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Steinert takes first place in state pool tourney; Staff Lounge team places fourth in competition
by David Namanny, Press-News Editor
Andy Steinert didn't start playing pool until he was 18 years old. Now, at the young age of 24, he's already a master of the game.
Steinert, an employee of Moore-Wallace who lives south of Osage, brought home the first place championship from the Iowa State Pool Tournament 8-Ball competition, held March 6 through 9 at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center in Waterloo. He and his four other pool players from the Osage/New Haven area were sponsored by the Staff Lounge.
Steinert, who competed against 530 other players from across the state at the three-day affair, won in the open class singles 8-Ball division. With his championship, he is now considered a "master" and will play next year against other master players, which total about 60 in the state.
Along with his large championship plaque, Steinert took home about $900 in winnings.
"It was tough, but it feels good" said Steinert, who was undefeated at the state tournament. "We played a lot of games - but it's good to be back here at the Staff Lounge for a no-pressure game of pool."
While the young Steinert won the state singles open class, the entire team from the Staff Lounge in Osage placed fourth overall in the Open Class Team 8-Ball Championships. The game was based on points, and the team lost their final game to the third place team by just one point. Nothing to sneeze at.
Besides Steinert, team members (who have played all season for the Staff Lounge in the North Iowa area this past winter) included, Travis Fox of New Haven, an employee of Fox River Mills; Ben Walling of Charles City, who works at Osage Manufacturing, Chris Burford of Osage, who is self-employed; Reece Moore, who works for A to Z Drying in Osage and Shawn Bishop of Osage, who works at Fox River Mills in Osage and also placed 25th in the Open Class Singles event.
"I'm very proud of our boys - they've represented us well," said Donna Hinderks, proprieter of the popular Staff Lounge, located on the eastern edge of Osage. "An accomplishment like that deserves recognition."
While many in Osage have played various forms of pool, billiards and snooker at various times since the 1800s, the game of eight-ball is derived from an earlier game invented around 1900 (first recorded in 1908) and initially popularized under the name "B.B.C. Co. Pool" (a name that was still in use as late as 1925) by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company.
This forerunner game was played with seven yellow and seven red balls, a black ball, and the cue ball.
Today, numbered stripes and solids are preferred in most of the world, though the British-style variant uses the traditional colors. The game had relatively simple rules compared to today and was not added (under any name) to an official rule book until 1940.
Story created Mar 25, 2008 - 14:26:05 CDT.
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