LoreeJon Ogonowski-Brown - Part 1 (From Basement Beginnings to Queen of the Hill)

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

Welcome to another edition of Legends of the Q and Mark Wilson. I don't know a lot about this royalty stuff. But does a queen trump a duchess?

Mark Wilson 0:26

Boy, I would think so, but let's go to the Duchess and actually find out. Alison.

Allison Fisher 0:33

Well, I became a Duchess because the Queen was taken. And who is it taken by? Our very special guest. Today joining us, we have Lori John Ogonowski Brown. That's a long name. And uh what a champion she is, and I'm delighted that she's here joining us. Good morning, Lori John.

LoreeJon 0:52

Good morning. I'm so happy you asked me to do this.

Allison Fisher 0:56

Wow, you've got quite the history. Go on, Mike.

Mike Gonzalez 0:59

We're looking forward to doing your story, Lori John. But before we get into the details, let's just cover off this nickname thing, okay? Because I've I've heard Alison's version. I I've I think I've heard a little bit of your version. But just for our listeners, uh, you got yours first, Lori John. So why don't you start?

LoreeJon 1:15

So I not I'm not necessarily thrilled, you know. Like I like, you know, like Terminator or something, you know, something like that. You know, but um in my rise, I was I seemed to always win from behind. So if somebody had me eight to one in a race to nine, it was never a definite that they that they won, you know, and I would always come back. And um Steve Tipton at the time had um stats on me coming back, making it Hill Hill, and then winning. And that's he said I was like in the the high 90s. If if it was Hill Hill and I came back, I was winning. So that's what he said, Queen of the Hill. So it's it's it's a difficult thing. You know, I hate like Duchess of Doom, you just know what that means, you know.

Allison Fisher 2:15

I'm not sure I like the Duchess part. Listen, if you want to be a Terminator or something, go ahead and I'll nick that Queen from you.

Mike Gonzalez 2:23

You want an upgrade?

LoreeJon 2:24

Well, there was Queen Jean too. You you got yeah, Queen Jean Beluca. So so so queen was like kind of technically already taken, but queen of the hill, I'm it.

Allison Fisher 2:39

You prefer to be queen of the country. You just got a hill.

LoreeJon 2:44

Queen of the world. Yeah, exactly.

Mike Gonzalez 2:47

That's it. That's it. Yeah, there you go. And the Duchess of Doom thing while we're on the subject.

Allison Fisher 2:55

Oh, how was that created? That was uh Jerry Eng's husband husband, Ron Eng, who was a photographer on our tour at the time, and uh Jerry reminded me that they were sitting around having dinner one night and they created it from there. Obviously, the Duchess a bit of British royalty with what I inflict on my opponents at the table and they came up with a Duchess of Doom. I had some really shifty names before that, but that was the one that stuck.

Mark Wilson 3:23

I'm curious now.

Allison Fisher 3:26

Well, we won't go into that, but this is about Lori John, not about me and my name.

Mike Gonzalez 3:31

Maybe we will just give us one or two.

Allison Fisher 3:36

But Lori John's had a few for me in the past too, haven't you?

LoreeJon 3:40

Nothing for a G. Oh very nice things. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 3:44

Oh, good. Yeah. Well, let's let's get with it then, Lori John. So uh as you probably know, because we had a prior discussion, we like to talk about everything in your life, starting with that you know, where you were born, where you grew up, and where you came to learn pool. So let's just go back to the very beginning and take our listeners back to Garwood, New Jersey.

LoreeJon 4:04

Yes, Garwood, New Jersey. I was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which is very close, Elizabeth General Hospital, um, and grew up in Garwood, New Jersey, very small little town. Um, most people, if if I said Garwood, they would go, and then I would say Westfield, you know, Scotch, like something like closer to that, and they would go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so Garwood was very small. Um I lived a block away from school, and we had a five by, wait a second, wait, four and a half by nine, five by ten table in my house. So it was, yeah, so that's what I grew up on. Um and uh I don't know, I mean, I didn't I didn't know any different, you know. I mean, it was it was uh it was uh I don't know, like it was a big table. I was tiny. But I loved, I loved growing up in in a small town. It was it was wonderful. Um typical, you know, I I watched a video, I have to say this because I I laughed so hard. I watched something on Facebook yesterday and it said it was like it was like an older person. They were like, they were like, they made commercials asking where it's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are? You know, and I remember that commercial. I'm like, oh my god, I remember that. You know, like can you imagine today saying that, you know, because like that the but that's what it was. I mean, you left, I left in the morning and my mom was like, dinner's gonna be ready at six, just be home by six. Okay, you know, and and it it it was such a uh it was definitely a wonderful time, you know. Just had my best friend Kim, um, who I still talk to today, who's still mo one of my best friends ever and will always be.

