Pat Fleming - Part 3 (The Library, the Booth, and the Moments That Made Pool History)

In Part III of our in-depth conversation with Pat Fleming, the Hall of Famer and founder of Accu-Stats pulls back the curtain on the pivotal chapter that reshaped both his life and the future of recorded pool history.

Pat walks us through the emotional and practical decision to separate Accu-Stats’ legendary video library from its production arm—a move born from personal loss, hard-earned perspective, and a desire to focus on what mattered most. The result? One of the great win-win stories in cue-sports history: nearly four decades of priceless matches preserved, monetized, and shared with fans worldwide, while Pat refocused his energy on producing world-class events like the International Open.

From there, the conversation shifts into the mechanics—and madness—of tournament production. Cameras, commentary booths, lighting rigs, graphics, audio teams, and a 40-person staff all come into play as Pat explains how Accu-Stats evolved from a single stationary camera into a full-scale broadcast operation, learned in real time, one necessity at a time.

This episode is also packed with unforgettable stories from the booth and beyond: capturing Efren Reyes’ iconic Z-Shot, perfectly timing the camera on Mike Sigel’s infamous cue-snap, and witnessing moments of brilliance, frustration, humor, and humanity that only live tournament coverage can deliver. Pat reflects on the commentators who brought matches to life, the unique chemistry of legendary broadcast pairings, and why sometimes the most controversial voices are also the most insightful.

Throughout it all, Pat’s perspective is clear-eyed and generous—an archivist’s respect for history paired with a promoter’s understanding of entertainment. It’s a masterclass in legacy, storytelling, and why preserving the game’s greatest moments matters just as much as creating new ones.

This is Pat Fleming at full stride: historian, innovator, and lifelong steward of the sport.

Transcript

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

At some point with ACUStats, you decided to sort of bifurcate it in terms of the library and the repository of content versus the production side. Why don't you take our listeners through how that all occurred and what the current state of affairs with that is?

Pat Fleming 0:35

Okay. My son, who was the backbone behind the scenes of Acastats video productions. He passed away. And I had no interest in owning Acostats anymore. So I put it up for sale. I don't want to do it anymore. I don't. So I ended up talking to Mike Howiton of AZ Billiards and offered it to him. And he said, Well, and we were selling on YouTube, so we're making money. And so he knows how much money he can make by selling on YouTube. So he said, I'm interested in your library, but I'm not interested in your video production. Flying people in, doing all the production work, setting up and recording the matches and all that. He said, But I'll pay the same price. I just want the library.

Mark Wilson 2:01

Yeah.

Pat Fleming 2:02

And that's what we agreed on. And he took 40 years of library, or almost 40 years of library, which he has on YouTube, and he comes to our tournaments now. And part of the deal was okay, I'll be the production crew, I'll get everybody there, pay everybody, and anything we generate at the tournament is mine, but you can own the video because I don't want it. So these last three years, all of the Derby City Classic and the International Open, he gets he gets the programming. And so it's a great relationship. I asked him after the first year, I said, Well, Mike, how do you like our deal? Now that you've had it for a year. He says, I pinch myself every morning to make sure that I own acostats. Oh, that's wonderful. And then I said to him, I pinch myself too. So you couldn't beat that. You had two guys that were just thrilled with the relationship, and uh it still goes on.

Mike Gonzalez 3:13

So I guess that sort of answered my question then about in retrospect, would you do it again? I didn't know how long ago that had that had been done.

Pat Fleming 3:21

Well, it's about three years. Lost my son five years ago, so it was about four years. Four years.

Mike Gonzalez 3:29

Yeah, yeah. So they're the home, they they're the repository. They are able then to monetize the library of content in any way they see fit. Are there any conditions on the deal in terms of uh use of the the the uh the content?

Pat Fleming 3:44

Absolutely none.

Mike Gonzalez 3:45

Okay, all right. They're free to use it and monetize it however they wish. Yes, and they're a they then benefit from the content you're still producing on the production side.

