Ohio State BCA Pool League Championships

The 2009 Ohio State BCAPL Championships had Tournament Director Chris Williams, ably assisted by referee Earl Timmons, organized over 600 players from, not only Ohio, but neighboring Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Indiana.

The attraction of the $24,000 prize money drew 96 men's and 12 women's Teams plus, 128 men and 29 women in the Singles divisions to the All Star Family Sports Entertainment Center in Columbus, Ohio. The monster indoor facility, where the Columbus Comets and the Columbus Destroyers arena football clubs practice, gave the Bad Boy Productions' crew plenty of elbow room to house the Forty, 7 ft. Diamond Smart tables complete with Simonis Cloth and Aramith Balls.

Tournament Director Chris Williams, always looking for ways to add incentive to the festivities, awarded “Bounties,” equal to the entry fee, for any individual or team who eliminated last year's champions.

Chad Askins collected the first by ousting men's defending titlist, Fred Lane. Amy Theriault scored the second by eliminating 2008 women's champion Melanie Headley. Amy then proceeded through the loser's bracket until defeated by Dana Gilmore who captured the Women's Singles Championship and the $500.00 prize money.

In the Men's Singles division, Shane Morrow of Erie, Pennsylvania mowed through the loser's bracket to meet undefeated, West Virginian Terry Barker. Barker was not to be broken and garnered the $1500.00 first prize.

The 2008 men's and women's team champions each made it to the final round. In an interesting note, in the four-year history of the championship, Tri County Wooley won the men's events ‘06 and '07, and Fiddlestix Mammone won it last year. All Wooley had to do was muster some of their prior championship mastery and, not only would they have taken the title, they would have been eligible for the Bounty reward. Although, pushed to the brink, Fiddlestix prevailed and banked the $5000 for first and secured their second consecutive title.

Last year's women's champions, Nick's Players, were not so fortunate. Delivered early to the loser's bracket, bravely, they battled in their quest for back-to-back titles. In the finals, they faced an all too powerful O'Malley's Gilmore, which leads us to Interesting Note #2: Dana Gilmore, the aforementioned 2009 women's champion, and namesake of O'Malley's Gilmore, gallantly led her team, undefeated, to take that title too. Check out the Bounty on Dana's head next year.

Cue Sports International (CSI), the BCA Pool League's parent company, also donated a Joss cue to the prize fund. Williams, in the interest of procuring more BCA Pool League member email addresses, created a draw where all entrants had to do was deposit their electronic contact info. With 300 plus addresses delivered, more than half the players were represented. Richard Caspary from Warren, Ohio is now the proud owner of a new Joss Cue. Thanks CSI.

Our thanks to Tony Fox for his photographical and editorial contributions. www.tfoxfoto.com

For complete results and payouts please visit centralohiobca.com and, for all upcoming BCAPL events, visit playbca.com.

Men's Singles    Women's Singles

1. Terry Barker $1500   Dana Gilmore $500
2. Shane Morrow $1000  Amy Theriault $300
3, Ryan Stone $700   Ida Hardman $200
4. Will Slone $400   Kim Vergontinni $150

Men's Team      Women's Team

1. Fiddlestix Mammone $5000  O'Malley's Gilmore $680
2. Tri County Wooley $2500   Nick's Players $460
3. Danger Zone $1400    Richmond BCA $300
4. Sportsman Timmons $700