Mike Gonzalez 6:02

And uh she was always proud of me with with my pool playing and so tell us about your folks and what they did for a living, and then how they I guess encouraged the pool eventually.

LoreeJon 6:13

So my dad was um a lineman for public service um until he he fell. He fell and got like pretty pretty badly injured um and couldn't be a lineman anymore. My mom um was actually my mom was a teacher. She she taught um special needs. Um she was she she did like special needs kids and things like that. Um and my dad always, always was uh involved with pool. I mean, his best friend and business partner at one point was Alan Hopkins, you know, um Steve Mizerak was a good friend of his and and like all of just everybody in that, you know, Jim Rampey, everybody in that like that little core group from from New York, New Jersey, uh uh Pennsylvania area. And um my dad just always loved it, he just was always around it, always, you know, always, you know, he was a gambler. I mean, he he loved to gamble here and there. And, you know, I mean, he he uh I don't know, that that's how I grew up. So, so we had a pool table, like I said, in our basement. It was a five by ten Gandhi. And um I I started, I started playing. My sister Nancy was playing um uh in these eight ball tournaments, and she started playing first. Um, but I think she did it more for my dad, you know, more more for him versus like her loving it. And then when I was like four, I just I would go downstairs every single day and take that Q stick, and I could, you know, and I would I'd line the balls up and I'd do that with one hand and I'd line line it up and I would make the shot and I'd, you know, set it up again and make the shot. And my my mom was like, you know, she she seems like she likes this, you know, like we're not telling her to do it. She goes down every day and does it. Um, and then my dad, he he did. He he took wooden boxes and put it around the whole pool table and and taught me like mechanics because he figured, you know, if if if you're gonna learn how to play pool, Mark would understand this more than anyone. And so Alison, you too, with your with your you know, with your mechanics being the same, um, that was that was what he was he didn't want me growing up with a sidearm because I couldn't reach the table. So he that's great. Yeah. So he built that platform. Um and I started started, I just started playing. I just, you know, I started playing when I was six years old. I actually ran a rack of balls. Just, you know, he just threw them out and I and I ran the whole rack. And like today I think, oh my God, that was on that was on a huge table. Like that was really good.

Allison Fisher 9:20

You realize how good you are at that age. It's amazing.

LoreeJon 9:23

So um, and and I just loved it. I don't know. I mean, I I loved it from I can tell you when I was seven, so so my dad, anyway, after my dad, I don't know when my dad got hurt uh in as a lineman. Timelines kind of like, you know, when you get older, like timelines are kind of like whatever. They all kind of go into each other. But when my dad, my dad always wanted uh um to open up a pool room, I know. Um, and the pool room was open, but it was open when I was about seven, eight, maybe like eight years old. Um, and he opened it up with Alan Hopkins initially. Um and and it was called Hopkins Billiards. And then I don't know, then Alan didn't Alan, and there they were still good friends. I mean, it wasn't like they broke off because of something bad. It was just Alan had uh other things he needed to do and wanted to do. So my dad bought him out and then named it Lori John Billiards. Nice. And and but when I was seven, I I did uh um Charlie Ursetti, who was a big part of my life as well. Um, Charlie always, you know, he's like he would tell me when I was like, I remember I was so little, and he'd, you know, he'd he's like he was like that like Italian mobster type guy, you know. He'd come over and he's like, listen, he says, you're gonna be a great pool player. You're gonna, okay. He goes, I'm just telling you that. He goes, but he said, you have to learn how to entertain. He goes, you gotta learn the trick shots. You have to learn those trick shots, and you have to learn how to talk to people. And he says, and and that will take you, that'll make you a lot of money. I was like, All right, okay, okay. So he would sit there and like set up little easy, you know, little, little four-ball trick shots and stuff like that for me to make, and and he would make me talk to him, and it was so funny. He's like, I would, I, I, I'd be like, you know, talking, like setting up the shot, looking down, and he's like, is your audience on the pool table or is it out here? It's great.

Allison Fisher 11:32

I know Charlie, I remember.

