ANN ARBOR, MI - If you're upset that the renovated rendition of the Michigan Union on the campus of the University of Michigan won't include its iconic Billiards Room, don't worry. You can still own a piece of the room's hallowed history.
The university is auctioning a few of the pool tables and a stained glass pool table light from the Michigan Union Billiards Room on eBay.
Up for grabs are two Vintage Brunswick Competition pool tables, starting at $500, and a Diamond Billiards Products Pro Am pool table, which currently is up for bid at $2,000. A stained glass, maize and blue overhead light currently is being bid on at $113.
The highest bidders can pick up their items April 20 at University Moving & Storage, 23305 Commerce Drive, Farmington Hills, according to the item descriptions. Potential bidders are encouraged to inspect the tables inside the Billiards Room within the Michigan Union at 530 S. State St.
The Billiards Room is one of most noted features of the Union, which begins undergoing a 20-month, $85 million renovation in May. Located on the second floor of the Union, use of the billiards room has been in significant decline in recent years, UM Senior Director of University Unions and Auxiliary Services Susan Pile said in June 2017, with 3-4 students using the large space per hour on average.
Relocating the tables to another part of the Union and moving the Billiards Room to the Michigan League were considered, Pile said, but ultimately it was determined that the space should be used as a gathering space for students with more modern accommodations.
"We're preserving the wood paneling in there and honoring the tradition of the room, but in a way that meets today's student needs," she said. "That was the place where you gathered as students, but over the years that's declined and they do that in other ways now. We want to restore it while making it a space for students."
According to the university, prior to 1945 pool as it is known today was not the game of choice for cue sport enthusiasts. Prior to that, all the tables in the Billiards Room were 3-cushion billiards tables, which have no pockets. As pool grew in popularity, however, most of the 3-cushion tables were eventually replaced with Brunswick Anniversary 9-foot pocketed tables, like a couple of the tables up for auction.
Many of the classic pool tables purchased in 1945 remain in use today inside the Michigan Union. The Billiards Room added a Brunswick Gold Crown III table in 1995, a Dynamo Tournament Foosball table in 1997 and a Tornado Tournament table in 2002.