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
• 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
• July 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
 
February: Big Numbers
February 2018

Forty is a big number.

Not many businesses last 40 years. Even fewer magazines last 40 years. This marks the 40th year of Billiards Digest. And, having been around now for 38 of those 40 years, it doesn’t even seem possible.

The history of Billiards Digest has been well chronicled in these pages, but as a refresher, the magazine was the brainchild of the man who hired me in 1980, Mort Luby Jr. Mort was the publisher of Bowlers Journal, a monthly magazine that was launched, incredibly, back in 1913! (Now that’s old!) Because the bowling and billiard businesses were so closely linked (many companies manufactured and/or distributed both bowling and billiard products and supplies, and most bowling centers during the 20th century included billiard areas), Bowlers Journal carried a half-dozen or so pages of billiard news in each issue. In the ’40s, the magazine took on the title, Bowlers Journal and Billiard Revue.

As the popularity of billiards grew following the release of “The Hustler,” and suburban sprawl led to wild growth in billiard rooms, billiard industry leaders and players clamored for their own magazine.

So, in 1978 Mort relented and launched Billiards Digest, which started out as a bimonthly publication. Timing being everything, Billiards Digest hit the streets right about the time the billiard industry was going into a terrible slump. Skyrocketing interest rates, which crippled the housing market, made business plenty tough for billiard manufacturers and retailers.

But Mort stuck with it and Billiards Digest persevered. The industry began to rebound and took off in the late ’80s following “The Color of Money,” which played a major role in the “Great Poolroom Boom” of the late ’80s and ’90s. Billiard manufacturers thrived. Poolrooms thrived. Billiard retail stores thrived. The men pros thrived. The lady pros thrived. And Billiards Digest thrived.

I promise not to make this a “those were the days” piece. The fact is that billiards has always been, and will always be, a cyclical business, occasionally forced to hunker down and/or reinvent itself. But the game will always survive.

Billiards Digest has chronicled the sport and the business over the past five decades, a ride which is really quite astonishing. One of the amazing aspects of covering the game and industry over the past 40 years is in seeing how many people and companies have been around for that entire run. I think that’s because billiards is game and a business that gets into your blood. Pool people tend to be lifers, whether it’s as players or business people. There are very few industries that can make that claim. It’s something that this industry should be proud of, and it is something that the industry should embrace.

I am living proof of that phenomenon. As a fresh-out-of-college journalism major, I came into the business strictly for the opportunity to write. I assumed that I would put in three-to-five years as a resume builder, then move on to “real” news or a “real” magazine.

I’m 35 years late making that move.

I am not a player, as most anyone who has seen me perfecting my three-cushion skills while attempting to play 9-ball can attest. But I like people and I like stories. And I can’t imagine any industry offering a better combination of the two. As a business, the billiard industry is fascinating. It’s a relatively simple business with a pretty defined distribution chain. And at each level of that chain you find multigenerational businesses. That’s just one of the things I love about covering billiards. Institutional knowledge makes for great stories. “We used to load tables into the back of a pickup truck…” Or, “We started this business in the garage.”

As a sport, billiards offers incredible characters, both from the past and present. A writer who can’t find a good story covering pool isn’t much of a writer. Talk about love of a game. No one gets into pool with aspirations of million-dollar paydays or job security. Players play because they love it. And they stay for the same reason. Over the years I’ve met, interviewed and become friends with far too many players and industry leaders to mention. They have kept me far too busy to update my resume and trot off to job interviews.

As for 40 years of Billiards Digest, I’m proud of what the magazine has done since its first issue in September 1978. We have strived to publish a magazine that covered the sport and business honestly. We’ve tried to present the game in a professional manner, and print a magazine that would impress people outside billiards. I think the magazine has provided a valuable service to the sport. We have been blessed over the years with an incredible arsenal of amazing writers — Robert Byrne, Mike Shamos, George Fels, John Stravinsky, Mike Geffner, Mike D’Orso — who could write for any magazine of their choosing. Fortunately, they simply loved the cue sports and pool fans were the beneficiaries. I hope Billiards Digest readers, players and industry leaders have enjoyed the 40-year run. And I hope to pen a similar column in 2028 to commemorate the magazine’s 50th year.

That, too, is a big number.

MORE VIDEO...