Owner downsizes historic Wichita club, an extreme new bar will move into the other side
Club Billiards is one of Wichita’s oldest and most famed hangouts. It’s been in business since 1946, and it was once the favorite haunt of infamous Wichita author and convicted arsonist George Poulos.
But people driving past the site of the original club at 925 W. Douglas have been noticing that the sign is down and that the interior has been gutted. Some have even speculated on social media that the famous billiards hall has closed.
That’s not true, though. Club Billiards is still open, and by the holidays, a second bar designed for fans of extreme sports should be operating right next door.
Mike Chapple, who has co-owned Club Billiards since 2001, lost his longtime business partner and friend, Joseph “Tiny” Weber in November of last year, when Weber died of cancer at age 46.
Tiny had been the “soul” of the place, Chapple said, and had been in charge of the day-to-day operations. About two years ago, he’d led the decision to annex the old office space one door to the east of Club Billiards, doubling its size so that it could host big pool tournaments.
After Tiny’s death, Chapple ran the place himself for a while, but over the summer, he became overwhelmed. In July, he posted in a Facebook group for pool players that he was closing Club Billiards “due to high overhead and low sales.” He offered it up for sale.
The reaction was swift, and in some cases angry, he said. So Chapple came up with a plan that could save the business. He got in contact with some entrepreneurs from out of state, who said they wanted to open a new bar in Wichita. They suggested he downsize Club Billiards into the newer side on the east and let them sublease and renovate the original, older side on the west.
Chapple said he went to work right away, closing off the wall that joined the two sides of the business and re-configuring Club Billiards into the east space at 923 E. Douglas. He reopened two weeks later, having positioned the club’s famous antique snooker table, circa 1898, at the back of the club and creating a shrine to Tiny right beside it, featuring his portrait and a box that contains his ashes.
He filled the rest of the space with professional 9-foot pool tables, and he plans to add a couple of the more-common seven footers, too. He no longer serves the cheeseburgers and bologna sandwiches the club had been offering on Fridays, but he has a bar set up that sells canned beer and packaged snacks. People can pay for a membership to play unlimited pool or pay by the hour.
Now, crews are busy on the west-side space at 925 W. Douglas, where the club originally operated. They plan to open a bar called The Rockin’ Billy Goat there and hope to have it ready by Thanksgiving.
It will retain Club Billiards’ original antique bar, but otherwise, it’s being completely renovated. It will have circle booths and a giant big-screen, where the new owners plan to show extreme sports — everything that isn’t basketball, football or baseball, Chapple said. They won’t have a kitchen, but they will invite food trucks to set up regularly on a slab they plan to pour behind the business.
The compromise achieves two positives at once, Chapple said. It lets him keep alive the spirit of the decades-old Wichita bar, which he visited as a kid with his father. It also will let him take advantage of the growth in Delano, which has sped up rapidly since plans for the new baseball park nearby were revealed.
“From Seneca to the river on Douglas is about to boom,” he said.
Longtime regulars weren’t all happy about his decision, Chapple said, but it was the only way he could keep the club going. A few pool players stopped coming, but now, they’re starting to return.
Chapple said he understands the town’s emotional investment in the place, which has had several well-known owners over the decades and has hosted lots of famous pool players.
“I grew up in that place,” he said. “A lot of people grew up in that place.”
Club Billiards’ hours are 11 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of The Rockin’ Billy Goat.
This story was originally published October 11, 2019 at 9:34 AM.
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