Pat Fleming 3:55

That is correct.

Mike Gonzalez 3:56

And do you get any piece of that, any of the new production work, or are they there they're still when we go to the Derby City Classic, we're hired as a production crew.

Pat Fleming 4:08

Gotcha. So I get paid for that. Plus, we had pay-per-view for uh live streaming, so it was a profitable situation, and he ended up leaving town with the program, and so it was good for him and good for me. And as far as the international open is concerned, I produced the whole thing, so I have to find the sponsors, the ticket sales, uh uh advertisers, uh, the city, the hotel. We have to generate a lot of money. I'm adding $134,000 to the prize fund this year. So I have to make that up and then pay for the production crew. So he gets the programming, and I get any any profit from the tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 5:00

So, Pat, you as you mentioned, the International Open, let's talk about it a little bit. I know it's uh contested in November down in Florida.

Pat Fleming 5:08

The Renaissance Resort in St. Augustine, Florida.

Mike Gonzalez 5:11

Oh, nice. And a lot going on. Straight pull, one pocket, semi-pro nine ball, pro nine ball. A lot of stuff happening over a almost a week and a half period, right? Two weeks?

Pat Fleming 5:23

Well, it's 10 days, and we have all those disciplines, including a junior division, too. And we have lots of room. It's a 26,000 square foot ballroom. We have 32 diamond tables and a TV arena. And yeah, so we have room for it. With 10 days and 32 tables, we have room. And then we have in a in an adjoining ballroom, we have seven-foot tables that someone else runs. That's not part of our tournament, but part of it, but not part of it.

Mike Gonzalez 6:04

Yeah, yeah, and a lot involved in producing that sort of an event technically, logistically, monetarily.

Pat Fleming 6:12

Yeah, it's uh it that's what you work on all year long. You know, you've got to find sponsors, you've got to find advertisers, you gotta have ticket sales throughout the year, players in all these different divisions. Yeah, it's it's an everyday work. When I had Acustat's video productions totally, I would work non-stop all day long, all year long, with little exception. And so now, once I've sold the the library and I don't have to deal with that part of the company, now I just focus on a tournament. So I can put 100% focus there, which you know, if you if you divide your skill levels too wide, you don't perform your best in any one. So now I'm focused just on one thing and it it's done well. And I spend more time at home with Diane, and so we do things together more, you know. It was the I I was ready to leave for somewhere just for a couple days. And I said, Well, Diane, I have to go to Rhode Island for a couple days. This old tournament, I'm going up there. Oh, you're going to Rhode Island? Oh man. I says, Diane, for 50 years you hardly saw me.

Allison Fisher 7:35

She didn't know what to do, you know. Now you're around. So now I'm around all the time.

Pat Fleming 7:40

That's good.

Mike Gonzalez 7:41

So speak about numbers, uh, cameras, staff, uh, you know, relative to this event.

Pat Fleming 7:48

Okay, that grew as we needed it. In other words, we started with one camera, no commentary, stationary. Then we got a cameraman, and he moved that camera around, and then we had an overhead camera and the cameraman. So now we had switching, and then we had side cameras remotely controlled by camera people and different audio systems and different light systems and trusses, and it grew. In other words, we got what we needed when we needed it. I mean, I never went to broadcasting school or or anything like that, so you had to learn while you went, and it's growing in the booth, a commentary booth, and how to deal with that. And we have a guy that's audio expert now, and another guy for graphics. And I mean, it's I mean, we've got 40 people involved in this tournament at the international. Huge, huge stuff, big payroll.

Mike Gonzalez 8:50

Yeah, yeah. You got to cover it though.

Pat Fleming 8:54

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 8:55

Yeah. Let's if if we can. We've got some questions from our friends that follow Legends of the Q on AZ Billiards Forum, which I'm sure you're very familiar with because that's what Mike runs. And I posed this question. I said, What would you like to ask like us to ask Pat Fleming on our upcoming podcast with co-hosts Allison Fisher and Mark Wilson? We'll give you a shout-out if we use your question. So, in no particular order, let's just go with a question from Mike Moscone, who asked, ask him what he considers the greatest match that he ever recorded in terms of viewer interest.

