Mt. Pleasant area family racking their way to pool championships

The family that shoots pool together stays together, according to the Barnharts of Mt. Pleasant.

The Barnhart family — Roy Barnhart, 76, his son, Kevin, 51, and his grandson, Kevin Jr., 23 — are an integral part of the eight-member Bridgeport Rack Runners team in Bullskin, Fayette County.

Their squad — consisting of seven men and one woman — won the Western Pennsylvania American Pool Players Association League 8-ball championship in August at Bug’s Billiards, a 10-table pool hall in Uniontown. That puts them in line to compete in a regional championship that will be held in May or June, said George Beswick, director of the Western Pennsylvania APA league based in Ardara, North Huntingdon.

If they win at that tournament, they receive an all-expense-paid trip to the five-day national championship in Las Vegas in August. The winner of that worldwide “Super Bowl” of 8-ball pool players can take home $30,000.

The Barnharts will bring to the regional qualifier decades of pool-playing experience, sharpened by hours and hours of play.

Roy Barnhart said he has been shooting pool since he was 12 years old, starting in the pool halls of Connellsville in his youth. His father played pool as well.

Kevin Barnhart, a co-captain of the Bridgeport Rack Runners, said his father showed him some tips for the game when he was young. He’s honed his skills over the years.

”I don’t lose many games,” Kevin said matter-of-factly.

The mantra for improving one’s game is not unlike how athletes in other sports approach their training.

“It’s practice, practice, practice,” Kevin said, adding that sometimes that practice can last 10 hours.

The game is more complex that just racking balls in a triangular frame and breaking the set by hitting the cue ball, spreading the remaining orbs across the felt-covered table.

“It’s like a chess match,” and a player needs to figure out the best strategy to win, Kevin said.

In some instances, part of that strategy is to make sure the competitor does not have a good shot.

“You just want to miss so they (opponent) don’t see anything” in terms of a good shot, Kevin added.

Kevin Jr. said he loves the challenge of playing pool against good competitors.

“It’s like a chess match. Sometimes you just want to miss a shot so they (competitor) don’t see anything to shoot at,” he said.

To calm his nerves during a match and before a shot, he will get up on his toes and take a deep breath.

“All my nerves would leave,” Kevin Jr. said.

The Barnhart crew might have an edge up on some of the other players next June because they have been to the championship and know how to deal with the pressure. The elder Kevin Barnhart finished 17th out of 600 players in the nation in 2002 and 129th out of 600 in 2004.

David Weinman of East Huntingdon, a co-captain of the Bridgeport Rack Runners, said he has played with Roy and Kevin Barnhart for years and knows they have a love for the game.

“It’s really nice to see it,” Weinman said of the Barnhart family playing pool together. ”They’re just so good. They know how to play the game.”

While he has many more years of experience playing pool over his his son and grandson, Roy Barnhart said he has no plans to stow his cue in a case and call it quits.

“It’s a challenge,” he said.

And Kevin says the game is continually teaching them something, regardless of how skilled they are.

“Doesn’t matter how much you play … there’s always something to learn,” he said.