PRESIDENT’S COMMENTARY
By NWPA President,
JefiIey Dolezal
Last
month I provided informa lion on the primary persons to contact with respect to different
NWPA functions, especially with respect to our membership office. I didn’t expect
that this month I would have to announce a major change concerning our member ship and
tournament sanctioning office, but sometimes the unexpected happens.
Due to the sudden worsening of a medical condition,
NWPA Trustee Ken Force has temporarily turned over responsibility for the membership and
tournament sanctioning office to NWPA Trustee Charles Interrante, effective immediately.
This temporary transfer is expected to be a long-term situation and may, in fact, become
permanent at some point. Please direct all membership and tournament sanctioning related
activities to Charles, as follows:
Membership NWPAINWPA Tournament
Sanctioning Office
NWPA
C/O Charles Interrante
845 Catfish Lane
Pottstown, PA 19465
(610) 970-7271
Quad7067@aol.com
Please send membership applications (new and renewals), along with any membership dues to
this address. Any membership related questions should be directed to Charles. I ask that
our renewing members and Associate members remember to submit a new membership
application to Charles when submitting their annual dues. This will help Charles ensure
that the NWPA membership database is as up-to-date as possible. The NWPA membership
application, which can be downloaded from ww-w and annual dues need to be sent to the
above address for Charles. Upon receipt, Charles will process the information on the form,
update the membership status, record the amount and method of payment and forward the
payment to Bob Calderon, NWPA Treasurer, who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Requests for
tournament entry forms of tournament sanctioning forms should be directed to Charles.
Ken Force will continue to edit the NWPA newsletter, but the actual printing and mailing
of the newsletter will originate in Pennsylvania, which is where Charles lives.
I want to personally thank Ken Force for all of his hard work and effort in support of the
NWPA’s mission throughout the years and I wish him a speedy recovery. I fully expect
that Ken will return to helping the NWPA and its members once he has made a full recovery.
In the next few days, I will be heading to Las Vegas, along with Charles and Shawn
Interrante, to attend the 2009 BCA International Billiard and Home Recreation Expo. This
is the major annual trade show for the billiard industry and our attendance will help us
strengthen our existing
relationships within the industry, develop new relationships and foster and gamer support
for our
mission and activities. I am
hopeful, even with the economic difficulties which currently exist, that we will be able
to come away with the support necessary to produce quality events in the remaining half of
2009 and well into 2010. These include the ability to produce the 2009 NWPA National
9-Ball Championship and the 2009 WPA World Championship(s) for Wheelchair Players, which
at this point in time, still have not found a home, although we are still searching for a
location and available time slot in the last half of 2009 for holding these prestigious
events.
Good luck to those of you heading to Fountain, Colorado for the 3 Annual Rocky Mountain
Shootout, hosted by the Mountain States Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. The
event is the 6 of 8 events in this season of the PVA/NWPA National Wheel chair Billiards
Tournament Series. Unfortunately, Charles Interrante and I cannot attend this event as it
conflicts with the BCA tradeshow in Las Vegas.
The entry form for the 8 Annual US. Open Wheekhair 8-Ball Championship in
Northfield,Ohio, hosted by the Buckeye PVA Chapter, is included with this issue. This will
be event #7 in the PVA/NWPA Tournament Series, Season 3. The event dates are July 24-26,
2009.
The entry form for the recently added Elks/Lynn Layton 9-Ball Shootout in Decatur, Alabama
is also included within this issue. The event dates are August 8-9, 2009.
Finally, congratulations to Aaron Aragon and John Reynolds for their 1 and 2 place
finishes (respectively) in the 2009 Las Vegas Wheelchair 9-Ball Open, presented by the
American CueSports Alliance (ACS). Check out the article in this issue for the full
tournament report. Thank you to the ACS for producing this event once again this year.
That’s it for now...
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TOURNAMENT ACTION
2009 Las Vegas 8- Ball Open,
What Happens In Vegas...
