It's time for Positively Kansas coming up.

This Wichita native makes sports history by breaking gender barriers and the world of billiards.

See how she scored an honor that up until now has gone only to men.

Also see what's extra special about this family farm that's poaching business from big industrial operations, producing thousands of eggs the old fashioned way.

And visit an amazing site in western Kansas where reminders of our state's ancient past are everywhere.

I'm Sierra Scott.

We're glad you're here.

Join us for a half hour of information and inspiration right now on Positively Kansas and.

There was a time when women were not even allowed inside pool halls.

Those days had passed by the time Julie Mason Comantini came of age.

But billiards like so many other things, was still dominated by men.

She was a trailblazer in the sport then, and now she's a trailblazer once again.

Chris Frank explains, there was a time when women weren't allowed in pool halls like this.

Now women are not only welcomed, but one of their own is celebrated as a member of the Wichita Pool Players Hall of Fame.

I'm so happy about it.

I'm honored to be part of that.

Julie Mason grew up in Wichita, and her recollection of hers is of club billiards on West Douglas in the Delano neighborhood.

club billiards was actually one of the first pool rooms I'd ever been in because my dad played here.

That was decades ago.

She returns to where she once competed in local tournaments.

So, yeah.

I played a I played a few matches in club billiards.

She didn't make the Hall of Fame by just playing locally.

Mason-Comantini competed across the country.

She's won state titles in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas.

And two many nine ball championships and other titles to list here.

I was very competitive given everything I did.

Very competitive.

Competitive, she says.

In high school sports softball, basketball and tennis.

She didn't even play pool until she was an adult.

Julie started playing pool out of boredom, working at Merle's place at Third and Seneca.

I started working for Merle's bar and I worked during the day and, I couldn't get a quarter to last two seconds in a video game.

So I just started hitting balls and playing pool, and she hit enough of those pool balls to get better and get noticed.

Actually was playing after work one night, and, they played leagues there.

And some of the guys that, played there asked me to play with their team.

So that's how I got started.

Comantini says she was never formally taught, but evidently it was.

I was just natural.

Julie's pool skills increased as she played in local leagues in the 1980s.

It was mainly all I played was leagues, and then I started traveling outside of the city for big, bigger tournaments.

She watched and learned everything.

I learned.

I learned from watching the players.

She was a sponge for pool knowledge, soaking in everything she could learn.

I was I could not get enough.

Julie Mason started getting noticed for her pool skills.

She was even featured as a Hattebergs People back in 1993.

As her pool notoriety grew.

I love Joanne.

Julie Mason is a nationally ranked player in the world of pocket billiards.

She's the only woman from Kansas ever to be ranked.

I picture the ball going in the hall before I shoot it.

I hear it in my mind how it hits the back of the pocket.

Julie Mason has her game face on as she approaches each shot with a focus, determination.

She says 90% of her game is mental.

What intrigued Mason come a tiny back then and even now, is that after each opening break, there is a different table layout for the balls, presenting new geometric angles every time.

You never have the same layout, ever.

Out of all the years I played, I never saw the same layout twice.

You know, it's just brand new all the time.

The former Wichita now lives in Texas, and with her husband, they own and operate a jewelry store in the Dallas Fort Worth Metro.

Com.

Retired from the pro circuit more than 20 years ago.

She hasn't played much in recent years.

You haven't forgotten this game, so admits practicing earlier to prepare for this story.

Shoot.

Actually, I went and practiced a little bit a couple of weeks ago just for the story.

Yeah, just for the story.

Boy, I'm honored.

Well, I didn't want to look too foolish.

She says playing skills decline without constant practice.

It's not like riding a bicycle.

That's for sure.

Now there's a lot of muscle memory involved, and, a lot of, I mean, it's a a full.

I mean, use your whole body.

That's why it's considered a sport and not just a game.

A bit of billiards history.

Now, billiards and pool started from lawn games in northern Europe in the 15th century.

The games played with cue sticks evolved to indoor table games with borders and green cloth simulating the grass.

