John Schmidt (born April 12, 1973) is an American

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

player, born in

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

. Specialising in

straight pool Straight pool, which is also called 14.1 continuous and 14.1 rack, is a cue sport in which two competing players attempt to as many billiard balls as possible without playing a . The game was the primary version of pool played in professional ...

, Schmidt held the record for the highest ever made (626), until

Jayson Shaw Jayson Shaw (born 13 September 1990 in Glasgow) is a Scottish pool player. In 2010, Shaw was a WPA World Blackball Champion. In 2016, Shaw won the 25th International Challenge of Champions event. Shaw also appeared representing Europe at the Mo ...

broke that record with a high run of 714 in January 2022. Schmidt won the

U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships The U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship is an annual professional men's nine-ball Pool (cue sports), pool tournament that began in its current form in 1976. The U.S. Open is one of the most sought-after titles in nine-ball and in pool generally. Traditio ...

in 2006 defeating

Rodolfo Luat Rodolfo Luat (born December 8, 1957) is a Filipino professional pool player from Angeles City. He holds many Asian titles and has won a few titles in U.S. Luat turned professional at age 16. He has titles in the Asian Championship and the Philipp ...

in the final. He was also part of the American team at two

Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the Weber ...

s in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Career

John Schmidt was born April 12, 1973 in

. At a young age, he played as a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er, winning tournaments at high school and college. He began playing pool at age 19, but didn't play his first professional tournament until he was aged 27 in 1999. Schmidt won the 2006

US Open 9-Ball Championship The U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship is an annual professional men's nine-ball pool tournament that began in its current form in 1976. The U.S. Open is one of the most sought-after titles in nine-ball and in pool generally. Traditionally, winners of ...

Championship, with a 11–6 victory in the final over

. Schmidt would later go on to win the Dragon 14.1 Tournament in 2012, winning 200–169 against

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 ...

in the final. On May 27, 2019 at Easy Street Billiards in

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, Schmidt defeated the longstanding 14.1 pool record set by

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 ...

in 1954 of 526 with a video-recorded run of 626. Critics have argued that Mosconi's record was made in competition while Schmidt simply set up break shots for himself, and that his video was never released. Schmidt had made a personal best run of 403 balls in 2007, but in 2018, he began a concerted, dedicated effort to defeat Mosconi's record, shooting six to eight hours a day, filming the sessions for verification. Beginning May 8, 2019, the record was his fourth attempt. Mike Panozzo, publisher of ''Billiards Digest'', praised Schmidt's "focus and the perseverance to run 380, and then you miss and start over again." Mosconi's record 526 happened under circumstances somewhat different from those that Schmidt faced. Mosconi, then 40, was competing in an exhibition match with a man named Earl Bruney in

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Having defeating Bruney, he just kept shooting until he reached 526. Schmidt was purely going for the record, with no opponent, starting anew each time he fell short. In similar fashion as Schmidt, the record would be later broken in 2022 by

of Scotland, who ran 669. Filmed at the Derby City Classic, Schmidt ran 112 in straight pool on video by Accu-Stats, sharing many insights on the DVD version. Filmed at TAR Studio on July 13–15, 2012, Schmidt competed in an all-around challenge match against

Corey Deuel Corey Deuel (born November 20, 1977 in Santa Barbara, California) is an American professional pool player from West Jefferson, Ohio. Nicknamed "Prince of Pool", he won the US Open Nine-ball Championship in 2001, and has won many other major titles. ...

in the disciplines of eight-ball, one-pocket, and ten-ball.

Titles and achievements

* 2003

Sands Regency Sands Regency is a hotel and casino located in Downtown Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Jacobs Entertainment. History The Sands Regency opened in the early 1970s by the Cladianos family, with a small hotel and casino. The hotel tower ...

9-Ball Open * 2006

U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship The U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship is an annual professional men's nine-ball pool tournament that began in its current form in 1976. The U.S. Open is one of the most sought-after titles in nine-ball and in pool generally. Traditionally, winners of ...

* 2009

Derby City Classic The Derby City Classic is an annual pool convention and tournament held every January at the Caesars Southern Indiana casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, near Louisville, Kentucky. It is eight days long and offers various disciplines of competition for p ...

One Pocket * 2009 Super

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 ...

Expo Players Championship * 2012

American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship The American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship is a prestigious professional straight pool (also known as continuous 14.1 pool) tournament held in the United States since 2014. It is organized by promoter Peter Burrows. Format The tournament has be ...

* 2012 Dragon 14.1 Tournament * 2019 Breaks the record for the highest run made in 14.1, 626 balls consecutively

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, John Living people 1973 births People from Keokuk, Iowa American pool players Sportspeople from Iowa