It’s new and bigger, in a new place, but the comfortable and familiar atmosphere of Poppa G’s Billiards continues to welcome longtime pool players and visitors.
Following a total loss from a fire more than two years ago, hearing the loud cracks from cue balls breaking apart striped and solid color object balls and rolling across 24 new pool tables means Pelham’s Poppa G’s Billiards is back in business.
“We lost everything,” Chance Burnett, 36, owner, tells a visitor, “except for the staff” of 10. This devasting loss included the physical loss of the building with all contents, as well as a sense of place and Poppa G’s longstanding role in Alabama’s pool playing community.
A fire destroyed Poppa G’s, but that didn’t stop the pool players from playing their weekly matches since then. For the past two years, the 16 to 20 teams that make up Poppa G’s American Poolplayers Association teams kept up play at area venues, waiting for a replacement to be developed and opened.
This summer they returned home to Poppa G’s – in a new location that also had a former life. Valley Elementary School, located at 2408 Pelham Parkway and renamed Campus 124, is part of Pelham’s Arts & Entertainment District. Campus 124 is owned by Scrimsher Properties and modeled after a repurposed Huntsville school, Campus 805. The three-digits refer to each city’s ZIP codes.
Poppa G’s is the new kid at Campus 124.
Former classrooms with chalkboards have been converted to Half Shell Oyster House, The Beer Hog, The Guy’s Place (hair salon), Valhalla Board Game Café and more.
Like students going to school, pool players carry their cue stick cases over their shoulders and file along brightly lit, squeaky clean, beige brick and tile halls. New glass doors swing open to the new Poppa G’s, where the saying “where everybody knows your name” is alive and well.
Friends and competitors greet with hugs, pats on the back, and “good to see ya” is heard throughout.
What was once the school’s cafeteria is now a sprawling, open space with rows of pool tables and large LED perimeter lights hanging above each table – is a stunning sight. Along the sidelines there are enough chairs and tables for teammates and scorekeepers to go around several times.
Burnett lists the improvements.
The new Poppa G’s has grown from 7,000 square feet to 17,000 square feet, and 16 seven-foot tables to 26 tables with room for more tables for tournaments.
“We have more teams, 16 to 20, with eight pool players per team” on the “busy nights – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – with 150 to 200” pool players coming through the doors.
Chance Burnett takes aim during a nine-ball match on a Thursday night. Burnett is owner of Poppa G’s Billiards. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Jennifer Allgood makes a diamond-shape rack for a nine-ball match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Looking straight down the top of her cue stick, Hannah Eldridge takes aim during a nine-ball match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Oliver Tarpley, 5, get pointers from Adam Couk, right, and Anton Duncan, center, on how to aim, hold a cue stick and form a bridge with his fingers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
The new location offers space for cue stick cases to line the walls. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
There’s a sign with a map for first-time visitors to Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Once a grammar school cafeteria, new pool tables with overhead LED rectangle lights fill the new location for Poppa G’s Billiards on a busy Thursday night. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
One of many challenges of playing pool is to accurately aim a cue stick with its rounded tip to the rounded surface of a cue ball. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
The new Poppa G’s Billiards is located at the former Valley Elementary School, Pelham. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Birthdays are celebrated at Poppa G’s as before. Lisa Gill Casey wears a birthday headband, during an eight-ball match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Poolplayers take careful aim during APA league play. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Rock music plays in pool halls during matches, but the intensity of concentration is evident in Jon Wehby’s demeanor. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Pool playing at Poppa G’s draws generations of players. Hannah Brown takes aim, as her opponent, Ed Gill, 98, waits his turn at the table. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Following a shot, pool players study the results of their shots. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Several rows of new pool tables are lined up, with an LED rectangular light above each one. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Following a shot, pool players study the results of their shots. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
According to Austin Schrimsher of Schrimsher Properties, “there are 370 parking slots” (front and back of the property). The front slots fill up on busy nights, leaving some drivers cruising for a space.
“We’re like a sports bar now. We have a new, full kitchen” Burnett informs visitors, with a new menu offering “chicken wings, French fries, tater tots,” blended with Poppa G’s traditional hamburgers, sandwich wraps, salads, and apple pie à la mode.
The waitstaff personalizes Styrofoam beverage cups with a customer’s name and a heart, a Poppa G’s tradition.
The spacious bar is customized with lacquered wood and numerous bar chairs.
The Poppa G’s tradition of celebrating a teammate’s birthday continues at the new location. Beneath a banner, cupcakes for the team, and cue sticks lined up, a teammate keeps score. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Pool players’ stats are available on an APA app. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
A Poppa G’s tradition, names are written, followed by a heart, on all beverage cups – even for a photographer. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
A new menu item is the bacon cheese French Fries. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Birthday cupcakes are ready for a team’s celebration. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Chicken wings are available with sauce offerings, like the sweet chili sauce. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Poppa G’s is family-friendly, and children often spend evenings there. Between her matches, Jennifer Allgood watches her son, Gabriel Paulson, play a game on her iPhone, as Micah Paulson, 14, seated left, follows, and Isabella Paulson, 15, seated right, watches a pool match. During the school year, there is a separate room for children to do their homework. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Scores for APA matches are kept by teammates and written onto score sheets. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Steak quesadillas are a new popular dish at Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Names are handwritten on beverage cups for pool players at Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
The entrance to Poppa G’s Billiards is at the end of a former grammar school hall, through covered glass doors. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Names are handwritten on beverage cups for pool players at Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Curled up on a banquette, Jennifer Allgood and her son, Gabriel Paulson, follow a video game on her iPhone between Allgood’s matches. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Poppa G’s maintains its family-friendly reputation with “a room in the back for kids to do homework” while their parents compete. Between matches, parents with infants and preschool children gather at the former cafeteria’s stage, with coloring books and small toys.
