Video 1994 pro tour Vegas 9-ball chmpshp Earl-Efren-Breedlove-Vickery.2 semis + final

arnaldo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just analog-to-digital converted and Youtubed my VHS recording of this match, broadcast 21 years ago. Video length is 2 hours 13 mins.

This 1994 Pro Tour event from Las Vegas features Earl; Efren; George Breedlove; Howard Vickery. Two semis and the final. An historic first live telecast of a major pool tournament’s closing matches. $15,000 winner prize. $50,000 total prize fund. Earl is hard to beat on this occasion.

Semi 1: Strickland-Breedlove
Semi 2: Reyes-Vickery
Final:… Reyes-Strickland

https://youtu.be/8jvN612nDgU

Enjoy.

Arnaldo
More videos (23 total) on my (Ray Carlton) Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDXBU6sbgHwsBsrRQfFOLA?
 
I just analog-to-digital converted and Youtubed my VHS recording of this match, broadcast 21 years ago. Video length is 2 hours 13 mins.

This 1994 Pro Tour event from Las Vegas features Earl; Efren; George Breedlove; Howard Vickery. Two semis and the final. An historic first live telecast of a major pool tournament’s closing matches. $15,000 winner prize. $50,000 total prize fund. Earl is hard to beat on this occasion.

Semi 1: Strickland-Breedlove
Semi 2: Reyes-Vickery
Final:… Reyes-Strickland

https://youtu.be/8jvN612nDgU

Enjoy.

Arnaldo
More videos (23 total) on my (Ray Carlton) Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDXBU6sbgHwsBsrRQfFOLA?

Haven't watched any of it yet, but I'm looking forward to the Strickland vs. Breedlove match. I have never seen Breedlove play but I hear he had an awesome stroke, and of course early Strickland is always awesome. Reyes vs. Strickland in the final...can't beat that!:) Sadly I've maxed out on the green reps for you again, but you know, if I could I would.:)

So many of these old matches are going to waste when the VHS tapes deteriorate. For someone as young as myself it may be weird that I like watching the older matches...I've watched every old clip on youtube, the older the better. I especially like watching Lindrum and the really old straight pool clips. If Mosconis early career had been filmed I might not have left the house at all! I don't think I'm the only one with this obsession. The old clips have a certain charm to them, they combine my interest in pool and history, even the more recent 80's and 90's clips may soon become unavailable if not for guys like you. The copyright owners would rather have the tapes rot on their shelves than let people enjoy them..

I hear that Accu-Stats didn't even digitize a huge part of their archive, meaning that many of their tapes were lost forever (not sure if true, may be a rumor).
 
...For someone as young as myself it may be weird that I like watching the older matches...I've watched every old clip on youtube, the older the better. ... The old clips have a certain charm to them, they combine my interest in pool and history, even the more recent 80's and 90's clips may soon become unavailable if not for guys like you.
Not weird at all, regardless of the viewer's age. An exact parallel is the charm and (not least) instructive value that decades-old classic movie dramas, comedies, war and action films, etc. hold for film-lovers in all countries. The same magnetic appeal (and treasures) can be found in the great comedies, dramas and musical performances from television's nascent, experimental decades.

Glad you're enjoying the Youtubed matches.

Arnaldo
 
Firstly, thank you for more of the classic matches Arnaldo. Always great to see.


I hear that Accu-Stats didn't even digitize a huge part of their archive, meaning that many of their tapes were lost forever (not sure if true, may be a rumor).

I don't know about lost forever. But only a percentage of their archived stuff has been moved to DVD last I spoke with someone there (a whole lot has not). And it is true, if not converted to a better format, they would eventually be lost for certain through deterioration (not that this has happened).

There is a whole lot of awesome matches not available currently that were once available on VHS, that's for sure.
 
Thanks again for the upload!

I notice they keep referring to the tournament as the "World Championship". They even say Earl has won it twice before (referencing his two prior WPA wins).

But when you go to the WPA website, http://www.wpa-pool.com/web/world_champions

Takeshi Okumura (JPN) is the 9 ball World Champion for 1994.

