On May 18-20, 2018, the Mill Casino® in North Bend, Oregon hosted the inaugural Eileen Madden Memorial Tournament. There have actually been two prior installments, called May Madness 8-Ball Tournaments but this is the first and, as it turns out, the last Eileen Madden Memorial at this location. Hopefully, another venue will be found so this won’t be the last.
The Mill Casino Hotel, Coos Bay’s WBCA League Operator Rick Tillett and WBCA President Darcy Williams made this event a reality. BadBoys Billiards Productions® did the bracketing and streamed as many of the matches as time permitted and Steve Register of Snapsar Photography® took many wonderful photos.
Singles Play got underway on Friday, May 18 with two divisions of 50 players each (Platinum and Gold). Divisions were determined by FargoRate numbers with men and women playing together and races were FairMatched.
The Platinum Singles Division was mostly men (48) and two women. Stan Tourangeau worked his way undefeated to the hotseat match against Paul Kinney and didn’t lose a game to Paul to get to the final. Paul only had to get past Michael Deitchman to get another go at Stan but Mike was too strong and sent him out in 3rd place/$450. The final was on Sunday at noon between Mike and Stan who, at least according to FargoRage, should have played for the title, being the two highest rated players in the division and who were able to hold off lower rated players in lopsided matches to get there. Stan’s race was to 6 and Mike’s to 5. In game 1, Mike had a chance to run out but got out of line on his set up ball for the 8 and couldn’t recover so Stan ran out. In game 2, Mike dry broke and Stan ran out. Due to a rare unforced error by Stan, Mike got game 3. Another dry break by Mike and another run out by Stan in game 4 and the score was 3-1. Mike got game 5 after Stan’s only other unforced error but that was it for him. A foul (Mike), a break and run (Stan) and a foul on the break (Mike) and it was over. Stan showed, once again, that his nearly flawless play puts so much pressure on his opponent that nothing short of near perfection can beat him. Mike played very well to get 2nd/$650 and congratulations to Stan (1st/$1100).
The Gold Singles Division was much closer to balanced, with 21 ladies and 29 men. Molly Oliver was unbeatable on her way to the hot seat. Kevin Coon just missed the hot seat match and had to win one match on the back side to get into the final and did so by beating Jonathan Wittwer (3rd/$400). Both Molly and Kevin had to race to 5. Molly won game 1 but Kevin then reeled of three in a row to go ahead 3-1. Molly was apparently not interested in allowing a possible double dip as she won the next four games to claim the title and $1000, leaving Kevin in 2nd place/$600.
There were three scotch divisions. Platinum with six teams/race to 5, Gold with 23/race to 4 and Silver with13/race to 3. In the Platinum Scotch Division, all eyes were on Stan Tourangeau and his partner Kristin Cambas. Their road was a rough one, as they lost their first match to Scott Barnard/ Christy Barsky. Stan/Kristin were up to the task, moving through the back side to the semi against Linn Petty/Phyllis Laderer (3rd/$200), winning 5-2 and as they moved into the final against, you guessed it, Scott/Cristy. Once again, Scott/Christy were able to handle Stan/Kristin (2nd/$400), beating them 5-3 to claim 1st/$700.
The Gold Scotch Division got underway at 11am on Saturday. By the end of the day, Rick/Wanda Plummer emerged undefeated to await an opponent in the final. Hot seat match losers, Bill/Linda Fuller (3rd/$500) hoped they would have another shot at the Plummers but it was not meant to be, as the team of Jose Aquino/Molly Oliver beat them out in a close 4-3 match and they were in the final. Could Molly win her second title of the tournament? We’ll never know. Rick/Wanda (1st/$1200) were declared the winner by forfeit as Jose/Molly (2nd/$800) didn’t show up for the final.
The Silver Scotch Division was a race to 3 with $1000 waiting for the winning team. Leonard Sullivan/Michelle Mayo and Tony Sandoval/Wanda Knigge met in the hot seat match with Leonard/Michelle winning 3-2 and Tony/Wanda going to the back side for another chance to get into the final. Danny Nielsen/Sonja Benkis (3rd/$400) were Tony/Wanda’s obstacle and they pushed them aside 3-1 and got their shot at Leonard/Michelle in the final. Tony/Wanda (2nd/$700) got the first match 3-2 and the double dip was on. By that time, however, Leonard/Michelle (1st/1000) were warmed up and took the second set 3-2.
And that was a wrap on the first Eileen Madden Memorial. A good time seemed to be had by all and we look forward to the 2nd annual EMMT at a location as yet unknown. Many thanks to all those who helped with the planning of the event and who were on site to help out. We want to thank our sponsors, Mill Casino Hotel, Western BCA, Angela Deitchman (For Horse & Homes Real Estate), Tony Hargain (Hustlin’ USA), John Chaplin (Metric Motorworks), and Littman Lights. Their support is greatly appreciated.