The games derived from French king Louis the 11th, is said to have had the first table in his mid-15th century palace.

So billiards tables are found in palaces and taverns and everything in between.

Pool didn't always have a good reputation, as the 1962 film The Music Man portrays in the song.

You got trouble.

Yes, you got lots and lots of trouble.

I'm thinking of the kids in the knickerbockers shirt, tail, young ones peeking in the pool hall window.

After school, you got trouble, folks.

Right here in River city.

Trouble with the capital T, and that rhymes with PE.

And that stands for pool.

The younger Julie Mason worked and played in several of the billiards rooms in Wichita 30 plus years ago.

One of those was owned by Terry Young.

Young on the Wichita Game Room rumors for 26 years from 1987 to 2013.

It had ten tables and hosted leagues and tournaments.

Young's name and photos are also on the wall here.

As a Wichita Hall of Fame member.

Young teaches an accredited pool class on the Wichita State University campus.

When I was ten years old in 1961, a movie came out called The Hustler with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason.

So at, at ten years old, I was impressionable.

And it, it made a big influence on my life.

He credits a follow up to that movie titled The Color of Money in the 1980s with Newman and a young Tom cruise starring for getting girls interested in pool.

Rock.

Look, Mr. Fassett, I'm very serious.

Course.

Before you were born.

Right off the bat, I'm laying them to waste.

But it was still a predominantly male sport.

Back when Julie Mason started playing in the 80s and 90s, Julie was making a name for herself in Wichita billiards halls.

To the point men were lining up and putting their names on a list to play her.

One night I had a list of guys on a paper, an actual written list of guys that were waiting to play against me.

Just why I could, I guess because I was a woman.

I guess that's the only thing I can figure.

I mean, I've never heard of that before.

Since I was there, I think there was probably yes, because I was winning.

So the list kept getting longer because they're like, well, I can beat her like, and beat her, you know.

So yeah.

Yeah.

Julie showed the guys.

She could compete in a man's world.

Did you show those guys?

I did, I did.

Yes.

Men were humbled by her playing skills.

I almost felt sorry for them when I would be that, you know, when I would beat them because they got caught so much grief from their friends after.

So plenty of people play it, but not many people take it as a serious sport.

David witnesses who should be considered a serious sport considering how much skill it takes to play pool.

Well.

Went and got the pool Players Hall of Fame established in 2015.

Six Wichita players have been inducted, including Mason commit Jeannie.

She's a professional.

She take.

She took it very seriously when she was a professional.

Very methodical.

I actually played her in a tournament once, and she, she beat me.

Witten says Comet Teenie is a role model, even though she no longer competes at the professional level.

I hope that all females, especially younger ones that play league, see her up on the wall, and they're encouraged by her success and her accomplishments.

As for how popular pool is now, Witten says pool competes for attention with modern activities.

Honestly, smartphones, computers are taking a bite out of the market, so to speak, because young people are more interested in video games and pool.

It didn't used to be that way.

Julie admits it's not as much fun for her to play at a level much below her peak performance.

I don't, and that's one of the reasons that I don't play because I can't put the time in.

When she was playing professionally, she says, there was barely enough money to cover all the travel expenses, so she decided to retire.

Admitting it was difficult to leave the professional circuit.

It was very difficult for me to leave because I didn't feel like I had accomplished what I was.

I set out to do.

Still, she knew it was the right decision because I was.

I was just going to continue to be concerned about the money when I'm trying to compete, and you just can't do that.

She says those money concerns pushed her into a deeper relationship with God.

She says she continues in now.

I think it was the best decision I ever made in my entire life.

I mean, he he's he's taken care of me since then, and it's who Julie is that contributed to her selection to the Hall of Fame.

She was a great choice, excellent player, excellent ambassador.

She represents sports well, represents her gender well.

Represents Wichita, Kansas.

Well, so couldn't have been, you know, great choice.

Just a great choice.

So you ready to go pro again?

Sometimes I think about it, but then I think that's what I mean when you do that.

