In a new ladies-only pool league, you can learn to out-hustle The Hustler.

by Maggie Cramer   .   photos by Anthony Bellemare

Vicki Catalano has news for you. “The days of The Hustler are way over,” she says with a smile as she looks out at some 60 women occupying nearly every table on a recent Sunday at Fat Cat’s Billiards in Arden. She’s referring to the 1961 movie staring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason in which pool-hall America is shown as a “merciless, macho world.” In part to the film’s credit, there is a stereotype about the sport: that it’s a dirty, backroom guy’s game. But that has started to change.

Catalano owns the Blue Ridge APA, a local franchise of the national APA, or American Poolplayers Association, the largest amateur pool league in the world. The APA has more than 260,000 members, with teams playing in more than 13,000 venues nationwide. Catalano started the franchise in Asheville about four years ago when she left the New York City nonprofit world to settle here and raise a family. Since then, the Blue Ridge APA has grown from just three pool teams and a total of 20 people to 91 teams and more than 500 people. As the sport has gained respect, it has gained popularity, especially with women.

If you watch ESPN these days, you’re sure to see professional women players (members of the WPBA) on screen a couple times a week. The current spokesperson for the national APA is Jeanette Lee, a sexy Brooklyn-born Korean-American player whose nickname is the “Black Widow” because she often wears black. And approximately one quarter of the Blue Ridge APA’s members are women. In response to pool’s new fans, last fall Catalano started a ladies-only division that currently meets one Sunday a month.

At 75, Greta Barrett is the Blue Ridge APA’s oldest female player. She’s also something of a local celebrity, thanks to her appearance on a Fat Cat’s TV commercial. Barrett says she was thrilled when Catalano started the women’s-only 8-ball division a few months ago. She enjoys playing in this league the most—she also plays on open, or mixed, teams—because of the camaraderie with other women. But don’t be mistaken. Just because Greta counts you as a friend doesn’t mean she’ll go easy on you, and she doesn’t expect you to go easy on her. She’s a serious player, and she’s willing to go up against anyone. “I love it when I beat the guys,” she says. “I don’t always win,” she clarifies, “but I make it tough sometimes.” She’ll even take on her husband Bob, who’s 84 and sparked her interest in pool again after she’d been out of shooting practice for about 25 years.

She and Bob do wonder if there’s something wrong with them for staying out late in smoky bars with young people who say swear words. But they also love it. “If it wasn’t for pool, we wouldn’t have a life,” says Bob. Greta plans to continue playing indefinitely. “I have energy for pool playing when I can’t do anything else.”

The social aspect of the sport is also a big plus for player Amber Wilson, a financial analyst who moved to Asheville three years ago and joined the league in its infancy as a way to meet people. She started playing pool in her late teens when a close girlfriend began working at a pool hall. As Wilson hung around watching her friend play, she realized pool was more than a bar game. “It was cool to me because you could compete against the guys and you still had an even chance of winning. This sport isn’t about being physical; it’s mental, it’s finesse, it’s a lot of skill,” she says.

Wilson points out that professional women pool players are gaining fame quickly. She and her husband, whom she serendipitously met when they were paired together as strangers in a pro-am tournament, were recently in a hall in Charlotte. They were both awed to see well-known professional English players, Kelly Fisher and Allison Fisher, who have both racked up long lists of American and world championship pool-playing titles.

League player Kim Patton, who aspires to play professionally, is also in awe of women like the Fishers (Allison’s nickname is “The Duchess of Doom”). She remembers vividly her first time playing the game at age nine while visiting a distant family member who had a table. Just that little taste of it led her to start playing again when she was older. “I wasn’t just going out and hanging out at night. I was going in the middle of the day and playing with older men, learning from them,” she says. “I’d see them play and listen to their tidbits.” While those men were encouraging, she acknowledges that some men are still taken aback by female players. “They [can] think this must be someone’s girlfriend or wife that’s on the team; they’re just here to fill a spot.” Last year, Patton and Wilson both had spots on Blue Ridge APA teams that went to the national tournament in Las Vegas.

While the primary function of the APA is to create a fun atmosphere in which to play pool, there is a fierce competitive streak. Catalano qualifies about 30 people a year to head to Vegas for the most prestigious amateur competition in the land. But if you’re a beginning pool player, don’t let the league’s sharks make you nervous. Catalano stresses that the APA is an amateur league that caters to everyone, even those who have never picked up a cue. A handicap scoring system helps even the playing field, just in case you are up against a more seasoned shooter. And if you’re worried you’ll show up only to watch your ball fly clear across the room on your first shot, there’s no need. “It happens at least once a night,” Catalano says. (Except for the occasional bump on the foot, no one’s ever been injured by flying pool balls.) “Pool’s the great equalizer of sports, in a way,” she says. “Anybody can play.” 

For more information about the Blue Ridge APA and the Ladies-Only 8-Ball league, visit www.blueridgeAPA.com or call 828-329-8197.