A pair of Mohammed Ali’s Boxing Gloves, a white Cockatoo named Cuey, host site to a wedding, two solid wood American Indian Chiefs standing guard at either end of the room and a waiting list seven days a week. What do all of these have in common? They all help create the ever-successful business of Sportsman’s Billiard Club in Columbus, Ohio. Sportsmen’s sets on the southwest side of Columbus where once sat a poorly managed, dingy, smoke-filled, dimly lit, poolroom. It is newly remodeled and retrofitted with Diamond Pool Tables by the husband and wife team of Jerry and Sherry Conkel who own and operate the room themselves. Sherry does the bookwork and shopping while Jerry manages the room.

Jerry and his brother had been thinking about getting out of the family pallet business. Sherry would soon become an empty nester, as their two daughters rapidly approached college age, when the poolroom came up for sale. Now Jerry had always wanted a poolroom, but knew he would have to sell Sherry on the idea. So he took her on a Columbus tour of every poolroom he could find. They compared the volume of business of each room with the potential volume of their new venture, until they decided that the room could be made profitable and only grow in business. The way Jerry rationalized the purchase was that they were buying the poolroom solely with his pool winnings so if things went awry and they were to lose their entire investment, they would simply be giving back what he had already won and be back to even again.

Now neither of them had any knowledge of the bar business other than Jerry frequenting them during tournaments or just hanging out playing pool. Jerry felt that as a player, he knew what other players wanted: a clean room, good service, good food, good prices, good equipment and someone willing to give sometimes instead of always wanting to take.

When they first acquired Sportsmen’s they had quite a task remodeling the room and replacing the well-worn Brunswick tables with brand spankin new Diamond Tables. Jerry said of the Diamonds "These are a player’s table. You don’t play on a better table than a Diamond." With their efforts and support from the pool community, business has grown over the past four years. Moreover, two years ago Jerry and his brother sold their pallet business so Jerry, and Sherry, work solely at their room. Business has been so successful that they have been able to advance plans to install eight new Diamond Tables six months ahead of schedule. Among patrons and players alike, they have a reputation of being ones who give back to the players. For example when they host their Scotch Doubles Tournament the third Saturday of every month, Sherry makes sandwiches, soup and salad in addition to the already added $250.00 to the prize money! Jerry explained that it is a break even for them as they usually get their money back in quarters and that the tournament is just a way to give something back to the players, the sixty-two who played in this last Scotch Doubles Tournament!

"Everybody wants to know about the boxing. Boxing was my thing, but I always played pool. That was my passion," Jerry shared. Having to work at his business after school precluded Jerry from participating in more traditional high school sports. To Jerry, boxing was an individual sport in which he could participate, get exercise and gain personal satisfaction. And that he did! He won several impressive Golden Glove titles, with one notable victory being the Toughman Competition Champion. Basically it was a "Show up, beat everybody up, go home and take the $1,000.00 and the trophy and so what?" He is not alone in capturing this ominous title as two nephews and one niece also share the acclaim as Toughman[woman] Champions. A family picture hangs on the wall of The Sportsmen’s serving testament to their amazing feats. "The amateur [level] is where the work is" according to Jerry. In fact, as an amateur Jerry sparred with some of the best boxers of the day including Buster Douglas.

While pool is not Sherry’s favorite sport (she’d rather golf), Jerry took up playing at the early age of eight. As he got a little older and his play progressed he began playing in tournaments and joined a straight pool league at a local poolroom. He recalled playing in ring games since he was fifteen. At that same time, he and his brother started the pallet recycling business. As it was not until he was twenty-one that their business became lucrative, Jerry looked to pool as a source of income.

He plays well. His team won the 1995 VNEA Masters Division Tournament held at the Canton, OH Civic Center. Jerry sites this as his most cherished billiard memory. Last year his team came in fifth place in the VNEA National 8-Ball Team Tournament held in Las Vegas, NV.

That accomplishment, in and of itself is very respectable. It could have turned out much better had an unfortunate error not occurred. It was a two-table format with his team needing only their lone eight ball to fall on table one for the win. His teammate shot and missed the 8-Ball, giving the other team an opportunity at the table, of which they took advantage with a table run.

Now back on table two, another of Jerry’s teammates had control of the table but waited to see the outcome of the game on table one to determine if he would even need to shoot at all. Upon seeing the outcome of the game on table one he turned his attention once again back to his table. The match was being scored on a points system and with his teammate missing the 8 ball, he would need to make only two balls to mathematically eliminate the opposing team and win the match. The table lay wide open with an easy run for either stripes or solids. Carefully studying the table to ward off any possibility of error, his teammate then proceeded to execute his first shot. FOUL!

After having his attention drawn away for so long, he had thought that the table was open when in fact, it was not. It was truly unfortunate considering he had a 50-50 chance of choosing the correct ball group to shoot. Giving up ball in hand, they watched in frustration as the opposing team ran out only to dash their hopes of winning the match and possibly the tournament. Jerry felt badly for having lost the match, considering they had what they felt was the strongest team among those that remained, but he was more concerned with the feeling of his teammate and friend that committed the foul. This sheds some insight into Jerry’s character.

