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Custom made pool
cues are the final evolution for Ted Harris Custom Cues. But
lets go back a bit in time, and talk about how Ted began the
journey of being able to create custom made pool cues...
While living in Ocean City, Maryland in 1987 Ted took a job as the
houseman at the only pool room in town called Gentleman Jim's
billiards. After
the first summer of long, hard, work, Ted began to promote
National level tournaments, drawing players from as many as 14
states. Every year at Gentleman Jim's we
held the Maryland State 9-Ball Championships & the Mark Giarratana
Memorial, being held over Memorial Day Weekend and
Labor Day weekend respectively.
During the first winter in Ocean City, Ted began to play many
hours a day, and the pool game jumped up several notches that
year. With the success of the tournaments, and the level of
play going on in OC, you can imagine there was a lot of matching
up. Because OC was a resort, there were a lot
of players that floated in and out of town for their summer
vacations. Most of them were there for the action, and
others were there for the tournaments, and some where
there for both. On a local level, the Delmarva Peninsula had
our own little contingency of tough players that had to be dealt
with when road agents came to town for the action. Most of
these people are still around and playing; Terry "Fish"
Sapp (little story to follow!), Bill "the Old Man"
Brandt (made my first road trip with), John Moody (Owner of Action
Billiards, later to become Breaktime Billiards in Salisbury, and Great Slates in Cambridge, MD), George "Beaver" Burbage, Kevin
West, Dennis Montero (straight pool), Freddy Scott, Steve Milano, Miles "Scoochie"
Moffit, Charlie Crippen, and more. One local player
that offered endless action, was Terry "My Little Fishy"
Sapp...cards, pool, you name it, he was in action at ALL
TIMES! There were many a night (hundreds) when the two of us
closed down the joint in the wee hours of the morning, after a
long night of non-stop ACTION!!! Ohhhhhh!!! the
memories! Some of the "road" players that frequented OC were Wayne "Juggie" Wareheim,
"Cigar" Tom Vanover, Dave
Bollman, Tom Wirth, Danny
Green, Tim "Poppa" Poppageorge, Mark "the
Shark" Shrader, Gary "Little Gary" Flanary, Junior
Harris, Joe Frady, "Loudmouth" Tony, Dave
Smith, Don Gibson, Charlie
"The Korean Dragon" Williams, Mike Newport, Bo
Newport, Max Schlothauer, "Jumpin" Don Hudgins, Peter
Ghostine, Bobby Legg, "Mad"
Max Eberle, "Punkie," "Bus Driver" Ronnie, Craig
Rhineman,
Mike "Geese" Gerace, Russell Parsons,
Richard "Squirrell" Bassett, and many more.
In early 1989, Ted realized there
was a market for cue repair, and that the Delmarva Peninsula lacked the services
of a quality cue repairman. Players who needed repairs, had
to drive at least a hundred miles to have their cues fixed. Realizing that his game had jumped up to quite a
competitive level, he began to travel to Baltimore to test the
waters competitively. After making a couple of these trips,
he decided to collect the locals cues that needed repair, and
visit the shop of Tim Scruggs occasionally to have their cues
repaired. On one of those Tim Scruggs/pool playing trips, with
a gambling session with Bo Newport at Bill
& Billie's Cue Club in Glen Burnie, MD, Ted decided to purchase the necessary
equipment to begin to do minor cue repair.
After purchasing a wood lathe from Leonard Bludworth, and
realizing that there were many restrictions in it's ability to do
cue repair on custom made pool cues, he began to modify the
machine. It wasn't long before he
hired a machinist, and had a special lathe custom made to be able
to do all types of repair work, but at the same time be mobile, so
that he could travel to tournaments. By 1990, Ted started
doing cue repairs at tournaments away from home and realized there
was a huge void in the rest of the country for quality mobile cue
repair services. In 1991, he
bought a 31' Airstream travel trailer, and ventured to Reno for
the Reno Open to offer his cue repair services at the tournament.
For an in depth view of the hundreds of tournaments where Ted
performed cue repair all over the country, click
here. And so began the evolution to cuemaker...
For a more in
depth evolution, and philosophy visit "interview
with the cuemaker."
Professional
players that endorse Ted Harris Cue Repair Services...
Danny
Harriman, David
Smith, Dennis Hatch, George
San Souci, Jose
Parica, Roger
Griffis, Tommy
Kennedy, Tony
Ellin, & Tony
Robles...
Ted worked
many tournaments, with many different organizations including the
APA (American Poolplayers Association), U.S.P.P.A. (United States
Poolplayers Association), Baltimore/Washington Tour, All About
Pool Tour, Tri-State Tour, Association for P.O.O.L., VNEA
(Valley National Eightball Association), Mali Florida Pro Tour, Florida
Tour , Seminole Pro Tour, PBT (Pro Billiards Tour), P.C.A. (Professional Cuesports
Association), 1997 Camel Pro Billiards Series, CPBA (Canadian
Professional Billiards Association), Dufferin Canadian Tour, Texas
Express National Nine Ball Tour, WPBA (Women's Professional
Billiards Association), Super Billiards Expo, BCA (Billiards
Congress of America) events and WPA (World Pool Association) World
Championships events. He initially played in most of these
tournaments, but the cue repair work started taking up a lot of
time, and Ted came to a point where he had to make a choice
between playing and working.
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