Mitch Laurance - Part 4 (“There’s Ladies Here”: Mitch Laurance on Ava’s Orbit, Instant Family, and Accidentally Becoming ESPN’s Voice)

Allison Fisher 0:14

So, Mitch, at this point we know you met the most beautiful wife in the world, the striking Viking Ava Lawrence, soon to become your wife, of course, in this story. How did she change your life? What happened? What was the cause?

Mitch Laurance 0:27

How did she change my life? Not in any ways at all, unless you consider the word everything. I think that would pretty much cover it. That covers it. Literally, there isn't any way that it didn't change my life. What it first started as after we met and spent a year, had that incredible cosmic meeting of getting together up in Seattle. And by the time we actually had decided to make a move, I was not, other than knowing more about her life and what she did and who she was. So now 42, when we decided to move Ava from Michigan and me from LA to Charlotte. She didn't want to live in LA. I didn't want to live in Grand Ledge, Michigan. And I had been to Charlotte a bunch of times and the Carolinas, and just decided that was where we were going to kind of meet up. I mean, I'd never been married. I had, there were a couple of relationships where I, if it had proceeded a different way, different circumstances, a couple times I might have gotten more involved. I'll never know, and I'm glad I didn't, obviously. But I I was 40 and 42 and had never really even considered the idea that I had met somebody that that was going to be it until I met Ava. And every time I my old tendencies of just being single and living a single life and all that that entailed, let's just leave it at that. Um until I met her, that it just wasn't ever a part of my life. And that switched pretty quickly when I realized not just who she was, I was in awe of her talent. I knew that already. But I was more taken and in awe of her spirit and who she was as a human. And being around it and watching the way she dealt with life and with Nikki, who at the time I met Nikki, Nikki was five when I met her, and how she dealt with that and dealing with everything that that entailed, and traveling and playing and competing and all of it, and little by little, but very quickly, I just came to start really understanding a lot more about life in general, about responsibility, about, and those things take time to change when you've lived your life the way I did for so long. I think that would probably be the best answer, is that everything in my life changed when I met her.

Mike Gonzalez 3:50

So, Mitch, remind our listeners, was it about 1990 that you first met?

Mitch Laurance 3:54

Yes. It was playing in a golf tournament that I had been invited to from Los Angeles by a friend of mine who ran a senior tour event in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And I went to that. I was doing a lot, a ton of those every year, probably 25 events a year around the country, and went to Winston-Salem, usual, same stuff. And he came to me on the night between the two pro-am days, and they were doing a charity event at night. And I walked into this convention center and he said, I think you should go play pool. And I said, I don't play pool. He said, No, I think you should go play pool. And I said, George, if you had no arms, you could beat me at pool. That's and he looked straight in my face and he went, I won't tell you what he actually said, but basically he said, go play pool. And he pointed me to the back of the convention center. And I walked through this roulette wheels and poker tables, all for charity. And I got to the back, and there were two pool tables. And you you guys love this. And I know literally nothing about pool, zero. And I'm standing at the entrance to this room, and I look and I look over to the right, and there's a pool table. And playing pool at the table on the right is Nick Varner. So picture the image.

Allison Fisher 5:26

Yes, I know.

Mitch Laurance 5:27

Looking at Nick Varner and going, okay, play.

Allison Fisher 5:32

You're like, why am I sent here?

