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 ...
's
hall of fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
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
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as .
There are three major subdivisions of ...
industry.
The year of induction is listed after the name.
1966–1969
*
Ralph Greenleaf
Ralph Greenleaf (November 3, 1899 in Monmouth, Illinois – March 15, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American professional pool and carom billiards player. He was a 19 time World Pocket Billiards Champion, who dominated the sport duri ...
(1966)
*
Willie Hoppe
William Frederick Hoppe (October 11, 1887 – February 1, 1959) (surname rhymes with "poppy"), was an internationally renowned American professional carom billiards champion, who was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America H ...
Welker Cochran
Welker Cochran (October 7, 1897 – July 26, 1960) was an American professional carom billiards player who won world titles in two different disciplines, balkline and three-cushion billiards.
Biography
He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but mov ...
(1967)
*
Alfredo de Oro
Alfredo de Oro (April 28, 1863 – April 22 or 23, 1948) was a Cuban professional carom billiards and pool player who several times held the world title in both three-cushion billiards and straight pool simultaneously. He was posthumously induc ...
Willie Mosconi
William Joseph Mosconi (; June 27, 1913 – September 17, 1993) was an American professional pool player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between the years of 1941 and 1956, he won the World Straight Pool Championship nineteen times. For mo ...
Johnny Layton
Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John (given name), John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly ...
(1974)
*
Frank Taberski
Frank Taberski (1889–1941) was a professional pocket billiards player from Schenectady, New York. Nicknamed "The Gray Fox," he won 14 world titles.
Biography
Taberski was born in 1889, and first made a living by selling milk door to door. H ...
(1975)
*
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 ...
(1977)
*
Irving Crane
Irving Crane (November 13, 1913 – November 17, 2001), nicknamed "the Deacon", was an American pool player from Livonia (near Rochester), New York,Billiard Congress America (1995-2005)BCA Hall of Fame Inductees: 1977 - 1984. Retrieved Nov ...
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.
(1982)
*
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 Carolin ...
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 acknow ...
(1985)
*
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 f ...
(1986)
*
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 ...
(1987)
*
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 wen ...
(1988)
*
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 righ ...
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 four ...
(1991) •
*
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 ...
Eddie Taylor
Eddie Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.
Biography
Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing ...
Dallas West
Dallas West (born 1941, Rockford, Illinois) is an American pool player and was inducted into the Billiards Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1996.
West is known for having a strong competitive spirit and is respected by his peers as being a ...
Buddy Hall
Cecil P. "Buddy" Hall (born May 29, 1945, in Metropolis, Illinois) has been an American professional pool player for four decades and is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. The International Pool Tour heralds Hall as a "liv ...
Raymond Ceulemans
Raymond, Knight Ceulemans (born 12 July 1937) is a Belgian billiards player who won 21 UMB three-cushion World Championship titles, more than any other player. Along with 48 Europea ...
Jim Rempe
James Rempe (born November 4, 1947, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, US) is an American professional pocket billiards (pool) player, and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 2002.
Career
Rempe began playing pool at th ...
(2002)
*
Ed Kelly
Edmond Kelly, also known as "Ed" or "Eddie" and nicknamed the Silver Fox (born October 24, 1948 in Dublin, Ireland), is an Irish-American former soccer player. He played in the American Soccer League and one season in the North American Socc ...
(2003)
*
Efren Reyes
Efren Manalang Reyes (born August 26, 1954), popularly known by the nickname "Bata" (English: "Kid"), is a Filipino professional pool player. Reyes is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. A winner of over 100 inte ...
(2003)
*
Ewa Laurance
Ewa Laurance (formerly Ewa Mataya, February 26, 1964) is a Swedish professional pool player, most notably on the Women's Professional Billiard Association nine-ball tour, a sports writer, and more recently a sports commentator for ESPN. In 2004 ...
Mike Massey
Michael Massey (born April 9, 1947), professionally known as Mike Massey, is an American professional pool player From 1989 to 1991 he served as a contributing editor of '' The Snap Magazine''. Massey was born in Loudon, Tennessee, and for severa ...
