A Jefferson resident recently competed at a state tournament and earned high marks.

Bill Frederick competed in the state billiard tournament in Waterloo, Iowa earlier this month where he finished ninth in singles and third as a team, both in the masters eight-ball division. Frederick tells Raccoon Valley Radio there are three divisions, including open with about 600 people, intermediate with 150 and masters, which there were 40 people. He won the open division over ten years ago and has been in the masters division for about nine years. Frederick describes how he felt he did competing in the masters division.

“I feel good. I don’t play enough to play really sharp anymore. It’s just kind of a hobby and you get what you get. (You) Beat some really top caliber players and (I) got beat by a couple of guys that just never missed. So when I got beat out I think I missed one ball in eight games, so I can’t be mad about that.”

Since his childhood, Frederick has been playing pool, which started with his grandfathers. His grandfather on his dad’s side had a pool in the basement and he would play all the time. Frederick talks about his grandfather on his mom’s side.

“My grandpa was kind of notorious around here. In his day where grandma would drop him off at the pool hall in Jefferson and they’d go get groceries and he would go make grocery money. So he was apparently pretty tough and you get those stories behind you, that kind of makes you a little hungry, and then dad and I would always go up to the Elks Club after wrestling practice or something like that and play. There’s a great group of old guys there and I would just sit and listen to stories and learn as much as I could from these old guys. That experience just made me want to be around pool.”   

Frederick says now that he is married and has three kids, he does pool more as a hobby but continues to play in a weekly league in Ames. He adds he likes playing pool because it’s a series of puzzles to mentally figure out, which he enjoys the challenge.