All I know for sure is that I watched all of these guys play for 30 or 40 years, every tournament I could get to. Also many big money matches.
Some of this stuff I am reading, I have to wonder where it came from? You could not have been there, and so must have gotten it second hand, from someone who got it second hand or something. The only other alternative is that I am nuts, probably 50/50.
My pool career began when Lassiter was still unbeatable. Then Mizerak took over for a while, Hopkins was a force for a while but not long enough to become a household name . Rempe was somewhere about that time I remember a hustler brought him to Columbus and he was only 17 and he played great, within 2 years he was KIng James that was about 1970? , for several years he beat everybody like a drum, David Howard won several big tournaments but I never thought he was the same calibre of player as any of those guys. Varner then took over , then he and Sigel were the clear favorites . But I thought Buddy played better than both of them, Parica was in there also but my time line on him is all screwed up. I remember he beat almost everybody for money, and would have probably won a lot of tournaments , but as someone said, the money was in the after hours , and he was usually in it. I had seen him beat almost everybody he played gambling, and one night someone said" I'll play you one handed jacked up, "
Parica ran out like he was playing 2 handed. I never saw anyone play like that jacked up, before or after.
Then along came Earl ! To me , he was the best nine ball player I ever saw, especially on the old equipment, pre 1986 or so ? He was intimidating, and he had every move in the world . Up to that point Sigel was king of the moves . Lint picking and pointing at pockets, lol Sigel would be practicing on the table he was getting ready to play a match on and start talking about one certain corner pocket, usually at the head of the table. he would roll the ball at it , shoot hard into the rail at it and say , look at that, {there was nothing wrong} but somewhere in the match his opponent would mishit a ball , thinking about all that bull shit he laid down. lol he was a dandy. Efren who some of you say couldn't play was usually right in the middle of things and he did a lot of playing at night too! I don't see how these guys did it, unless they took something, which I knew some who did, but I never heard about Efren being involved., Then Earl shoots everybodys liver out, then Johnny Archer starts playing good. Then he starts playing real good. It was just a matter of one tournament he was a 700 Fargo {it didn't exist at the time ,but if it had , thats about where he would be , then 2 tournaments later, nobody can beat him , he's 780 or 800. He just gets out every time it's his shot. I'm probably missing someone , but this is what I remember. I have what I think is a funny Varner, Sigel, Archer story. I was at a tournament standing next to Varner and Sigel talking after the days regulation play ends. { I heard this with my own ears } it's not a story from the pool room 40 years later .
Sigel says to Varner, very quietly , I heard Archer came down to your place for a week or two and donated some money playing cheap straight pool . Varner says ....yeahhhh , all drawn out with pride and the glow of getting his money, and Sigel says , I heard at the end he was playing way better than he did at the beginning, yeahhhhh, he caught on pretty quick.
Sigel's demeanor changed ,and without raising his voice, he snaps at him , why don't you invite him down to play some 5 dollar one pocket for a couple of weeks , then we won't be able to beat him at anything. Then he storms off . Varner looked like his mom slapped him, and it was all I could do, to not bust out laughing.
In my mind Efren is the greatest of all time for many reasons but the main 1 that I have never heard anyone else mention, again I might be nuts, but if you eliminate straight pool , which was pretty much dead as far as I know after 1970, except in New York, Efren was the best at the transistion to new equipment, some guys never could do it. Efren was one of the best on the old equipment and was even better on the new. imo
I think the new equipment killed Sigel, he could no longer slide the balls down the rails and he saw the writing on the wall.
Earl had to change his game , he could no longer make a lot of power shots he used before, it also hurt Archers game , Nick was not affected by it as much and neither was buddy , because they played such great position. imo
I am not as familiar with anything after 2000 I was too sick to be involved much, but from the mid 60s to the mid 90s, that's how I remember it,
That's how I saw it, what do you think?
Oops I forgot , the question was Varner or Sigel, too close to call , but I will always be a fan of Nick.
Efren absolutely changed the way the game of 9 ball was played. His billiards skills were so ...uh well nobody realized how important they could be until Efren showed them how to put the handcuffs on. The one finals playing Earl he broke and ran 4 then after the break over cut the 1 ball to leave it in the middle of the footrail. Whitey glided around the table and found the back of the ball sitting closest to the headrail and got married. Ball in hand allowed Efren to run 4 more and then do it again. Middle of the footrail and married to the back of the ball closest to the headrail. Earl's reaction was Priceless. The gallery coaxed him with, "break it! Break your cue!".
. Seriously though it's the suite of games that make pool great imo, not just 9 ball. 9 ball is fine and all, but onepocket has me rewinding the tape to rewatch shots more often than 9 ball ever could. 
