Berhman To Run U.S. Open From Jail?
Behrman may have to conduct his business from behind bars.
Behrman, 57, owner of Q-Master Billiards and promoter of the long-running pro pool event, has been jailed in Chesapeake, Va., since July 18 for a violation of his probation. It is the second probation violation against Behrman since his 2002 felony convictions for holding illegal gaming parties at his Chesapeake home.
Despite his legal woes, Behrman has vowed that the U.S. Open, scheduled to run Sept. 15 – 21 at the Chesapeake Convention Center, will go on as planned. According to an article by The Virginian-Pilot reporter Cindy Clayton, Behrman has been calling his employees at the Virginia Beach poolroom with instructions on running the tournament in his stead.
“I don’t want to take away the pleasures of the people who come [to the U.S. Open] every year, just because of my mistake,” Behrman is quoted as saying.
Behrman will find out on Sept. 8 whether he will be released in time to run the tournament, or if he’ll spend more time behind bars. According to the Virginian-Pilot story, Behrman could be sentenced to at least six years in prison. Behrman’s first probation violation came in April, when he failed several drug tests and was convicted in Virginia Beach for not paying back taxes on his business.
How Behrman’s incarcaration will affect this year’s Open remains to be seen. The embattled promoter ran a successful U.S. Open in 2002, after suffering financial setbacks on both his 2001 Masters and 2001 U.S. Open, the latter of which coincided with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Germany’s Hohmann Surprises the World!
Hohmann’s amazing dedication to the game paid off in a public way.
Hohmann controlled the match, running out three times in the first eight games, to gain a 6-2 lead, and holding his lead through the rest of the match. “I don’t know what to say,” said the overwhelmed Hohmann, whose hands partially covered a face that suddenly matched the bright red golf shirt he wore for the final. “I may not realize what I did for a few days.”
2003 World Championship Coverage
The knock-out stage of the 2003 empirepoker.com World Pool Championship are underway, as the final 64 player battle for their share of the $300,000 prize fund at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales. The final is scheduled for Sunday evening, with the winner carting off $65,000 and the trophy emblematic of World Champion. Click on the “2003 World Championship” logo above to keep up with all the latest action from Cardiff.
Brunswick Buys Out Valley-Dynamo
It certainly helps to have “parents” with deep pockets. Parent company Brunswick Corp. may have doubled the annual sales of its billiards division — aka Brunswick Billiards — on June 10 when it announced its acquisition of coin-operated pool table giant Valley-Dynamo LP from private equity firm Fenway Partners and Dynamo founder Bill Ricketts. Brunswick purchased the Richland, Tex.-based company for $34.5 million in cash. According to Fenway Partners, Valley-Dynamo had net sales of $35 million in 2002.
With the acquisition, brand heritage-conscious Brunswick gains the No. 1 brand in coin-operated pool tables in Valley-Dynamo, and the No. 1 brands in consumer table soccer and air hockey with the Tornado, Valley and Dynamo brand names.
“When someone tells you that you have an opportunity to acquire the No. 1 brands in several categories, you get excited,” said Mark McCleary, vice president of marketing for Brunswick Billiards. “And by using our strengths in marketing, design and sourcing, we feel we can build on those brands.”
According to McCleary, Valley-Dynamo will retain its corporate identity, and will operate as a separate division of Brunswick Billiards.
“The division will maintain its current sales force and will have its own general manager, who will replace Bill Ricketts when Bill retires at the end of the year,” said McCleary. Ricketts had served as CEO of Valley-Dynamo LP.
Valley-Dynamo merged in 1998, when Fenway Partners, which had purchased then Bay City, Mich.-based Valley Manufacturing in 1995, partnered with Ricketts to combine the coin-op table companies into one manufacturing facility. In the gravy days of the late 1970s and early 1990s, domestic production of coin-operated pool tables was estimated at around 25,000 tables a year. A weak economy and continued slide in the coin-op industry have cut that number in half, or worse, some experts say.
“Valley-Dynamo still has very strong brand names, and very strong market channels,” said Ricketts, 58, who founded Dynamo in 1978 with the introduction of table soccer games. “And Brunswick’s marketing expertise will add strength to those brands.
“Brunswick was clearly the best buyer we could have hoped for,” added Ricketts. “It’s a great fit and a very synergistic acquisition.”
Kelly, Reyes, To Be Inducted Into Hall of Fame
This year’s BCA Expo will see two living legends inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Edwin Kelly made his name during the peak of the legendary Johnston City (Illinois) tournaments in the 1960s. He won the one-pocket and 9-ball titles in 1966. The versatile Kelly won titles in four different games during his career: one-pocket, 14.1, straight pool, and three-cushion.
