It all started back in 1987 in Ocean City, MD when I was hired to work at Gentleman Jim’s Billiards as houseman. After performing the regular duties of houseman, there was plenty of time left over to practice & delve into other areas of billiards. The owner, Jim Mathias, former Mayor of Ocean City, and now a Maryland Congressman, had given me the leeway to go ahead to pursue excellence in all areas of pool; playing, selling cues, doing cue repair, and promoting tournaments. By 1989 I had been promoting two of the states biggest 9-ball tournaments. We were drawing players from states all up and down the east coast with full fields of 64 players and a waiting list. After I installed a pro shop inside Gentleman Jim’s selling McDermott Cues & Helmstetter Cues, I then ordered a repair lathe from Leonard Bludworth to complete my journey to full service pool room. Gentleman Jim’s had indeed become a hot spot in the Mid-Atlantic region. Little did I know that my journey was just beginning. In 1990 I was playing pretty good and had taken several road trips and made some money and decided that I wanted to go on the road to play pool and perform cue repair. I figured if I went broke on the road, I could always make money doing cue repair. Well, let me tell you my intuition was dead on. In November 1991, my journey began. I went to the Sands Regency Reno Open where I bumped into Jerry McWorter and wound up visiting his shop in a suburb of Los Angeles after one of the Bicycle Club events in 1993. Jerry was a great person and we came to an agreement that I would be able to build cues in his shop, but only sneaky pete’s, while he made merry widow’s & 6-pointers. Jerry’s shop was my base of operations for the next couple of years in between tournaments. I learned so much about the pursuit of excellence from Jerry. IMHO, Jerry Mcworter is one of the finest cuemakers in the world! Occasionally, Jerry and I traveled together to tournaments up and down the west coast from San Diego to Seattle, including Reno and Las Vegas. To this day, Jerry is one of my dearest friends, and has been a great influence on my cue repair, my cue making philosophy, and my life. In 1994 I traveled to Arlington Heights outside of Chicago for the WPA World 9-ball Championships to perform cue repair where I met Joe Gold of Cognoscenti Cues. After visiting his shop, I decided to begin buying equipment to make cues. I figured one day that traveling the road would end and I needed to complete the evolution to cue maker. Joey Gold has also been a great friend and a great influence! Shortly after, I began to take the stuff I was buying back to Maryland with the idea of one day setting up a cue making shop. In late 1996, I set up shop in Silver Spring, MD and continued honing my skills. In 1998 I moved to Salisbury, MD where I set up shop for about a year or so at Action Billiards, a room that one of my dearest friends John Moody owned. That room was fantastic! Action Billiards always had one of the toughest tournaments in the country. In 1999, I set up my shop 13 miles south of Action Billiards on the Clifton Estate in Westover, MD where I completed my journey to cue maker. Up until 2000, I had made only sneaky pete’s. In 2000 I made the jump to the next level. In 2001, I was lucky enough to fly to Tokyo for the Tokyo International 9-ball tournament that had $800,000 added money to display my cues. Fortunately for me, I sold out at that show, and continued to do so for several years. After returning from Tokyo, I enjoyed artful living on the Clifton Estate until I relocated back to Hollywood, FL on August 18, 2005 to be near my immediate family. On, August 18th, 2019 my shop left Hollywood, FL bound for my new home in Rugby, ND. I didn’t even realize that until it occured to me while updating this exact page on my website! How’s that for the universe at work!
During my travels around North America, I performed cue repair and displayed cues at over 500 tournaments. I was lucky enough to visit dozens, if not a hundred cue maker shops around the country during my time on the road. My travels took me from as far south as Florida to New York City, and Waterford, Maine to Quebec City, Canada, and then to Vancouver, B.C., and into Seattle, WA, then onto Portland, OR and as far south as San Diego and everywhere in between. During my time on the road I made many lifelong friends…it has been a fantastic journey, and I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything.