Presenting the History of the Los Angeles Pool League!

The L. A. Pool League was organized in the Spring of 1974. The concept was to establish a League wherein the players would vote for their officials and the team captains for League policies. The original members of the Board of Governors: Austin Griffin, Lee Petrovich, Jerry Kuder, Larry Ehmpke and Jay Belleville acting as the first League Secretary (later to be called President). Participating bars that first seas on were: Bunkhouse, 1170, Outcast, Detour, Falcon's Lair, Griff's, Rusty Nail and Stud.

The League was originally intended to be a once-a-year happening, but such great enthusiasm was generated during the first season of play that the captains immediately voted to have both a 10-week Spring tournament and an 8-week Fall tournament.

Austin Griffin's communication with San Francisco produced the first Inter-City Challenge in August 1978. Lee Petrovich prepared the first League logo which adorned our stationery in Fall 1978.

As the League grew -- we were 32 teams strong in the Spring of '79 -- so did the job of scheduling. For the convenience of all the players, wallet-sized schedules were introduced in the Spring of 1979 by Marvin Beisel. The current L. A. Pool League logo was also introduced during that season. The Fall 1979 season introduced the first major change in our score sheets. Prior to that season, one player in the playing sequence had a seven-game delay during the match. Larry Ehmpke revised the grid and eliminated that problem. In the Spring of 1980, the new and still-used score sheets were welcomed by everyone.

The League has always voted to elect its members to the Board of Governors. Prior to Spring 1980, however, members would submit their friends' names for consideration. All too often those members receiving the most votes declined to serve. The policy was changed in Spring 1980. The BOARD RUNNERS CLUB was then established when League members willing and able to serve could nominate themselves.

In the Summer of 1980, to aid all future Boards in scheduling play for a season, Lee Petrovich prepared schedules for as few as 14 teams and as many as 60. The hardest League task, scheduling, was now made much easier. The Inter-City Challenge, now to include San Diego as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles, became known via a conference of Board members from each city as the West Coast Challenge. The first WCC was held in Los Angeles in June 1980.

Fund raising events were now needed to augment our treasury. For many seasons Don Carrier held pool seminars -- donating all fees collected to the League treasury. Roy Hutchison introduced the popular Broomstick Tournament in the Fall of 1980 to generate still more funds. Up to this point, the League had operated with a four division structure, but it became necessary that Fall to schedule six divisions when our team total reached 48. In keeping with that growth, Board Secretary Keith Clements designed and introduced the Division Certificates which are awarded to the top team and top individual in each Division. Also that Fall, the captains voted to increase the 8-week Fall season to 10-weeks, thus matching the Spring season.

In Spring 1981, a new base was added to our team Traveling Trophy. The new base, now containing our logo, gave us another eight years of usage. This same season a new plate was made for the Mike Lavoie Award and our logo was added to this award as well. Still another important policy change took place. Dues, which had been originally collected on a weekly basis, were now to be collected in full in advance of play. At a mid-season meeting, the captains agreed that dues should be collected at the time of the registering of teams in a season-beginning Captains' Meeting. Consequently, in the Fall of '81 the Captain's Registration Meeting became policy. Our first WCC Individuals First Place trophy was won by Frank Bustamante.

During the Fall of 1981, Roy Hutchison encouraged Don Carrier and Jim Taube to build and provide the League with two 2' x 6' "pool tables" to be used at events such as Pioneer Days, Christopher Street West and other fund-raising events. This carny-type attraction was a productive contributor to our Fundraising Committee. Roy, continuing to be our Chief Fundraiser, introduced several new things to the League in the Fall of 1981, including the purchase of League T-shirts and jackets. That same season saw the birth of the first Alternates Tournament.

What better way to disseminate our history and seasonal data than a seasonal "GUIDE"? The Spring 1982 "GUIDE", the first of its kind, was introduced by Marvin Beisel at a time when League teams had reached a record high number -- 58! Wanting to be prepared in case the League grew beyond the 60-team schedule already on hand, Lee Petrovich went to work and extended our scheduling file. The League was now prepared to schedule up to and including 70 teams, although that number was never to be reached.

"CHALK TALK" came into use during this Spring 1982 season, when Secretary Bill Dehn used it as a weekly newsletter to accompany the weekly standings. Marvin Beisel used the "CHALK TALK" (later changed and called "CUES/NUES") as a vehicle in "Data Boy" magazine to write about pool-in-general and the Pool League in particular. His first column appeared in the March 4, 1982 issue. Spring 1982 was the start of still another fund-raising event to be called The Bar Owners/Managers Tournament.

In the Summer of 1982, Bob Holden and Roy Hutchison organized the League's first 9-Ball Tournament. This was a five week season with eleven teams participating. The bars represented were: Bunkhouse, Four Star, Greg's, Griff's, "1", Pits, Nail, Spike, Westside and Woody's. Since its founding, the 9-Ball organization operates financially independent of the regular 8-Ball League. Its logo was devised at this time.

8-Ball League captains, eager as they were to watch the Alternates and the Bar Owners/Managers Tournaments, felt left out. By popular demand, Fall 1982 saw the beginning of the Captains' Cartel. Prior to the Fall 1982 season, Secretary Bill Dehn had completely rewritten our Organization/Playing Rules which had become extremely wordy through the years. That same season, our fundraisers introduced the first League pin which contained our logo and the words "Since Spring '74". And, for the third time in our history a mid-season vote by the captains became necessary. The Recording Secretary Steve McGuire, with assistance from Don Carrier, Bill Dehn and Wayne Babin, was determined to change the play-off eligibility number for individual players. The captains quickly approved the change allowing the top thirty-two players to compete in the final rounds of the season. Paul Bussiere went on to win the WCC top individual trophy.

In the Spring of 1982, the League jumped from 46 teams in the  season before to 58 teams. That number was reached again in Fall of '83, both seasons coming during Bill Dehn's service as Secretary. Team participation stayed above 50 teams for 8 seasons (Spring '82 - Fall '85), but except for the two 1988 seasons never again exceeded that number.

Just prior to the Spring 1983 season, a Long Beach Pool Team challenged our top team and top individuals (winners of the Fall '82 season). In a best of three matches, our Pits team won the first and second matches with 9/4 victories. Paul Bussiere, Pits member and West Coast Challenge Individuals champion, protected his title -- repeating his recent victory in San Diego. Other Individual trophies went to Doug Hedland (Four Star), 2nd place: Dwight from Long Beach, 3rd place: Frank Bustamante (Greg's) placing fourth. At the WCC following the Fall '83 season, Dan O'Neill placed first in the Individual Tourney.

An important event happened for the first time immediately following the Spring '83 Pool Party -- the first CSW Festival Games which included Tennis, Swimming, Billiards, and Bowling. The Games, scheduled one week prior to Gay Pride Weekend, found many League members entering the Billiards competition. Regulation tables were used for the 8-Ball and 9-Ball events which were won by Jeffrey Hersh and Paul Bussiere respectively. Once again, an LA player -- Wally Sutherland -- won the Individuals competition at the WCC.

We celebrated our 10th Anniversary (and 20th season of play) in the Fall of 1983, by renting Trouper's Hall in Hollywood for our anniversary party. Caps were given to all that attended bearing our League logo. Entertainment was provided by Jo Ann Deering and the highlight of the evening came from Wayne Babin and George O'Hara as they presented the the representative from AID for A.I.D.S a check from our League in the amount of $4,793 .

Spring 1984, the League's 21st season, began with a change of title of League Secretary to League President; this was done to be in agreement with the other West Coast Challenge leagues. Since the beginning of League competition, the top four teams and top four individuals had received trophy "Plates" for their efforts. That policy ended at the Fall 1983 pool party. Beginning with the Spring 1984 season the "Plates" were discontinued and stand up trophies were presented.

Fall 1984 introduced yet another new fund raising event with the addition of the "Old Timers Tournament", open to League members having attained the ancient age of 40 or older. It was our turn to host the West Coast Challenge. The Four Star team of Bob Holden, Jack Frohman, David Popma, Frank Bustamante, Ken Taylor and Steve Montgomery represented our League and won the championship.

"CUES/NUES" by Jeffrey Hersh first appeared in the March 28, 1985, issue of "Data-Boy". During the Spring 1985 season, the Fund Raisers offered two new tournaments designed to widen League participation. A two person team, based upon seeding players according to their win/loss records, was introduced and called the HI/LO. A TOPS/BOTTOMS tourney pitted higher performing players at mid-season against each other for cash prizes, while the Bottoms group competed amongst themselves for trophies.

That same season President Wayne Babin helped rewrite the duties of the members of the Board of Governors, giving broadened and more specific responsibilities to each. Also in Spring '85, the captains, in their infinite wisdom, established a new award for dedication to the League: the Marvin Beisel Award. A two time winner of the Mike Lavoie Award for distinguished service to the League, Marvin then held the record for terms  as Secretary amongst numerous other contributions. The first recipient was Wayne L. Babin. Also, during this Spring '85 season, the first double elimination policy for both individual and team competition was instituted.

Jeffrey Hersh accepted the responsibility of producing the Fall '85 "GUIDE". Fall '85 also introduced Saturday sessions for individual play-offs relieving League members from the rigors of tournament play on four successive week nights. Dues were raised for the first time in two years. Two new sponsors joined us: Boulevard and Little Joy. In addition, the Board of Governors began to investigate the idea of converting the weekly statistics to a computerized format. The captains voted at their August meeting to pay for double occupancy hotel rooms rather than single rooms for our West Coast Challenge delegation. Judges were also eliminated until the trophy rounds and protests were virtually eliminated this season due to newly written and approved By-Laws outlining the handling of judgement call disputes. Jack Frohman took top individual honors at the WCC.

Spring 1986, brought a celebration of twenty-five seasons of play with a big party at the Westside featuring music and the usual awards banquet. The commitment to a computer program was made beginning with the 9-Ball season. This gave our Statistician, Rick Switzer, the opportunity to ease into the 8-Ball season. A complete rewrite of the "Rules of Play" was undertaken by Bill Hoover and his committee in an effort to help understand the intent of our rules and to locate sections within them easier. A new Publisher of the "GUIDE", Vic Taylor, replaced Jeffrey Hersh who was elected League President beginning with the Fall 1986 season. Los Angeles hosted the West Coast Challenge at the Four Star, where Mynor Alvarez (Little Joy) won the individual title.

Beginning with the Fall 1986 season, an election night was created. This involved a committee of alternates who visited every participating bar during League play. Ballots were distributed to all players and alternates present. Voting was conducted on the spot. The League computer was introduced at the Captains' Meeting and the ten week schedule was made available the same night. Our awards banquet was held in the valley at the Rawhide. The attendance, higher than ever before, was perhaps due to the direct mailing of invitations to all League members and special guests. It was San Francisco's turn to host the West Coast Challenge and they selected a location in Reno that proved highly agreeable to all.

Most everyone would agree that the highlight of the Spring 1987 season was the "evening of instructions and exhibition with Lou Butera", held at the Four Star. A former world champion, Lou demonstrated the right way to approach our game. During the Fall 1987 season, the League applied for and received Federal tax exempt status 501(c)(7) from the Internal Revenue Service. In an experiment, the first Women's Tournament was held by our League with the top four finalists heading for Long Beach to compete against their counterparts from the three other participating West Coast Challenge Leagues. The Long Beach League hosted the Challenge for the first time. Angela Costa, winning the Los Angeles Women's Tournament went forward to win the West Coast Challenge women's tournament as well. Angie was destined to win the top womens' prize in the summers of 1990 and 1991 as well.

A Sponsors' Appreciation Dinner was hosted by the Board of Governors during the Spring '88 season. This special event was held at the New York Company Bar & Grill. Along with the BOG, special League members, and press affiliates, there were over 100 attendees representing our sponsors. Winding down the Spring '88 season was the West Coast Challenge XVII. One of the highlights of this tourney, held at Trouper's Hall, was an exciting and highly entertaining exhibition by Lou "Machine Gun" Butera. The other highlight, of course, was LA's Four Star team of Frohman, Holden, Bustamante, Hersh, and Lusiak again winning the WCC team trophy.

In Fall '88, Austin Griffin, used his highly sophisticated equipment and computerized the schedules and the Weekly Standings. Fall '88 was also the League's 15th Anniversary season. A special Pool Party was held on Saturday, December 17th, at Trouper's Hall, in Hollywood. Along with the regular trophy presentation there was entertainment by Rudy de la Mor. A Special Recognition Award was also presented to Austin Griffin! Approximately 200 people attended the event. Why so many, you might ask? Well, it was an Anniversary party, but attendance at the season's end pool parties has increased since the Fall '86 event at the Rawhide in aparent response to the use of personalized invitations as sent out by the Board of Governors.