Mitch Laurance 5:34

What? And then I looked over to the other table. And Ava was on the far side looking back toward me over a shot, down over a shot. And at the time she had this big curly hair, and I was standing there, and she looked up right at me. I'm sure she wasn't looking right at me, but she looked up in my direction, and those green laser eyes. And the first thought that came into my mind this is going to sound weird, but it's connected. Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did an album called A 2,000-year-old man. And Carl Reiner was interviewing Mel Brooks, and Mel Brooks was telling him about living in a cave back in the day, 2,000 years before. And he said, Carl Reiner said to him, So uh when did you when did your life kind of change a little bit? And Mel Brooks said, one morning I woke up and I went to the front of the cave and I looked outside and I noticed something. And I said to myself, hey, there's ladies here. And in my mind, in Winston-Salem, in that moment, that was the line I heard in my head. Literally, because I was a huge Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner person. Wow. So I went down and she was playing, you know, you play a rack for five dollars or whatever. And I wound up spending a bunch of time and a lot of money. And we hit it off immediately. I mean, just the way we interacted with each other, as you guys know, Ava loves to talk trash. I mean, lives for it, I swear. And we just started back and forth, and I was pretty good at it myself, and we just kind of clicked. And I think also she had been playing just all these guys for probably a couple hours by the time I got there. And it was nice for her to have somebody that she could not only talk trash to, but kind of talk to. And so when the night was ending, I said, Do you want to get a drink? And she looked at me and paused for a while, kind of a deep look of do I want to do this? And this is the truth. I mean, she those wheels were turning, and then she said, Okay. So we went into the bar in the hotel, and we sat for a couple hours and just talked and got really pretty deep. She was going through some issues in her life at home with her marriage and different things, and we just we really talked a lot. And after that night, we went back to our separate ways. I went back to LA, she went back to Michigan, talked on the phone a few times during the course of maybe a year, and that's when that the moment happened that I really started feeling because I didn't know this wasn't particularly anything that I was going. I've met the woman I'm gonna marry. But we were on the phone one night and said, What are you doing? And one of us, let's say, I said to her, What's going on? She said, No, things are good. I'm doing this, and I just booked a an exhibition out in Seattle. And I went, Wow, when? She said, Two weeks from Thursday. At which point I said, That's pretty amazing because I just got one day on a movie, Hand That Rocks the Cradle, one day on a movie, two weeks from Thursday in Seattle. And that's when I think both of us strange. Kind of no, it's not, Alice. It's not strange.

Allison Fisher 9:45

It's a universe.

Mitch Laurance 9:46

That's totally uh I don't look at it any other way.

Allison Fisher 9:49

I just don't absolutely right. Yeah. Right place, right?

Mitch Laurance 9:52

I went out, she watched me, you know, she was around on the set when I was filming that day, and then I went to the exhibition at night and watched her do her thing. We spent a lot ton of time that night together, rode around Seattle on a bus the next morning, just spent time, then went back to our lives, and from there it kind of that's where it really took off. And she came to LA a couple times. I went up to Michigan, which is I I won't get into that story, it's a little personal. But I went up to see her and Nikki in Michigan. That was the first time I met Nikki, and it kind of took off from there. And that's when we decided a little bit later that we were gonna move to Charlotte and see what happened. And we did, and I it wasn't that long after that I proposed to her, and and here we are now.

Mike Gonzalez 10:52

Well, here we are, and and just a little perspective for our listeners, you know, we we remind them that this was 1990. Of course, as you know, Mitch, Ava was at the top of her game then because in 1990, arguably her best year on the tour. I think she won five events on the tour. She was named uh Billiards Digest Player of the Year. So she was she was rocking and rolling, forget all the stuff going on outside the arena.

Mitch Laurance 11:18

Yeah, and that's true. And again, I had only I had only started to dip into the billiard world, even though she and I were getting closer and I had more of an idea of her her role, I still didn't really get the competitive WPBA effect. What I did get, however, was in 1992 when she just bam appeared on the cover of the New York Times magazine. And that's when, and I remember showing it to a couple of my friends, and I said, This is who I'm moving to Charlotte with. This is who I'm gonna be and they went, oh yeah, sure. That was an amazing cover, that's beautiful.

Allison Fisher 12:11

Yeah, she's she looks like a knockout on that.

Mitch Laurance 12:15

It was, yeah, and you know, the the whole and it exploded. That's when she really that's when all the appearances on every late night talk show started, and that world kind of exploded. And and then I started traveling to events with her, you know, after we moved to Charlotte and started living together. And that that's when I really started to get into your world, Allison.

Allison Fisher 12:43

Yeah. And how did it feel having Nikki in your life? Because obviously you've come into her life at five years old. How was that for you? Because that's a big transition, isn't it?

