By host Tom Ashbrook:
Heather Byer was eight years into a New York career — lugging her brief case, hitting her marks, doing the lunches, calming her boss — and hating it. It wasn’t rich enough, deep enough, real enough to be her life. Not nearly.
Then one day, Heather Byer — thirty-something, career woman, five-one, a hundred and two pounds — stepped into a pool hall, and a second life began. Smokey. Dark. A little dangerous. And just the real thing she was looking for.
Pool sucked her in. Taught her how to concentrate. Taught her how to talk tough. How to size up big men and sharp women. How to live. It’s quite a story.
This hour On Point: How Heather Byer got her groove back in the pool halls of New York City.
Quotes from the Show:
“It took me 5 years before I walked into a pool and asked someone to teach me pool.” Heather Buyer
“What’s happening in New York now is that they are making the pool halls more upscale.” Heather Buyer
“It can be an evening like one you’ve never had before.” Heather Buyer
“Pool is all about the action.” Listener
“Women’s tour is trying to make pool more mainstream” Monica Webb
“I’m friends with almost all top male players and they are more likely to share trade secrets with me than their male counterparts.” Monica Webb
Guests:
Heather Byer, amateur pool player and author of the new memoir “Sweet: An Eight-Ball Odyssey.”;
Joe Rizzo, long-time pool hall veteran and captain of a pool team which Heather played on
Monica Webb, #1 American on the women’s pro tour, #4 ranked player internationally
