Johnny Archer (born November 12, 1968 in Waycross, Georgia) is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion" (his

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pa ...

sign is Scorpio, and one of his sponsors is Scorpion Cues). On June 8, 2009, Johnny Archer was nominated to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.

Early days

Archer grew up with his two brothers and two sisters in Twin City, Georgia, and began playing pool at the age of 12.

Career

He is one of the most successful

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle o ...

players of the 1990s and 2000s, having won the majority of the game's major tournaments at least once, culminating in his being named ''Billiards Digest'' Player of the Decade at the end of the 1990s. Archer is a two-time WPA World Nine-ball Champion, winning in both 1992 when he defeated Bobby Hunter, and later again in 1997 after beating Lee Kun-fang of

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by the ...

(

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

). He was also a runner-up the following year, losing in the final to Kunihiko Takahashi of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. He was the 1999 US Open champion, and has won over 100 professional tournaments throughout his career. He has also been a regular on the US Mosconi Cup team, having joined them a record seventeen times, winning on nine of those occasions. In 2003, one of Archer's most successful years, he won tournaments such as

Sudden Death Seven-ball ''Sudden Death Seven-ball'' (also known as ''ESPN Sudden Death Seven-ball'' for promotional purposes) was an annual pool tournament (and television show) held in the United States; it was broadcast on and sponsored by ESPN. ''SDSB'' was the most n ...

and the first World Summit of Pool. Archer also won the 2006 US$50,000 winner-take-all International Challenge of Champions by defeating

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 Wor ...

in the finals. In 2007, he won the

Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship The Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship was a short-lived pool tournament held in the US. It was promoted by Allen Hopkins Productions and Billiards International. Eight chosen players compete in this event. Like the Skins Billiards Championship, ...

. While in the 2005 event the entire purse was awarded to the winner, in the 2007 event the purse was split."2005 Texas Hold'em Billiards Shootout"
, at ''AZBilliards''"Johnny Archer Wins 2007 Texas Hold Em Billiards"
, at ''AZBilliards'' The ''

Ripley's Believe It or Not! ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' fea ...

'' television show, on September 3, 2003, pitted Archer and Jeremy Jones against each other in a challenge match in

speed pool Speedball, also called speed pool, is a solitary pool game. As its name suggests, one all the pool balls on the table as quickly as possible. It can be played competitively with the aid of a stopwatch. Rules *The must not be in motion when sh ...

. The show had them timed against each other, to try to beat the record, which at that time stood at 1 minute 30 seconds to a full of balls and then pocket all fifteen balls, and then move to another table and do it again. Archer was the victor. The event was recorded in a warehouse in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

where other challenge matches were also taking place to beat records. Archer rejoined the staff of ''Inside Pool Magazine'', where he writes a monthly instruction column. For 2007, he was ranked #3 in ''Pool & Billiard Magazine'''s "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.

Titles and achievements

Personal life

Archer lives in Acworth, Georgia with his wife Melanie and two children. He's an avid

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, and ascribes his strong pool break to playing a lot of

, noting similarities in having the timing right and using one's whole body in the stroke.Archer Interview
, October 2, 1999, ''AzBilliards.com''. Retrieved August 5, 2007

References

External links

Archer's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Johnny American pool players 1968 births Living people People from Waycross, Georgia World champions in pool WPA World Nine-ball Champions