Mosconi Junior
With the well-documented success of the Mosconi Cup and the emergence of the Queens Cup, it was only a matter of time before international team clashes reached the junior ranks.
Enter the Atlantic Challenge Cup, an event recently announced by the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) and the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF). As with the Mosconi Cup, which pits players from the United States against a team of European stars, the Atlantic Challenge Cup will be a transatlantic clash. Four boys and two girls will represent Team USA and Team Europe at the inaugural Challenge, which will take place July 1-4, in Rankweil, Austria. Players must be 19 or younger.
“The future of the game lies in our ability to develop tomorrow’s players,” said BCA Chairman Mike Serra. “The prestige of competing in an event of this magnitude will further promote the game to today’s youth.”
Europe, through the EPBF, already enjoys a strong youth program, and EPBF officials suspect the addition of the Atlantic Challenge Cup will further fuel the efforts.
“We expect the desire from the players wanting to be included into the team will be very strong and will further increase the standard within pool,” said EPBF President Gre Leenders. A seven-person committee, chaired by longtime instructor and referee Rick Doner, was assigned by the Billiard Education Foundation to select the U.S. squad The committee included players Jeanette Lee, Johnny Archer and Laura Smith, along with instructor Randy Goettlicher, instructional author Phil Capelle and longtime tournament director Earl Munson, who will also serve as coach and captain for Team USA. The BCA was expected to announce the Team USA members on May 4.
Meanwhile, the EPBF announced its roster, which will include Germany’s Joshua Filler and Raphael Wall, each of whom earned a pair of gold medals at the 2014 Youth European Championships. Maxim Dudanets of Russia, currently ranked 34th on the Euro Tour, will also participate, as will Sweden’s Daniel Tanguud. Youth Euro Championships silver medalist Marharyta Fefilava of Belarus and youth 8-ball champion Kristina Tkach of Russia will round out the squad.
While details have yet to be determined, the four-day event is expected to be a race to 11.
Black Widow & Barry Hearn BCA HOF Bound
Jeanette Lee
Lee, 41, will enter the Greatest Players wing of the BCA Hall of Fame, while Hearn, 65, will be honored for Meritorious Service. Both will be formally inducted during ceremonies on December 2, 2013, at the Mirage Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas.
In the closest Hall of Fame voting ever, Lee edged Finnish star Mika Immonen in a special runoff election. The two champions were tied after the initial ballots were submitted. In the runoff, Lee and Immonen went head to head, where Lee surpassed her male contemporary by just two votes.
Lee Enters into WPBA Hall of Fame
Lee continues to balance life as a top professional player and personality with a bustling home life. (Photo by Anne Craig)
Taking the sport by storm in the mid-’90s, Lee best year came in 1998 when she was named WPBA Sportsperson of the Year and BD Player of the Year. In 2001, Lee was crowned as the World Games Gold Medalist and continued her success in 2003 by clenching the Tournament of Champions title. As she accumulated tournament victories, Lee quickly ascended to No. 1 in the world.
“Being inducted into the WPBA Hall of Fame is one of the greatest honors a player can receive,” said Lee. “It’s a part of history, and to be voted on and recognized in this way by my peers on the tour means so much to me. While I do feel I’ve contributed to this sport, I still want to continue to bring new eyes to the game and help it grow. Thank you to the WPBA and ESPN for giving me the platform to do so, and I thank God, my family, friends, sponsors, past and present, and of course, my fans, for being there through it all.”
As the most recognized face in billiards, Lee has been consistently ranked as one of the most powerful people in the sport by Billiards Digest. Lee is currently working to reclaim her rank as the No. 1 billiards player in the world, all while raising a family of six with her husband, George Breedlove, near Indianapolis, Ind.
Jeanette Lee is a player representative for the American Poolplayers Association, the world’s largest pool league. Among her mentors are the late Gene Nagy, pros Tony Robles, Bob Carman, Jerry Briesath, and Mark Wilson. Said Jeanette, “There are so many others that I have learned from, I want them all to know they were and are appreciated but these names are the ones that I have spent the most time with and really molded my love of the game, in both knowledge, fundamentals and winning attitude!”
Archer’s At It Again
After winning the International Challenge of the Champions one week prior in Uncasville, Conn., Johnny Archer continued his streak at the Joss Tour’s Turning Stone Classic VII, held Aug. 17-20 at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y.
The final match was a marathon that lasted into Monday morning, as Archer defeated Santos Sambajon, 13-9, to top the 128-player field.
Sambajon took the hot seat on Sunday afternoon with a 9-5 win over Archer, but Archer overpowered Shawn Putnam, 9-3, on the one-loss side to earn the rematch with Sambajon in the finals. Putnam settled for a third- place finish with Jerry Slivka finishing in fourth. Karen Corr and Jeanette Lee proved their prowess, each turning in a fifth-place finish.
Archer earned $8,000 for first place while Sambajon settled for $5,300. Putnam took home $3,800 and Slivka pocketed $2,700 for fourth place.
Check out the October issue of Billiards Digest for in-depth coverage.
Hatch and Davis: Star-crossed Players in Fair Verona
The second Joss Turning Stone Classic of the year is under way at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y., with 128 players fighting for a piece of the $25,000-added prize fund.
The star-studded field includes Marlon Manalo, Ralf Souquet, Johnny Archer, Dennis Hatch, Mike Davis, Shawn Putnam, Karen Corr, Ryan McCreesh, Keith McCready, Jeanette Lee, Allen Hopkins, George Breedlove and Santos Sambajon.
One of the field’s two top players will be banished to the one-loss side today, Aug. 17, as Mike Davis and Dennis Hatch will duel in the first round.
