World-wise billars teacher strikes for USU
Rick Skinner, who teaches a billiards class at Utah State University, began his teaching through a peculiar accident – One which involved a mattress.
Before he began teaching, Skinner worked for USU’s campus housing and maintenance until a mattress fell on him after being dropped from a three-story building. The accident broke his neck.
Ten months later, when he recovered from surgery, he was asked if he was interested in teaching billiards.
Even though he’s been working at USU for seven years, Skinner has lived in many different locations during his life.
Because Skinner’s father was in the military, by the time he was 17 he had moved 33 times. During the first grade, he lived in Mexico, Germany, and the United States.
Of all the places he lived, Skinner said Okinawa, Japan was his favorite. He was there for two years during high school.
His interest in pool playing began because of a friend he had during his teenage years whose parents had a table, he said.
Skinner said it wasn’t until he moved to Okinawa, Japan during high school that he started playing pool “for real.”
“They had a team club and so I taught the other high school kids how to play,” he said.
During his two years of high school in Japan, Skinner taught a billiards class.
“I really enjoyed [moving a lot] but it was different with school because you are off [track] with every new school you go to,” Skinner said. “Either they’re ahead, or behind.”
After Japan, his father retired and they moved back to Logan where Skinner finished his last year of high school, following which, he got involved in playing billiards for city leagues and in bars on and off over the next 30 years.
During this time, Skinner also ran the Cache Valley Pool League which held games every Thursday.
Today, Skinner said he no longer plays in the bars because they aren’t a good environment for him.
In addition to playing billiards, Skinner is married and has seven children.
He said some additional hobbies include swimming, playing golf and almost any sport.
Skinner has taught other subjects during his career including teaching students how to get jobs after high school and other recreational sports such as bowling, golf and Frisbee.
“I think teaching anything is an extremely rewarding job,” he said.
Skinner likes everything about teaching, except “when you have to deal with politics, that’s never any fun,” he said.
Skinner said the previous billiards teachers were fired for taking money from students.
Currently, Skinner teaches eight billiards class at the Nelson Fieldhouse Monday through Thursday. The class teaches official billiards rules, techniques and the different variations of the games.
Natalie Pace, a senior with a double major in management and human resources and marketing, said, “If you’re going to graduate from USU, you should take [billiards] even if you don’t like pool. It’s a great class.”
She said Skinner is her favorite teacher and that he’s the main reason she took the class.
Patrick Bell, a sophomore majoring in exercise science, said, “It’s cool because it’s all laid back. It’s a break from the other classes.”
Mike Wolfley, a freshman majoring in computer science who is taking the billiards class, said, “I’ve learned a ton about pool. I’ve gotten twice as good as I used to be.”
Over the summer the Bullpen was taken out of the Taggart Student Center (TSC) and the pool tables were relocated to the Fieldhouse.
“I didn’t like it moving because the area was a good place for students. It was easy to get to, bigger and there were more tables,” Skinner said. “But what’s good now is it’s free for students to play pool after classes are over.”
“They technically say the Bullpen moved because the Bullpen was losing money, and that’s probably true, but it [the Bullpen] never made money,” Skinner said.
At the Bullpen, billiard tables cost $3.50 an hour for students, and $5.50 for non – USU students. Currently, the pool tables are free and open for students Monday through Friday from 12:30 to 10 p.m. For non-USU students, the cost is $5 an hour.
-sarahwest@cc.usu.edu