Pool keeps many GR seniors busy

Some have played in leagues, while others just started playing after they retired.

The game they play is pool; and almost every day between 9-11 a.m. residents can find these pool players at the Golden Hour Senior Center pool room.

Tuesday morning was no different. Seven players were busy doing their best to shoot as accurately as they could while giving each other a hard time.

Gabby Carman said he started playing pool as soon as he was old enough to hold a cue.

He has the patches from numerous tournaments he's won to prove it. These tournaments take place in Green River, Rock Springs or Mountain View. There are tournaments in Evanston and Kemmerer, but the Green River players have never gone to those.

Once again, the seniors were picking on each other. Former Councilman Tom McCullough was watching the game and talking about how good the players were.

McCullough said they wouldn't let him play because he wasn't that good. He said they wouldn't even let him rack the balls up.

"We used to let him play, but he used to be a politician and all he does is talk," Gean-Paul Archambault said.

"It's like any other sport. It takes practice, practice, practice," McCullough said.

Carman said it mostly takes good coordination, eyesight and luck.

For one pool player, pool doesn't just stop when the game is over. Larry Cauthorn takes care of all the GHSC's pool equipment. He started playing pool after he retired. He can still recall how crowded the old senior center was.

Since moving into the Uinta Drive location, it has an entire room dedicated to pool. Cauthorn said he wanted to make sure the new equipment stayed looking like new and volunteered to take care of it.

At least once a month, Cauthorn cleans the balls with a machine that is designed to clean and polish the balls, which keeps them looking like new. Cauthorn also cleans the pool tables. First, he vacuums the tables off; and then he takes a damp cloth to clean the chalk residue.

"It keeps them looking like new," he said.

That's not all Cauthorn does. He makes sure he always arrives before the other players so he can open up the pool room and get things ready, which is something all the players appreciate.

"It keeps me out of trouble," Cauthorn said.