What State Has Produced the Most High Caliber Players?

Don't sell your state short, Jude. NY may not have turned out a huge number of champions recently, but there are more than a few notables from earlier years: Mike Sigel, Jean Balukas, Willie Hoppe, Frank Taberski, Irving Crane, Fatty, Cisero Murphy, Babe Cranfield, and those are just the HOF'ers!

Aaron

Yes, I was thinking about it in terms of current, not historical. I think we have a decent number of professionals in the greater New York area and we have a large number of serious-amateur but very few new Pros and very few amateurs about to make the jump (more accurately, zero).

As for historical, the northeast will likely compare with any other part of the country.
 
If anyone enters a National Amateur Championship which pays no money, they are an Amateur. There is no handicap therefore all things are equal. No cash, just prestige is all you win. It is a title not many players can lay claim too. That's special. To be the best you must beat the best, whoever it may be. The APA National Amateur Champioship is the the most competive Amateur event held in this country every year.

So, if I'm following you correctly, the APA National Amateur Championship, since it pays nothing, is truly an amateur event. If it paid something, it wouldn't be amateur.

Well, that may make the event the ONLY amateur championship in this country and I can also assure you, it will also guarantee that you will not have to beat the best since the best simply won't show.
 
IMO this is for organized sports.

Pocket Billiards is still considered a Game. :)


If anyone enters a National Amateur Championship which pays no money, they are an Amateur. There is no handicap therefore all things are equal. No cash, just prestige is all you win. It is a title not many players can lay claim too. That's special. To be the best you must beat the best, whoever it may be. The APA National Amateur Champioship is the the most competive Amateur event held in this country every year.
 
Lassiter is from Elizabeth City, NC. Northeast of Greenville.

Yeah, I was actually just giving tigerseye a hard time since his location shows Asheville, which is one my my favorite towns to visit in the US.

Aaron
 
Yeah, I was actually just giving tigerseye a hard time since his location shows Asheville, which is one my my favorite towns to visit in the US.

Aaron

I am originally from Weaverville, 7 minutes north of Asheville. Know the area very well. Great to visit................
 
Off the top without thinking about it much.
Nick Varner, Buddy hall, Cornbread Red from Ky. Cornbread was from Fulton ky/tenn, state line was main st. don't know which side of town he's from. Previously mentioned Sammy Jones, John Hager, Jimmy " Flyboy" Spears, John Edwards Had a pool room in Bowling Green, beat most road players of the day in the 70's, most everyone except Miz. Someone could play bank pool in every town, in KY. But N.C. was premier pool state !
Rod.

Don't forget about Shannon '' The Cannon'' Daulton...from KY.
 
The way I heard it, from a reliable source -- :grin-square: -- the East Coast couldn't beat the West Coast, especially the player(s) from California. So they changed the rules from two-shot/push-out to what they are today, turning pool into a luck game, so they could start booking a few winners. :o

Before then, again, according to my source, the California player(s) gave the world the 8. :nanner:

I noticed the word Gave (past tense).... :thumbup:
 
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I guess i'm the first of the Ohio boys to wake up. To answer the question this thread ask, just talk to Big Nasty and he'll tell ya. Ohio is the North Phillipines when it comes to talent, especially if you look at mid-level players to pros. Its hard to look deep in a bracket at any major event and not see some Ohio boys in the mix.
 
MISSOURI:

Larry Hubbard
Terry Bell
Louie Roberts
CJ Wiley
David Matlock
Danny Harriman
Andy Quinn (former Jr National Champ and BCA Open Champion)
Rusty Brandemeyer (who no one had to beat playing banks)
and I'll take the liberty of adding Justin Bergman, even though he lives in Illinois but is mainly regarded as a St Louis player.

Then there is a slew of top shortstops that could be added to the list.
 
The only one i know of is Katie Mckowan...Mike Davis girlfriend...


For WPBA who relocated here we have Val Finnie and Kelly and Allison Fisher... Ewa was in the Charlotte area for awhile but is in Myrtle Beach now.
 
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I am originally from Weaverville, 7 minutes north of Asheville. Know the area very well. Great to visit................

Indeed. Great scenery and weather. Wife and I looked at some property near Weaverville a couple of years ago. We've thought about moving that way, but it's hard to just pick up and leave family and good jobs behind. We might say "screw it" and do it anyway one of these days. Life's too short to live in an area you don't care for.

Aaron
 
Professional

It's an Amateur event where the individual chooses to play as an Amateur. We can't get involved and bar certain players. This truly is an issue of individual choice. With no prize monies most pros probably will choose not to compete but if they choose to play as an Amateur they should be allowed to do so. Professional and Amateur are simply the names we place on players based on their perceived skill level. I know of no official objective definition of a pro. If you play for money your a pro in my opinion if you play for no monetary reward your an Amateur. Skill level has nothing to do with it. When we set limitations on who can play we discriminate against all players. If someone decides to play in a National Amateur Tournament with the largest field of participants he simply is playing at the Amateur level for no monetary consideration. Individual ability cannot play a factor in who may or may not compete. If your playing for hard earned cash your a Pro. No monetary consideration and your an Amateur. The decision to play one or the other should be left up up to the player.
 
If anyone enters a National Amateur Championship which pays no money, they are an Amateur. There is no handicap therefore all things are equal. No cash, just prestige is all you win. It is a title not many players can lay claim too. That's special. To be the best you must beat the best, whoever it may be. The APA National Amateur Champioship is the the most competive Amateur event held in this country every year.

"Prestige" -- LOL

I can't believe the APA has sold people into thinking this is "prestigious". What a $#%ing joke! As the saying goes "a sucker is born everyday"... or something like that. JMHO
 
It's an Amateur event where the individual chooses to play as an Amateur. We can't get involved and bar certain players. This truly is an issue of individual choice. With no prize monies most pros probably will choose not to compete but if they choose to play as an Amateur they should be allowed to do so. Professional and Amateur are simply the names we place on players based on their perceived skill level. I know of no official objective definition of a pro. If you play for money your a pro in my opinion if you play for no monetary reward your an Amateur. Skill level has nothing to do with it. When we set limitations on who can play we discriminate against all players. If someone decides to play in a National Amateur Tournament with the largest field of participants he simply is playing at the Amateur level for no monetary consideration. Individual ability cannot play a factor in who may or may not compete. If your playing for hard earned cash your a Pro. No monetary consideration and your an Amateur. The decision to play one or the other should be left up up to the player.


I will not play in ANY tournament that has no monetary value and any person that catagorizes me as a professional because of this will be subject to my hysterical laughter.
 
Mike Fuller isn't playing in the US Amateur Championship...he's playing in the APA National Singles Championship which is totally different and first place is $15,000 or something like that. C'mon do you really think Mike Fuller would play for free...Chris Miller from Louisiana won last year and Bobby McGrath also played in it last year. There are always some heavy hitters that sneak through..I say who cares let em take it down.
 
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