earls million dollar rack?

seanjonsean

Otanisan Cues
Silver Member
i heard allen hopkins saying something bout earl winning a million bucks for ten racks,but he didnt get paid.im just wondering bout that cuz ive also heard efren is the first pool player to pocket a million in a year but what bout earl??oh and is fren gonna get his 5oo.ooo???????
 

DeadStrokeRI

Registered
Hi,

Earl did win a million dollars and was never paid as far as the news reports say. It happened in 1996 while playing in a now folded pool tour. The promotor offered the prize to anyone who could break and runout 10 or 11 racks.
The are afew sites that have info on it.
One of the most recognized names in professional pool the world over, Strickland is a record four-time U.S. Open winner, a five-time world champion and a five-time Player of the Year. He’s a perennial member of the U.S. Mosconi Cup Team-which defeated the European contingent in 1998-and he made big news in 1996 when he ran 11 straight racks of 9-Ball in tournament play to win the Dallas Million Dollar Challenge. Strickland began playing pool at age 9, and turned pro at 20. Strickland and wife Lisa have two cats and he enjoys golf, tennis and running.
http://www.azbilliards.com/camel/profiles/showplayer.cfm?playernum=15

Pro pool player wins 11 straight games, racks up $1 million prize in Dallas competition
Author: Joe Simnacher Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Publish Date: April 13, 1996
Word Count: 530
Document ID: 0ED3D69149A831F9

Talk about your bank shot.

Earl Strickland, a two-time world billiards champion, pocketed a cool $1 million prize Thursday night after he won 11 straight games of nine ball without missing a shot. Mr. Strickland, 34, was competing in the "Dallas Million Dollar Challenge" at C.J.'s Billiard Palace on Gaston Avenue near White Rock Lake.
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D69149A831F9&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
 
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Scott Lee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Earl DID get paid...just not the full million!

I don't know why there is so much hype about this, as it is old news. The bonus money was to be paid as a 20 yr annuity, with payments of $50K/yr.
The sportsmarketing company that put out the policy was sued by C.J. Wiley, while he posted the first year's payment to Earl, out of his own pocket...requiring Strickland to keep quiet about it. Rumors flowed anyway, and caused the demise of the PCA, after just one more tournament. After several months, the settlement was for about $600K, half of which went to Earl, and the other half to attorny's fees for C.J. C.J. did receive the $50K he paid Earl upfront.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 

desert1pocket

Registered Fish
Silver Member
The prize was to be awarded only to anyone who broke and ran an entire set during one of the televised matches, which I believe were from the quarter finals on. While it did happen far along enough in the tourney that it was supposed to be televised, the camera crew had "technical difficulties" towards the end of the match (suspicious timing), and were not able to tape the whole thing. The promoters said that because they could not televise it, they didn't have to pay up. They got the atorneys involved, and it was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
 

watchez

What time is it?
Silver Member
Scott Lee said:
I don't know why there is so much hype about this, as it is old news. The bonus money was to be paid as a 20 yr annuity, with payments of $50K/yr.
The sportsmarketing company that put out the policy was sued by C.J. Wiley, while he posted the first year's payment to Earl, out of his own pocket...requiring Strickland to keep quiet about it. Rumors flowed anyway, and caused the demise of the PCA, after just one more tournament. After several months, the settlement was for about $600K, half of which went to Earl, and the other half to attorny's fees for C.J. C.J. did receive the $50K he paid Earl upfront.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
I also heard the rumor that shortly after Earl got paid, his wife took her half when she conveniently filed for divorce.
 

bud green

Dolley and Django
Silver Member
I thought that the first couple of racks weren't filmed- maybe up to the fifth rack. I think CJ has a video of the last racks and was considering selling it. I can't remember if Helfert was part of the deal or not but I'm pretty sure that at least half of the run was taped (not by accu-stats).

Another detail I've heard- I wasn't there so this isn't for sure- was that Earl racked his own for some of the racks and there was a couple of nine ball breaks as part of the run...

Earl's wife had some good timing I guess to leave...but not as good as the wife of Michael Strahan of the New York Giants. 15 million dollars plus is what Mikey boy will be paying her.

That's gotta sting.
 

seanjonsean

Otanisan Cues
Silver Member
wow poor earl that explains alot ,no matter wat i like earl i think hes a solid player .so does efren get his money ??
 

arsenius

Nothing ever registers...
Silver Member
That would be a horrible feeling. I know there are many cruel people in this world, but it still amazes me that people would hurt another person like that for money. And no, I've never been married.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Okay, here's the scoop. It was the first event of CJ's new pool tour (the PCA?), held in his room (CJ's Billiard Palace) in Dallas. It was played on tight Gold Crowns. No one thought for a moment that someone could run ten racks. It was just part of the hype for the new tour. CJ found a company that would insure it (through Lloyds Of London) and the tourney began.

John McChesney, Robin Adair and myself were the tournament officials. On the first day the most racks run was three. We were playing long matches, a Race To Thirteen. The players did "rack their own". Earl was playing Nick Mannino on a back table and figured out how to rack on this particular table. In the first five racks he made two Nine balls and another combo on the Nine near the corner pocket. So three easy racks out of five.

CJ called me over to rack the balls because it was required for the insurance policy to be good. Also the last five racks had to be videotaped. I went to the table as did CJ's girlfriend (Lisa?) with a videocamera. Earl refused to let me rack. He broke and once again almost made the Nine. He proceeded to run that rack for six in a row.

I told him that he must let me rack or he wouldn't get paid even if he ran ten racks. He let me take over, and he never made another Nine ball, or even got it close to the corner pocket. He broke and ran out three more nice racks to reach nine racks. In the tenth game, he broke and made a ball. The Nine stopped about a foot from the corner pocket. The One ball was near the side pocket and the Cue ball was down near the far corner, on the same side of the table as the Nine.

He had few options other than to try to cut the One in the side and turn the Cue ball loose or go for a long difficult combo on the Nine. After some deliberation he went for the combo and slammed in the Nine ball at warp speed. That was the tenth rack in a row. For good measure he ran out the next rack for eleven racks total. Nick then won a game or two before Earl closed out the match.

A petition was passed around the room and some 30 to 40 spectators attested to the fact that Earl did indeed run ten racks in a row. The insurance company refused to pay, perhaps because no money had changed hands to enforce the policy, or maybe because who could believe this would happen right away in the first tournament on tour.

It is correct that this was supposed to be an annuity paid off in twenty annual $50,000 installments. CJ did give Earl the first 50K immediately. After a year or two of litigation, there was a settlement. My understanding was that Earl received in the neighborhood of 300K in a lump sum and CJ got back his 50K.

A final note. After the match, Earl sat at a table for two hours and signed autographs for all in attendance. He and I drove back to the hotel in a shuttle CJ provided for us. Along the way I asked him what he was thinking on that final shot (the long combo). He said "I just wanted to give it a legitimate chance". His exact words. I never forgot them.

Earl finished second in the tournament, losing to CJ in the Finals.
 

chilli66

the chilli is back!
Silver Member
Jay, thanks for that. Incredible stuff. I never knew that happened in Dallas. Makes me wish I'd moved here sooner to see it! :D
 
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