Mitch Laurance 12:51

It was for everybody. I mean, it it literally was for everybody, and it's a great question. I loved children, but the first time, this will give you a little insight into Nikki and my relationship, which still exists this way all these years, 35 years later. The first time I met her, she came home from, and Ava never let a guy that she was seeing come to the house to meet Nikki. Right. So there, Nikki comes back from school on the bus, five years old, gets off the bus with a little backpack and comes through the front door. And Ava says, Nikki, this is Mitch. I said, Hi, Nikki. And I she walked in and I looked down, and one of her shoelaces was untied. And I knelt down. I said, Can I tie your shoelace? She went, Yeah. I knelt down to tie her shoelace. So I'm on the ground and she's standing a little bit above where my head is. And as I'm tying her shoe, she says to me, You need hair in a can.

Allison Fisher 13:59

Oh, that's great.

Mitch Laurance 14:01

Literally the first line she ever spoke to me. And oh, it's good. That's just kind of it's gone on from there. I think for her, she didn't obviously know what was going on. It was fine. I mean, you know, we had a good time, we left, but and then I left. But when we moved to Charlotte, all of us, that was really hard for her. All of a sudden, she was just leaving Grand Ledge, Michigan. We moved, kind of dragged her to Charlotte, drove down in a big truck with a bunch of stuff. We had rented a house and we moved in there, and she was sleeping in this kind of a different part of the house. It was the only way we could do it where she had her own bed. That was weird. And then, I guess a little less than a year later, I proposed to her mother. And even though she was okay, that was she that wasn't in the cards for her. She had a really tough time, really tough time during the wedding. She was just really unhappy. I think, and I think the main reason was that Ava had taken such care and loving control of their relationship when her first marriage broke up, that it was mom and Nikki, mom and Nikki. That was the team. And then all of a sudden, there was somebody else. And even though she couldn't verbalize it at the time, I think that's what was going on. We got through those years in Charlotte, and then when we built our house and moved in, because it was, Ava and I were talking about this the other day. We were thinking back on how incredibly disruptive and yet lucky we were because we were off all the time. We were on the road all the time. And so we had people staying with Nikki. We had, you know, we look looking back on it now, it's it's amazing that Nikki has turned out so beautifully and how well she has turned out because it had to be really hard for her.

Allison Fisher 16:12

Yeah, because she was with Vicky and the Pasky family, wasn't she, up in Michigan? And then when you came to Charlotte, that's what you're saying, is you went off and did your things, but then she was now having somebody new there.

Mitch Laurance 16:22

Yeah. And we were, and a lot of it I kind of, I don't, it's not blame. I just, it was my, I think it was my part of learning how to not live the life I lived before, which took me time because I was still wanting to go to these golf tournaments. And Ava played golf, and so now I started taking her with me. And so it wasn't just billiard events, it wasn't just the WPBA. It was all of a sudden we'd be going somewhere to play for three days or four days, and you know, kind of wish we had done that differently, but somehow again we got through it together as a family. So it's all part of the journey and all part of everything. Nikki's turned out to be an unbelievably uh independent, fantastic, strong woman. And yeah, so that that kind of was the that was the early influence and part of that for all of us.

Mike Gonzalez 17:20

I think a lot of people can relate, Mitch, to what you would have gone through, uh, because it, you know, everybody's gonna experience this whole relationship thing a little bit differently. But at your age, when you met, and I can relate, and a lot of people can, you're pretty set in your ways.

Mitch Laurance 17:38

You could say that.

Mike Gonzalez 17:39

Right? So now all of a sudden you got this light switch that flips, and and somehow magically you've got to transport yourself into a whole different life and be thinking about things that you never had to consider before.

