The B.C. Open 9-ball Championship & BCA Open 9-ball championship

R

Raph Cleary

Active member
The B.C. Open 9-ball championship according to wiki ran from 1985 to 1990, and the BCA Open 9-ball championship ran from 2000 to 2008 according to azbilliards, am I losing it or is this the same tournament with slightly different names that started up again in a later date.
 
This sounds wrong to me. The BCA Open goes back a couple of years further than 2000. I'm almost certain that George "Ginky" San Souci won it in 1999. In fact, he very nearly defended, getting to the final against Johnny Archer in 2000 before losing that match. I was present on both occasions at the Riviera in Las Vegas.

The BCA Open had both a women's and men's division and they shared the arena. It made for great viewing.

I'm not sure whether the BCA Open was a repackaged version of the BC Open, but I doubt it. The BC Open was an event on the PBT if memory serves, but the BCA Open arose just as the PBT was beginning to fizzle. A significant difference between the two was that the BCA Open had far more foreign invites.
 
sjm said:
This sounds wrong to me. The BCA Open goes back a couple of years further than 2000. I'm almost certain that George "Ginky" San Souci won it in 1999. In fact, he very nearly defended, getting to the final against Johnny Archer in 2000 before losing that match. I was present on both occasions at the Riviera in Las Vegas.
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How cool it is to have someone who witnessed a certain event and can confirm it. AZB is wonderful, and it's great AZBers who make it!

And it is sad there is no unified reliable source of info for pool history, even the piece one could call "modern history". Geez, it's only 20 years since.
Unfortunately Ginky's profile here at AZB does not list a BCA Open win in 1999 but mostly Joss Tour results.
But there is a description made by Accu-Stats to their video uploaded to YouTube (1997 - Jose PARICA vs. George "Ginky" SAN SOUCI - 22nd US OPEN 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS) that credits four major titles for Ginky including 1999 BCA Nine-Ball Championship.
Moreover, The Official Rules And Records Book by BCA also has it (see image)

Ginky_BCAOpen.jpg
 
Yeah, keeping track of things is no easy task in pool, and the memory doesn't serve quite as well as it once did. That said, being there for Ginky's win in 1999 was a great thrill for me as we both played out of Amsterdam Billiards in New York City and knew each other well.

RIP, Geroge "Ginky" San Souci.
 
thanks guys for
sjm said:
This sounds wrong to me. The BCA Open goes back a couple of years further than 2000. I'm almost certain that George "Ginky" San Souci won it in 1999. In fact, he very nearly defended, getting to the final against Johnny Archer in 2000 before losing that match. I was present on both occasions at the Riviera in Las Vegas.

The BCA Open had both a women's and men's division and they shared the arena. It made for great viewing.

I'm not sure whether the BCA Open was a repackaged version of the BC Open, but I doubt it. The BC Open was an event on the PBT if memory serves, but the BCA Open arose just as the PBT was beginning to fizzle. A significant difference between the two was that the BCA Open had far more foreign invites.
Click to expand...
Well if you doubt it's the same tournament, that's fine with me, so to set the record straight the "B.C Open 9-ball Championship" was from 1985 to 1990 won by-

YearWinner
1985United States Keith Mccready
1986United States Mike Sigel
1987United States Jim Rempe
1988United States Dave Bollman
1989United States Mike Sigel (2)
1990United States Kim Davenport

and the "BCA Open 9-ball Championship was from 1999 to 2008 won by-

YearWinner
1999United States George SanSouci
2000United States Johnny Archer
2001United States Corey Deuel
2002United States Charlie Williams
2003Germany Ralf Souquet
2004United States Tony Robles
2005Germany Thorsten Hohmann
2006Germany Ralf Souquet (2)
2007Philippines Dennis Orcollo
2008United States Jeremy Jones

Thanks!
 
the two event were staged in different venues, one in New York the other in Las Vegas, this would imply they are different events.

Thanks guys!
 
