Ex-pool champ gives Austintown bar unique angle

Photo by: Geoffrey Hauschild

Photo

Earl Strickland, former world-champion pool player, practices at the Ice Breakers pool hall behind the Ice House Inn in Austintown. Strickland, of Greenboro, N.C., was introduced to the bar’s owner about 18 months ago and stops by to give lessons or exhibitions.

Photo by: Geoffrey Hauschild

Photo

Pool cues made by former Valley resident Mike Gulyassy, owner of Baby’s Pro Shop in Greenville, S.C., are high-end cues made from ivory, elephant skin, tulip wood (left) and red heartwood (right). Gulyassy designs special cues for Strickland.

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

One of the most-decorated professional pool players in the world is helping to breathe new life into the Ice House Inn.

Ice House owner Mike Mousie said the presence of former nine-ball world and U.S. champion Earl Strickland at the Austintown bar is enough to draw in dozens and dozens of people.

Mousie said that over the past year and a half, Strickland, 49, has visited the bar’s pool hall — called Ice Breakers — for lessons and exhibitions.

“What it does, when these guys see Earl, see him play, it makes them want to play better,” he said. “They’ve just never seen anybody of his caliber around here before.”

Mousie said he has regulars who come shoot pool on a daily basis, but Strickland’s association with the bar has definitely helped business.

“These guys come out

because they’ve seen him on TV, but they’ve never met anyone like him,” he said. “But he’s actually here, and they can talk to him and see him play in person.”

Rick Huber of Niles said he’s an avid pool player and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoot with Strickland when he was in town last week.

“I think it’s a chance of a lifetime to be in the same space as someone of his caliber,” Huber said. “This is the third day in four days that I’ve been here.”

Huber said he understands why a big-name professional is such a draw for local players.

“To see him shoot — it’s like going to school,” he said. “I watch him and learn from him. You can gain knowledge and maybe make your game better.”

Mousie said he met Strickland through mutual friend Mike Gulyassy.

He and Gulyassy sponsor the pool player, allowing him to display the Ice House logo on his shirt during tournaments.

“All of this is definitely helping to put the pool hall on the map,” Mousie said. “He’s the most well-known player out there.”

Strickland wasn’t shy about the role he plays for the nonprofessionals who frequent the Ice House.

“When I’m here, I entice them to play,” he said. “Of course, when I’m here I’ll teach. I’m available always for lessons and exhibition.”

Strickland, who is from Greenboro, N.C., and played in his first professional tournament at age 15, was ranked No. 1 in the world from 1980 to 1990 and off and on throughout the 1990s, he said.

Though he struggled through the past few years, Strickland said he’s on his way back up.

“I’ve found it again,” he said.

He said he wants people to know he does exhibitions all over the world, not because his career is over, but because it makes him happy.

“It’s just a lot of fun to do because you can relax a little bit in exhibition, and you can’t do that while you’re actually playing,” Strickland said.

The three friends said they’re also in the beginning stages of creating a traveling pool school, where Strickland would give lessons all over the country, as well as at the Ice House.

“There are schools out there,” Gulyassy said. “But none of those teachers are Earl Strickland.”