LoreeJon 11:34

Like, he's so he was so um forward, just very straightforward. And so I I learned. So when I was seven, I did my first like an exhibition. I did three trick shots at the men's US Open tournament in um in Straight Pool tournament in Chicago. And I was so, I mean, I was nervous. My mom made me a little yellow gown, you know, and then I had little yellow, you know, little pig, little yellow, yellow bows in my hair and stuff. And and and I went out there, you know, I went out there to to uh uh you know to do the trick shots and right before Minnesota Fats was there, and I was just petrified. And Minnesota Fats looked to me and he goes, he goes, honey, he goes, I've never made a shot in my life. People think I'm the greatest player in there in the history of pool. He goes, why? Because I tell them. He goes, so if you mess up, he goes, if you mess up, he goes, just tell them it's impossible. Tell them the trick shot's impossible, of course, because you couldn't do it. Whatever. He goes, whatever. Make them laugh. So he calmed me down a little bit. I went out there, I did the shots, made them, came back, and and I sat down and I wouldn't move. I sat down, I was like this, and my legs were just like up and down. My dad goes, my dad puts his hand on my leg and he's like, he goes, you okay? And I went, he goes, he goes, Did did you are you okay? And I like it's because I wouldn't say anything. And I looked at him and I go, yeah, I go, Dad, I go, I really liked it when they clapped. I said, I think I'm gonna be doing this for a long time. Wow. And that's how old were you? Seven.

Mark Wilson 13:22

Oh, wow. What year would that have been?

LoreeJon 13:25

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 13:27

72. She doesn't want to discuss that part. How rude of you.

LoreeJon 13:31

I know. No, I'm you know.

Allison Fisher 13:33

No, because I might have been there.

LoreeJon 13:34

I'm embracing racing it now. I'm gonna be 60 years old in in um in uh November. So I was whatever, 65, 70, 77?

Mike Gonzalez 13:47

Oh, 71 or two, probably.

LoreeJon 13:48

Oh no, 71 or 10.

Mike Gonzalez 13:50

Yeah.

LoreeJon 13:52

That's my math. You were there.

Allison Fisher 13:54

Mark was there. That's pretty fantastic. Do you remember anything about it, Mark?

Mark Wilson 13:58

No, I was I was 15 or 16, and that was uh a pilgrimage to the U.S. Open Straight Pool.

Allison Fisher 14:04

That was I remember you talking about that on your life story. Oh yeah.

LoreeJon 14:09

It it's it's pretty, it's it's pretty good. You know, my mom, um, my mom also, like when I was little, for for since from kindergarten to eighth, eighth, you know, eighth grade, because that's the way the school system like worked, you know, back then. You know, sometimes you switch schools in middle school now, and all of a sudden it was kindergarten through eighth grade, like one school. And it was it was like not even a block away. And my mom would have um a sandwich made for me every day. She would have make peanut butter and jelly and and a glass of milk, and I would shovel it in, and we'd run downstairs and we'd play a 25-point straight pool match.

Allison Fisher 14:50

That's really cool. You were doing all the right things at a young age. I have a question for you. Um Did you have brothers? Do you have brothers?

LoreeJon 14:57

Yes, my spoiled brother, because it's brother. So there's you know four girls and then my brother Mark, you know. So my brother Mark and but but my sister says that we were both spoiled because I was the pool player and he's the only son.

Allison Fisher 15:13

Well, did he play? That was my question.

LoreeJon 15:16

Was he he would like to think he plays, but not, you know, no, I kick his butt every day, you know, all the time.

Mike Gonzalez 15:23

All the time. Uh yeah. Uh yeah. You know where the you know where the queen thing really came from, though, I think, long before her nickname for Queen of the Hill. As the youngest of five, can you only imagine what life was like for her after her older sisters and brother blazed the trail for her?

LoreeJon 15:43

I was I was really spoiled. Like I was really, I was like, I I still today I talked to my sister the other day, and and uh so my my sister Charles the closest to me in age. Nancy is the one who who used to play, and then my brother Mark, and then my my sister Linda, and my sister Linda, and it's not it's it's okay, but I mean she passed away when she was 64, something like that. She was 12 years, 13 years older than me. Um, and um she wasn't in like great health or anything, but but my like they sit there, I'm like, how did you even tolerate me? Like, honest to God, like I don't know how my sisters or my brother, really my sisters though, because my brother was like kind of out of the house by you know by the time I was in the nasty phase. But like my sisters, I would be like, What do you where are you going? And my sister would be like, I'm going to the movies. And I'm like, I'm like, well, I want to go too. And she'd be like, no. And I'm like, well, when I cleaned your room the other day, I found this, and I I I don't know if mom should see it or not, but you know, I oh bribery at a young age. Horrible black blackmail, forget bribery. Yeah, exactly.