In Spring '89, the League received the Thomas Waddell Sports Achievement Award from Christopher Street West. As the League closed out the Fall '89 season, Jeffrey Hersh ended the season by relinquishing his post as communicator for the League. He had been writing the "CUES/NUES" articles for Nightlife since March '85. His writings were always timely, informative, and good-natured.

"CUES/NUES" was passed on in the Spring of '90, to Mark Hartzell and Nyla Lyons, before later reverting to an assortment of writers, mostly from the Board Members. At the season end WCC, once again an LA team took the 1st place trophy. The Santa Fe team included Navarette, Bailey, Boyd, Frohman, Bustamante, and Ingalls.

By a vote at the Fall '90 Captains' Registration Meeting, the "John E. Isakson Memorial Award" was established. The trophy is awarded to a league sponsor for their support and dedication to the Los Angeles Pool League. Mr. Harry Wiles, the proprietor of Mr. Mike's was honored with the first presentation of the trophy at the Fall 1990 Pool Party held at the Connection. The captains also voted during the Fall '90 meeting to increase league dues to $120, effective with the Spring '91 season. Al Ballesteros took over the production of the "GUIDE" for the Spring '91 and Fall '91 seasons.

A major change in our "Rules of Play" was voted in by the captains in Fall '91. Slop-Shot was out and Call-Shot (Pocket) was in. The distinguished John E. Isakson Memorial Award was presented to the Spike. Accepting on behalf of the Spike was partner and General Manager, Mr. Vince Gioielli. The seasonal Awards Banquet was delayed to coincide with the playing of West Coast Challenge XXV, where Paul Bussiere was to win his second top individuals trophy.

In Spring 1992, the production of the "GUIDE" returned to Marvin Beisel, and Jeffrey Hersh served an unprecedented 7th term as President of our league. The Spring '92 season featured more pool seminars conducted by Don Carrier and Don Lee, and another 'first' entered into our records - winners of our seasonal Hi/Lo tournament would for the first time play against their counterparts from the other cities at the West Coast Challenge. The Challenge was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on July 9, 1992, and led to a victory by our Lodge team (Bussiere, Holecek, Calderone, Dreibus, and Kelly). At that time, the John E. Isakson Memorial Award honored the Bunkhouse for their 37 seasons of solid support to our League. Accepting for the Bunkhouse was Richard Griffin, owner and long-time League supporter. That same evening, Special Recognition Awards were presented to Mr. Donald Cerf and Mr. Joe Dreibus.

Fall '92 started with a change of pace. The Captains' Meeting was held at the Rawhide on a Monday night instead of the traditional Tuesday. Jeffrey Hersh passed the "CUES/NUES" pen to then President Bill Hoover. Jeffrey's first "CUES/NUES" column, as noted within this history, was March 28, 1985. With very few exceptions, this informative column kept us and the community advised of all league happenings for seven years. At the WCC in San Francisco, Dan Klapp fought back after an early round defeat in Individuals play to win it all!

Spring '93 marked an end to an era for the LA Pool League. Marvin Beisel said goodbye to the League he had served so well since 1977, and moved east to Las Vegas. Over his tenure with us he had variably served as a six-term President (actually "Secretary" at the time), League Historian, and the first and long time-thereafter publisher of our ""GUIDE"" (Spring '82) -- in addition to pleasing us with his humorous accounts of League and activities in many issues of ""CHALK TALK"" and "Cues/News". Don Carrier and others began work on designing and producing several AIDS quilts to honor and remember former League members who had been taken from us. The season ended on a positive note at the summer West Coast Challenge in San Diego where Paul Bussiere took the Individual Challenge Trophy (his third).

