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BCA Hall Of Fame
This is the list of people inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's hall of fame to honour outstanding people who, through their competitive skills and dedication, have enriched the sport and industry. Two categories have been established in the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame. The "Greatest Player" category is awarded for outstanding players who must be 40 years of age or older, have been active professionals for at least 10 years and have recorded significant achievements in national or international competition recognized by the BCA. The "Meritorious Service" category (•) is awarded for those who have made lasting, memorable and important contributions to the game or the billiards industry. The year of induction is listed after the name. 1966–1969 * Ralph Greenleaf (1966) * Willie Hoppe (1966) * Charle Peterson (1966) • * Welker Cochran (1967) * Alfredo de Oro (1967) * Ben Nartzik (1967) • * Jake Schaefer Sr. (1968) * Jake Schaefer Jr. (1968) * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billiard Congress Of America
The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory, and Mexico, though often classified as part of North America geographically, are both instead members of the Latin-American Confederación Panamericana de Billar (CPB) instead. It was established under this name in 1948 as a non-profit trade organization in order to promote the sport and organize its players via tournaments at various levels. The BCA is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado.''Billiards: The Official Rules and Records Book''. 2008. Colorado Springs: Billiard Congress of America. The voting members of the organization are mostly equipment manufacturers. The BCA publishes an annual rule and record book that incorporates the WPA world standardized rules for games such as nine-ball, eight-ball, ten-ball and straight pool, as well as rules for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Caras
James Caras (17 December 1908 – 3 December 2002) was an American professional pool player, most well known for winning five World Pocket Billiard Titles between 1935 and 1949. After a 12-year hiatus, Caras would return to cue sports, and win the U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship in 1967 at the age of 58. Caras would be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1977. Caras is also known for inventing trick shots, as well as producing books, such as ''Pocket billiard fundamentals and trick shots made easy'' in 1969. and ''Trick and Fancy Shots in Pocket Billards'' in 1966. Titles * 1935 NBAA World Straight Pool Championship * 1936 NBAA World Straight Pool Championship * 1938 NBAA World Straight Pool Championship * 1938 NBAA World Straight Pool Championship * 1949 BCA World Straight Pool Championship * 1967 BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship * 1967 Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame This is the list of people inducted into the Billia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Varner
Nick Varner (born May 15, 1948, in Owensboro, Kentucky) is an American pool player who was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1992. Varner is a world champion and has won back to back U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, in addition to winning the 1999 WPA World Nine-ball Championship at 51 years old. Career Nick D. Varner graduated from Tell City High School in Tell City, Indiana in 1966. Varner learned to play pool in his father's (Nick Varner) pool hall in Grandview, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Varner gained notoriety on the professional pool scene after he won two ACU-I Intercollegiate Championships while attending Purdue University and playing "money games" at an on campus pool room called "The Hole". A cliché given to Varner was "Speak softly and carry a big stick" because of the way he conducted himself as well as his competitive endeavors. In 1989, Varner became only the second man to Mike Sigel, to earn over $100,000 in prize win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Tevis
Walter Stone Tevis (February 28, 1928 – August 9, 1984) was an American novelist and short story writer. Three of his six novels were adapted into major films: '' The Hustler'', '' The Color of Money'' and '' The Man Who Fell to Earth''. A fourth, '' The Queen’s Gambit'', was adapted into a miniseries with the same title and shown on Netflix in 2020. His books have been translated into at least 18 languages. Life and career Tevis was born in San Francisco, California, in 1928 to Anna Elizabeth "Betty" (née Bacon) and Walter Stone Tevis, an appraiser, growing up in the Sunset District, across the street from Golden Gate Park. His sister, Betty, was born in 1925. He developed a rheumatic heart condition, so his parents placed him in the Stanford Children's Convalescent home (and given heavy doses of phenobarbital), for a year, during which time they returned to Kentucky, where the Tevis family had been given an early land grant in Madison County. Walter traveled across cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Sigel
Michael Sigel (born July 11, 1953) is an American professional pool player nicknamed "Captain Hook." He earned the nickname from his ability to hook his opponents with safety plays. Sigel has the ability to shoot pool both left-handed and right-handed and has a high run of 339 balls in Straight Pool. Mike Sigel is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. In the year 2000, Sigel was voted "Greatest Living Player of the Century" by Billiards Digest Magazine. Early life Sigel is Jewish, and was born in Rochester, New York. His mother Ruth was aggravated with him at times, because as she said "he wouldn't go to Hebrew school because he was too tired from playing pool nights." Professional career Sigel has won over 100 professional pool tournaments in his career, making him one of the most successful players of all time winning pocket billiard championship's, in Straight pool and Nine-ball. Including 4 World Straight Pool Championship titles, 3 U.S. Open Ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Ponzi
