Tuesday, February 20, 1968
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
Brook wins at billiards
ROBERT BROOK
By Robert Burdick
By Robert Burdick Kansan Staff Reporter
Friends once asked Mark Twain why he didn't play billiards for amusement.
"I do," he answered. "I'm amused when my opponent makes a mistake and he's amused when I make one."
An intense, complicated game, three cushion billiards holds the observer in quiet concentration, especially when he is watching Robert Brook, New York City graduate student, current Association of College Unions region II billiards champion.
Played on a 5 by 10 foot table without pockets, three cushion billiards is one of the hardest games in pool.
Three balls, one red, two white, are used in playing billiards. The player attempts to strike the red ball with his object ball, hit three of the table's rails, and then strike his opponent's object ball.
Accuracy, timing and ball control are a necessity in billiards, where the difference between a point and nothing can be a fraction of an inch.
Brook, currently studying for his Ph.D. in psychology, has been playing billiards for two years.
"I started out playing pool but changed to billiards after watching people play for about six months." Brook said.
There is a certain amount of inventiveness to both pool and billiards, Brook said, but he finds billiards a much more imaginative game.
Brook may go to the national championships in Oklahoma City this spring. If he does he will be one of the strongest contenders there.
"Because it is more than twice as difficult as regular pool, billiards was "frustrating" to him at first, but became "very challenging."
"He's by far the best I've seen anywhere," said Warren Boozer, Kansas Union recreation manager.
Although Brook won the regional tournament at Manhattan last weekend, he will not know if he is going to compete in the ACU-I's national tournament until the middle of March.
Participants in the tournament are selected from eight of the 15 regions in the United States on the basis of their percentage of accuracy in competition.
Brook's total percentage may
be hurt by what he considers an improperly kept score at the regional tournament.
Scoring for billiards is kept in innings, one inning for each turn the player takes while shooting. The person to reach 25 points in the least amount of innings is the winner of the match.
Brook's scores at the tournament were 90, 45 and an amazing 30. He is currently contesting the score of 90.
"I usually play a much faster game than that," Brook said.
Brook plays billiards four or five days a week for about 11% hours at a time. He doesn't consider this time spent in practice, however.
KU-MU rematch tonight
When you practice, you're concentrating and that makes the game less enjoyable. I play to enjoy myself," he said.
Although Brook plays with professionals when he is in New York, he hasn't considered turning professional himself.
The Jayhawks put their conference lead on the line tonight when they take on the Missouri Tigers at Brewer Field House in Columbia.
MU finally won on two free throws by Tiger forward Tom Johnson who was fouled just as the final buzzer sounded.
Since beating KU, Missouri has won only one game and had dropped to a sixth place tie with Oklahoma State going into Monday night's action.
KU lost to K-State the following weekend and has not lost since. Three squeakers with the two Oklahoma schools and Colorado and last Saturday's big victory over Nebraska have moved the Jayhawks into the Big Eight lead and given them a giant boost toward a third straight conference crown.
They meet the Missouri squad that upset Kansas, 67-66, in Allen Field House last month. In that game Kansas led by eight points with less than three minutes to go only to see the lead slip away.
Newspaper picks Robisch as freshman all-American
Sporting News has named Dave Robisch, Springfield, Ill., freshman, to its freshman all-American basketball team.
The 6-foot 9-inch Robisch has lead the frosh to a 5-0 season record, averaging 27 points and 13.6 rebounds a game.
Other players named to the team by the St. Louis newspaper were Austin Carr, Notre Dame; Jim McDaniel, Western Kentucky; Skip Knutz, West Virginia; Larry Weatherford, Purdue; and Mel Knight, Seton Hall.
Robisch, a forward, is shooting better than 51 per cent from the field.
KU's top scorer in all five games, Robisch has taken the most rebounds in three.
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