By Charles Interrante & Ken Force
Some flew; some drove; some simply
live here, but all seventeen of the wheelchair pool players who showed up at the Riviera
Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada were enthusiastically eager to get right to the
action; a habitually addictive attitude one achieves when arriving in such an exciting
city. The main ballroom of the Riviera played host to the 2009 Las Vegas 8- Ball Open,
Presented by the American CueSports Alliance (ACS). Of the 120 or so pool tables laid out
across the spacious floor, to accommodate other ACS events, eight of them were designated
for the wheelchair event.
With typically plush carpeting
throughout the venue, endu rance became a consi& for those players without power
assistance on their wheel chairs. Arvilla Fischer of St. Petersburg, Florida was once
again the Tournament Referee. We even had one player, Danny Luton, who traveled all the
way from England to participate. We’d like to think that playing in another pool
tournament was Danny’s main reason for participating, but most of us know that the
many diversions which Las Vegas offers actually had more to do with his attendance.
Nonethe less, it was great to see Danny once again!
Players from California,Oklahoma, Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri,
Connecticut, Texas and Colorado rounded out the
player roster for this event.
Of the 33 total matches
played, 7 of them were decided by two games or less; approximately 20%, which is not bad
for a field this size.Early notable matches included John Reynolds, from Oklahoma and Joe
Hardy, from California, who both fought hard for a victory, with John surviving the win
with a score of 9 to 7. Another was when John Reynolds took on NWPA Hall of Famer Charlie
Hans, from Ohio. Their match was a back and forth struggle, ending in a victory for John,
by a score of 9 to 7. Then there was the heated contest between Ken Miller, from Florida
and Terry Guess, from Missouri. Ken finally won the match, 9 games to 7, but Terry fought
very hard to make Ken earn it... a good showing for Terry, considering Ken finished in
third place overall. Bob Calderon, a transplanted Nevada resident, outlasted Joe Dowling,
from Connecticut, coming away win a win by the score of 9 games to 8. And two of the best
players on the international scene, Charlie Hans and Danny Luton, dueled it out, ending up
with a 9 games to 7 victory for Charlie.
Since this was a two-day event, many of the
players were spotted on the poker tables on Friday evening. Based on the slow movement of
some players on Saturday, it became obvious that they had stayed out a little late the
night before. But, there’s one thing for certain about wheelchair pool players...
when they get on the table to compete, their focus is on their game.
Yes, Las Vegas is a favorite destination for wheelchair pool players, because of its
plethora of diversions. And John Lewis, Executive Director of the American CueSports
Alliance performed beautifully once more, by providing each participant an array of
challenging opportunities.
Tournament Results
1 Aaron Aragon (23 Viking
Points); 2’ John Reynolds (20
pts.); 3 Ken Miller (19 pts.); 4
Charles Interrante (18 pts.); 5/6
(16 pts. each) Bob Calderon &
Charlie Hans; 7/8 (14 pts. each)
Joe H & Gene S 9-12 (12 pts. each) Joe Dowling,
Terry Guess, Danny Luton & John
VanGorder; 13 10 pts. each)
Dan Williams & Jeff Winters; 17 William Downs (8 pts.)
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
The NWPA welcomes its newest members:
Les Braden — Floodwood, MN Pat Thomson —
Floodwood, MN
Tom Tveit — Blame, MN
The NWPA wishes to extend a very Happy
Birthday to the following members:
JULY
Nate Aalgaard (17), Tony Bellis (5),
Ken Force (4), Alex Hutchins (7),
Lance Kepler (2), Ken Nottle (3),
Harold Schuchhardt (28), Jacquelin
A. Stanley (7), Nicholas West (31)
AUGUST
Bruce Baker (23), Al Barta (29), Josue E. Cordova (16), Dennis eig-:(22),
-XelI Force (17),
Roland John Forsyth (7), Terry
Henrikson (17), Charles lnterrante
(31), Timothy McGregor (10), Lee
Sexton (23), Diego P. Suazo (16),
Tom Sunde (15), Jeff Tanner (25),
Jeffrey Winseck (30)
If you require a registration/entry form for the Las Vegas or
Colorado event(s), please contact Ken Force
REMINDER
If you experience a change of address, telephone
number or email address, please notify Charles Interrante,
NWPA Membership
Committee Chairperson at:
845 Catfish Lane
Pottstown, PA 19465
(610) 970-7271
Quad7067@aol.com
Thank you.