Allison Fisher 17:03

Wow.

LoreeJon 17:04

And they still worked, and they still love to I got to go to a lot of places.

Allison Fisher 17:13

That's so funny. I love that. Going on from that, you were practicing at home with your dad, playing these straight pool matches, which was wonderful. At what point did you step into the pool room? Did your parents think it was appropriate for you to be in there?

LoreeJon 17:27

So before, um, and this is funny because I met Joanne Mason Parker uh at the like at this one pool room, and it was called the High Q, and it was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Um, Mike Ash and Brian Ash, his son. Uh Mike Ash owned it. And uh there were like little tournaments there, you know. So my dad would always bring me there. And um the straight pool player, do you remember Jack Calavito?

Mike Gonzalez 17:56

Yes.

LoreeJon 17:57

Jackie Calavito, he hit he would be there, and his daughter was there, Cindy, and you know, and so I that's that was like my first pool room experience. Um, and I used to go there. It was really a nice place. Everybody was so nice. Um, and I would play, you know, I'd play, my dad would put me in the little tournaments there and stuff like that. So that was like my first. Um I yeah, that was that was definitely my first pool room. And then then when I was about eight, they did that whole the Hopkins Billiards and then Lori John billiards, and it was it was like eight, nine, ten, you know, and we had that that pool room until gosh, until after um after high school. Gosh, yeah.

Allison Fisher 18:40

Now how old was Joanne when you met her then?

LoreeJon 18:43

Two years younger than me. So I met her. She was about five. She was about five and about seven. Mm-hmm. And they came in and they and they we were so brutal. I was just, I mean, I'm telling you. And like I knew Mary, Mary Kenniston, and stuff like that. So like if Mary was there, I'm like, like Joanne and her mom, her mom and her sister walked in with Harvey. And I I like looked over, and there, and like back then, you know, like I will, you know me. I mean, I'm not like a major dress person, you know. And there they are in like like pink, blue, and yellow little house on the prairie dresses, you know, all three coming in, and I'm like.

Allison Fisher 19:29

You're not Nelly Elson, are you?

LoreeJon 19:31

Please don't say you're I'm not Nelly, but I mean, I was just like that, like I will never forget that. And then and then Joanne and I got in trouble because we were we were we were we we took this is when you know we're young, you know, like really young. We were taking toilet paper and and making it soaked and throwing it up on the ceiling and making it stick in the bathroom, and we got in trouble. And then I and then I loved her from there.

Allison Fisher 20:04

Oh, that's good. And no, and you're still friend, very good friends to this day, aren't you? Yeah, you both she came back on tour, you came back on tour, but we'll get to that later on. But that's wonderful. So you grew up five years old and seven years old. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 20:18

So, Lori John, this question is really for Mark's benefit and all of his many fans out there. Uh, your recollection as to when you had your first run of seven balls.

LoreeJon 20:30

Well, seven seven balls were definitely definitely when I yeah, definitely when I was like seven. Yeah. Oh like I was like six or seven when I ran when I ran a whole racks.

Mike Gonzalez 20:47

Like like 20 years before Mark.

Mark Wilson 20:52

You know, uh going back to the haiku though, uh yeah, change the subject.

Mike Gonzalez 20:56

Go ahead. That's all right.

Mark Wilson 20:58

Before Lord John knows, that that was the pool room in the United States, and you would see ads all the time. And it wasn't just uh uh Jack Calavita, it was Ray Martin. Ray Martin, uh Fusco, uh Hopkins, uh everybody was there, and it was always like uh I didn't get to go there. But we read about it in magazines and it just seemed like pool heaven. It was top players, top tier players she was around when she was seven.