Mitch Laurance 17:51

Yeah, but the main the main thrust of all of that was Ava, was my love for Ava. So what might be really shattering to a bunch of different people, that part of it was not, I I considered myself and still do, to be the luckiest guy in the world that those events happened, and that I happened to meet a Swedish pool player of all people, then and that that would be my life. And I didn't that part of it, you know, I was able to, and and I and I say this only because it's the absolute truth, I ran around a lot as a single guy, and traveling all over the place and doing all this stuff, and I mean a lot, and that you put it a good way, that switch was flipped. From that time when we really finally got together, that that was not ever even a thought in my life anymore. So I think that was the foundational aspect of it, and everything else kind of flowed from there.

Mark Wilson 19:07

I think during that time, Mitch, a lot of us, you know, naturally we beloved Ava. And so, and then you come in with credentials, and we're thinking, well, he's you know, probably not, he's probably more smitten with himself than Ava. And then when we found out the depth of your true love, then it was kind of like the big brother that kind of like, okay, Mitch is cool, because that we were naturally worried. No, we were naturally worried. No, I get it.

Mitch Laurance 19:34

You were protective.

Mark Wilson 19:36

Yeah, it was just instinctive, it wasn't something that I contemplated, but and I know I wasn't the only one, but but a lot of guys were kind of we were reserved about our opinion for you until we discovered, you know, that the she was tops on your list.

Mitch Laurance 19:51

Yep. Yep. I get that. I get that. It's as if she had come into my life and all of a sudden started, you know, going to every acting job I ever had and people who I worked with. And I think that's a natural and actually wonderful reaction that you had. Like I said, it shows how much you cared about her and how protective you were of somebody that you thought was part of your community and family in a way. So I agree.

Mike Gonzalez 20:21

So, Mitch, as we do with all of our legends of the queue, as you are, of course.

Mitch Laurance 20:29

Stop making me laugh.

Mike Gonzalez 20:32

So we always explore, you know, how how as young kids, uh all these stars came to the game. Of course, you've come to the game a little bit later, and we hear a lot of stories about uh oh, their first pool tables and so forth. So I gotta imagine that Ava must have, as your first table for you to learn, got you something maybe look a little bit like this.

Mitch Laurance 20:58

Yeah, it's pretty much that's pretty much it. That's still what I play on now, Mike, by the way.

Mike Gonzalez 21:05

So that's funny. But but seriously, I mean, you're kind of in the pool world now, so you know you're gonna start to grab a Q stick. It might have a tip. You gotta learn a little bit about the game. Tell us just a little bit about what you went through to get yourself somewhat adept at the table, I guess.

Mitch Laurance 21:20

I'm gonna I'm gonna say this now so I can remove all suspense. I suck. I have always sucked, I still suck. And amazingly, given that I have had a Hall of Fame player in my house for it'll be 32 years in August, I played every now and then. I never and I think it's because I mean, I think you can learn something about mechanics, but I'm not sure that you and yes, you can be a recreational player, obviously, you can be a recreational player and love the game. For whatever the reason was, it never took me. The game itself, me playing the game, never took me. Strange, interesting, yes, but it's the truth. And I mean, I watched for years. We have this beautiful Brunswick table in our house, and I've had it for years. I have watched one of the great players in the history of the game play. And I would walk by the in the living room and look into the room and just watch for a while. And I think I was so in awe of her ability and her talent. Not just doing drills and practicing that kind of stuff, but when she was really heavily involved in trick shot world, I would just watch her. And you know, I sometimes I would help set up the shots and do that kind of stuff. But I think I was so in awe of what she was doing that I almost I didn't want to get in there. That's the only way I can kind of put it that would make any sense. Because to most people, they go, What do you mean you suck? And they'd go, You did commentary for 20 years. What do you mean you suck?

Allison Fisher 23:12

It doesn't make you a player though, does it?

Mitch Laurance 23:14

No, well, my answer always, whenever anybody would say that, I said, Do you think Al Michaels played football?

Mike Gonzalez 23:20

Exactly. Yeah.

Mitch Laurance 23:21

I mean, it's, you know, I had to I had to learn about the game, enough at least to be a play-by-play guy. I was not doing color, I was not an analyst, I was, you know, that was not my job. But I had to learn enough about the game to be able to feel comfortable guiding a telecast. And other than that, though, and it's it's a great question, Mike, but there there is no origin to my pool game. Because it never it never went anywhere for there to be an origin to look back on.