2008-2009 PVA POINTS STANDINGS
The PVA Points Standings are sponsored, in part, by the Paralyzed
Veterans of America
1. Charles Interrante 124
2. Jeff Doiezai 122
3. Charlie Hans 118
4. Bill Fnsby 82
5. Teny Guess 81
6. Sonny deGuzman 71
7. Joe Dowling 47
8. Chris Billings 40
9. Carl Flemons 39
10. Jeff Anderson 38
10. Aaron Aragon, Bany Manning,
Ken Nottle, John Reynolds 34
15. Braden Murphy 33
16. Gary Dornbrack, Matt Duffy.... 30
18. Bob Calderon 28
19. Donald Samples 27
20. Jon Bostic, Mark Mann, Jeff
Tanner, Angel Torres, Alan Weiss. 24
25. Zacharis Allen, Michael
Chenail 22
27. Alex Bolar, Ken Force, Joe Hardy,
Jimmy May, Tom Sunde, Dan
Williams 21
33. Richard Harrell, Donald Jackson,
Ivenhoe Richey II, Allen Topel.... 20
37. Lee Sexton, Anthony Turner... 19
39. Scott Anderson, James Glisky... 18
41. Anthony Gilliam (B), Leo
Lawson, Gene Saraceno, Stephen
Smith 17
45. Nate Aalgaard, James Carver,
Jerry Dale, Earnest Gray, Tom Hem,
Richard Layton, William Lint,
Loretta Moon 16
53. Jim Behr, Johnny Holland, Alex
Hutchins, Michael Magee 15
57. Tony Gentling, Al Kovach,Jam
Listerud, Ed Rice 14
61. Tom Fjerstad, Theresa Johnson,
Eric Jorgensen, Sylvester Lewis,
Raymond Strong 13
66. Jackie Franklin, Charlie Hayden,
Houston Lewis, Jason Zyistra 12
70. Jerry Tanberg 8
71. Sam Cooke, Chuck Willis 6
73. Charlie Brown 4
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2008-2009 VIKING POINTS STANDINGS
The Viking Points Standings are sponsored, in part, by Viking Cue
Manufacturing, Inc.
1. Charles Interrante 120
2. Charlie Hans 117
3. JetfDolezal 100
4. Terry Guess 70
5. John Reynolds 63
6. Sonny deGuzman 56
7. Bill Fnsby 55
8. Aaron Aragon 46
9. Joe Dowling 42
10. Bob Calderon 35
11. Joe Hardy 28
12. ChrisBillings 26
13. Zacharis Allen, Carl Flemons,
Gene Saraceno, Jeff Tanner, Dan
Williams 24
18. Barry Manning, Ken Nottle 23
20. Jeff Anderson, Michael
Chenail, Donald Jackson 22
23., Gary Dornbrack, Matt Duffy,
Braden Murphy 20
26. Ken Miller 19
27. Donald Samples 18
28. Jon Bostic, James Clark, Mark
Mann, Charles Padgett, Angel
Torres, Alan Weis 16
34. Alex Bolar, Ken Force, Mark
Jones, Jimmy May, Jason Ray 14
39. Nate Aalgaard, James Carver,
John Donnelly, Tom Hem, Leo
Lawson, George Luchowski,
Danny Luton, lvenhoe Richey II,
Randy Saulman, Lee Sexton,
Stephen Smith, Tom Sunde, John
VanGorder 12
52. Scott Anderson, Jim Behr, Jerry
Dale, Tony Gentling, Anthony
Gilliam (B), Earnest Gray, Marvin
Guiiri RicliardHarrefl, Johnny
Holland, Alex Hutchins, Eric
Jorgensen, Richard Layton, William
Lint, Michael Magee, Chad
McDaniel, Loretta Moon, Ed Rice,
Allen Topel, Anthony Turner, Jeff
Winters, Mike Zellers 10
73. William Downs, Tom Fjerstad,
Jackie Franidin, James Glisky, Charlie
Hayden, Theresa Johnson, Houston
Lewis, Sylvester Lewis, James
Listerud, Raymond Strong, Jeny
Tanberg, Jason Zyistra 8
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The next issue of
Rack & Roll News will be printed on or about August 5, 2009
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