LoreeJon 21:24

All the time. One one of my one of my greatest pick photos ever with me and with my we did a uh exhibition for the Heart Fund Association, and I had a little uh red and white smock top with the heart on the on the pocket, you know, because my mom made all like made my clothing. And and I have a great picture, a lot of pictures with like Alan Hopkins and um uh cue ball Kelly, uh who was a great trick shot uh artist. Um, but yeah, you're right. Like I did. I grew up, I was very, very lucky because I grew up with So many great players, and they all you know. My dad was a good when I teach now, I always tell people, especially females, my god, they're gonna have 18,000 people telling you you're standing too straight, you're standing too crooked, you're you're this, you're that, you're this, you hit too hard, you hit too soft. You do I told them I said, if you listen to everybody, you're never gonna get it. You have to, you know what I mean? Like, don't like, but my dad said at one point, he said, you've you've got your basics down, your mechanics are perfect. He said, So if somebody tells you something, you know, they might know something that I don't, that I don't see. He said, so let it go in one ear. And if it's garbage, you let it go out the other. And he goes, but talk to me about it. And and that's what I used to do. I would be like, you know, Alan told me, you know, and and what do you think? You know, whatever it would be, you know, and and um, and that's and that's how I learned because people were very, very nice um overall. And I do have a story, and I might as well say it because he's older and we're we're good now. But um I was in the pool room. I was probably 10 at this point, like 10 years old, something like that. And it was Lori John Villiards, and so Ray Martin came in, and I was like, oh my god, there's Ray Martin, you know, world champion. I was all excited. So my dad was like, all right, you know, don't like, and he always respected players, you know, don't bother them, you know. So he was in the corner, he played, he practiced for a few hours. And my dad was like, okay, you know, he when he was done, he was clearly finished. And I went up to him and I was like, you know, my dad said, you know, introduce yourself and just see if he has any pointers, you know. And I said, you know, you know, Mr. Martin, I said, you know, I'm I'm Lori John Ogonansky, and you know, I'm um John's daughter, and and you know, I I I play all the time and I want to be a world champion. You know, do you have any any tips for me? And he went, kid, you'll never be a world champion. And he goes, go go back to playing with Barbies. And I was like, Oh no, no, I'm thinking Barbies, the heads are off of my Barbies. I hated Barbies. Like, I'm like, I'm like, oh my God. So I he left and I went up to my dad, and it was like, you know, the face. I was like, you know, the tears are coming down, and I remember, and and it did again, like I I I do thank him because he did tick me off enough to to make sure that I did what I did. Because I said I said, How many world titles does he have? Because I'm gonna have more, and the day I have more, I'm gonna tell him to his face, you know. And and it was funny because year, like I don't know how many years ago it was. It was his birthday though, and we were in Florida doing a billiard exhibition, and I was ready, like I wanted to say something to him. And lo and behold, he was so stinking sweet and nice, and who cares? You know, I gave him a big hug. I told him happy birthday. We sang to him. I was like, and his daughter was like, Oh my god, he just loves you so much, and you know, and it's just Did you tell his daughter that you've got more world titles? Or no, no, but I know in here, I know in my heart.

Allison Fisher 25:59

We've told the world. But it is right, but it is amazing, those little comments with some people they fire you up and you never forget it. And it marches you on to make sure you achieve those titles, isn't it? Did you experience a lot of chauvinism being a female in the sport, especially a young female?

LoreeJon 26:18

Um, yeah, probably. You know, um everybody was very nice. I I I never, you know, what you see on TV and all that garbage, it's that I that no that stuff never. I I I never experienced that, you know, like bad things or fights or this or that. Um, but even if people thought you were great, there was always the comment about being and I would always smile and say, that's okay. I'm gonna be the best female in the world. Like I I just didn't it like I never like I I don't I don't care. Like you, you know, like who cares? And then at some point I would say, you know, I am the best, and like, are you afraid? You you know what I mean? Do you make those comments because you're afraid that I might beat you or another female might beat you, you know? Well, no, you know, no, and when we've and we've seen uh yeah, we've seen enough of people, you know, of the women, you know playing. And I and I'm not I'm not a big advocate to say we can compete with the men and we can, you know, I think we still have a long way to go. Um but I know that the more the more you do compete with men, the better your game is. You know, why is it definitely?

Allison Fisher 27:46

Yeah. I wasn't talking at it from that point of view, just so you don't belong here, type of thing. This is not a place for young girls.

LoreeJon 27:53

Yeah, yeah. You know, that's why like why why why why am I not doing something else?

Allison Fisher 27:58

Yeah, and I'm playing with your Barbies, for example.

LoreeJon 28:00

Yeah, playing with my barbies. Yeah, I never had Barbies, think. Me neither.