Efren Reyes was the leading figure of the Philippine “invasion” of the 1980s and 1990s. Among the most recent of his many major titles was the Tokyo 9-Ball International Billiard Tournament in 1991, which paid him $160,000 for first place. Reyes is considered by many to be the world’s best living 9-ball player.
(Michael Shamos, curator of The Billiard Archive, contributed to these player biographies)
Archer on Top at Valley Forge
Archer ended a long dry spell at Valley Forge
Archer felt a year’s worth of frustrating, close-but-no-cigar finishes lift from his shoulders. “Any time you win a tournament, it takes the heat off of you,” he said. “It doesn’t make ’em any easier, that’s for sure, but it does take a little bit of pressure off, because now in the back of your mind you know you can do it, so if you get there again, just go ahead and perform again.”
The tournament was held March 21-23 in conjunction with the Super Billiard Expo in Valley Forge, Pa. The Expo also hosted an eight-player round-robin event featuring top women pros. Helena Thornfeldt and Karen Corr emerged from the pack and faced off in a two-set final. Corr dominated the first set and capitalized on a rash of Thornfeldt scratches in the second to win, 6-3, 6-4.
Duchess On Top Again!
Allison Fisher beat down her rivals with a smile.
The new alternating-racks format shook up the charts some, with Corr going to the loser’s bracket care of snooker import Kim Shaw and Lee losing to come-from-nowhere Texan Kim White, both in the second round. Both Shaw and White finished unexpectedly high in the field, with formerly 28th-ranked White taking fifth place, and formerly 19th-ranked Shaw taking fourth place and making her first appearance in the television rounds.
Fisher claimed $9,000 for her win, while Lee settled for $6,500. Taiwanese starlet Jennifer Chen took home $5,000 for third place and Shaw took home $4,000 for fourth. Helena Thornfeldt tied White for fifth place and $2,800.
Danny Hewitt Takes 10-Ball Crown
Danny Hewitt of Montreal, Quebec, defeated Hall-of-famer Jim Rempe in a tense hill-hill match, 10-9, to take the title at the Trump Marina 10-Ball Challenge in Atlantic City, N.J., held Feb. 19-23.
Hewitt was fresh off a second-place finish at the Joss Northeast 9-ball tour’s stop at Cap’s Cue Club in Syracuse, N.Y., where he had met defeat in the form of Alex Pagulayan.
On his way to the 10-ball win, Hewitt got his revenge over Pagulayan. He lost his first match to fellow Canadian Claude Bernatchez (winner of this year’s Senior Masters Tournament) before plowing through the likes of Luc Salvas, Pagulayan, Ronnie Alcano, and Francisco Bustamante, to name a few. Rempe, for his part, defeated Hungarian star Sandor Tot, Pagulayan, and Earl Strickland, among others, to earn his shot at the big prize.
Hewitt earned $20,000 for coming out on top while Rempe took home $14,000 for second place; Alcano and Bustamante rounded out the top four spots.
Efren Reyes Takes Mid-Atlantic 9-Ball Crown
The ever-humble Reyes chalked his win up to luck.
Efren put in a stunning run to get to the finals, holding his opponents to the single digits in race-to-11 games. He defeated Leonardo Andam, 11-5, Mike Lebron, 11-3, Tony Robles, 11-7, Jose Parica, 11-5, Jim Rempe, 11-3, and Francisco Bustamante, 11-6, before losing to Jeong, 11-8, and taking at trip to the losers’ side. Once there, he defeated Bustamante again, 11-8, to earn himself the final rematch with Jeong.
Both finalists were in top form for the duration of the tournament, and the final showcased nearly flawless play by both competitors. Reyes felt that the turning point in the final was a single missed shot by Jeong, coupled with a dose of luck: “I was behind 4-3 and Young missed a shot. This is when I got lucky, because the gods smiled on me and I knew it was my chance to win. I am very lucky.”
Daulton Triumphs at Derby City
Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton shot his way through the competition at Derby City
Earlier in the 9-day tournament, held in Louisville, Ky., Jose Parica defeated Larry Nevel in the One-Pocket competition, and Danny Harriman (voted BD’s Most Improved Player of 2002) took the 9-Ball Bank Pool title by besting Steve McAninch.
Nevel proved to be the iron man of the grueling event, winning the all-around title by virtue of his second-place finish in one-pocket and third-place finish in 9-ball banks.