I can see why the WPA raises a big stink, when other entities, such as Charlie Williams, use the word "World" in their tournaments.

Here we are 25 yrs after the first WPA WC in 1990, and the WPA is still an organization. We have had many other organizations come and go, calling events "World xyz" during this time.
 
Till I see something reliable in print regarding the Vickery allegation, I see this as a rumor mentioned/generated by some gal who seems to troll billiards discussions, always with something negative to say about any given player (see her comments here):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoY1ooCRpX8

Arnaldo
Once someone has had a trial, convicted, and incarcerated it ceases to be an "allegation". Regardless thank you for archiving and posting these classic matches. Very much appreciated.
 
Strange table. Looks like a Diamond labeled as Cal Spas.
It *is* a Diamond, Joey. You can see the large Diamond label on its long sides. Obviously Cal Spas (and other well appreciated table dealers) had agreements to have the tables factory-shipped with a dealer's logo also included, in addition to Diamond's logo in the early period when Diamond was growing its brand. Click this link and you'll see the Diamond label as Breedlove is shooting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvN612nDgU&feature=player_detailpage#t=545

I had bought the identical model oak-finish Diamond a year before (in '93) with the same corner pocket sizes, but I was clued-in to request narrower shelves, by a friend in Indiana who had one installed in his home and reported that they played mighty tough, but did tell the absolute truth about how accurate your aim was.

In those days they'd accommodate such requests (narrower shelves) because the brand was still quite new and had a limited line which they hoped would catch on and grow nationally via sales reps and word of mouth by very satisfied customers -- which they very deservedly did. Then and now, they're wonderfully solid, well designed and well constructed tables.

I was living near Albany, NY then (about 22 years ago) and was weighing different table options for the rec room in my then-Vermont home 50 miles east of there, I went into the largest Brunswick dealer there at the time, and asked where their Brunswicks were built. I was told then that Brunswick itself (mid-1990s) was no longer producing tables at the home base. All table manufacturing below the Gold Crowns had been off-shored to companies in South America, and the frames and table tops for Gold Crowns had been contracted for manufacture by the Kimball Piano Co.

After plenty of research, as mentioned above, I ended up ordering a Diamond 9-footer directly from Greg Sullivan's then-newly-formed Indiana company upon the recommendation of a very respected player, Frank Tullos who was then repping for them. I believe he was the house pro at Mothers in NC or SC I forget which, but a helluva nice, and very patient guy, carefully answering all of my questions and very important, put me in touch beforehand with several savvy players around the country who had recently purchased Diamonds for their own home rec rooms and absolutely loved them (and they explained in detail precisely what they loved about the Diamonds compared to their former Gold Crowns, which was mighty helpful).

Here's something really humorous that came out of my table installation:

The expert mechanic who delivered the table direct from the factory and installed in my Vermont rec room told me a funny, memorable story. He'd do Northeast deliveries in groups of threes, and mine was the last after one he'd installed the previous day in the home of a very skilled Providence pool gambler. The guy wanted to trap marks into after-hours games at his very old and winter-weathered, rickety wood-frame house. The mechanic mentioned to the guy that it's nearly impossible to keep any table level for long periods in that kind of house, saying "If you don't level it often, it's going to develop some funny rolls from time to time." The guy nudged him, smiling, and replied, "Yeah, but I'll know where the rolls are . . . and they won't!"

I met the mechanic at a trade show a couple years later and he told me that he heard the table had paid for itself within two months.

Arnaldo
 
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Strange table. Looks like a Diamond labeled as Cal Spas.

Damn, that almost jogs an old memory...
..maybe Greg Sullivan did some business with Cal Spa early in the company history?....
...pretty sure I played on one of those.
....or was it a copy of Diamond?

In the final match with Earl, Efren made an amateur push where Earl just had to stop
whitey for a good snooker....I guess he was still catching on to 9-ball or misjudged the
table speed badly.

Earl lost whitey often on the break....Billy Johnson is still my favorite breaker from the
old days....I think his break stands up to Shane's.
 
When did the Vegas events (BCA) begin? How far back were people gathering is Vegas for annual amateur and pro events?
 
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