Billy Russell, a member of the U.S. Wheelchair Pool Team from Bowling Green, concentrates on shooting during practice at Cue Time Wednesday evening. Russell frequently hones his skills at the pool hall on Three Springs Road. Photo by Clinton Lewis

Billy Russell leaned over the green expanse in the smoke-filled room and squinted. Slow ride, said the song that played from the ceiling as Russell formulated a plan. Take it easy. Russell scrunched up his nose and positioned his stick. He pushed ball after ball into the pockets of the table at Cue Time Billiards and Cocktails on Three Springs Road. Finally, Russell wheeled himself around the pool table and sighed. Oh, heres a choke shot the eight ball, said the 40-year-old Alvaton man who drives a tractor on his family farm and is ranked eighth on the U.S. Wheelchair Pool Team. Afflicted with brittle bone disease, Russell has used a wheelchair since he was 6 years old. I can tell you the proper name of it, he said of his affliction. Osteogenisis imperfecta. Its a genetic, birth thing. Like many of his cohorts at Cue Time, Russell is strong when it comes to telling stories. We played after the Sept. 11 attacks, he said of the U.S. Wheelchair Team. We played the Europeans we werent playing the bin Ladens, but you still had a special feeling putting on that USA shirt. Russell comes to Cue Time several times a week to practice his game. Each Wednesday he takes part in league play with his team, Motley Cue, which last fall won the tournament that culminates the end of each spring and fall season for the league at Cue Time. Russell is far from alone in his affinity for gathering at the club. While he was finishing up practice on Wednesday night, The Old School Crew was still going strong. Tommy Croslin, a 60-year-old glass glazer who plays on the five-man team that has three alternates, said he plays at Cue Time for the fun of the game. While playing well in the league may mean cash prizes come tournament time, the money is not a real reason to play…. It pays for your entertainment, Croslin said. Playing at Cue Time costs him $5 a night. Croslin said he has been playing pool off and on ever since I was old enough to stroke a cue stick. Some younger team members have done the same. Twenty-five-year-old Todd Edwards began playing as a child after watching his father, Jerry Edwards, play the game that was taught to him by his dad, the late John Edwards. John Edwards owned a pool room called Guys and Dolls in Bowling Green. He is known as a pool legend around Warren County. He played Buddy Hall, Steve Mizerak, Nick Varner, Edwards said of his grandfathers games with world-class pool players. His granddaddy was the best in town, Croslin said. Those at Cue Time who know about John Edwards became quiet when they spoke of him Wednesday. He was a brilliant man, a professional player. He always had a saying, It only takes a dollar more to go to first place, said Jim Pedigo, 64, as he played alone near a sign that listed among its House Rules no gambling. A man leaving Cue Time with his cue stick case walked past Pedigo, nodded toward him and said, Hes a master pool player. Pedigo did not respond. He was a gentleman, he said of Edwards. I was out here in this orphans home and I would hitchhike to the pool room and hed give me money. He was like a father, you know. Id give 10 years of my life to get to see him walk through that door again, but I dont know if I have 10 years left. Pedigo, who said hes played pool and poker for 40 years, hasnt been playing pool as much as he used to because ofhealth problems. But he takes pleasure in knowing pool is a game that doesnt require an athletes endurance. He believes that if Edwards, who died of cancer in 1985, were alive today, hed be able to beat any of the younger players in Bowling Green. Still, Pedigo admitted that pool has changed today for television reasons. No longer are big tournaments held in smoky, dimly lit pool rooms where big-time road players rub elbows with small-time hustlers. No longer is experience the weapon of choice. Nine ball is now the game, said Chris Kitchen, who has owned Cue Time for the past 13 years. It favors a player with better eyesight, better nerves. In nine ball, you have to shoot the balls in order, Kitchen said. The first person to get the nine ball in wins. Back in the day, players like Edwards favored straight pool, which is also known as 14.1.Straight pool was a call-shot game, Kitchen said. You could call any ball. It was the only game that required a transition from rack to rack. The leagues at Cue Time now play eight ball, and they work to make sure that theyre playing well. But the groups dont play like its life or death. On Wednesday they decided to call a three-way tie rather than fuss about who should have won. Its the only way to be when youre doing something thats supposed to be fun, many in the league said. Im real competitive, but I dont like to put a lot of pressure on the other players to win, said Russell. As 26-year-old carpenter Bobby Rector sat at the bar before he joined The Old School Crew in their game on Wednesday, he said playing pool with his friends helps him relieve stress. You get to know everybody and everybody knows you, he said before he joined friends like David Gammon, who soon leaned over a pool table in a cool pose as a cigarette dangled from the side of his mouth.