Corr Pulls Ahead of the Pack
Karen Corr is on a roll. Last month at the Florida Classic, she knocked off Allison Fisher in the final, and this month, at the Midwest Classic, she defeated the other Fisher, Kelly, in a final that tested the bladder control of many an audience member. With three titles so far in the 2006 season, Corr has left both Fishers, who have a title apiece, in the dust for the Player of the Year race.
Nine of the tour’s top players competed in the International Pool Tour’s North American Open just days before the Midwest Classic commenced at the Par-a-dice Hotel and Casino in Peoria, Ill. Sarah Ellerby went the farthest in the 8-ball event, and had to fly overnight from Vegas to make it in time for her first match in the Midwest.
While an exhausted Ellerby was knocked out early, the rest of the IPT members didn’t seem affected by the transition from 8-ball to 9-ball. After three rounds, eight players remained undefeated: Corr, Monica Webb, Kim White, Kelly Fisher, Allison Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Xiao-Ting Pan, and Belinda Calhoun.
The remaining players battled it out in the one-loss side to reach the top 16. The bottom eight were Sarah Rousey, Val Finnie, Julie Kelly, Ga-Young Kim, Ewa Laurance, Megan Minerich, Gerda Hofstatter and Pam Treadway.
In the single-elimination matches to determine the semifinalists, Allison Fisher was knocked out by Chinese up-and-comer Xiao-Ting Pan. She, along with Webb, Corr, and Kelly Fisher advanced.
Both semifinal matches were decided by crucial plays at 4-4. Kelly Fisher outplayed Pan in the semifinal, 7-4, after the tiny 24-year-old fouled on a jump shot. Fisher said that revenge was sweet, as Pan had knocked her out in San Diego. Corr also won 7-4, pulling ahead against Webb after an untimely scratch.
In the final between Fisher and Corr, the game of 9-ball had never so resembled ping-pong. The former snooker players battled back and forth, going 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5 after Corr jarred an easy 9 ball. With a race-to-2 determing a difference in payouts of $5,000, Corr ran out to reach the hill. Fisher broke in the case game, and executed a safety. Corr mulled over the shot, and ended up scratching. Fisher sank the 2 and played safe on the 3, which Corr pocketed with a surprising two-rail bank shot, which proved to be the winning shot. She ran out the rest of the rack for the $13,000, and her third title of the season.
Check out www.wpba.com for the full bracket and photo highlights.
Gene Nagy Dies at Age 59
Gene Nagy, legendary straight-pool player and longtime coach and mentor to many players including Jeanette Lee, passed away yesterday, July 13, at age 59.
Visitation will be held this Sunday, July 16, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at:
Kearns Funeral Home
61-40 Woodhaven Blvd.
Rego Park, N.Y.
(718) 441-3300
Nagy died of emphysema and cancer of the lungs. He is survived by his aunt, Jean O’Brien, and many close friends and students.
Nagy was born Oct. 6, 1946 in New York. Before he became a highly respected pool player he was an accomplished musician. He started playing the trumpet at age 12 and attended the Juilliard School of Music at age 17.
Nagy didn’t start playing pool until he was 18 years old, and by the time he was 23, he was invited to his first professional tournament. His lifetime personal high run of 430 is topped officially only by Thomas Engert, Min-Wai Chin, and Willie Mosconi. He is also known for running 150 and out in the 1973 World Straight Pool Open against Allen Hopkins.
Luther Lassiter was quoted as saying of Nagy, “That man was born to play this game.”
Willie Mosconi commented on Nagy’s style, saying, “It was the finest I had ever seen balls taken from the table.”
By the late 1970s, Nagy had retired from competition, but continued to teach and mentor young players. Jeanette Lee, famous the world over as “The Black Widow” was one of his best students, and considered him a father.
Lee said of Nagy:
“Everything I know, I learned from him. He was my coach, my mentor, my friend, my father, my everything. Particularly for the first five years or so, when I first started playing pool.”
Lee met Nagy when she was 19, through her then boyfriend, at a New York poolhall.
“From really that day on, he played me everyday of my life until I moved away. The poolroom opened at 11 a.m., we got there at 10, had coffee, and played until they closed at 11 at night. He never kept score. He really taught me the love of the game to always stay a student.”
Lee credits all of her ability to Gene, as well as her character. She says that he taught humility by example. When she hit her first high run of 122, the very next inning, he ran 238.
“He’s the one who really gave me compassion and gave me humility. People probably wouldn’t call me that, but as a student of the game I am. What it came down to was, he just taught me to love pool for the love of the game, above and beyond any kind of competitiveness or materialism or glory you could take from it. That’s where my willingness to want to give back to this sport and do things for the growth of the game itself, comes from.”
Lee also dedicated her 2001 book, “The Black Widow’s Guide to Killer Pool” to Nagy.
Black Widow to Host ESPY Red Carpet Special
In a big step toward a potential career as a broadcaster and TV personality, billiard superstar Jeanette Lee will co-host the “2006 ESPY Awards Red Carpet Special,” airing at 8 p.m. EST, Sunday, July 16, on the ESPN2 network.
Lee will join ESPN sports anchor Stuart Scott on the proverbial red carpet and greet sports and entertainment luminaries as they enter the annual ESPY Awards, created and aired by sports broadcasting juggernaut ESPN.
“I’m very excited — I’m almost more excited about the gift bag,” 35-year-old Lee joked about the pricy swag showered on ESPY hosts.
Lee has expressed an interest in branching into broadcasting, and she received training for the ESPYs gig from top ESPN on-air coaches. The one-hour “Red Carpet” special “is a really good breakout,” she said, both for her resume and for bringing billiards more toward the mainstream.
The “2006 ESPY Awards” will follow the “Red Carpet Special” on ESPN at 9 p.m. EST.