Among the familiar faces returning to Poppa G’s is Ed Gill, who turned “99 in November” and plays pool “five nights a week plus Sunday afternoons. I like to be with people,” he says.
RELATED: Alabama pool player Ed Gill is 96 years young and still going strong
Like his opponents, Gill is competitive and quickly shows his 10-year win-loss statistics on the APA website for 1,251 eight-ball and 1,280 nine-ball matches.
Gill is a World War II veteran and competes against not just younger, but much younger pool players today, like Rosie Tucker, 27, who started playing this summer on a team with her mother, Lucy Tucker.
Tucker’s teammates have higher skill levels, backed by years of experience. As Gill and Tucker play an eight-ball match, they remark that they hope to be playing pool at Gill’s age, too.
Family connections work their way through Poppa G’s. “Mr. Ed,” as Gill is affectionately called, plays on a team with his daughter, Lisa Casey. Recently, Casey’s daughter, Lindy Morrison (Gill’s granddaughter), and granddaughter, Nora Rich, 14, (Gill’s great-granddaughter), dropped by to watch for a few moments.
There are pool players doing double duty at Poppa G’s by playing pool and babysitting their children or grandchildren. A baby carriage and car seats are visible among the chairs and tables.
“My daughter had to work tonight,” Jennifer Carlson explained, as she watched over her 3-year-old granddaughter, who stood tiptoe to watch Carlson’s game.
Family drop-by’s are frequent at Poppa G’s. Ed Gill, with granddaughter, Lindy Morrison, right, and great-granddaughter, Nora Rich. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
It’s a busy night at Poppa G’s new billiards hall, here one of two large spaces for tables and poolplayers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Oliver Tarpley, 5, gets pointers from Adam Couk, right, and Anton Duncan, center, on how to aim, hold a cue stick, and form a bridge with his fingers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
A wall is dedicated to photographs of Poppa G’s poolplayers, to replace the hundreds of photographs lost in the fire, that covered the walls of the original Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Heather Kirkpatrick studies the arrangement of striped and solid balls, before making a shot in an 8-ball match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Oliver Tarpley, 5, gets pointers from Adam Couk, right, and Anton Duncan, center, on how to aim, hold a cue stick, and form a bridge with his fingers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
The new Poppa G’s Billiards is located at the former Valley Elementary School, Pelham. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
The entrance to Poppa G’s Billiards is at the end of a former grammar school hall, through covered glass doors. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
With “ball in hand,” a poolplayer may place the cue ball anywhere on the table, but strategies are considered. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Alex Eastman, and his daughter, Austen Eastman, 8, watch matches on a busy evening. Poppa G’s Billiards maintains a family-friendly atmosphere, that can encourage a new generation of poolplayers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Chance Burnett takes aim during a 9-ball match on a Thursday night. Burnett is owner of Poppa G’s Billiards. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Poolplayers are allowed a time-out during play, where a teammate may advise them on their shots. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
School lockers are available for rent for cue sticks and gear at the new Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Oliver Tarpley, 5, gets pointers from Adam Couk, on aiming his cue stick. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Alex Eastman, and his daughter, Austen Eastman, 8, watch matches on a busy evening. Poppa G’s Billiards maintains a family-friendly atmosphere, that can encourage a new generation of poolplayers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Beneath backdrop of photo wall, Jennifer Allgood aims over an object ball to the cue ball, at the new Poppa G’s. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
The new bar at Poppa G’s has bar chairs for pool players between matches. There are tv screens for sports news throughout. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Poolplayers at Poppa G’s range in ages and experience levels. Newcomer Rosie Tucker, 27, and Ed Gill, 99, shoot a lag, to determine who will break in their 8-ball match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Looks like a clear shot to the pocket for this poolplayer. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Ed Gill greets teammates and scorekeepers on his way to his next match. Gill plays pool five nights a week, and Sunday afternoons. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Oliver Tarpley, 5, get pointers from Adam Couk, right, and Anton Duncan, center, on how to aim, hold a cue stick, and form a bridge with his fingers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
World War II veteran Ed Gill, 99, takes aim, and sinks, the 8-ball during a match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
A baby carriage with pool cues and cases are a common sight at Poppa G’s. Jennifer Carlson does double-duty, caring for her granddaughter at pool. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Oliver Tarpley, 5, gets pointers from Adam Couk, right, and Anton Duncan, center, on how to aim, hold a cue stick, and form a bridge with his fingers. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Along a row of new pool tables, Julie Bui takes careful aim during a 9-ball match. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
After making a shot, Julie Bui studies how the cue ball nestled on the table. (Meg McKinney / Alabama News Center)
Poppa G’s next generation of pool players is in the making. Oliver Tarpley, 5, listened closely to aiming pointers from experienced pool players one evening. He likes going to Poppa G’s because “I don’t have to be inside by 7:30.”
“She’s an old Poppa’s kid,” Alex Eastman says of his eight-year-old daughter, Austen Eastman, who sat with him after one of Eastman’s matches. “She plays pool in our garage” at their home.
Burnett says Poppa G’s “has had kids’ tournaments” in the past and hopes to have a youth league in the future.
Celebrating a teammate’s birthday is integral to Poppa G’s. Casey’s teammates brought cupcakes, a banner and a party headband to commemorate her recent birthday. Looking festive, Casey wore the birthday headband during her matches.
The walls of the former Poppa G’s were covered with framed photographs, documenting generations of local pool players. All the photographs were lost in the fire, and this loss comes up in conversations among pool players. Efforts to replace the photos have begun, with a dedicated photo wall titled “Poppa G’s Family.”
Welcome home.
Meg McKinney is a professional photographer and a pool player at Poppa G’s Billiards.