Mike Gonzalez 28:05

We've had we've had that a lot on our the golf podcast that we do, Lori John. We've talked to probably fifty-two women golf grades by now, you know, and especially the older ones that we have had some that were winners champions in the 50s, certainly in the sixties. So this is a little bit before, you know, uh when you were really coming into your prime. But but uh they dealt with the fact that back then there was a place for women, right? And the place was not as an athlete. If you were going to be an athlete, yeah, maybe you could play tennis, maybe you could play badminton. There might have been one or two other sports that were what I would say socially acceptable to participate in for a woman, but to to to be a you know uh um another kind of real athlete, track and field or basketball or something like that. It was unheard of in the 50s and the sixties. You know, as Title IX came along in the mid-70s, it sort of tried to equalize the playing field as far as funding for women athletics, but uh it was just not acceptable for a period of time to be an athlete as a woman.

LoreeJon 29:13

I understand that. I am I'm glad, you know, I'm glad that everybody in the 50s and whatnot have have paved the way because each you know, each era and everything, you you you you you have better players, better um, better opportunities, better, you know, and and um I'm thankful. I mean, without without the past, there is no present.

Allison Fisher 29:42

The pioneers.

Mike Gonzalez 29:43

Yeah. Did you play other sports as a kid?

LoreeJon 29:47

I played field hockey. Which is me too so brutal. I mean, I I just that I I I have my my poor shins. Oh my gosh, even though even though you wore the shin guards, you know, they'd miss the shin guard and get your knee, or right above, right above the shin guard, or right on the, you know, or the ball would be hit in the air and just slap you right in the thigh, you know, and there's a there you have this big black, but I loved it. Um I I did. I loved uh uh I loved I I loved playing the field hockey. But other than that, not not really. I mean, I I love golf, I love um, but nothing, nothing like pool.

Mike Gonzalez 30:33

Yeah, yeah. So you won your first world title, or I say world title, national title, I guess, at age 11, right?

LoreeJon 30:40

Yeah, I was gonna say that was the Ruth McGuinness, like it was a Ruth McGuinness Cup. And that's you know, Billy Billing was that's that's when the the um uh WPBA kind of first started. Um, and it was uh, you know, the WPBA really it's funny because you know when an organization starts, it's it's it's difficult to get it like all over. So when it started it, because it was in New York, it was like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. Those were, you know, Cyan Dolly's pool room, you know what I mean? Like that, like that's where you you you played in this little section, and and somehow eventually we you know got out to California, you know, for for Robin and stuff like that. But um, yeah, it was the Ruth McGinnis, Ruth McGinnis uh Challenge Cup. It was a great, that was a great, great tournament.

Allison Fisher 31:36

Who started the WPBA at that time? Who was who were the founders of it right then?

LoreeJon 31:41

Billy. Billy and yeah, I was gonna say I I remember, I mean, I know there were others, and you know, whatever. I mean, I know that other people um had, you know, Frank Krimy and and um you know uh Billy and yeah, Belinda and uh Belinda Bearden and um yeah, just yeah, there were a few, but Billy was a real push. She was the she was the the rock behind the whole thing.

Mike Gonzalez 32:16

So Alison, you were asking about the formation of the WPBA, which sort of began in the 70s back when Gene Lucas was undisputedly the hottest player on the table. And uh six-year-old Laurie John Ogonowski at the time had to stand on her boxes around the table to learn how to play a play a shot. Palmer Byrd was another top-flight player back in that day, probably the first outspoken missionary for women's billiards. She signed an exhibition deal with Brunswick, becoming, I think, the first, uh at least for the for the for Brunswick, the first uh uh female player rep for them. Uh but it was in 1976 uh that several women players, including Palmer, Gloria Walker, Vicky uh Paske, I guess, or Fretchen was that Frechen, uh Madeline Whitlow, along with uh National Beards news editor Larry Miller. They met at Mitch Housey's Restaurant Lounge in Lavonia, Michigan, on a Memorial Day weekend and cooked this idea up. That meeting gave birth to the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance.

LoreeJon 33:24

Yeah, it was alliance at first.

Mike Gonzalez 33:27

Yeah, yeah. That's quite a story. Over over a hundred women sent in their dues to join this new organization, and off you guys went.

Allison Fisher 33:36

That is amazing. So it is a really great story. And how I'm just curious about you mentioned Jean in that, Jean Belukis. How old was she when you first met her?

