Senior Airman, Davis Lastrapes is a member of the United States Air Force. He was previously in the U.S. Army. He’s been stationed at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia for about a year now and is scheduled to be there for at least another five years. Davis has been an APA member for about two years now—and in that time, has accomplished a lot! Recently, Lastrapes won the Blue Tier (SLs 2-3) of the 8-Ball Classic at the 2010 APA National Singles Championships—taking home $15,000 in cash and prizes!

“It was one of my biggest accomplishments ever,” Lastrapes said about winning the event. “It was my first time ever winning anything. It let me know that anything is possible, even for me. Being determined made up for being a newer member with less experience.”

Davis is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in September. When he found out about the deployment, he tried his best to qualify for Regionals so he could go to Vegas before leaving. He more than succeeded in that!

“While playing on my team one night out of Action Billiards, a homeless guy told me to do the things I love with all my heart. I took his advice,” Lastrapes said.  “I borrowed a book from my Team Captain, got tips from good players and started practicing more. Well, thank to God my dreams came true. When I qualified for Nationals, I focused on the basic fundamentals of pool. Soon I was in 9th Place, 5th Place, 3rd Place, then your 1st Place Champion!!!”

He first started playing pool just 2 ½ years ago. He and his wife went shopping for a dining room table and found a reasonably priced pool table for their dining room instead. He’s been playing ever since! Davis says there are two good pool tables on base, and are free to play on. So, this allows him to practice and play against others on non-League nights. He first got involved with the APA by seeing a poster in a bar.