George Balabushka

George Balabushka in his carpentry shop

George Balabushka (December 9, 1912 - December, 1975) was a Russian-born legendary billiards (pool) cue maker, arguably the most prominent member of that profession, and is sometimes referred to as "the Stradivarius of cuemakers". His full name or last name standing alone is often used to refer to a cue stick made by him.

Early life

George Balabushka was born in Russia in 1912 and emigrated to the United States in 1924. His family, parents Anton and Natalie and younger sister Mary, settled in New York City. Although originally named Gregory, as is the case with so many, he was given a new first name, George, by emigration officials when he was processed through Ellis Island. He was known throughout his life as a quiet, reflective man.

Balabushka’s first job was as a wooden toy designer and maker in Manhattan. He later graduated to building children's furniture for the Playtime Woodworking Company located in Greenwich Village. Unfortunately, Balabushka lost his middle finger in an electrical saw accident on the job, and made himself a replacement plastic finger from a wooden mold of such craftsmanship that even his friends did not realize his loss until long after the incident.

It was while working in the Village that he met his wife Josephine, a neighborhood resident. They were married in 1941, and bought a home in Brooklyn several years later. Josephine and George had two sons, Gregory and George, both named after their father.

Career

Although busy with work and family life, Balabushka was an avid billiards player, especially of the game of straight pool, taking part in competitions and spending time with the better known practitioners of the sport. In 1959 he purchased a pool hall with a partner, Frank McGown, which was located in Brooklyn at 50th Street and 5th Avenue. While running the room, he began repairing cues, and it was not long before the idea was sparked to build pool cues himself.

By the end of 1959, Balabushka had made a number of cues, most of which were given to friends as Christmas gifts. As this practice went on, he began receiving orders for his cues. His first cues were conversions of the popular Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company manufactured “Titlist” cues. At the time, there were very few private cuemakers, the industry being dominated by large manufacturers.

Between 1959 and 1962, Balabushka handcrafted between 20 and 30 cues per year on a part-time basis. Because of the relative dearth of private cuemakers and the excellence of his product, Balabushka’s name quickly became well known amongst professional players, and by the end of 1962, he was receiving far more orders for cues than he could fulfill. Balabushka soon sold his interest in the pool room, converted his garage into a carpentry shop, and by 1964 was building cues full time, all the while honing his cuemaking abilities.

Unlike many of the large manufacturers of the day, Balabushka’s emphasis was on playing ability and fine craftsmanship, reflecting the values he had always held during his years in the woodworking business. He was also an innovator in cue construction, cue finishes and cue design. His cues were not the elaborately decorated attempts at building art that so dominate the cuemarket today. Rather, most Balabushka cues are relatively plain and without grand flourishes. Many of his trademark construction techniques have become standard in the industry, such as the use of Irish linen for wrap material and block style ringwork above a cue’s wrap which are eponymously named "Bushka rings."

George Balabushka died in 1975 at the age of 63. He was posthumously honored as the first inductee into the American Cuemakers Association Hall of Fame in February, 1993.. In 2004, he was inducted into the Meritorious Service category of the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.

The legend continues to grow

It is estimated that Balabushka only produced between 1,000 and 1,200 cues during his lifetime. However, by the mid 1960s, fake Balabushka cues started circulating in the market, as he was already recognized as the premier cue maker of the era.

Although already well known and valuable to collectors, Balabushka and his cues (respectively) became much more so after being prominently featured in Martin Scorsese’s 1986 film, The Color of Money (the sequel to the classic 1961 film The Hustler). In the film, Tom Cruise’s character, Vincent Lauria, is presented with a beautiful cue by Fast Eddie Felson, as played by Paul Newman. Vincent takes the cue, his reverence obvious, and breathlessly asks “is that a Balabushka?” After this, Balabushka's name became associated by the general public with highly-valued and rare cues. (The cue actually used in the film was, however, not a genuine Balabushka, but a Joss, custom-made to look like a Balabushka).

Today, original Balabushka cues with verified provenance bring in tens of thousands of dollars at auction. However, there are literally thousands of fake Balabushka cues in existence (even a fake, if old and of good quality, is fairly valuable). Complicating matters, in the 1980s with the permission and license of his surviving family, a line of Balabushka replicas began to be manufactured in large quantities by the Adam Custom Cue Company, owned wholly by Jed Forman and Natalie Ross, majority share holders..

The last Balabushka cue made, was sent by George Balabushka to Jim Tanner a Dallas Texas area resident. Mr. Balabushka died when he returned home from the Post Office after mailing Tanner his pool cue. Later Mrs. Balabushka wrote Mr. Tanner and ask to buy the cue back. Mr. Tanner is said to have thought hard about her request. However he decided to keep it. Mrs Balabushka later sent him a letter authenticating the fact that it was the last pool cue that he had made and did in fact pass away soon after returning home from the Post Office from mailing the cue to him. Mr. Tanner has kept the cue in mint condition and respects what he has and plans on making it a family Heirloom.

External links

• George Balabuska’s listing in the BCA Hall of Fame
• George Balabuska’s listing in the ACA Hall of Fame
• Example of an early (1963) Balabushka cue