Mike Gonzalez 23:57

Well, Mark could probably give you an alternative uh descriptive uh phrase to use when describing your pool ability.

Mitch Laurance 24:06

Okay. You mean other than I suck? I love this.

Mark Wilson 24:10

Yeah. When I describe my beginnings, it it begins at sub-horrible. Sub-horrible. I think that's what my I think that's what Mike's getting at. Exactly. Well, to be honest, it's not great. That is great. It was it was the oddity too, because I was decent at other sports, and then I just couldn't even imagine I could be this bad. So that was always I was thinking, and then as it turned out, the people I looked up to were terrible. So that's how the sub-horrible became part of it to accurately describe it.

Mitch Laurance 24:39

But that's how we if you remember, that's how I started golf because I couldn't believe I was that bad at it. But for some reason, that game hooked me, and I get totally a hundred percent how incredible pool and billiards are as a game. And I think one of the reasons why it it's always hit me once I really started being around it and into it, is that you think about the two games I've spent the most time in my life around, and they couldn't be more different in what the game is. One of them is played on outdoors on land that's 7,000 yards, hitting balls monstrous distances, the other is played on a nine-foot table where the condition never changes. And the I mean, the physical aspects of it are like this. The mental aspects, however, are very much the same. So I get what you're saying, and I'm sure I'll be using the term subhorrible.

Mark Wilson 25:49

Yeah, there you go. Go ahead. Go right ahead.

Mitch Laurance 25:52

You and I all start off with a So I'll tag you, though. I'll give you credit.

Mike Gonzalez 25:58

So you find yourself married to this pool star, you're traveling the circuit, uh, you're getting exposed more and more to the professional game. Uh, just take us our our listeners through how that all developed and how you then sort of got into other aspects of the game commentary and some of the other things you've done.

Mitch Laurance 26:19

I can tell you very specifically, there was a an event that Gordon's Jin and Vodka put on. And they started, I think the first one was 93 or four. And in 1995, I was going to events with Ava, and this one was in Chicago. And and again, I had talked about this before. I none of this was ever planned by me. I never was around a pool event watching it and going, man, I would love to do commentary for this. That wasn't a thought. Went to this event in Chicago, which was at Michael Jordan's restaurant. That was the name of it, Michael Jordan's. Oh, yeah. In 1995. And it was a three-story building. The sports bar and everything was on the bottom first floor, and then there were two other floors above it. And this Gordon's event, the beginning before the event started, it was the first one that was going to be telecast on ESPN. And for whatever reason, we found out maybe a day before, two days before, that the ESPN play-by-play guy, and I think it was Dan Debenham, I could be wrong, but that name has always stuck with me. Couldn't do it. Don't know why, don't know what happened, other than the universe said, okay, Mitch, here you go. Here's the next chapter of your life. So we're standing there, and at the time, Ava and Sherry Stouk were kind of running the WPBA. And Sherry was there in her own inimitable style, and they were talking about how they were going to do this telecast. And Sherry said, Mitch, do you want to do it? And I said, Sherry, what are you even talking about? I don't know anything about pool, and I've never done any sports commentary. And Sherry said to me, looked me right in the eye, and said, Are we allowed to curse on this podcast?

Mike Gonzalez 28:37

Uh sure, I'll bleep it out.

Mitch Laurance 28:39

Yeah, won't do it. Sherry looked me straight in the eye and said, You're an actor, right? I said, Yeah. She said, then act like a fing sports commentator.

Allison Fisher 28:54

I love that. Thank you for listening to another episode of Legends of the Q. If you like what you hear, wherever you listen to your podcast, including Apple and Spotify, please follow, subscribe, and spread the word. Give our podcast a five-star rating and share your thoughts. Visit our website and support our Paul History project. Until our next golden break with more Legends of the Cube, so long, everybody.