Panozzo, Mike

Mike Panozzo has spent more than four decades doing something few people in cue sports have ever done: he has watched the game from nearly every angle — journalist, editor, publisher, historian, advocate, industry insider and, ultimately, Hall of Famer.

Best known as the longtime Owner, Publisher and Editor of Billiards Digest, Panozzo has been one of the most important chroniclers of modern pool history. Since joining the magazine in 1980, fresh out of Marquette University with a journalism degree, he has documented the players, promoters, room owners, manufacturers, tours, controversies, characters and turning points that shaped the sport from the post-"Hustler" era through "The Color of Money" boom, the rise of the women’s professional game, the internationalization of pool and today’s streaming-driven global landscape.

Panozzo’s story begins far from the tournament arena. He grew up on the far South Side of Chicago in a close-knit Italian-American neighborhood where, as he recalls, “Little Italy” was not one place but many. Surrounded by family, Catholic school, Sunday meals at his grandmother’s house and the rhythms of Chicago sports, he developed an early fascination with writing and storytelling. He was not, by his own admission, a straight-A altar-boy type. He joked in the interview that the hallway to the principal’s office might as well have been named the “Mike Panozzo Thruway.” But even as a fifth-grader, he knew he loved to write. A teacher’s encouragement helped him believe that writing might become not merely an interest, but a life’s direction.

Sports became the language through which that ambition took shape. As a boy, Panozzo raced his brothers to the breakfast table for the sports page and absorbed the work of Chicago writers such as Jerome Holtzman, Bill Gleason, Bill Jauss, Dave Condon and Irv Kupcinet, along with the golden-era voices of Sports Illustrated. He understood early that his future as an athlete was limited, but that his ticket into the world of sports might be through words.

After attending boarding school in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Panozzo enrolled at Marquette, a Jesuit university with a strong journalism tradition. His path after college was practical rather than romantic. There would be no year abroad to “find himself.” As he remembered with a laugh, his father would have “found” him quickly and sent him back to work. Instead, Panozzo answered a lead for a job at a small Chicago publishing company run by Mort Luby Jr., whose family had long published Bowlers Journal. Luby had launched Billiards Digest in 1978 as a separate magazine after decades in which billiards coverage had appeared within the bowling publication. By August 1980, the new billiards magazine was looking for another editor, and Panozzo — who even mispronounced Willie Hoppe’s name during the interview process — talked his way into a chance.

That chance became a career.

Under Luby, Panozzo learned that covering billiards required more than writing tournament results. It meant understanding the entire ecosystem: players, poolroom owners, retailers, table manufacturers, cue makers, promoters, advertisers, governing bodies and fans. Luby’s editorial mentoring style was famously spare. Panozzo recalled turning in copy and receiving it back with only two words: “Try again.” But the lessons stuck. He learned to observe, listen, ask questions and treat the pin boy and the president of Brunswick with the same curiosity and respect.

When Panozzo entered the billiard world, the industry was struggling. The early 1980s were economically difficult, and pool was still searching for stability. But the game’s characters were irresistible. Panozzo saw Mike Sigel and immediately recognized star quality: the stance, the tuxedo, the confidence, the flair. He watched Buddy Hall and slowly understood that true greatness could look almost boring when cue-ball control was that precise. He interviewed and observed legends including Minnesota Fats, Willie Mosconi, Irving Crane, Luther Lassiter, Joe Balsis, Jimmy Caras, Lou Butera, Jim Rempe, Nick Varner and many others, preserving impressions that now form part of the sport’s living memory.

Then came "The Color of Money". Martin Scorsese’s 1986 film, starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, changed the business of pool. Panozzo witnessed the excitement around the production in Chicago and saw firsthand how the movie sent energy through the billiard industry. Poolrooms opened, manufacturers boomed, new customers entered the game, and magazines such as Billiards Digest had a larger story to tell. In the interview, Panozzo described it as a period when the industry did not have to chase every sale — the phone simply rang.

In 1994, Panozzo and business partner Keith Hamilton purchased Luby Publishing. It was a leap Panozzo admits he may not have been fully prepared for, but it gave him the opportunity to devote himself even more fully to the magazine and to the sport. The publication grew in size, reach and ambition, with stronger photography, sharper design, more compelling covers and deeper coverage of professional pool and the billiard industry.

Panozzo’s tenure also coincided with a transformational era in women’s pool. He covered the emergence of the women’s tour, the rise of Jeanette Lee, and the arrival of international stars such as Allison Fisher and Gerda Hofstätter. In the interview, he called the women’s professional movement “a bold move and a brilliant move,” crediting the players and organizers who built a marketable, television-friendly product through determination and creativity.

Beyond publishing, Panozzo has played a major role in preserving the sport’s institutional history. He served on the Billiard Congress of America Board of Directors, chaired its Hall of Fame Committee, served on its Promotions Committee, and was president of the Billiard & Bowling Institute of America. He received the BCA President’s Award in 2005 and the BBIA Industry Service Award in 2017. In 2024, he was inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame in the Meritorious Service category, alongside Shane Van Boening and the late Mark Griffin.

Panozzo’s interests extend beyond billiards. He co-authored instructional books with Steve Mizerak, owned Panozzo Italian Market, and developed a well-earned reputation as a cocktail enthusiast — even launching a “Quarantini Cocktail Hour” during COVID. But the through-line is always storytelling, hospitality and connection.

Asked how he would like to be remembered, Panozzo did not reach for titles or trophies. He hoped simply to be remembered as someone who cared about people, made them laugh, made them think and made their day a little better. For cue sports, he has done more than that. Mike Panozzo has helped the game remember itself.