed to find someone willing to build my pool table's, so began the search. In March 2000 i was directed to check out Diamond billiards as a possibility of being the manufacturer I was looking for as everyone in the business of manufacturing pool tables wasn't interested in making a change, Tom with Global Billiards gave me tbe lead.
I had a nice offer on the table from Brunswick for 5% of tbe sales if I'd design my coin op under their name, but i felt they were to big, and had already had 3 failed attempts in the coin op industry, so i went after Diamond instesd, reason being....if you want to cbange the world of playing pool, you MUST have everyone playing on pool tables that all play the same!!! So, in March 2000 i met Greg Sullivan, DIAMOND BILLIARDS ENTERS THE PICTURE!!!
Now, 18 years later, it's time to make my next major move, raising the money needed to gain the attention of the Professional Pool Players....next page. Have to feed my cats first as they WON'T leave me alone!!!
