D & R Industries, Inc. began in 1963 as a result of Dennis Ruber’s and Richard Utanoff’s vision (hence the name D & R). With nothing more than a telephone, working out of Richard’s mother’s bedroom in a small apartment in Chicago, Dennis and Richard began an amusement industry parts distribution business.
Through the years, D & R Industries, Inc. went through many changes and expanded into a variety of recreation-oriented businesses, but really found its niche within the billiard industry. After distributing billiard fabrics (along with other billiard supplies) for more than 25 years, it was clear to Dennis Ruber that there was a need for affordable high quality billiard fabrics.
The decision was made to switch from a billiard parts distribution business to become a manufacturer of high quality billiard fabrics. A team consisting of engineers, textile experts and old time billiard people worked together to develop what is now known as the “Championship Line” of billiard fabrics. Manufacturing billiard fabrics since 1990, Championship now sells more billiard fabric than all of its major competitors combined.
The tremendous success of Championship billiard fabrics confirmed the belief that our industry not only wants, but also needs high quality products at affordable prices. With that basic premise in mind, our experts got together to develop a line of high quality, affordable billiard cushions.
Engineers and experts at Championship have been working hard over the last five years to develop the finest billiard cushion rubber in the industry. All their hard work has paid off! Championship, as of 2002, is now a supplier of the most has clearly shown that the accuracy of this product is unmatched. Championship’s cushion rubber can be found on the tables of many of today’s major billiard table manufacturers.
In April of 2011 Championship acquired MBS Group and its brands. DFS Table Covers, Cin-Caro Plastic Parts, and MBS Cushions Rubber. The addition of MBS and their entire staff has put Championship back into the Full Line Distribution Business.
The people at Championship have been proud to be a part of the billiard industry for over 50 years. Today, we provide the finest billiard fabrics, table covers, Silver Cup Chalk, cushion rubber, component parts and accessories the industry has ever known.

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Dennis Ruber
Chairman
Chicago, IL
Hobbies: NBA Junkie, Base Jumping, Hot Air Ballooning, and Sky Surfing
Movie: Sophie’s Choice
TV: NBA Hoops (TV)
Food: Showgun (Book)
Family: Married with 3 daughters, and a Happy Zadie
Favorite Quote: “Live every day as if it were your last”
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Fred Michael Cohen
President
Philadelphia, PA
Hobbies: Fast Pitch Softball, Coaching Football & Baseball, ATVing, Snowmobiling, and working at the Lake House.
Embarrassing Moment: Too many to pick just one. I spent a part of my life in a costume and my job was to embarrass people.
Movie: Remember the Titans
TV: Big Bang Theory
Food: Pizza, Italian
Color: Championship Green
Superhero: My Dad
Champ Cloth: Tour Edition
Best Gift: A repaired heart valve in 1999
Boxers or Briefs: Compression Briefs
Quote: “Son only two things fall out of the sky, Bird crap and idiots, and you are not jumping out of a plane” – My dad.
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Cecilia Hoh
Vice President
Taipei, Taiwan
Hobbies: Travel & Gardening
Favorite Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life
Favorite TV Show: The Big Bang Theory, & Bones
Favorite Food: Italian
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Championship Cloth: Tour Edition
Favorite Quote: “Wherever you go, go with your heart.”
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Mike Serra
Vice President
Chicago, IL
Hobbies: Fishing, snowmobiling, and outdoor anything
Most Embarrassing Moment: Answering this questionnaire
Movie: Dances with Wolves
TV: Duck Dynasty
Food: Italian
Color: Blue
Superhero: None
Champ Cloth: 3030
Gift: The Parker
Boxers or Briefs: Neither
Quote: “It is what it is.”
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Lynndon Ruber
Vice President
Northbrook, IL
Hobbies: Golf and Weightlifting
Embarrassing Moment: While watching the birds on Good Friday, I drove my golf cart into a tree breaking my ribs. Airbags would have saved me.
Movie: Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
TV: The Voice
Food: Blueberry Pie w/Vanilla Ice Cream
Color: Bright Orange
Superhero: Nelson Mandela
Champ Cloth: Tour Edition
Best Gift: “Love”. I get some every day.
Boxers or Briefs: Briefs
Quote: Reason is but a drop of water in an ocean of emotion.
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Seth Novoselsky
Director of Purchasing
Skokie, IL
Hobbies: Coaching my kids sports teams, Being a Mascot, exercise, raising chickens, keeping my family happy.
Embarrassing Moment: On my wedding day, during the vows, I said “till Beth us do part” instead of “death”. Thankfully, I did not date or know any Beth’s so my wife and everyone in attendance got a good laugh.
Movie: Cars
TV: NCIS, Storage Wars, The Soup, Raising Hope, and Big Bang Theory
Food: Pizza & Pasta
Color: Navy Blue
Superhero: The Flash
Champ Cloth: Invitational Teflon 4066
Best gift: For Xmas, I got an autographed Walter Payton football (two weeks after he passed away) from my Wife and In-Laws.
Boxers or Briefs: Actually, Boxer Briefs.