LoreeJon 33:47

Gosh, I wish I knew. I I I don't know. She was young, but Yeah, because she's a little bit older, isn't she? Yeah.

Allison Fisher 33:55

She's about maybe mid-sixties now, I think, I want to say.

LoreeJon 33:59

Yeah, definitely.

Allison Fisher 34:01

So she was yet quite young, wasn't she?

LoreeJon 34:04

She was, but she was like her formation, like, yeah, she looked she definitely in all goodness, like she played like a guy.

Allison Fisher 34:17

She just her parents had a poor room too, didn't they? Yeah. I don't know what time. It's so interesting that all you youngsters grew up in poor rooms or were playing pool at home and came to these tournaments so young. That is amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 34:34

And I sort of pictured them all playing up on these Mark, you remember these old soda boxes, right? The 24 bottles of pop would would come in. But uh Lori John actually had custom-made boxes, it sounded like for her table, huh?

LoreeJon 34:48

Yeah, my dad had the like he built like boxes, like yeah.

Allison Fisher 34:52

So when you s you played that first tournament, how did you feel? How did it feel to you?

LoreeJon 34:59

Great. Like great. It winning, winning. Winning is great. I can just say that. I am I am I am very competitive. Um, I I've raised um, you know, three children who are extremely competitive and and were horrible. I mean, like we played Farkel the other day, you know what I mean? And like, and I finally won. And it was like winning a tournament. I was like, yes, you know, it's great.

Allison Fisher 35:33

Yeah, it's funny.

LoreeJon 35:34

And it's just, yeah, it's it's uh, yeah, I definitely, I, I, it felt great. It felt great. And it was great for my, you know, it's great for my parents and you know, everything because all the our all the work and hard work that that they did. And, you know, my my dad, a lot of people, so when when my dad opened up the pool room with Alan and stuff, and he was not working for public service anymore, um, you know, my mom was she was really a smart lady. She I I I just, you know, my dad was was a great. So and and and I mean, I don't care if people know this, it just it doesn't really matter. But the the like my dad sent four girls okay, to Mount St. Mary Academy, all girl Catholic high school, okay. Not because he had the money, you know, from being aligned, but because he was good at craps.

Mike Gonzalez 36:35

Well, there you go. I swear.

LoreeJon 36:39

And my my mom was the money, she was the financial. So when my my dad would go out, and I remember when we were adults, we'd give him a hundred, we'd be like, Dad, like just do something with this, you know. So so he would he he played both sides. He would play, he would play, you know, he was like, You don't want to be with me, like at a crap table. He goes, I'm I'm not the person, you know, that who's liked on the crap table. He goes, so so, but he would have his little feelings, he'd go back and forth, and he's he did. He's he made a ton of money. He would go to Atlantic City, he'd make a ton of money. Alan and him would go down and he would give the my mom my mom the money, and my mom always invested and always did. So, so like I had no idea how good they did until both of them passed away. And and I was like, I was like, holy cow. Like my sister called me, she goes, Did you have any idea? And I'm like, Nope. You know, I'm like, nope. You know, but my mom took the pool room. Um, you know, my mom, I remember we had this big building, and there was a a large section, uh, maybe I don't know, maybe a thousand square feet, maybe a little bit bigger than that. And my mom said, John, take the pool tables out of there. They're they're they're nobody's renting them. They're they're it's it's dead. She said, give me that section. Let me let me do something. And she started selling pool tables and going to, you know, she would drive to Imperial and pick up all the Q sticks, and she would have barrels of. I remember I remember these these sticks were just horrified. I'm like, mom, they're warped. She goes, I know. She goes, and I have them for a dollar. She goes, and people will know that they're and she'd sell them. She'd sell the suckers. I like, oh my God. So she started uh what my my sister and my brother still have today is the pool tables plus. So, you know, that she was like a she was a real business, she was pushed into a businesswoman without wanting to, but she did. And she saved the pool room, and she said, you know, she was she was an incredible. I gave my mom a lot of credit. You know, my dad, it really is. My dad, yeah. And my and my my mom was a very strong woman, but my dad, like, she loved him to death. So whatever he wanted, he got.

Mike Gonzalez 39:08

You mentioned your father's name, John. Let's mention your mother's name.

LoreeJon 39:12

Gloria.

Mike Gonzalez 39:13

Gloria.

LoreeJon 39:14

And Lori came out of Gloria because she said that Gloria John had too many, there were too many syllables.

Allison Fisher 39:25

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