Earl Strickland
Earl Strickland (born June 8, 1961) is an American professional pool player who is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. He has won over 100 championship titles and three world titles. In 2006 he was inducted into the Billiar ...
(2006)
*
Sang Lee
Sang Chun Lee ( ko, 이상천; January 15, 1954 – October 19, 2004), most commonly known simply as Sang Lee, was a Korean-born American professional three-cushion billiards player and world champion.
Professional career
Born and raised in Sou ...
(2007)"BCA Hall of Fame 2007 — 51st Inductee: Sang Chun Lee" , Billiard Congress of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; accessed 2 March 2007
* Allen Hopkins (2008)
* Pat Fleming (2008) •
*
Johnny Archer
Johnny Archer (born November 12, 1968 in Waycross, Georgia) is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion" (his zodiac sign is Scorpio, and one of his sponsors is Scorpion Cues). On June 8, 2009, Johnny Archer was nomin ...
(2009)
*
Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher (born 24 February 1968) is an English professional pool and former professional snooker player.
Biography
Fisher was born on 24 February 1968 in Cheshunt and grew up in Tonbridge, Kent and lived later in Peacehaven, East Susse ...
(2009)
2010–2019
*
Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante (born December 29, 1963) is a Filipino professional pool player from Tarlac, Central Luzon and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion, nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the 1966 film of the same name,Terry Bell (2010) •
* Larry Hubbart (2010) •
*
Ralf Souquet
Ralf Souquet ( ; born 29 November 1968) is a German professional pool player. His nickname is "The Kaiser".
Since 1988, he has won more than 200 tournament titles, including 23 Euro Tour titles, 20 European Pool Championship and 12 German Pool C ...
Karen Corr
Karen Corr (born 10 November 1969) is a Northern Irish professional pool and former snooker and English billiards player. She was inducted in the BCA Hall of Fame in 2012.
Early life
Corr was born on 10 November 1969 in Ballymoney, Northern Ir ...
(2012)
*
Jeanette Lee
Jeanette Lee (born Lee Jin-Hee, Hangul: 이진희, July 9, 1971, in Brooklyn, New York) is a Korean-American professional pool player. She was nicknamed the Black Widow by her friends because, in spite of her sweet demeanor, she would "eat peop ...
(2013)
*
Barry Hearn
Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sporting events promoter and the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport.
Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including snooker, darts, pool ...
(2013) •
*
Jose Parica
Jose Parica (born April 18, 1949)"2003 Player Profiles: Jo ...
(2014)
*
Mika Immonen
Mika Immonen (born 17 December 1972) is a Finnish professional Hall of Fame pool player, nicknamed "The Iceman."
Career
Immonen won the 2001 WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deue ...
(2014)
*
Oliver Ortmann
Oliver Ortmann (born 11 June 1967) is a German professional pool player from Gelsenkirchen. Ortmann is a three-time world champion, winning the 1995 WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the 2007 and 2010 World Straight Pool Championship. Ortman ...
Rodney Morris
Rodney Morris (born 25 November 1970 in Anaheim, California, USA) is a professional pool player of Chamorro - Hawaiian descent. Nicknamed "Rocket" he currently resides in Acworth, Georgia. Rodney married his wife Rheyannon in July 2020.
Career
I ...
Alex Pagulayan
Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis.
People
Multiple
* Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people
* Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people
* Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple ...
(2019)
2020–2022
*
Kelly Fisher
Kelly Fisher (born 25 August 1978) is an English professional pool, snooker and English billiards player.
Career
Fisher grew up in South Elmsall, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire. She learned to play pool in her parents' pub and took up snooke ...
(2020)
*
Thorsten Hohmann
Thorsten Hohmann (born 14 July 1979 in Fulda, West Germany) is a German professional pool player, nicknamed "the Hitman." He is a three-time world champion, winning the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 2003, and 2013, and winning the WPA Worl ...
Dennis Orcollo
Dennis Orcollo (born January 28, 1979), is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed " RoboCop" and has been called "The Money-Game King" throughout the Philippines and the United States.
Early life
Orcollo is the second of four brothers. ...
(2022)
References
* "The BCA Hall of Fame" Billiard Congress of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; accessed 11 July 2008