George Ashby - Part 1 (From Jacksonville’s Drexel Billiards to the Art of Three-Cushion)

Mike Panozzo - Part 4 (Preserving Pool History and Imagining the Future of Cue Sports)

In the final part of our Legends of the Cue conversation with Mike Panozzo, we turn to history, legacy, media, governance and the future of professional pool. After more than four decades at Billiards Digest Magazine, Mike has not only reported on cue sports — he has helped preserve its record, recognize its legends and frame many of the sport’s most important debates. Mike discusses his work with the Billiard Congress of America, the BCA Hall of Fame, and the United States Billiard Media Association. He humbly reflects on his own induction into the HOF and what makes someone worthy of Hall of Fame recognition, why meritorious service matters alongside playing greatness, and how difficult it can be to separate myth from fact in a sport built on road stories, poolroom legends and oral history. The conversation also examines the evolution of billiards media. Mike offers a candid look at the transition from print magazines to websites, streaming, social media and instant online commentary. He explains what print did uniquely well, what has been lost in the rush for speed, and why long-form storytelling still matters in cue sports. From there, the hosts and Mike discuss the modern professional landscape, including Matchroom, the WPA, player opportunity, international competition, event promotion and the sport’s continuing search for structure. Mike shares his thoughts on what pool needs to grow, what gives him optimism, and what still worries him about the future. The episode closes with lighter reflections, including Mike’s favorite event, favorite Billiards Digest cover, the rule he would change, the tournament he wishes still existed, and why every young pool fan should know Allison Fisher. A fitting conclusion to a four-part life story with one of cue sports’ most influential chroniclers. Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/support] Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on: Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com [https://www.legendsofthecue.com] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1 [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1] Music by Lyrium. About "Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.  Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”

Mike Panozzo - Part 3 (Building Billiards Digest and Watching Pool Go Global)

In Part 3 of our Legends of the Cue interview with Mike Panozzo, the story moves from covering the game to owning one of its most important publications. By the mid-1990s, Mike and Keith Hamilton had purchased Billiards Digest Magazine, giving Mike the chance to devote himself fully to the sport he had spent years chronicling. This episode explores what it meant to become publisher, how the magazine grew, and how Billiards Digest tried to serve players, fans, room owners, manufacturers and the broader billiard industry. Mike discusses the changing business of print media, the importance of cover art, headlines, photography, tournament coverage, player profiles and industry reporting. The conversation also captures one of the most important eras in modern pool: the rise of the women’s professional game. Mike, Allison Fisher and Mark Wilson discuss the days when men and women played in the same venues, the formation of the women’s Classic Tour, and the emergence of stars such as Jeanette Lee, Allison Fisher, Gerda Hofstätter, Ewa Mataya Laurance and other international champions. Mike reflects on why the women’s tour succeeded, how it marketed itself, and how it changed the image of professional pool. The discussion broadens into the globalization of cue sports, the arrival of European and Asian players, and the changing depth of American professional pool. Mike also offers insight into pool’s long-running challenges with governance, amateur leagues, Olympic aspirations, public image, and the relationship between the recreational billiard business and the professional sport. This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in how pool evolved from a largely American, room-based culture into a more international, media-driven and commercially complex sport. Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/support] Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on: Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com [https://www.legendsofthecue.com] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1 [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1] Music by Lyrium. About "Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.  Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”

Mike Panozzo - Part 2 (Minnesota Fats, Buddy Hall and The Color of Money Boom)