That's it.

Eat, drink, sleep and live it.

So there's no life outside of it because the players that are on the television are playing all the time.

And if you want to be competitive, there's only one way to do that.

And pool.

She has her trophies, plaques and memories of her professional playing days, and now she has her place in this Hall of Fame.

I am so honored to be up there, and I was really shocked when they called me and to tell me that I had been voted in.

She's a first in the hall and a barrier breaker for other women players to follow.

This is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

At one point, Mason was ranked 24th in the world, competing against the top female players.

Now to the small town of Inman, where there's a lot of egg site men over a family farming operation, raising chickens and producing your own eggs is nothing unusual in Kansas, but doing it the way the Nicolle family does sure is, as Anthony Powell shows us.

When Tim Niccol and his family started their company, T.J. poultry, in 2019, they relied on 900 chickens to produce farm fresh eggs for their Chicken Track Eggs brand.

Five years later.

The business has grown so much.

That 19,000 high line brown birds now lay eggs.

Lots of eggs.

So we get about 17,300 eggs per day.

As you might imagine, this is a very labor intensive, time consuming business.

So why did the Niccol family get in?

It?

They saw a niche.

Theirs is the only one selling the homegrown eggs to grocery stores and restaurants in all of Kansas.

TJ poultry success has also meant expense.

The business outgrew the farm where it started.

And in 2023, operations moved into this state of the art facility where the eggs are processed and then stored for delivery.

Tim Nicole knew the move was necessary, but the big investment was also scary.

Man, I was either brave or dumb.

Either one.

Maybe both.

Another expense was this delivery truck which transports the eggs now branded the local yolk to dozens too many to name of well-known grocery stores and restaurants, even a few colleges all over south central Kansas.

Tim has grown his customer base the old fashioned way with face to face meetings.

I usually try to hit 1 or 2 new places, you know, and a lot of times we get no.

It's hard to compete with big name food supply companies that can offer bulk discounts.

But Tim also has a big advantage.

It's the freshness.

He knows that if he can get in front of a potential customer.

Have them see the rich yolk color, then have a taste.

He's got a shot.

Tim got a big break when he got his eggs here into Wichita, his famed doodad diner.

The already incredible food made even more so by the farm.

Fresh eggs.

One second.

How we're going to get the incredible.

Tim tried to get into the Duke's Diner for several years, but he couldn't meet the demand.

It.

I got through about 7500 eggs a week, 8000 eggs a week.

I go, do you have that?

He goes, no, I don't.

Not right now, but I'll get it.

And he eventually did.

And Duda became a very happy new customer.

Pancakes are fluffier.

scrambled eggs are obviously fluffier.

just anything that's got eggs in it is just, I mean, intensified.

It's just so much better than it was to.

Mickel says those kind of complements have become more and more common over the years.

I had a man at church that come up to me and told me, says Tim, an egg is an egg.

Your eggs are no better than anyone else's.

And I was just smiled and was quiet.

And about three months later he came up to me and said that, I got an apology to make.

He said, we've been buying your eggs and they're a lot better.

But it's not just the eggs people appreciate.

They also like supporting a Kansas family, working long, hard hours to succeed.

Sometimes his wife delivers.

sometimes his daughter delivers, and, and that's really, really neat because that's what we're all about is trying to buy local and be family.

And with more and more businesses feeling the same way, the nickle family keeps pushing on overcoming the hurdles small businesses face to deliver farm fresh goodness all over south central Kansas in Inman, Kansas.

I'm Anthony Powell for Positively Kansas.

Tim Nicholls says the goal is to eventually grow the business to neighboring states.

But for now, Kansas is keeping them plenty busy enough.

Now for a walk on the wild side.

This week, Mike Blair takes us on a trip to one of our state's most fascinating natural landmarks.

Way out there in western Kansas, where the ridge lines run forever.

And the land seemed sometimes ready to just give up and turn to desert.

You might think there's nothing to see.

You.

But you'd be wrong.

Hardy.