We celebrated the start of our 40th Season in the Fall of 1993, with a healthy 38 teams from 19 participating bars. Although losing teams from the Rawhide, the Hyperion and the Boulevard, we added teams from the Pub, the Motherlode, Gauntlet II, and the Detour. Such changes symbolized the evolution of a healthy organization. Glenda Davis, pinch-hitting for Marvin, put together a special anniversary issue of the "GUIDE", the first to appear in an 8 1/2 x 11 inch format. The highlight of the season was our fabulous 20th Anniversary banquet at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown LA! Amidst a glorious decor orchestrated by John Cochran we celebrated 40 seasons of League accomplishments. Special events of that evening were the awarding of the Beisel Award to Doug Heaney and the Sportsmanship Award to Frank Bustamante, and the presentation to the League by Don Carrier of two memorial quilts in honor of those former members with us only in spirit. Joe Dreibus and Don Lee, our Hi-Lo team, placed first at the Long Beach-held West Coast Challenge.

1994 started with a bang! The magnitude 6.8 Northridge earthquake on January 17th shook us all awake early in the morning, and left behind a condemned Hollywood Billiards building and a severely damaged Club 22. Griffs and the Driveshaft joined the Hollywood Billiards in leaving us, but we were joined by the new bars Oasis and Catch One. We hosted the XXXXI West Coast Challenge in July. The event, held at the Burbank Hilton, was a great success -- made even more so by the 1st place victory of our In Touch East team: Don Carrier, Don Lee, Dan Klapp, Frank Bustamante, Rick Ayers, and Jack Frohman.

Club participation remained the same in the Fall of '94, but for the first time after seven seasons of Jeffrey Hersh and Bill Hoover presidencies, we had a new President- Dale Correll. This season was the first when members of the League walked as a group in the 10th Annual AIDS WALK. Seventeen League members raised over $3500 for APLA in completing their 10 km hike. Fall season brought an interesting first in League history: two women, Doreen Federoff and Chris Yamagata, won the first lst place finish in a special tournament doubles competition (Lucky Draw). Lauren Ward, newly migrated from arch-rival San Francisco, took 1st place Individual honors at the West Coast Challenge held, appropriately enough, in San Francisco. Scott Holecek and Paul Bussiere presented to us the first of several complimentary League banners that hung in the Challenge hall.

Spring '95 brought the Hyperion back into our fold, filling in at the last minute when Mr. Mikes left us unexpectedly. The club once known as Griffs reopened as the Faultline and also rejoined us. In an effort to better inform League members of League activities, the Board under returning President Bill Hoover initiated a phone "Hotline" telling of future events. Our League's performance at the WCC, held in San Diego, was superb, with League members capturing 8 of the 14 trophies! Scott Holecek won 1st place in the Individuals, and our Hi/Lo team of Gary Schaaf and Tony Moya also took the 1st place trophy. Following Spring season of '95, the Bunkhouse - the last of the eight founding bars and the only one to maintain sponsorship for more than 20 years - was sold and lost as a League sponsor.

Fall '95 was the start of Bill Hoover's 6-season stint as Editor of the "GUIDE", which he adorned with handsome graphics and his trademark witty photo captions of unsuspecting League members. Late in the season came the very sad news from Las Vegas of the passing of Marvin Beisel, who began this League history many years before. It would be hard to find any single person in the League's history who shaped and contributed more to the success of the League than Marvin. The Fall banquet tributes to Marvin by Don Carrier, Mike Calderone, Bill Dehn, and Bill Hoover were appropriately elegant and moving. It was eminently fitting that at the same banquet Dale Correll became the eighth recipient of the Beisel Award, the League's most prestigious honor for "unusual dedication" to its well-being. Dale thus joined Wayne Babin, John Cochran, Austin Griffin, Doug Heaney, Jeffrey Hersh, Bill Hoover, and John Isakson as the only winners of this honor in its first 44 seasons. At the WCC XXXII in Long Beach John Wu won 1st place Individuals and the Escapades team of Lauren Ward, Stevan Bailey, Frank Bustamante, Joe Nealon, and Joe Pacchanelli stunned their other city rivals by never losing a match.

Spring season of 1996 ended on an auspicious note. During the season Stevan Bailey had purchased the vacant Rawhide bar in North Hollywood and renamed it Rawhide-Shooters. The newly refurbished bar and its six tables became the venue for the League-hosted XXXIII WCC, with major funding for the event coming from Miller LIte thanks to Stevan's efforts. Still playing under the Escapades banner, Lauren, Stevan, Frank, and team newcomers Jack Frohman and Richard ____, once again took 1st place honors after Stevan ran the table in a 8-8 playoff tie with San Diego.

