Looking around the Hilton Anatole’s Imperial Ballroom as it glowed in delicious blue floodlights on Saturday November 12, guests at the 2016 Billiard Ball ‘fessed up that it had been a long week. First there had been the time switcheroo due to the end of Daylight Savings Time. Then there was that all-night Tuesday awaiting the presidential election results, plus three nights of fundraising events throughout North Texas including Veteran’s Day celebrations.
But the long haul’s finish line Saturday for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas‘s 2016 Billiard Ball was well worth it. The former indoor tennis courts had never looked so dazzling, with no fewer than five billiard tables in one quadrant and two stages for bands, with one in the front of the room and a second midway. Table clothes carried out the evening’s theme: a “Solids and Stripes Soiree.”
As a jazz group provided background music, guests at the cocktail reception gathered around BGCD President and CEO Charles English, Holly and Jim Trester with their daughter Christina Trester, Ball Chairs Laura and Dennis Moon, and Lifetime Achievement award recipients Helen and Clint W. Murchison III.
Asked whether he was a big supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs, attendee Frederick “Shad” Rowe commented, “I’m a big supporter of Clint’s!”
Not far away, Wendy and Boyd Messman were chatting about their recent, nine-day trip to Rio de Janiero—”There were no bugs and no crime; we loved it,” Boyd said—just as Carol and Scott Murray joined the party. Scott, who’s on the BGCD board, relayed that he was in the midst of a whirlwind of charity work. Seems he had just emceed, or was getting set to emcee, a great number of nonprofit events on both sides of the Metroplex, for causes ranging from military veterans to cancer research.
Following dinner—crab bisque, filet of beef au poivre, potato rosti, bananas foster and vanilla ice cream were on the menu—a live auction was scheduled to raise funds for the local Boys & Girls Clubs, which currently serve 2,200 youth per day across Dallas. Items listed to be sold included a Dallas Stars Package, an Argentina Dove Hunt, a Customized Billiard Table, and a trip to Los Cabos. The evening was to conclude with dancing, a casino, and—of course—more billiards.
To top off the evening, guests took home cake pops ala stripes and balls.