The B.C. Open was sponsored by the guy who wrote the cartoon strip "B.C." unless I totally misremember the event. I had the impression that it was held in "rural" New York somewhere around Binghamton. Hmmm.... Google says that's the largest community in Broome County, NY.

John Hart also did The Wizard of Id. Here's a sports related example of B.C.:

CropperCapture[35].png
 
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sjm said:
This sounds wrong to me. The BCA Open goes back a couple of years further than 2000. I'm almost certain that George "Ginky" San Souci won it in 1999. In fact, he very nearly defended, getting to the final against Johnny Archer in 2000 before losing that match. I was present on both occasions at the Riviera in Las Vegas.

The BCA Open had both a women's and men's division and they shared the arena. It made for great viewing.

I'm not sure whether the BCA Open was a repackaged version of the BC Open, but I doubt it. The BC Open was an event on the PBT if memory serves, but the BCA Open arose just as the PBT was beginning to fizzle. A significant difference between the two was that the BCA Open had far more foreign invites.
Click to expand...
Acc-Stats has the Ginky vs Archer match and the one that Ginky won as part of their archived matches, worth a watch for sure.
 
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raphcleary said:
The B.C. Open 9-ball championship according to wiki ran from 1985 to 1990, and the BCA Open 9-ball championship ran from 2000 to 2008 according to azbilliards, am I losing it or is this the same tournament with slightly different names that started up again in a later date.
Click to expand...
The two were very different tournaments and had little to do with one another.
 
Pushout, here is an old post you made about the death of former owner. Wasn't the B.C. Open also run out of the Pocket Billiard Lounge?


It’s my sad duty to inform you of the death of former room owner Florence E. Fuller. Florence owned and operated The Pocket Billiard Lounge on State Street in Binghamton, NY from sometime in the late ‘60s on. She actually sold the room and got it back twice before selling for good in, I believe, the mid 2000s.
Florence ran the New York State 9 Ball Championship out of The Pocket from the early ‘80s into the late ‘90s. Notable players include Jim Rempe, Allen Hopkins, Joe, “Neptune Joe” Frady, Ray Martin, Sammy Jones, Mike Sigel, Mike LeBron, Mike Zuglan, Mike X, and many, many others from around the North East.
Florence held quite a few women’s tournaments, also and did a lot for women’s pool in the North East, both promoting and playing.
She was a close personal friend. Our son and I both worked there for a time and we both played there, myself for almost 25 years. She was a damn good person and I will miss her and remember her.
 
MickyD said:
Pushout, here is an old post you made about the death of former owner. Wasn't the B.C. Open also run out of the Pocket Billiard Lounge?


It’s my sad duty to inform you of the death of former room owner Florence E. Fuller. Florence owned and operated The Pocket Billiard Lounge on State Street in Binghamton, NY from sometime in the late ‘60s on. She actually sold the room and got it back twice before selling for good in, I believe, the mid 2000s.
Florence ran the New York State 9 Ball Championship out of The Pocket from the early ‘80s into the late ‘90s. Notable players include Jim Rempe, Allen Hopkins, Joe, “Neptune Joe” Frady, Ray Martin, Sammy Jones, Mike Sigel, Mike LeBron, Mike Zuglan, Mike X, and many, many others from around the North East.
Florence held quite a few women’s tournaments, also and did a lot for women’s pool in the North East, both promoting and playing.
She was a close personal friend. Our son and I both worked there for a time and we both played there, myself for almost 25 years. She was a damn good person and I will miss her and remember her.
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No. The BC Open was run at the Holiday Inn Arena in downtown Binghamton.
 
middleofnowhere said:
Wasn't there also a golf tournament of the same name that coincided with the pool tournament?
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Yes, and that tournament WAS originally called the Broome County Open. When they got Johnny Hart and his BC characters involved it became the BC Open with characters in advertising and program books. This was where Gary Pinkowski got his idea for the 9 ball tournament.
 
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