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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 1977)
)M J I V J l i 4 .. ii'iiiiiiiii inmi'imi mumwm wi'un im uwm ii'UHbiiiNHiiMiwinHwwi Mm Gqt.iI not just ano or the? j)ool shark 1 ? 0 I; 01 0 Fhoto by Steve Bocmcr Paul Genu, world 1 pocket billiards tiickshot 'champion. ; ' by Rex Resnsa ', Students stood awe-struck around a pool table ( last Thursday in the Nebraska Union, rnumblinj comments: "It can't be done. It defies the laws of physics. The man they were watchiisg was Paul Gemi, the .relsrdnj world pocket billiards trick shot champion. . Gemi has been playing pool nearly his entire life. He moves effortlessly around a pool table, and with a stroke of his cue the balls spin, dance, bounce around the table and then drop into the pockets as if he had some psychic control. Gerni is not just a great pool player, he is also a showman, a gamesman and a gentleman. . Between shots he chatters with ihe crowd telling anecdotes about the game to keep the people laughing while they aren't gaping in disbelief at his last shot. "I love to see people laugh," Gerni said. He said he has developed several different shows to please different audiences. Gerni said he is a student of human nature. "I always have been fascinated just watching people," he said. And I've used a lot of what I've learned in my shows." Gerni grew up in Orange, N J. and Logan's Port, Ind., the son of a Lutheran minister. Ironically, his father's church introduced Gerni to the game popularly associated with hustlers and bar rooms. Gerni stroked his first cue ball when he was six years old...... It was at a social event in his father's church, Gerni recalled, when he wandered down the hall to the church recreation room. An old man smoking a cigar was playing. The old man lifted him to the edge of the table, and Gerni said he developed an immediate attraction for the game. Just a year later he won his first tournament. The table Gerni took his first shot on has been roped off in that church basement as a memorial to him, Gerni said. - NoVi 29, Gerni has been playing pool for 23 years, touring the world giving' trick shot exhibitions, playing .... Mi"'1"-!"- ipg-H"rc- wLSCTyi ymwwww anmn jiwi". jimiww if " w , ... fc. .. . --ji - .... - . id . . .nf LmJ Air Force ROTC has scholarships, allowances and jobs for selected science. and engineering majors. Air Force ROTC has openings for young men and women majoring in specified science and engineering academic fields. Fields such as Aeronautical, Aerospace, General and Electrical Engineering. Mathematics. Physics and Computer Technology. AFROTC enrollment pays well now and could keep paying off in the future. Air Force ROTC offers 4-year, 3-year and 2-year scholarships with $1C0 monthly tax-free allowance. AFROTC alco offers the St CO tax-free monthly allowance ; during the last two years to non scholarship students. Upon graduation you'll recssvt a com mission in the U.S. Air Fores end compete for challenging jobs. There'll . ba numerous opportunities for advanced education in your field. plus you I! have fsnanc.sl security and start your way up the pro motion laddsr where your ability ana amoition are the only limits." It pays to be in demand, and if you're the type we're looking for, it pays to get the details. No obligations, naturally. 472-2473 M w Ji w. ""V S' 1 ue, -B-TY f - -. . T w I f 7 r I f 5 4V in professional tournaments and tescliirj ti!litrds clinics for the psst six years. He spends about 300 days a year on the rosJ where his appearances nrj from the glamorous to the Cz'X Gemi has gppzsiti on television, where he "gets just Eke a little kid. I'm up there with Fred Astalre." - It was a little less exciting the day he gave a show in a convent. "At least I didn't get into, any bad habits," he ' quipped. ' An ambassador for the game, Gerni tries to promote a gentleman's image for the game, he said. No one could be better qualified. He has a kind of wholesome, all-American look. His only vices, in a game notorious for hard drinking and smoke-filled rooms, are cashew nuts and a love for children. His only goals for the future are to get married and father two little girls, he said. ' He could evoke jealousy from normal, fallible people. Nothing seems to go wrong for him, and when it does, a missed shot during an exhibition, he laughs and shrugs it off. He is smooth, controlled, handsome and makes a lot of money playing his favorite game. Six years ago Gerni gave up a $40,000 a year job as a marketing executive tu play pool full time. Today, he said in "no brag, just fact" tone, he said he makes three rimes as much, and is the highest paid pool professional in the world, a fad that irritates some of his competitors. Gerni admitted he isn't the world's best pool player. Raymond Cealemans is the greatest three cushion billiards player, he said, and Steve Mizerak and Willie Masconi he rated as the greatest straight pool players. But the greatest trick shot artist -Paul Gerni. "I haven't lost a trick shot tournament in three years," he said without a bint of doubt, or modesty. "I do the best trick shots in the world." Gerni claimed he could shoot 180 trick shots. Most pool players recognize about ISO trick shots, he said, but he has invented a few. : ,. He described pool as a game that is "easy to play but hard to master." There are 230 members of the Biiliard's Congress of America, he said, but less than 10 great players. The game's physical skills are essential, but relatively easy: . The ; most difficult aspect is the intense concentration the game requires. ccstiautJ n page 3 fiU:mERCH'f1Nb!SE: ,C7 i I lm Vm - VI 1 Gcsk3 cut of biKlrs tzlj. , Th3 Cellar 144 11 11 Ih Fktursa tlso for tda. y- -W PV M f"'' W EOHEME kpuccim juJy38c5 8pm july-17 3pm A5u (O 00 KmMI Ba. 0K Ptxxw o-rttn m I SiuOvrnt t?o M3MtMe 8u4dtng fctoe Owo ' 0r 2 iO CmefMh H Amccrt 7;