Who is / was the greatest Junior (under 18) player who you ever seen?

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vintagecollectibles831

Well-known member
Just out of curiosity, who is / was the greatest (most naturally talented, fearless, skilled) Junior player you ever seen?

I know this has probably been discussed in the past.

The guys from my era (who I knew of, and heard about, but some I never got to see) were guys like, Shane McMinn, Michael Coltrain, Justin Bergman, Andy Quinn, and maybe a young Pat McMillan.

The only one I ever got to see, as a young kid was, Justin Bergman, and he was an amazing player.

Anyways, would love to read some road stories, or hear about Junior Players that you seen, that you think were the greatest Junior players you ever seen, and why.

Oh, I almost forgot about Landon Shuffett, if I spelled his name right. He was a really great player too. Beat Earl in an exhibition, playing 10 ball, on a 10 foot pool table.

Anyways, thanks for any thoughts.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
Yeah, but I am just curious about American players. All the Euro and Asian players would be a really long, never ending list, lol. I know how strong Filler played, at like 13, lol.
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Anybody who made it to the front probably was a whiz. Never saw any of 'em. Keith was maybe 20, Ronnie A and Richie F were middle aged. Saw those three play but not in a setting where you could get to know 'em.

Wu, Filler, Gorst, took down the big tourneys young. No Americans in that bunch.
 
Fedor Gorst lost 9-8 at the Derby City 9ball to Alex Pagulayan in 2015 at the age of 14. Alex, who was in his prime, played a superb match and Gorst nearly beat him anyway. Josh Filler ran over 290 balls at straight pool at the age of 14. At 16, Wu Jiaqing won both the World 9ball and the World 8ball. On the women's side, Jean Balukas was already a two-time World straight pool champion by the age of 14. Loree Jon Jones was World straight pool champion at 15 years old.

If I had to choose just one, I'd go with Jean Balukas as the greatest ever junior.
 
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Never saw him play but Chan Whitt Jr was a monster child prodigy.

When he was 13, he won his 1st of three Jr. World 9-Ball Championships. He also won the National 8-Ball Championship.


Tyler Strawn was also an exceptionally fine amateur player. He would be Bergmans age. Tyler passed at 19 in a car accident, Whitt also passed in the same way.
 
AtLarge said:
It was 9-Ball and 8-Ball for Wu in 2005. But he got 2nd to Appleton in the first world 10-Ball event 3 years later.
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Thanks. I went from memory, should have looked it up. Remembered he won two of the World Championships back then. I will correct my post.
 
Played in the same Blackball rules 8 ball pool league as Jayson Shaw before he took up 9 ball and it seemed like he finished every time he visited the table, even when it really didn't look like a finish should have been possible. You would have to have been blind to not notice his talent, was pretty clear he was capable of a professional career in cue sports. Glad he changed discipline as think there is more money in 9 ball than UK style 8 ball. Think he's hinted about entering hey ball tournaments before and would love to see that as think it would be suited to his game.

Interestingly Jayson's nephew already looks very comfortable playing pool in front of a large audience:
https://www.tiktok.com/video/7542512564366937367
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1012176444535753

I don't play league pool anymore, but looking online at the stats Evan's got a 66% win rate playing league pool against adults. Wouldn't surprise me of a lot of good players come out of Glasgow now as Jayson's dad Charlie is doing weekly coaching sessions for youngsters at my local club. Think it's pretty inexpensive and lots of kids go along. They will all be playing UK 8 ball, but the club has loads of 9 ball tables and a few snooker tables so wouldn't be hard for them to transition to bigger tables if they want. It hosts IPA events and a Matchroom event so the UK and US style tables are all up to professional competition standards.
 
Corey Deuel for myself 'in person'. Saw him in a small pool hall in Owensboro, Kentucky. Just before he became 'known'.
 
Justin Bergman said that his opponent in the 10 ball finals was the best 14 yo he had ever seen. And that Hayden Ernst was much better than himself at that age.
 
Wu Jia-qing, taking the word pool championship in 2005 at 16 years old.
I was not there but watched it live
 
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