Do you know of players who had such Natural Talent, that they could have been a World Champion?

[logical]

I is kind of like asking 'who that never went to med school could have been the best doctor'.

Not me, that's for sure even if I did play doctor in grade school. I think I could learn to cut pretty good and wou,d like to think I diagnose stuff, but it's that caring about others / compassion part that would have held me back.

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[Island Drive]

The one kid that I remember was Tyler Strawn....

 

[claymont]

Josh Brothers from Delaware was truly unique and could of been a world champion ... He had God given talents ... He beat world champion Mike Siegel years ago (on YouTube) ...

I've watched him over the years beat most of the top players. Shame, too many demons for him to overcome.

 

[philly]

I've watched him over the years beat most of the top players. Shame, too many demons for him to overcome.

Josh still plays in tournaments from time to time.

 

[claymont]

Josh still plays in tournaments from time to time.

I know, I haven't seen him since this covid sh*t started. I haven't been out and about much since.

 

[philly]

I know, I haven't seen him since this covid sh*t started. I haven't been out and about much since.Me neither.

I played in a 10 ball tournament with him about a year and a half ago.
Didn't match up with him though.

I'm hunkered in also for the most part.
Dying to play in a tournament.
I can wait.

 

[cueman]

The one who became really good really fast was Bob McDonald from Woodstock, GA. I think he could have got there if he had set his mind on it.

 

[briankenobi]

Ryan Stone. He played in the Dayton area around the same time Billy Thorpe was coming up. Ryan took time off to go to the military and get a job and such. He just started playing regularly again. He took a decent amount of money off Billy playing 3 cushion. If Ryan didn't go that route, I think he would be better than Billy now.

 

[Larry Williams]

This is not directly responsive, but it's interesting to note that, according to Sam Korte in his biography "Greenleaf," Willie Mosconi hated pool. That didn't stop him from becoming the game's most recognizable champion in the 1960s. Hating a game you're great at can't be very common, but that would explain the failure of some natural talents to achieve greatness.

 

[garczar]

This is not directly responsive, but it's interesting to note that, according to Sam Korte in his biography "Greenleaf," Willie Mosconi hated pool. That didn't stop him from becoming the game's most recognizable champion in the 1960s. Hating a game you're great at can't be very common, but that would explain the failure of some natural talents to achieve greatness.

It was WM's job, nothing more. He probably loved it when he was younger but over time it was just a way to pay the bills. Kinda sad in a way.

 

[Alanlandy]

The Main one who comes to mind is none other then the great - "Jimmy Matz" from Reading, PA area...
He grew up in a time where it was better to NOT be a pro... & to hustle... many who knew him say, he
was one of the best money players in the world during his time late 70's - 80's)!! He died in the early 90's
but his natural talent was something to behold...

Jimmy could really play..I made a few road trips with him around 1974-1975...he had a Winnebago he traveled in...we were around Baltimore & ocean city& later on in North Carolina....real nice guy...played hard..never booked a loser...last I heard he was in Miami...when he passed away...rip my friend

 

[JusticeNJ]

I don't know how you can predict a world champion - it's such a small percentage of players.
That said, I think of Pete Margo, who was arguably already a world beater by the time he focused on other matters. But Pete went into business and did very well for himself. I think that if he'd stuck with professional pool, he'd be mentioned in the same breath as Mizerak, Sigel, Hopkins, Varner, and others from the "14.1 to 9 ball transition era" that were his contemporaries.

I'm reminded of this Stephen Jay Gould quote: "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." How many people just never picked up a cue because of its image, or dropped the game because it's a hard life even for the best, or for any other reason, that could have been the next Mosconi or Reyes?

 

[JusticeNJ]

Ryan Stone. He played in the Dayton area around the same time Billy Thorpe was coming up. Ryan took time off to go to the military and get a job and such. He just started playing regularly again. He took a decent amount of money off Billy playing 3 cushion. If Ryan didn't go that route, I think he would be better than Billy now.

I went to college in Ohio in the early 2000s in the area that Ryan played. He was something to watch. Always wondered what happened to him.

 

[Bluewire686]

Do you know of players who had such a great Talent, or and or pure Natural Talent, that they could have been a World Champion, but they either quit, or was not serious enough about the game, or maybe something ruined it for them, like drug addiction for example?

I think of Landon Shuffett for example, who did not quit, but decided to commit most of his time to Education, and think that he may have been strong enough to maybe someday have been a World Champion, if he were to have taken a path with complete devotion to pool. He was, and probably still is an amazing player, but I assume he has a career now, and maybe does not have much time to play pool as much as he did when he was winning all of those Junior championships.

I wonder about other players who were really great, but pool was just not their #1 passion in life, or maybe they got bored with it before reaching their full potential, and went on to doing something else, or maybe something went wrong in their life, like drug addiction or alcoholism to name a few examples, and it really hurt their game and life.

Keith McCready comes to mind too, but he probably was considered the best in the world at one time, but I wonder if he reached his full potential as a pool player. I read a quote from his somewhere that said that he stated that he never practiced or did drills, saying something like it was a waste of time. Not sure if that is true. Just something I read somewhere, or that someone told me. He is a Legend in my opinion though. Just wonder if he could have been even greater, and accomplished more in pool.

