Balabushka Collectable Cue
In 1970 when Dan was in College and on break he went to New York
A friend and fellow pool player introduced him to George Balabushka who
made personal cue sticks. At the time George was not quite as famous as he
would later become.
Dan visited with George for quite a time and finally talked him into
building and selling him a cue. George asked him every question he could
think of as to why he wanted one and how well he could play and how far he
wanted to go in the pool world. After finally becoming satisfied that Dan
was not just some young guy with no talent, George took the order and they
came to an understanding on what the cue would look like, what weight,
length, feel and so on.
Dan went back to school and waited for several months for George to
make the cue. The first one he made was not right according to George and
he would not give it to Dan. So it took more time than normal and Dan
finally got the cue in early 1971.
After college Dan was an engineer with Motorola in Ft Laud and
played part time in the Men's professional billiard tour for about 20
years. He started building cues himself around 1974, about the same time a
new cue maker was getting started. Jim McDermott and Dan became friends
and traded stories and ideas about cues until McDermott retired and Dan
was no longer building cues.
This Balabushka has never been out of Dan's care and the cue has been
retired from play for 30 years.
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