In Part 2 of our interview with Mike Panozzo, Legends of the Cue steps into the pool world of the early 1980s — a time when the billiard industry was struggling, professional pool was still searching for stability, and a young journalist from Chicago was learning the game one tournament, one poolroom and one unforgettable character at a time. Mike describes what Billiards Digest Magazine looked like in 1980: a small, mostly black-and-white, bi-monthly publication covering tournaments, players, room owners, retailers and manufacturers. He recalls how the industry operated, how closely bowling and billiards were once connected, and how the magazine became a window into every corner of cue sports. This episode features Mike’s memories of legendary players including Mike Sigel, Buddy Hall, Irving Crane, Willie Mosconi, Luther Lassiter, Joe Balsis, Jimmy Caras, Lou Butera, Jim Rempe, Jimmy Mataya and Minnesota Fats. His story about traveling to interview Fats in southern Illinois is classic pool history — funny, revealing and slightly exhausting. Mike also shares his first impressions of Buddy Hall’s effortless cue ball control, Mike Sigel’s flair and star quality, and the early tournament rooms where regional and national talent collided. Mark Wilson adds perspective from inside that same era, recalling the Illinois Billiard Club and the deep fields of elite American players. The episode then turns to the seismic impact of The Color of Money, Martin Scorsese’s 1986 film starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. Mike explains how the movie created a national pool boom, sparked new room openings, boosted manufacturers, lifted magazines, and changed the commercial landscape of billiards for more than a decade. Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/support] Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on: Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com [https://www.legendsofthecue.com] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1 [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1] Music by Lyrium. About "Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.  Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”

Mike Panozzo - Part 1 (From Chicago Sports Pages to Billiards Digest)

In Part 1 of our conversation with Mike Panozzo, longtime Owner and Publisher of Billiards Digest Magazine, Legends of the Cue goes back to the beginning of one of cue sports’ most important storytellers. Mike grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a close-knit Italian-American family, surrounded by relatives, neighborhood traditions, Catholic school discipline and the unmistakable rhythm of Chicago sports culture. Long before he became one of pool’s most trusted voices, Mike was a kid racing his brothers to the morning sports page, reading every word of Sports Illustrated, and dreaming of becoming a sportswriter. In this episode, Mike reflects on his early love of writing, the fifth-grade teacher who encouraged him, his boarding school years in Wisconsin, and his path to Marquette University’s journalism program. He shares how his father’s work ethic, his family’s values and his own curiosity about people shaped the journalist he would become. The story then turns toward the unexpected opportunity that changed his life: a job interview with Mort Luby Jr. at Luby Publishing, home of Bowlers Journal and the young billiards publication that would become Mike’s professional home for more than four decades — Billiards Digest. Listeners will hear how Mike entered the pool world without being a player, how he learned the billiard industry from the inside out, and how Mort Luby became a mentor not through lectures, but through example. This opening chapter sets the stage for a larger story about pool, journalism, magazines, players, promoters, and the evolution of cue sports in America. Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/support] Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on: Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com [https://www.legendsofthecue.com] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1 [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1] Music by Lyrium. About "Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.  Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”

George Ashby - Part 4 (Still Playing, Still Remembering, Still George Ashby)

Part 4 brings our remarkable conversation with George Ashby to a thoughtful and deeply satisfying close. In this final episode, George reflects on the later chapters of his billiard life: returning to the game, staying connected to three-cushion, remembering the great players and rooms of the past, and considering what it all meant. There is something especially moving in hearing a master look back. George speaks with humility, humor, and honesty about still playing, still thinking about the game, and still carrying with him the lessons learned from a lifetime in cue sports. He shares memories of legendary players, unforgettable matches, and the extraordinary personalities who shaped the carom world in America and beyond. These recollections are more than anecdotes — they are oral history, preserved in exactly the spirit Legends of the Cue was created to honor. This episode also reveals the character behind the champion. George’s warmth comes through in every answer. He is reflective without being sentimental, proud without ever sounding boastful, and generous in the way he credits others who influenced his life and game. As the conversation winds down, what remains is a portrait of a man who helped carry American three-cushion from one era into another while never losing sight of the joy, beauty, and mystery that drew him to the game in the first place. If the earlier episodes tell us how George Ashby became a great player, this final chapter tells us why his story matters. It is about memory, legacy, and the enduring value of hearing these stories while the voices are still here to tell them.  Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2510864/support] Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on: Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com [https://www.legendsofthecue.com] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1 [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1] Music by Lyrium. About "Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.  Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”