Quote: “Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men, the other 999 follow women.” – Groucho Marx
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Marcel Sabio
Controller
Albay (Bicol), Philippines
Hobbies: Working Out, Kickboxing, Zumba, Traveling
Movie: Forrest Gump and Legends of the Fall
Food: Anything Filipino
Color: Sky Blue
Champ Cloth: Tour Edition
Boxers or Briefs: Briefs
Quote: It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed – Theodore Roosevelt
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Laurie Serra
Sales Coordinator
Niles, IL
Hobbies: Bowling, travel, minimal fishing
Embarrassing Moment: Having your 2 yr old child use a swearword in its proper context in front of a room full of people.
Movie: Singing in the Rain
TV: Glee, Grim, Bones, and Law & Order
Food: Any kind of pasta
Color: Green
Superhero: Sue Storm the Invisble Woman (Fantastic Four)
Champ Cloth: Invitational Teflon 4066
Best Gift: My last car – Mercury Mariner
Boxer or Briefs: Boxers
Quote: 100 years from now it won’t matter what my bank account was, what sort of house I lived in, or what kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.
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Bill Dunne
Senior Sales Executive
Villa Park, IL
Hobbies: Billiards, Motorcycles, RC Nitro
Most Embarrassing Moment: I tried to back flip in the grass as a 5th grader…FAIL!
Movie: The Hustler
TV Show: Any sports
Food: Lasagna
Color: Yellow
Superhero: Skates
Champ Cloth: Tour Edition
Best Gift Ever Received: Daughter
Boxers or Briefs: Boxers
Quote: If you are afraid you’ll make a mistake, you won’t make anything.
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Radmilla Reeves
Sales Executive
Chicago, IL
Hobbies: Shopping & Gardening
Movie: Who has time for movies
TV: Farma & Mala Navesta
Food: Roasted Pork and Tacos
Color Cloth: Euro Blue
Type of Cloth: Tour Edition
Quote: Wait a half hour after eating before getting in the pool.
Superhero: Cat Woman
Best gift: Too many to count
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Boguslawa Slabniak
Data Processing
Jaslo, Poland
Hobbies: Crocheting, Reading, Baking
Favorite Movie: The Thorn Birds
Favorite TV Show: Iron Chef, Dancing with the Stars, Home Improvement
Favorite Color: Blue and Plum
Favorite Championship Cloth: Tour Edition – Euro Blue
Favorite Quote: Stay true to yourself
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Mikey Serra
Product Manager
Park Ridge, IL
Hobbies: “I collect spores, molds, and fungus”
Embarrassing Moment: Walking into a glass door while trying to look cool.
Movie: Chronicles of Riddick
TV: Futurama
Food: Spaghettios and Meatballs
Color: Blue
Superhero: Boba Fett
Champ Cloth: Invitational Teflon 4066
Best gift: Boba Fett Hoody
Boxers or Briefs: Boxer Briefs
Quote: “I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It’s what you do with the gifts of life that determines who you are.” – Mewtwo
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Pilipino Cabael
Warehouse Manager
Philippines
Hobbies: Basketball
Movie: First Blood
TV: Jay Leno
Food: Anything Filipino
Color: White
Superhero: My Parents
Champ Cloth: All of it
Boxers or Briefs: Briefs
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Richard Simon
Senior Consultant
Locust Valley, NY
Movie: Dr Zhivago and A Bronx Tale
TV: Yankee games
Food: Asian
Color: Blue
Superhero: Mickey Mantle
Champ Cloth: Tour Edition
Best Gift: 1st born child
Boxers or Briefs: Briefs
Quote: Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded – Yogi Berra

The mill that produces Championship billiard fabrics is located in Santiago, Mexico, a small city located outside of Mexico City. Built in 1888, the Santiago mill is now owned and run by Martin Urrutia. Martin is the 4th generation of his family to own and run the 540,000 square foot facility where some of the finest textile products in the world are produced.
Originally a flour mill and then a maker of burlap bags, the Santiago mill is now the premier manufacturer of billiard fabrics in North America and a leading supplier of fabrics to the men’s apparel industry.
Part of what makes Santiago superior to any other mill producing billiard fabrics today is its state of the art machinery. Santiago is the only mill to use an active shearing machine and a vacuum decating machine in the finishing of its billiard fabrics.
The active shearing process uses laser beams to shave the fabric on the top and bottom giving Championship fabrics the smoothest playing surface available today. In addition to creating an ultra smooth finish, active shearing practically eliminates the annoying and undesirable pilling that is commonplace in the billiard fabrics of Championship’s competitors.
The vacuum decating machine is the final piece to Championship’s finishing process. While being steamed, a 2,000-pound cylinder presses the fabric. The result of this process is the hardest playing surface of any billiard fabric made today. Because of this hardness, Championship billiard fabrics play faster than the fabrics of their competitors. More importantly, Championship’s hard finish makes its fabrics more resistant to punctures. Fewer punctures or divots in the fabric result in less ball deflection and overall truer playability throughout the life of the fabric. Longer lasting fabric is also a byproduct of these special finishing processes.
The management and workers at Santiago take great pride in the high quality of the fabrics they produce. The greatest care and quality control measures are incorporated to assure the greatest possible consistency in color and quality at all times.
Championship’s exclusive billiard fabric formula, along with Santiago’s pride in craftsmanship and use of state of the art machinery are all combined to produce the best billiard fabrics in the world.
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Stock dyed wool in the raw state before it is made into yarn. |
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Yarn Dyed wool is one of three ways we dye our raw material. |
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The cloth is constantly checked for flaws and when found, are marked for mending. |
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Vacuum Decating
is performed in the finishing process to assure a good, hard surface to play on. |