Life is waiting.

There in shallow draws and chalky badlands.

And here and there, special geological formations stand as iconic landmarks known throughout the Midwest.

One of these is Castle Rock.

Located south of Clinton, Kansas.

This three headed tower of Niobrara Chalk breaks from a flat, grassy sea.

It's a strange reminder that Kansas was once covered by ocean.

Castle Rock and the beautiful chalk outcroppings known as hoodoos that stretch away to its south, tell a story of prehistoric dimensions.

A massive die off of tiny shelled creatures settled to form bottom sludge.

As the sea dried up.

This gradually hardened into the soft, chalky bedrock now underlying the prairie.

Eons of river action have cut and sculpted the chalk in various places, decorating the landscape with strange physical wonders.

Castle Rock has another famous cousin about 30 miles to the west, on the open prairie south of Oakley Monument rocks.

Or is there sometimes known the chalk pyramids is a National Natural Landmark or rising from the flat high plains.

Made of the same stuff as Castle Rock.

This geologic array includes several sets of arches and towers that jut from level ground.

They are about 70ft tall.

Monument Rock's impressive features are further marked by the famous hole in the wall, a natural frame for the vast prairie surrounding the formation.

Pronghorn sometimes wander close, adding interest to this fascinating place.

Both locations are unspoiled by fences and power lines, offering looks that are basically unchanged from a hundred years ago.

The visit is to see first hand the Kansas outdoors, as it's always been.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Kansas.

Next time Mike reports on the migration of the monarch butterflies.

Melissa Spielman of Newton is a long time collector of dolls, and now she's creating dolls that are amazingly lifelike.

They're really something to see and touch if you get the chance.

Photojournalist Ogden Harry shows us.

I when I sculpt here, it's so quiet.

I'm inspired by the greatest artist there is.

And that's God.

So I don't I don't see myself as the potter.

I see me very much as the clay working on the clay.

These pieces, they they have a cuddle factor.

And it's a it's calming.

You can't help but just sway a little or pat their bottom or something.

This one's one of my favorites.

They move, they fold.

You have to be gentle like your eyes.

You're holding a baby just to see them all come together.

The finishing of it all.

It's just.

It's awesome.

It's a form of art that you can, cuddle and, change and, interact with.

So you have to support the head.

It's a cute weighted blanket.

Holding a baby releases a hormone called oxytocin.

Yes, a stress relieving hormone.

We like the realism, the real feel and everything.

I always like painting, and doing the art that way.

But I didn't know that I was going to be able to do something like that.

Like the circumference of the head and the feet.

And how long a newborn is.

So the age I'm going for, I can go to the human proportion calculator, type it all in.

I've always loved dolls on my life, and, I started making my own painting.

Vinyl.

Thank you.

Really do connect to your inner child when you're doing art here.

So I'm fairly new to sculpting.

I didn't even take art in high school.

So my third attempt going based off my photos here, it takes me about, a month or two to sculpt a doll, and then it takes me about, a couple weeks to paint whether the doll comes out of the oven successfully or not, it's either a blessing or lesson.

So I learn either way.

Just like life.

I mean, you learn as you go.

I mean, there's no rulebook.

You're just.

You're just learning.

And you got to make mistakes to learn from those mistakes.

This is my very first sculpture, and I named it Neil after my husband.

And, I sculpt that each piece individually baked it.

I give them all, a little heart that says Ephesians 320.

So they each get a Spillman Sweeney's belly button as well.

And then here's their hair, one strand painted at a time.

You want to make them look as realistic as possible.

So I pick out certain features I want.

I, study a lot of pictures of real babies.

I want to create a touchable memory.

That's what art supposed to do is create a feeling, resonate with someone.

These unusual dolls aren't for sale.

At least not yet.

Spielman says she plans to make them available as therapy tools for Alzheimer's patients.

Well, that's a wrap for this week.

Positively Kansas at KP Tso art G is our email address.

If you have a question, comment or story idea, I'm Cierra Scott.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you again soon.