Love reading cool stories about players that were so good that they had the cue ball on a string, and could do anything they put their mind to on a pool table, but were never World Champions, or even that serious about the game to begin with. Just something they were naturally great at, but maybe it was not their #1 passion.

Yeah I knew few that was pro status Lawernce Main out of Southern Missouri he was powerful player 9,8,10, ball he was also heavy gambler of sports he suffered from injury from Vietnam . Was a incredible hustler and money player.He found lovely lady and never looked back passed away in his late 70 R.I.P. thats for pool lessons

 

[Geosnookery]

I don’t think so. Everyone has known someone who seemed to be destined for fame but doesn’t reach it.As a kid in Montreal I played hockey with two teammates who went on to play in the NHL. They were very good players, definitely more talent than I had, but they weren’t the best players in the league. No idea what happened to the best player.

It’s difficult to assess what that extra 1% is that makes a difference betweena gold medal in the Olympics as opposed not quite making it onto the Olympic team. Dedication? Coaching? Character? Hard to say.

About every two years a new wonder player emerges from China and does well in a Snooker tournament. Often labelled a future champion. However, they inevitably stall and plateau out. All that training and dedication gets them so far but there’s never quite the icing on the cake.

Speaking of Chinese. They have a dedicated Snooker school in China. Then When they move to the UK they now have their own Snooker academy. Even with all of this, the topped rank player is at nine. Again, that something ‘extra’, is lacking.

 

[chitownnorth]

It’s difficult to assess what that extra 1% is that makes a difference betweena gold medal in the Olympics as opposed not quite making it onto the Olympic team. Dedication? Coaching? Character? Hard to say.

Many times it's injuries.

 

[t.wallace]

Roy Stanzione, San Diego, CA. Unbelievable player, one of the the straightest shooters, jaw dropping banker.
His sense of feel was as good as anyone’s. Always a pleasure to play or watch him play.

 

[olymez]

As far as failed potential is concerned, I'd like to nominate Donnie "Waterdog" Edwards. I first saw him play at one of Terry Stonier's open 9-ball tournaments in Sacramento. Man, he had a stroke more pronounced than Sax Dal Porto's or San Francisco's Denny Searcy. Unfortunately, (so says Freddie The Beard Bentivegna), Waterdog was born an addict because his mother was hooked on heroin when she gave birth to him. I wonder what his life would have been like if he shook his addiction, practiced for hours each day, and played top-level players. I'd have bet on him!

 

[OneHandedBreak]

Do you know of players who had such a great Talent, or and or pure Natural Talent, that they could have been a World Champion, but they either quit, or was not serious enough about the game, or maybe something ruined it for them, like drug addiction for example?

I think of Landon Shuffett for example, who did not quit, but decided to commit most of his time to Education, and think that he may have been strong enough to maybe someday have been a World Champion, if he were to have taken a path with complete devotion to pool. He was, and probably still is an amazing player, but I assume he has a career now, and maybe does not have much time to play pool as much as he did when he was winning all of those Junior championships.

I wonder about other players who were really great, but pool was just not their #1 passion in life, or maybe they got bored with it before reaching their full potential, and went on to doing something else, or maybe something went wrong in their life, like drug addiction or alcoholism to name a few examples, and it really hurt their game and life.

Keith McCready comes to mind too, but he probably was considered the best in the world at one time, but I wonder if he reached his full potential as a pool player. I read a quote from his somewhere that said that he stated that he never practiced or did drills, saying something like it was a waste of time. Not sure if that is true. Just something I read somewhere, or that someone told me. He is a Legend in my opinion though. Just wonder if he could have been even greater, and accomplished more in pool.

Love reading cool stories about players that were so good that they had the cue ball on a string, and could do anything they put their mind to on a pool table, but were never World Champions, or even that serious about the game to begin with. Just something they were naturally great at, but maybe it was not their #1 passion.

Well it's funny that you would use the phrase "had the cue ball on a string"... not to say I'm in that league at all, but when things are going well and object balls are dropping like flies, it does feel like the old paddle ball game where the cue/paddle ball is on an elastic string, and the cue ball returns to exactly the spot you anticipated when you struck it last... I have used this analogy with a few people who were asking about how to get better at the game and a few of them have "got it" and said so to me later after letting it soak in...

 

[Tommy-D]

The one that I remember the most in my area was a young kid I knew as Tito,now known as the late Peter Keanu.

When I first met him,he was already running out with flair about a year and a half in. He moved off to Tulsa,and I had 3 different people tell me he was literally making a living beating the 10-ball ghost on 9 footers at The Billiard Palace and Magoo's for 10-20 bucks a pop all night long in the mid 90's,within 3 years. The last stories I heard about his gambling exploits had him beating Tony Watson and Danny Harriman in Tulsa on the same weekend.

He met his unfortunate end,according to the story I was told,thanks to a hot headed,underage girlfriend,a .380 pistol,an argument over Chinese food,and thanks to a parking lot pothole,a Pulp Fiction style accident. Tommy D.