Women Take A Cue From Men

Marge Moritz pulled back her pool cue and slid it between her 86-year-old palms. The cue ball rushed down the table, banging another ball into the corner pocket.

Her friends cheered.

On a previous shot, she wasn’t as lucky, as the cue ball turned abruptly into a pocket, causing her to remove a ball from the pocket.

“I’m sorry,” Moritz told teammate Marylou Steckel sheepishly.

The pool game has become a Tuesday afternoon tradition in the basement of the Corbin Community Center, 827 W. Cleveland.

Tables are available almost any day of the week for 50 cents per afternoon.

“People laugh when I say I play pool once a week. They picture me in a tavern,” said Marylou Steckel, 64, a retired Mead School District bookkeeper.

Moritz and Ellie Robinson have played pool at the senior center weekly since 1991, when the center received a donated antique wooden table. The men started playing, and one offered to teach the game to them.

Others have come and played with them since, including current partners Steckel and George Walker, 72.

Walker, the foursome’s lone male, said he grew up playing the kind of eight-ball enjoyed by the ladies. He’s much more comfortable with that game than the one played by the men.

Teams either have striped or solid balls, and the eight ball must be the last one hit into a pocket. In addition, two balls - the one and 15 - must go into the side pockets.

The rules are serious, and balls do come out of pockets.

“Oh, let’s get a brighter color,” Steckel said as her team was forced to add a ball to the table. “This is why it takes so long, but we’ve got all day,” she said.

The foursome usually plays six or seven games on a Tuesday, depending on their luck. They stop for cookies and coffee in the middle and change partners every week.

“We take turns getting George, is what we do,” said Steckel.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo