ON THE TOWN: RACK ’EM!

By Russ Pate

The Jefferson Club chalks up a new game.

The term “deep pockets” has taken on a special meaning at The Jefferson Club in Louisville, Kentucky, where a customized pocket billiards table has become both a conversation piece and a magnet for members seeking midday or after-work socializing.

Member John Fischer, owner of Minuteman Press at Distillery Commons, a Louisville printing company, was one of the catalysts for the club’s acquisition, unveiled earlier this year. “I do enjoy the game, and I talked to many members and found a lot of support for the idea,” Fischer says. “We wanted to create more of a game-room, old-club feeling.”

Mission accomplished.

Billiards, with its various permutations including what Americans typically call “pool,” for centuries has been a staple at private clubs around the globe. Chalking up is as much an after-dinner ritual as having a premium cigar or snifter of Brandy. Business tycoons and heads of state have been known to relieve stress, or ponder their next masterstroke, with a cue in hand.

The Jefferson Club’s new showpiece is a regulation 9-foot table, the ornate Dona Marie model, manufactured by San Diego-based Olhausen. Made with a colonial oak finish that matches the private room’s decor, the table distinguishes itself from standard pool parlor fare with customized features and accoutrements that make it distinctively original to The Jefferson Club.

For example, using a laser process, Olhausen burned The Jefferson Club logo into the rail at each end of the table. The logo — a horsehead with flowing mane — symbolizes the city’s significance in the world of Thoroughbred racing. Louisville, lest anyone forget, is home of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.

The table’s six pockets are made of leather and feature the logo set against a black background. Perhaps the most unique feature, though, is the use of The Jefferson Club’s insignia on the 18 inlaid sterling silver sights. (Sights, for the uninitiated, are markings on the side rails and end rails, often in the shape of diamonds or circles, that help players calculate the geometry of the game.) Brundage Engravers & Jewelers of Louisville, which engraves the trophy presented to the owner of the Kentucky Derby winner and all the Breeders’ Cup trophies, hand-chiseled the sights. (“We’re big in the horse business,” acknowledges owner David Brundage.)

Illuminating the table’s playing surface is a beveled glass lamp from The Natalee/K Co. in Los Angeles. A three-way switch allows players to focus five spotlight bulbs directly on the green felt or to diffuse light around the room.

Brent Reeder, club manager, said a potential stumbling block to acquiring the pocket billiards table was fear of losing use of one of the club’s small private dining rooms. But the project quickly received a green light from the club’s board once J.C. Juett of Louisville Billiards came up with a solution — building a hard-top cover with a 4-inch extension on each side, thus allowing adequate leg space for sit-down dinners.

“Our members love the new room,” Reeder says. “Pool gives us another activity to offer along with eating, dining, and networking. It’s a good way to wind down.” Adds Fischer: “With the room being located next to T.J.’s [the club’s bar and grill], it makes for a festive area [of the club].”

Pool is nothing new to Louisville. Kentucky native Walter Tevis, who frequented some of the city’s dingy, smoke-filled parlors, drew on personal experience to write two novels, The Hustler and The Color of Money, both of which later became hit movies. In The Hustler, one of the pivotal scenes, a high-stakes shoot-out between Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, takes place in the city. It’s been said that Tevis relied on his own prowess at the tables to pay for his college education. Both novels centered on pool shark Fast Eddie Felson, a role for which Newman received Academy Award nominations for best actor both in 1961 and 1986. Newman won a long overdue Oscar for The Color of Money, in which he mentored protégé Tom Cruise.

Rest assured, there will be no hustling on The Jefferson Club’s elegant table, but its intricate construction surely makes it worthy of some award-winning consideration.

Russ Pate’s prowess in pool at his hometown teen club earned him the nickname “Scratch.”

THE JEFFERSON CLUB
Location: 2900 Citizens Plaza, 500 W. Jefferson St., Louisville, Kentucky.
Manager: Brent Reeder.
Membership Director: Jane Wilson.
Facilities: The club features a formal dining area, informal grill, lounge, and seven private dining rooms. The club is open for breakfast Monday through Friday and for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. The club is closed on Sunday.
In the pocket: For more information on pool, visit the Billiard Congress of America’s Web site at www.bca-pool.com.

.