Pat Fleming 9:35

Efren Z shot. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 9:39

I've seen it a zillion times.

Allison Fisher 9:42

Yeah. So good that you got that down.

Pat Fleming 9:45

Yep. And it's amazing. We just happened to be recording it perfectly. You know, I remember telling. Well, you know, just just being there when that happened. I mean, it could have been on another table. It could have been, well, it was the final, so it had to be on the future table. But that was 1995, I think. And despite the rudimentary equipment that we had, it's still the greatest, most watched video ever. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 10:21

Speaking, speaking of rudimentary, you know, I alluded back to the evolution of technology. And so you look at some of those early, early videos, whether yours or others, but uh you say, man, I wish we could upscale those somehow. I suppose there's plenty of technology these days you could run those things back through and sort of upscale the clarity of those.

Pat Fleming 10:40

Well, there's a limit that you can do. You can improve the quality slightly. I mean, but when you get a an old VHS video, you know, you can improve it slightly. But uh, you know, there is technology, everything we've done nowadays, you can make improvements to it.

Mike Gonzalez 11:04

Yeah, yeah. And I'm I'm thinking that's that's in Mike Howerton's lap now, I suppose, with the old library, but with there are some video tools via AI that allow you to do some pretty miraculous things with old photos and videos.

Pat Fleming 11:17

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there is, which I don't know how to do.

Mike Gonzalez 11:23

Neither do I deal with it. All right, let's go to a question from V Tech John. And he asks, what was the most emotional moment, either from anger or celebratory, you've witnessed at a pro tournament?

Pat Fleming 11:39

Well, we saw Mike Siegel playing John uh John Schmidt. And Mike Siegel played this combination, which went. The cue ball went through, and he had to break up the rack too, or you automatically break up the rack when you play this combination. The cue ball goes into the rack, it goes all the way through the rack and into the side pocket. Now, I'm at the switcher and I'm talking to the cameraman. And as soon as, you know, we have certain angles that we want to be at for certain shots. So I'd say, okay, camera one, you'll be here, camera two, you'll be here. Okay, he's shooting this combination, you got to have this angle. And then once he strikes it, I said, camera two, get on Mike. I knew the cue ball was dropping in, and as soon as it dropped, the camera switched to camera two, and we had Mike, and he just broke his perfect timing. Yeah.

Allison Fisher 12:50

This was a was just wait a minute, was this at the US Open?

Mike Gonzalez 12:53

Couple things about that. Who was playing at the table on the left side of the screen? Ms. Fisher.

Allison Fisher 12:59

Well, I remember watching, I remember watching that match. I I felt like I was watching it. And that was the first time because I was new to Straight Pool. That was Straight Pool. And pretty new in America at the time, because it was 1996, was it? I think it was. Anyway, so I'm watching Mike Steagle for the first time, and everyone was telling me you know, one of the best players in the world, and I saw him miss an easy ball or something, and I saw him snap his cue. It's like slow motion. He just stood there and snapped his cue. I'd never seen anything like it in Snooker, and I was like, wow, did that just happen?

Pat Fleming 13:39

But what's really cool is that it wasn't like we had a full picture of the table and the audience, and you see him on the side breaking his cue. No, we had straight on view of him. Okay, let's see what he does here.

Mike Gonzalez 13:54

Now, as I as I recall, weren't the commentators kind of trying to cover for him a little bit?

Pat Fleming 14:00

Yeah, I think Dallas West was there, and he says, I think he leaned on his cue. He sure did. Yeah.

Allison Fisher 14:10

That's funny. That's a good friend.

Mike Gonzalez 14:12

Yeah. Well, that's a that's a good answer to V Tech John's question.

Pat Fleming 14:16

So and then the the the referee was picking up shards of wood off the floor trying to sell them.