Andrew Ponzi (January 20, 1903–April 11, 1950) was an American pool player and world champion. Biography Andrew Ponzi was born Andrew D'Allesandro in Philadelphia. As a boy, he injured his right hand as a result of a trolley mishap. He went on to improve it by practicing pool. At 16, D'Allesandro was already a skilled player who won numerous money matches. By that time, the infamous swindler, Charles Ponzi, was in the press. Thus friends gave him the nickname Ponzi. In 1934, Ponzi won his first world pool title by defeating Erwin Rudolph. Ponzi won the world title again in 1940 by besting Jimmy Caras. In 1943, Ponzi won his third world championship, subduing Willie Mosconi. He won the world title for the fourth and final time by defeating Irving Crane that same year. He suffered a heart attack while participating in a tournament in 1950. He died two weeks later at age 47. Ponzi was inducted in the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame This is the list of people i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erwin Rudolph
Erwin Rudolph (December 30, 1893 - May 19, 1957) was an American pocket billiards player from Cleveland, Ohio and a five-time world champion. One of his great feats was running 125 points in 32 minutes (now eclipsed). Biography Rudolph was born on December 30, 1893, in Cleveland, Ohio.Erwin Rudolph in the World War II draft registration working for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company He gained national recognition in 1926 when he won the world pocket billiard title, besting Ralph Greenleaf, who held it for six years. Rudolph won the championship again in 1933, a third time in that same year and for the fourth and final time in 1941. His best run in straight pool was 277. He then went to work for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company. Rudolph died on May 19, 1957, in Sayre, Pennsylvania Sayre is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the principal city in the Sayre, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It lies 18 miles southe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Butera
Lou Butera (May 15, 1937 – June 25, 2015) was an American professional pool player (then retired and operated a pool hall) and an inductee into the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1986. His nickname, "Machine Gun Lou", derives from his stunning the crowd and fellow competitors by 150-and-out in straight pool in under 30 minutes against his opponents. He gained exposure to the masses in 1981 and 1982 when he appeared in network trick shot competitions on CBS and ABC. Early life When Lou was seven years old, his mother passed away. His father, who owned a billiard room, had Lou come directly to the business after school each day. Lou would do his homework then play pool until he and his father went home. His early idol was Irving Crane, a pool player from Binghamton, NY. Career Lou earned his famous nickname, from setting the world record for fastest run out, in an exhibition against Luther Lassiter he ran 150 balls in straight pool in just 19 minutes. Throug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Balukas
Jean Balukas (born June 28, 1959) is an American pool player from Brooklyn, New York, and ranks among the stellar players in the history of the sport. At least through the 1990s, when Allison Fisher began her ascendancy, Balukas was widely acknowledged as the sole candidate for greatest female player ever.The New York Times Company (February 3, 1992)Clean Poolby Allessandra Stanley. Retrieved March 25, 2008.New York Woman Magazine (1991)by Mary Bruno. September 1991 issue. Retrieved May 8, 2007. Described as a "trailblazer, a child prodigy, a loner who rebelled against dress codes for women—the pool equivalent of Billie Jean King", she is a five-time Billiards Congress of America (BCA) Player of the Year, was the youngest inductee into the BCA Hall of Fame and the second woman given the honor, and was ranked fifteenth on ''Billiard Digest's'' Fifty Greatest Players of the [20th] Century. Balukas was considered a prodigy, coming to the public's attention first at 6 year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolph Wanderone
Rudolf Walter Wanderone ( né Rudolf Walter Wanderon Jr.; January 19, 1913 – January 15, 1996), Includes three photos of his grave marker; provides birth and death dates, and legal surname spelling. Provides surname spelling without the terminal "e", name with "Jr.", age of 7 as of 1920, mother's name as "Rosa" or "Rose", New York City residence. Copy is poor; data columns verified by comparison tlegible blank 1920 census form Census-taker's handwriting poor as well, but "e" clearly absent. ''Note:'' Full details of search results, including scan of document, only available to site subscribers, but original document on file in US National Archives. commonly known as Minnesota Fats, was an American professional billiards player. Although he never won a major pool tournament as "Fats", he was at one time perhaps the most publicly recognized pool player in the United States—not only as a player, but also as an entertainer. Wanderone was inducted in 1984 into the Billiard Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luther Lassiter
Luther Clement Lassiter, Jr. (November 5, 1918 – October 25, 1988),MyFamily.com Inc. (1998-2006)U.S. Social Security Death Index Search Retrieved December 5, 2006 nicknamed Wimpy, was an American pool player from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The winner of 7 world pocket billiard championships and numerous other titles, Lassiter is most well known for his wizardry in the game of nine-ball at which he is widely considered one of the greatest players in history,The New York Times Company (2001). Obituaries sectionLuther Lassiter, 69, Billiards Star Who Captured Six World Titles By the Associated Press, October 27, 1988. Retrieved December 5, 2006.Billiard Congress America (1995-2005)BCA Hall of Fame Inductees: 1977 - 1984. Retrieved November 22, 2006. He was inducted into the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1983. That same year, he was also inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He was ranked number 9 on the ''Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Balsis
Joseph (Joe) Balsis (born 1921, Minersville, Pennsylvania, died January 2, 1995, Minersville), nicknamed "the Meatman", was an American professional pool player, who was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1982."Hall of Fame Inductees, 1977-84" , Billiards Congress of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; accessed February 2, 2007 Career Early life Joe grew up playing in the of his father, John, whose business was in the sale of meat. At an early, Balsis was deemed skilled enough by age 11 to play |
