Ellen Van Buren Deltona, FL Cue: Antique Richard Black with an Omen shaft Sponsored
by: The Seminole Tribe of Florida, ADF Mortgage, OMEN Custom Cues,
and Sports Den Billiards Inc.
Pic taken Sept
2004 . All photos copyright of
AZBilliards.com
DREAMS NOT YET
REALIZED By Ellen “The Florida Flash”
Van Buren
I followed my older sister Susan into
the Golden Cue in Melbourne Florida when I was fourteen years old. I watched her
play in awe of the way she moved around the table, the way the cue stick
transformed her from “just a girl” into a force to be reckoned with, into an
equal in a man’s world. The year was 1972. It was the height of the equal rights
movement for women and to me pool wasn’t just a game like it was to my sister;
it was my “in”, into the world, and into acceptance. I had
grown up without much direction or focus, just an average student, average
athlete, average kid. All that changed the first time I held a cue in my hand.
I’d always believed that everyone had a hidden talent, a hidden passion, and I
found mine in pool. In the Cue I felt special. Not only because I excelled at
the sport of billiards but because of the kindness and mentoring of the owner,
John Daughtridge. I was just a kid in a grown-up’s world and it would have been
easy for me to get in over my head. John and the other employees watched over me
and coached my game, my passion, my dream. At the age of
seventeen, I fell in love with Charlie Justice, a world champion bank pool
player. I had just graduated from high school (thanks to John, who wouldn’t let
me in the pool room if I skipped school) and Charlie and I went on the road
playing pool (that’s a whole other chapter of story that I intend to write about
in my next book). I played in the World Open at age seventeen and came in 3rd.
Now remember, I’m seventeen. Until now I was never in the top ten of anything.
Instead of seeing my great finish as an accomplishment of which I should be
proud, I just figured that if I came in third then the rest of the world’s women
players must really play bad pool! I had a dream of playing in the U. S. Open
but after the World Open I lost interest. Charlie and I stayed on the road a
couple years and I was exposed to some of the best players in the world and
learned a lot. Unfortunately, twenty years ago there weren’t the opportunities
for women to compete like there are today, so eventually I stopped playing pool
and went on about my life. Fast forward to 1998. . . . I
haven’t picked up a cue in the past twenty years. I’m a bartender at Tony Roma’s
and the waitresses and I are watching a women’s pool tournament on ESPN and I
felt the pain of a lost dream cross my heart. We start talking and I tell them I
was once that good; they ask me to help them so that can beat their boyfriends.
We go to Peg’s Pockets a local poolroom, and as I am coaching them on how to
hold the stick the manager Frank spots me and that natural talent I have always
had. He asks me to play in a tournament that he holds once a week. Within three
months I’m winning his tournament with a house cue. Into the story walks a man
named Dan Carlson, the local house pro and soon to be my coach. We start talking
and he convinces me that I am good enough to be competitive on the Ladies tour.
We look at the Billiard Digest and the next L.B.A.F event is in. . . . now this
is where it gets weird. . . . Melbourne, Florida. My home- town!! Where it all
started twenty five years ago that day I followed my sister Susan into the
Golden Cue. I played in my first tournament on November 7, 1998. Turning a dream
I thought I had lost into . . . . . “A Dream Not Yet Realized.” So no matter
what your dreams are or were I say, “get out there and go for them” so they too
can come true. The rest is history. I was sponsored at
that time by Tony Roma’s, the restaurant I worked for and was in negotiations
for big-time sponsorship with the owner of a new web site, whose name would be
revealed just as soon as I signed on the dotted line. That was then this is
now.
** This bio was originally penned during my first
full season on the amateur circuit. Since then I have enjoy modest success,
which is documented at Ladiespiritour.com on their member’s page. About that “
big time” sponsorship with the E-tycoon, that all went up in smoke along with a
lot of other peoples dreams during the crash of all the dot-net companies. I’ve
only had the resources to play part-time until this season. This season thanks
to the generous sponsorship of The Seminole Tribe of Florida, Pete Omen Custom
Cues, ADF Mortgage and Strokin Style Billiard Gloves I’ve made the decision to
pursue a full time billiard career. I have also reached out to the major
billiard publications offering to document my journey into the W.P.B.A. to give
all of the up and coming players a little insight into what is will take for
them to follow their dreams. Pretty cool huh? Who knows maybe we’ll meet on the
hill one day. Just remember…. Enjoy the Journey!
Ellen
Ellen recently became the 2004 BCA Florida State Singles
Champion!