Continuing on, he told how many funny things befall players in such an event as the Nationals. He was told that the very team that put them out of the tournament went on to play another team in the quarter finals, where the match came down to the hill-hill game. The opposing player runs the table and SCRATCHES on the 8-Ball. Not that unusual by any means, considering these things do occasionally happen. It would appear that this lucky team was getting even luckier…but wait. Instead of shaking his opponent’s hand and telling him with a somber face how tough a break he got, without even a shred of sincerity, he picked up the cue ball, placed it on the table and set up to shoot.

So engrossed with the thought of running out, he was oblivious to the fact that he had already won. Before he could pull the trigger one of his teammates yelled, "Don’t shoot," which was followed in milliseconds by the opposing team’s slightly louder cry of "FOUL." It seems that even though the game should have been over with that scratch on the 8-Ball, without yielding the table, his teammate accidentally committed a foul for coaching and not only cost them the game but the match as well. Given the circumstance, it is far easier to live with a simple mistake of miscounting and selecting the wrong balls than it could ever be to lose a match when the win was already at the doorstep.

Sherry and Jerry are constantly trying fresh ideas. By way of example are the two carved wooden Indians that oversee the room. The first stands nearly four feet tall and holds a pool cue. Jerry commissioned this sculpture and it was the main carving until they purchased the second piece, the small chief who now presides outside the restrooms. Carved from a solid piece of Walnut, the second Indian Chief stands over five feet tall and appears to be keeper of the front entrance. Jerry found this carving at a benefit auction for the local Technical College. He said that since he came from lumber, this was his opportunity to give back to the lumber community, which has served him well. Sherry and Jerry describe their two carved Indian pieces as the Big Chief and the Not-So-Big Chief.

Among the most recent addition to Sportsmen’s is a pair of autographed boxing gloves once belonging to Muhammad Ali. Enclosed in an oak display case handcrafted by Jerry’s brother, they bear both of his signatures, Mohammed Ali on one glove and Cassius Clay on the other. What a find!

All of the unique pieces can be seen during their hours of operation which are daily from 12:00 noon until 2:30 AM, except for Christmas and New Years when they open at 5:00 PM. On the weekend, the Sportsmen’s fills to near capacity with as many as two-hundred people, most of whom are between 18 and 25 years of age and comprise probably upwards of eighty-five percent of their total business. Patrons pay $3.00/person per hour on the rental tables. No more than three people are permitted on these tables at any one time. On the ten coin-operated tables, players supply quarters by the game. Monday through Thursday night play consists of the slightly older league players.

The Club sponsors twenty league teams Sunday – Thursday, which include West Side, APA and VNEA. Sportsmen’s also sponsors an accomplished women’s team, several of which are featured elsewhere in this issue. They all had met before Sherry and he acquired the Sportsmen’s, when both Jerry’s team and the women’s team played for Sports and Spuds. Jerry told of how he employed all of them as bartenders at one time or another. Sherry added that the women’s team must have figured that since they worked here they might as well play out of here. A Scotch Doubles League, known as the Casino League, was held during the previous summer. It was known as such because all of the players’ money came back to them in the form of a bus ticket and admission to a riverboat casino. They rented a tour bus, staffed it with food and beer and partied all the way down and all the way back. Arriving at their destination, Jerry distributed any remaining money players may have had coming.

Other Sportsmen’s Tourneys include an 8:00 PM Tuesday night 9-Ball tournament. About forty players on average frequent this event probably due in fact to the new Diamond Tables. "The Diamond Tables help," Jerry said. Ladies play free in the tournament and if they win, they get the money. Once a month there is a handicapped tournament. Jerry personally applies everyone’s handicap: women are twos, most men are threes and master players like himself are fives. There are very few fours, it just works out that most are either a three or five. An unusual feature of the tournament is the break and run contest. Everyone who participates contributes a dollar to the $250.00 already added by Sportsmen’s. A player’s name is drawn and the player breaks the rack of 8-Ball and attempts to run out for the entire pot. If the first draw does not run out, everyone adds an additional dollar and another name is drawn. If after the second attempt a player does not successfully break and run, the ante is increased to $5.00 per person so the pot grows rather large rather quickly. The contest goes on until someone wins.

An existing snooker table was removed to make room for the more popular sport of darts. As Jerry explains, darts soon gave way to the retail and staging area that currently exists. Jerry admits he knew little of darts or dart leagues and felt the retail section would be better suited for his establishment. They sell many Player Cues; they are inexpensive yet good cues that will not warp or fall apart. Other cues for sale include Viking, McDermott, Meucci, Predator, Joss, Cue Tech and Pro Tech. As many as ten cues are sold per week and that figure can double during Christmas.

Whether playing pool, shootin the bull or competing in tournament or league play, fast food is provided as a convenience to customers. Some items include coneys (Sherry makes the sauce), wings, nachos and cheese, chicken sandwiches and hamburgers. To drink with those foodstuffs is a large variety of soft drinks, nearly 40 different kinds in all. Of course this vast selection includes Cuey the cockatoo’s pop of choice, Pepsi! Jerry’s dislike for the usual cup of ice and fountain drink served in all too many poolrooms led to this large variety. Many bar owners in the area are behind the eightball because they have criticized Sherry and Jerry for offering so much. Some have even felt obligated to carry cans of soda to compete with Sportsmen’s. A fully stocked bar with a vast supply of liquor and bottled beer, all moderately priced, are other choices of beverage.