Lupe Cruz Wins the Mike Kelley Memorial at Jilly's

Lupe Cruz

21 players came to play in this years' Mike Kelley Tournament. The most ever! They were divided into 3 flights of 7 and play started directly after the 3:00PM players meeting. All matches were to 25 points. Top two from each flight would advance to the finals, making a 6-man round robin. This year the tournament fell on the 25th -27th of April, as it is always held on the last full weekend of April.

Click on the Flight name to view charts in PDF Format.

Diamonds flight had Bob Roach(NE), Paul Fritzam(MN), James Richards(WI), Steve Kim(KS), Tim Gardner(MN), John Jacobson(IA) and Lupe Cruz(IA). Lupe had the best game in the prelims with 25 points in 17 innings with the help of an 11 run and easily went 6-0. Next was John Jacobson just squeeking by Tim Gardner on points for they both had a 4-2 record.

In the Clubs flight we saw Bernard Kapinos(WI), Mike Leimer(MN), Jorge Hinahosa(IA), Gary Eake(WI), Russ Rosenberger(IA), Jose Jimenez(IA), and Bob Byrne(IA). Bob and Jose both finished with a 5-1 record. Please refer to the charts for more of the stats.

Rich Kuchma(NE), Dale Saunders(WI), Bob Jacobson(IA), Steve Gullett(IA) and Mickey Campbell(MN) filled out the Hearts flight with Doug Brink(MO) and Fred Lamers(MN). Fred had a perfect record and Doug's only loss was to Fred. They both had low inning games.

Now we go to Sunday. The Finals. With only 4 matches left, it was Doug(3-0), Fred(3-1), Lupe(2-1), John(2-2), Bob(1-3) and Jose(0-4). Next up was Lupe playing Bob and Doug playing Jose. Lupe handed Bob a 25-11 loss in 23 innings. Doug looked like he was going to take Jose, but got stuck on 19 for several innings. Jose caught fire. Jose won the game 25-24. The crowd went crazy, but no one was happier than Jose. “I didn't get skunked!”, he yelled.

So now Doug has one loss, but has 24 points in that loss. Lupe and Fred have 22 and 23 respectively in their losses. Doug still has to play John, who now is guaranteed 4th no matter the outcome. With Lupe and Fred on the sidelines for now, they see John put down Doug's hopes of first place by shooting 25 in 22 innings, giving Doug another loss and only 9 points.

Now everybody can't wait for the final game between Fred and Lupe. After 10 innings it's Fred 10-8. After 20, still Fred, 21-14. The 25th inning has Fred on 23 and Lupe with only 17. Then in inning 29, Lupe runs a very controlled 8 to win the match. Jilly's erupted. What a match!!!!

Fred Lamers -2nd Place

Doug Brink-3rd Place

Thanks everyone for participating and helping with scoring the matches. Thanks to Kelcy @ Ben's Tire and Bob @ Iowa Lumber for donating to the prize fund. Thanks to Jilly! We couldn't have done it without her tables and her staff. Jim Shovak, thanks for all of your help and hard work making this tournament a great success.

Story by John Jacobson

3rd Annual Mike Kelley Memorial

Billiard Tournament

Formerly The Iowa State USBA Billiard Tournament

April 25th – 27th 2008

$125 Entry -100% Payback-Money added

Round Robin Format for # of players:

Under 12 players-One Flight

12 Players- 2 flights of 6 to a 4 person final

15 Players- 3 flights of 5 to a 6 person final

18 Players- 3 flights of 6 to a 6 person final

20 Players- 4 flights of 5 to an 8 person single elim bracket
seeded by W/L, total pts, Avg.

Advancement to finals based on W/L,total pts, head to head

25 point matches throughout

Entry deadline will be Wednesday the 23th so we can let everyone know what time the players meeting will start. Start times will vary depending upon # of entrants.

Please have your checks to me BY WEDNESDAY!

Send entries to Jilly's C/O John

102 West Main St .

Marshalltown IA 50158 or for more info contact

Jacobson77@mchsi.com or 641-753-7168

This is a USBA tournament!!!!