Rick Averill sees the pool table differently than most people. His career as a mechanical engineer allows him to draw up creative shots in his head that others might not have considered.
Averill’s creativity led him to new heights back in mid-August, as he won a gold medal in the 2025 Massachusetts Senior Games for his age group (70-75) in his first-ever appearance in the tournament.
The Northampton native and Westhampton resident picked up pool over 50 years ago, and it’s stuck with him ever since.
“Being an engineer, I have a visual, graphic kind of imagination,” Averill said. “I’m a mechanical designer kind of guy, so this whole business of visualizing things makes this sport wonderful, and makes it kind of easy for me.”
Averill played pool in college during his time at Syracuse, UMass and Springfield Technical Community College — the dozen tables in his first dormitory’s basement are to be thanked for inspiring his initial interest. He often went down and played with his friends, and quickly took a liking to it.
There were periods of time for Averill where he didn’t play as much simply because of life’s happenings; he worked full-time, he bought a house that needed fixing, he got married and had children. But once he had time for it again, Averill picked it back up following a decade-plus long drought from the sport.
And now, he’s one of the best in the state for his age group.
Averill plays at the Northampton Senior Center, Easthampton Senior Center and in a league on Wednesday nights in Holyoke. He’s always looking for an excuse to head over to the tables and compete against his buddies whenever he can.
“I have a regular life, so I don’t play every day,” Averill said. “But if my wife has an activity, or she’s going to meet with friends or something, I’ll say, ‘Well, if you’re going to go do that, I’ll go down and play pool.’ I’d say I play every other day or so. I’m in a pool league that plays down at Ivory Billiards in Holyoke, so that’s really fun.”
The key to success on a pool table, according to Averill, seems straightforward — but is rather difficult. Control the cue ball, control the game. That’s his advice to people playing pool, and is something Averill succeeds at. It’s not always about the current shot being taken, it’s about setting up the next one.
It’s not just your typical game of 8-ball pool that Averill plays time and time again, either. He tries all kinds of different variations, including one pocket, bank pool, straight pool and a handful of others. He often goes over a friend’s house with a group of his peers to play one pocket, a challenging modification that requires four teams — each one assigned a corner pocket where all of their balls must go.
What originally started out as a college kid with a curiosity for the game of pool turned into a man with a lifelong passion where he has met some of his best friends.
On top of that, Rick Averill is now a gold medalist.
“I had spent my work life, like many people, working,” Averill said. “And my work people were my social life, people I talk to every day and have coffee with and what not. But when you retire, you’re unhooked from that and you don’t really have a social outlet. The good thing about playing pool, is it’s really nice to be able to hang out and do something everybody enjoys in a social setting. It’s a brotherhood.”