Allison Fisher 14:26

But that reminded me of you. Oh gosh.

Mike Gonzalez 14:30

Well, we we've got Mike Siegel coming up on the program, so I've got a feeling this may come up.

Pat Fleming 14:36

Yeah, I talked to him. Yeah, well, I talked to him a lot, but uh he mentioned that uh you were gonna do that. I says, Yeah, they're gonna do they're doing you first. Of course he said that. Of course.

Mike Gonzalez 14:52

All right, I got another another question from Johnson, and Johnson asked, Who are the top five one pocket and straight pool players you've ever seen play?

Pat Fleming 15:04

Well, let's say straight pool, because I'm yeah experienced in straight pool. When I played, Steve Miserak was number one. He won four U.S. opens in a row. I remember playing in the U.S. Open, and the topic was who's gonna finish second? I mean, he was that good. He was dominating. Of course, as years went on and his health and everything else, he he wasn't like that anymore. But there was a period in the 70s, by the way, in the mid-70s, he was the best. So in straight pool, the ones that I thought were the best were well now, you know, today's generation playing on the equipment of today, not to knock the equipment, it's different. Okay, Simon's cloth versus napped cloth is different. You break the balls with one with one cloth, uh straight uh uh let's say a a break shot, not the opening break shot, but in the middle of a rack. You know, it it might take you several shots to spread the balls around, you have to be particular. So I'm gonna talk about that era because I don't want to compare the players now who can run hundreds a lot easier than we did when we played. So there would be Steve Miserac, Mike Siegel, Jim Rempe, Dallas West, and Straypool. Well, of course, then there was just at the edge of my career, or I should say the edge of their career, I played Dall I played Irving Crane. Very good. Okay, but he was he was at the end of his career, so he could very well have been there with those five in Moscone, which I never saw play other than exhibition after his career ended. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 17:22

So that's a pretty good list.

Allison Fisher 17:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 17:27

That's a pretty good list. All right, let's see what else we got here. Positively Rolf posted 17 questions. I don't think we're gonna be able to get to them all, but I'll ask when you like. Question number 16. What's his best Danny DiLaberto story?

Pat Fleming 17:57

Wow. The best one, Danny DiLoberto. Well, you know he had a lot of sayings that you would hear from time to time that you would attribute to him and no one else. You know, sleep in the street. You know, he uh he just missed his uh rent or something, you know, if I got to miss his shot. And then when somebody shot uh opposite-handed, he would say uh that he's amphibious as a joke. As a joke, he'd say, Oh, look, he's amphibious. He's been saying that all his life. And then you would you would have some people say, What is he talking about? Doesn't he mean ambidextrous? But he knew and he just kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And even today, when we watch a YouTube show, some of these people who are in the chat room, I mean, they're not old enough to know, you know. Listen to his commentary years ago, and he'll say that, and they'll say, Mmadex, do you believe he screwed that up? But he's done it hundreds of times. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 19:21

So my version of that was always I'm ambiguous. So speaking of those kind of sayings, uh, as you look across the announcer base that you've had, were there any guys, or I don't know if you had any lady commentators as well, that uh perhaps overused a particular word or phrase that just kind of started getting to you as you sat in the booth.

Pat Fleming 19:48

Well, uh any commentator that's been with us a while uses some expressions often because they're so common to it. And so I I wouldn't highlight any of them, but they all do it. You know, you can like Mike Siegel, even Mark Wilson, he'll say some things that people can say before he says it. You know, he's gonna say this, and he does.

Mike Gonzalez 20:17

I can't imagine.

Pat Fleming 20:18

Yeah. But I I don't know if I can highlight any anyone. Yeah. No, yeah, but they all have them. They all had. And if I was in the booth, they'd be saying, Oh, look at Fleming. He says, Look, the balls are spread, he should be okay, you know, a hundred times.

Mike Gonzalez 20:37

You know, one of the questions, and I scrolled past it, so I don't know who the questioner was, but they asked about not the best, because that that'd be a little unfair for you to characterize your best commentator pair or best commentator, but they asked about your favorite commentating pair, perhaps in terms of Billy Grady, Billy and Cardona, Grady Matt.

