
DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705010222

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 18   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: INDOOR EXCURSIONS 

SOURCE: BY DAVE MCCARTER, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:   88 lines

POOL PLAYERS GET IN THE POCKET AT SHUCKER'S PUB

The traditional pool hall gets an Outer Banks shot of beachy atmosphere at Shucker's Pub and Billiards.

An open, inviting place that's been racking up business since 1992, Shucker's provides outstanding tables for players of all skill levels, yummy pizza by the pie or the slice, about 70 different domestic and imported beers and a laid-back atmosphere that's not always the norm in a billiards place.

Shucker's itself forms an interesting isthmus where Far East meets west in the Ocean Side Plaza on the beach road at milepost 9.

Outer Banks Centre for Dance offers karate lessons one door south of the pleasant pool parlor, and you can gorge yourself on fiery foods at the Thai Room restaurant on the other side of Shucker's.

Whether you're a bona-fide pool shark looking for a chum to take to the cleaners, a once-a-year scratch master, or such a novice that ``good leave'' means walking out of a Van Damme movie and ``too much English'' describes your new Oasis CD, everyone seems to get along just fine at Shucker's, says Mark Ballog, who has worked at the pub since it opened.

Play on the pool tables was sporadic but steady enough last week for a pre-May Monday evening, says Ballog, 25, who has ``pretty much run the show'' at Shucker's for the last three years. ``Starting in late May through the end of September, we'll have all our tables going nonstop on Friday and Saturday nights from about 7 p.m. 'til 2 a.m.,'' says the Pittsburgh native and Indiana (Pa.) University marketing graduate.

The entry room at Shucker's is bright and clean, with eight high-top tables perfect for scarfing munchies and draining a few brews. Along with the dozens of bottled beers, five flavors are on tap including Fosters and Killians Red.

A big-screen TV holds down one corner and stays tuned to sporting events. Directly opposite are five pinball machines.

A spate of stools cozy up to the small bar. And a Foosball table stays busy.

To the left of the bar is a room with four smaller, coin-operated pool tables that cost $1 per game. To the right are two spacious rooms with a total of seven full-sized, championship Brunswick tables. The action in these rooms costs $2.50 an hour per person. But the equipment and environment are tough to beat. The green felt looks brand-new on all the tables (``We re-cover them every year and have a table vacuum for them that keeps them in great shape,'' said Ballog). The walls are bright and the carpet is clean. The long light canopies that hang over each table have matching ``Shuckers'' designs on them. The drone of five ``smoke-eaters'' in the ceiling accompanies the Smithereens disc being piped out from the behind-the-bar stereo rack.

The decor is an interesting billiards-by-the-beach kind of thing, with a surfboard on the wall in one room and four different prints showing ``rebel without a cue'' James Dean playing pool in another.

A few of the framed prints integrate neon tubing for an interesting, snazzy touch.

So where are the snaggle-toothed hustlers; the waist-high, suffocating skirts of cigarette smoke; the living incarnations of country music cliches crying in their cans of Pabst; the young guns who bring their cues in carrying cases?

Don't expect to find any of it at Shucker's, says Ballog. The only things in this parlor that would fit in that world are the biker-esque souvenir T-shirts, one of which features a flame-encircled cow skull beneath an eerie, all-seeing, 8-ball eyeball.

``We've got a lot of young people that like to come in and stay late,'' Ballog says. ``Alternative types, I guess you'd say.''

On this Monday, the patrons run the gamut: a group of firefighters from Pittsburgh; several sets of shaggy surfers; an older, well-dressed couple.

No one seems to have a problem with the 10 very specific pool-hall commandments posted in each room (``No profanity,'' ``Please use ash trays to extinguish cigarettes'' to quote just two).

``We have a lot of regulars, and a good late-night crowd,'' Ballog says. ``But we really try to provide a place where couples and tourists can come in and relax and enjoy a few games of pool.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON

Mike Dianna, 23, of Kill Devil Hills, takes a shot at Shucker's Pub

in Kill Devil Hills.

Graphic

RACK 'EM UP!

Several night spots on the Outer Banks have pool tables. Two

cater specifically to billiards and pool players. Prices are charged

by the game or the hour, depending on the place and table.

What: Shucker's Pub and Billiards

Where: Oceanside Plaza, milepost 9 on the beach road in Kill

Devil Hills

When: Daily 1 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Phone: 480-1010