Fall '96 began with the closure and loss to the League of Club 22, the victim of earthquake damage from the Northridge earthquake many months before. That loss of one of the League's most supportive sponsors was compensated for by the addition of new sponsor Rawhide-Shooters with its superb playing conditions and eight teams - a record number from any single bar! 

Still more changes in club sponsorships marked Spring '97. Rafters joined the League and Mr. Mikes and Spike returned to us. The biggest news for the season, under the new leadership of long-time Board member Michael Pfannenstiel, was the sponsorship of the League by "Bud Light" of Anheuser-Busch - a sponsorship made possible through Stevan Bailey's introduction of the League to A-B. Unfortunately, after a gift of several thousand dollars to the League treasury, "Bud Light" lost interest in being our sponsor and were never heard from again. At the Spring Awards' Party Jeffrey Hersh was the witty, silver-tongued citationist for longtime League friend and friendly rival Bill Hoover. Bill became only the sixth League member to receive its Sportsmanship Award, and the last since Frank Bustamante received it at the 20th Anniversary party. At the time of the award, Bill had served as President a record nine terms and had been a Board member for 27 of the preceding 30 seasons. Lauren Ward's team, now at Shooters, with Stevan Bailey, Frank Bustamante, David Boyd, and Jack Frohman, took up where they had left off after their preceding WCC miss, and once again proved LA the best!

Fall '97 ended on a happy note at the Lodge where Steve and Skeeter hosted us to a suberb Awards party dinner and Trunks & Rafters owner Bill Holland received the John E. Isakson Award for his extraordinary service and support to the League. The (Bill -- when did Lindsley of Gauntlet II receive his Isakson Award. I can't find mention of it in the GUIDE and it needs to be included here.) League's performance in WCC competition was one of its best in years as the League dominated the tournament! Lauren Ward (captain), Stevan Bailey, Frank Bustamante, and David Boyd and Roy Benavidez of Rawhide-Shooters retained the team trophy they'd won the Challenge before. Mele de Victoria won a down-to-the-wire 1st place Womens' trophy, the first such finish for an LA woman since the summer of 1991. Terry Irwin, who went to the Challenge as a fill-in alternate with only one day's notice, came within several shots of ending up as #1, and finished a remarkable #2. Paul Bussiere and Ron Jopp at 6th and 7th place rounded out the spectacular LA showing.

1998 started with another new president, Glenda Davis. Glenda wasn't the first League president to wear a dress (at least on occasion), but she did make some kind of history as the League's first straight prez. League history was also made by the make-up of the Board of Governors (and we are not referring to Glenda's make-up). The Spring Season Board set a record in having one President and four (!) ex-Presidents (Pfannenstiel, Hoover, Correll, and Cochran) among its seven members. At the Spring '98 Captains' Meeting, the Captains approved unanimously a Board-recommended special $10 per player assessment for Fall season only to help finance the League's 50th Anniversary Celebration in December. The Captain's also approved unanimously the Fall season adoption on a trial basis for WCC rules of play, with the exception of "touching fouls" and jump ball rules.

LA hosted the summer WCC, with play once again at Rawhide-Shooters. Sponsor Stevan Bailey provided six tables for play and generously made arrangements with Miller Genuine Draft for its sponsorship of trophies and T-shirts. The surprise of the tournament was not Lauren Ward's Rawhide-Shooters team (Ward, Bailey, Bustamante, and Ron Jopp) again besting the best of the other Leagues - which they did - but Jack Frohman's winning 1st place Individuals for the first time since he did the same in January of 1986!

Fall '98 brought the League into its 50th season of play - 25 years of good friendships and fine sportsmanship. At the August Captains' Meeting, the League assessed its financial health in light of the season's end special Awards' Party and post-season WCC travel to San Francisco. Faced with expenses exceeding seasonal income (team dues had not been raised since Spring of '92), the Spring and Fall Boards recommended a change in the League's underwriting of Challenge hotel costs. Rather than continuing to pay one night's single lodging for League competitors, League members could gain a hotel subsidy by participating in special tournaments or by making in-season donations to the treasury. For each special tournament participation, or each $10 donation, the League would support 20% of one night's lodging. This change in League policy for tournaments in SF, SD, and LB was approved unanimously by the Captains.