Pat Fleming 20:59

Billy and Grady as a pair. And and and Billy and Buddy are right there, too. Yeah, they were treasures. Treasures. The way they giggled was just as it was as good as the match. Yeah. As good as the match.

Mike Gonzalez 21:19

Yeah. Mark, you'd probably go along with that as well. You told a great Grady Matthews, Billy and Cardona story uh when we were with Billy.

Mark Wilson 21:27

Yeah, I certainly uh I love Jeremy Jones too, and I love John Schmidt on the broadcast because they bring different elements that are it's just if Jeremy and I are together, it's just a bit monotone. Technically, a lot of good things, but as far as the energy, I think it's better with uh another guy that's a little bit higher strung.

Mike Gonzalez 21:48

Yeah. Let me go to another question here. This from Just Play. Can you provide an option not to have commentary on each broadcaster video? However, have all the sounds of the competition. I Breaks, balls pocketed, players talking and the noise of the crowd. Suppose you could.

Pat Fleming 22:05

Be boring. Yeah. Be boring.

Mike Gonzalez 22:08

Yeah.

Pat Fleming 22:09

How about this? Mike Siegel. When he does commentary, he kind of dominates the booth. If Mike is with him, Mike is Mark is the host, and Siegel starts to talk, and you just can't stop him. Okay. Now he gets criticized because he just talks too much. He and he talks over Mark or anybody else he's with. But you can't criticize what he's saying. The guy's a genius at the game and he's proven it. Now you can complain that he's talking so much and brags about himself or does this, but you can't say, well, who'd would who would decide on that stupid shot? No, you can't do that with Mike Siegel. So at the last tournament, I went to Mike and I says, Mike, I said, you know you can't control yourself in a booth and you talk a little bit too much and this and that. That's okay. But tonight you're going to be in the booth alone. Nobody's going to be with you. He says, What are you talking about? I says, You're going to be alone. It's like a radio station, you know. And a radio station doesn't need anybody to talk. He does his own thing. He says, No, I can't do it. I can't do it. I says, You're going to do it. And I walk away. A little bit later, he comes by, he says, Pat, I can't do it. I need somebody in the booth, just somebody to introduce me, maybe, or to just say yes once in a while. Just I need somebody in the booth. I says, Mike, you're not getting anybody. That's it. You're scheduled 9:30. You're in the booth alone. Okay, so he is in the booth alone. And after the match is over, he comes to me and he says, Well, what'd you think? I said, Mike, I've been working my tail off. I didn't listen to the commentary. I'm doing other things. Well, he says, Well, let me tell you, it was great. And he started bragging about all the things he said. He says, I started the commentary like this. I says, Hi, everybody, this is Mike Siegel. If you don't like listening to me do commentary, turn me off. And if you do like it, turn the volume up. That's how he said. Okay. So now I go to my audio man who knows Poole, and he's listening to every word. You know, he's got the headsets on, he's adjusting sound and everything else. And his name is Merlin. I says, Merlin, I says, Siegel did commentary by himself last night. What did you think? He said, It's the best commentary I ever heard. So I said, Wow. And then I go to Julian, who's very critical. You know, if it's not perfect, you know, he'll find a reason to discredit a little bit. Love him. So I says, Julian, okay, you had your headsets on, you watched the match. C goes on alone. How do you think he did? He said, it was great, absolutely great. So Mike is good alone because he's not talking over anybody. And he's telling you exactly what should be done, and it's the truth, it's what should be done. And so that's just a little story about Seagull.

Allison Fisher 25:46

Thank you for listening to another episode of Legends of the Q. If you like what you hear, wherever you listen to your podcast, including Apple and Spotify, please follow, subscribe, and spread the word. Give our podcast a five-star rating and share your thoughts. Visit our website and support our poor history project. Until our next golden break with more Legends of the Cube, so long, everybody.