Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1290848
| OHCC LIVING | OCTOBER 2020 | 31 Just in case: Check with your club contact to confirm meeting place, date, and time. With time on our hands, the club's staff has been combing our archives and has uncovered several interesting and very nearly true historical incidents. In The Beginning: Way back in 1984, we did not let the fact that our pool tables were not completely installed prevent us from holding our very first OHCC Billiard Championship. As is the case today, there was great interest. We got a good rate for the Oceanside Opera House when it was between performances, so we held it there and allowed the public to attend. Here you see the start of the final match. Unfortunately, our records for that first year have been lost. If anyone knows who won that match, or can identify the players from the photograph, please let us know. Calvin Fires A Shot: Several years ago, we happened to capture a photo of a very rare phenomenon. It's pretty interesting. Here's how we reported on our professional pool player Calvin Coker's "exploding shot" at the time: A little understood billiards phenomenon is that when a shot is struck with sufficient force, the phenolic resins of the cue ball and the chalk dust clinging to it can interact with oxygen molecules in the air to produce a small flare. It only lasts a couple of milliseconds, so you cannot usually detect it with the naked eye. It is normally seen only via slow-motion video, or with a photo taken at exactly the right moment, so few people have witnessed this effect. (These flares are not dangerous. They flicker into existence and immediately die out.) Our Billiards Club photographer, Patty Smith, took a great many shots during Calvin Coker's recent seminar. In combing through them, we discovered one in which the flash appears! It is attached. You can see that the cue ball is moving so fast that it is just a blur and that the flash appears right above it. If Patty had shot a couple milliseconds sooner or later, the flash would not have been visible. Also, worth noting is that the gentleman in the background has evidently managed to get a glimpse of the flare, possibly because his back was to the light. I've never actually seen one of these flares myself, so he was very lucky. If you'd like to try to see one, the best advice is to position yourself with your back to the light and watch the first two inches of a powerful person's break shot. A Little Short! Here's another visiting pro, the amazing trick shot artist Florian Kohler, aka "Venom." He has just used his special short "jump cue" to make the cue ball fly over the members and into the waiting hat. The video is paused just at the instant the ball landed, before the member realizes that the catcher has NOT caught the cue ball. It soon became apparent. See photo below. (Note: the two members changed places after this shot for the next attempt.) Billiards