On Dec. 10, 15 teams competed in the 2011 ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Fundraiser 8-Ball Scotch Doubles Tournament held at The Break Billiards in Cahokia, Ill. Winning pool cues, cue cases, large baskets of APA pool stuff and 1^st Place trophies were the father and son team of Marty and Martin Kaczmarowski. Winning pool cues, cue cases, a small basket of APA pool stuff and 2^nd Place trophies were Mark Montgomery and Niki Politte.

There was also a 3-ball contest, 9-Ball break contest, in-house poker run, 50/50 drawing and basket of booze which contained bottles of liquor from 11 local Host Locations.  Paul Malter won a cue as 1^st Place prize in the 3-ball contest. John Stoffel III won a cue as 1^st Place prize in the 9-Ball break contest. Brien Youngblood had the winning hand of four 9’s to win a cue in the in-house poker run. Brien also won $57 on the 50/50 drawing. Marty Kaczmarowski won the basket of booze.

The tournament was sponsored by Midwest Illinois APA and was held in memory of Bob Hinkle Jr. Bob became an APA member in 1993 and was a skill level 6 when he was diagnosed with ALS in October 2006. He passed away at age 50 in November 2007.

Many thanks to all who helped with the tournament and contests: Judy Hinkle, Alex Hinkle, Dale Miller, Brien Youngblood, Shelli Eichelberger, Bob Nier, Buffy McKinney and Jim McKinney.

Thanks to The Break for providing the pool room and tables at no cost for the day. Also thanks to all locations who donated items for the booze basket: Carol’s Bridge Inn, Doit’s Village Inn, Fairview Inn, Humdinger’s, Ken’s Lounge, Laurie’s Place, Old Town Tavern, Shooterz, Shorty’s Pub, Time Out and The Break Billiards.

Other donators were Gary Newingham and Rixstine Recognition.

All proceeds—a total of $1,046—were sent to the ALS Association, St. Louis Regional Chapter, which helps all families in the Missouri and Illinois Metro East areas who are dealing with ALS in their lives.

Please visit alsa.org for more information about the ALS Association; for additional information about the Midwest Illimois APA visit midwestil.apaleagues.com.

Although Buffy and Jim McKinney’s grandson, Brody Lambert, was born with a small hole in his heart last August, the doctors felt it would not interfere with his regular growth and development.  Then, while his parents were eating lunch in a local restaurant a month later, he stopped breathing.  Through the grace of God, two EMTs happened to be eating in the same restaurant. They rushed over to the distraught parents and began CPR on Brody, keeping him alive.

Once in the hospital, it was discovered that Brody actually had two holes in his heart, a small one and a much bigger one that needed to be fixed immediately for him to survive. So, at 1 month old and only 8 pounds, Brody had open heart surgery.

Buffy and Jim, who play on the same Midwest Illinois APA team out of The Break Billiards in Cahokia, Ill., were so grateful to the American Heart Association for their role in saving Brody that they decided to begin an annual 9-Ball benefit tournament in Brody’s honor.

On April 16, 2011, the Inaugural Brody Lambert 9-Ball Tournament was run with tremendous success at The Break Billiards. Brody, now 8 months old, made a special, adorable appearance for most of the morning and afternoon— until naptime! Buffy, a charity event organizer by trade, did all of the legwork and phone calls to arrange the benefit. On the day of the tournament, Jim ran the in-house Poker Run while many volunteers helped with the sale of 50/50 tickets, tickets for a wheelbarrow full of alcohol, and setting up and running of a silent auction. The silent auction included pool cues, cases, APA merchandise basket with an APA cue, jewelry, tickets to Rams football games, tickets to Cardinals baseball games, coupons for free business services, and even a cake with “1st Annual Brody Lambert 9-Ball Tournament” written in icing on top. After the tournament, the evening continued with DJ Archie playing to a dance happy crowd.

The tournament directors, Dana and Bruce Patton—APA League Operators of Midwest Illinois APA—ran a full 32 field tournament with half of all entries going to the American Heart Association. Taking 1^st Place and winning $240 was Will Freeman, 2^nd Place and $145 went to Fernando, and 3^rd Place and $95 went to Mike Mercurio. Rising star Brandon Pearson finished 4^th while his proud father Dwayne finished 5^th.

In all, over $3,200 was raised for the American Heart Association from the first of many Brody Lambert benefit tournaments to come!        

For more information on Midwest Illinois APA visit midwestil.apaleagues.com; and for more information on the American Heart Association visit heart.org.