HomeAbout Billiards DigestContact UsArchiveAll About PoolEquipmentOur AdvertisersLinks
From the Publisher
By Mike Panozzo
Mike became editor of Billiards Digest in 1980 and liked it so much that he bought the company. He has served on the Billiard Congress of America board of directors and as president of the Billiard & Bowling Institute of America.


Archives
• March 2024
• February 2024
• January 2024
• December 2023
• November 2023
• October 2023
• September 2023
• August 2023
• July 2023
• June 2023
• May 2023
• April 2023
• March 2023
• February 2023
• January 2023
• December 2022
• November 2022
• October 2022
• September 2022
• August 2022
• July 2022
• June 2022
• May 2022
• April 2022
• March 2022
• February 2022
• January 2022
• December 2021
• November 2021
• October 2021
• September 2021
• August 2021
• July 2021
• June 2021
• May 2021
• April 2021
• March 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021
• December 2020
• November 2020
• October 2020
• September 2020
• August 2020
• July 2020
• June 2020
• May 2020
• April 2020
• March 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• October 2019
• September 2019
• August 2019
• July 2019
• June 2019
• May 2019
• April 2019
• March 2019
• February 2019
• January 2019
• December 2018
• November 2018
• October 2018
• September 2018
• August 2018
• July 2018
• June 2018
• May 2018
• April 2018
• March 2018
• February 2018
• January 2018
• November 2017
• October 2017
• September 2017
• August 2017
• July 2017
• June 2017
• May 2017
• April 2017
• March 2017
• February 2017
• January 2017
• December 2016
• November 2016
• October 2016
• September 2016
• August 2016
• June 2016
• May 2016
• Apr 2016
• Mar 2016
• Feb 2016
• Jan 2016
• Dec 2015
• Nov 2015
• Oct 2015
• Sept 2015
• August 2015
• July 2015
• June 2015
• May 2015
• April 2015
• March 2015
• February 2015
• January 2015
• October 2014
• August 2014
• May 2014
• March 2014
• February 2014
• September 2013
• June 2013
• May 2013
• April 2013
• March 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• May 2011
• April 2011
• March 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
 
July: A Tough Year for Industry
July 2016

Perhaps it is because I’m getting to the age where the generation ahead of me (and all too often, my own generation) is leaving this world at a pace more frequent than I would like, but it certainly seems like we’ve lost a lot of memorable people in the past year. In mainstream society, the list of high-profile deaths that hit me particularly hard is too long: Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, Prince, Gordie Howe, Morley Safer, Guy Clark, Garry Shandling and Maurice White.

Closer to home, 2016 has been rough on the billiard industry as well. This year began with the death of longtime promoter and billiard idealist, Barry Dubow. A New Yorker through and through, Dubow was one of the first people I met in the industry. He was pitching the Professional Pool Players Association to Madison Avenue when I met him in Manhattan in 1981. I have met few people in this industry who believed in pool as a marketing vehicle more than Dubow. He was never without his leather binder, which contained program guides and press clippings from the various events he’d promoted for the WPBA, PPPA, BCA, Brunswick Billiards and more. He died of a rare neurological disorder at the age of 76.

The months that have passed saw the deaths of former National Billiard News publisher and noted tournament referee Conrad Burkman, International Challenge of Champions and Trick Shot Magic promoter (and prolific Western novelist) Matt Braun and, of course, U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships founder and longtime Virginia poolroom owner Barry Behrman.

More recently, the billiard world lost two icons from the manufacturing side of the industry: table maker Don Brostoski and cuemaker Paul Huebler. (See “Wing Shots,” page 13.) Brostoski, founder of Golden West Billiard Mfg., was 71 when he passed away in Portland, Ore. Golden West was launched in Southern California in the 1960s, but Brostoski relocated the business to Oregon in the late ’90s. I remember visiting his factory in Canoga Park, Calif., on my many advertising sales junkets during the ’80s and ’90s. BCA Hall of Famer Lou Butera worked in the showroom. Brostoski was known as an innovative table designer and a fine craftsman.

Huebler was an industry gem. He looked like Edmund Gwenn’s Kris Kringle character in the classic movie, “Miracle on 34th Street,” and he was just loved. Though residing in the tiny town of Linn, in central Missouri, Huebler was well-traveled. He spent five years in New Guinea doing missionary work. He loved expensive wines and five-star restaurants. As a big advertiser in Billiards Digest, Huebler got the royal treatment when he visited Chicago. On one visit, I was charged with taking Paul to Le Francais, a five-star French restaurant outside Chicago. It was my first, and last, time at a five-star French restaurant. Mr. Huebler was 89. What all this has taught me is that the longer you are part of a big family — and after 36 years, it’s safe to say the billiard world is part of my family — the more likely you are to experience the loss of longtime friends, people who have had a significant impact on you over the years.

I have fond memories of the billiard icons we’ve lost in 2016. And, as difficult as it is to say goodbye, I am thankful to be in an industry in which friendships and relationships tend to last a good, long time.

MORE VIDEO...