Another HOF Inductee Story
- Thread starter 8cree
- Start date
So well deserved. Great player and an even cooler person. Mary K. is alright.
Three cheers!!
Congratulations to a classy lady....
Well deserved indeed, if Jean was not around, Mary K easily would have tripled
her titles, but, goes to show this gal was a gamer. Congrat's and well earned.
her titles, but, goes to show this gal was a gamer. Congrat's and well earned.
Mary was a fine player, but this is going way too far.
You make it sound like she was getting to the final over and over but failing to win titles because Jean was always there to stop her. I attended numerous WPBA events in the 1980's and 1990's, and this really isn't the case.
Mary's best pool was played in, roughly, 1985-94. Winning titles back then required much more than beating Jean. Other stars of women's pool back when Mary was at her peak included four future BCA Hall of Famers: 1) Belinda Bearden (now Belinda Calhoun), Robin Bell (now Robin Dodson), Loree Jon Jones (now Loree Jon Hasson), and Ewa Mataya (now Ewa Laurance). By the early 1990's, another two future BCA Hall of Famers arrived and made winning titles even tougher: 1) Gerda Hofstatter (now Gerda Gregerson) and 2) Jeanette Lee. Another fine player that had to be reckoned with beginning in the early 1990's was Vivian Villareal, who is, at very least, a borderline BCA Hall of Famer.
All the credit in the world to Mary Kenniston, a likeable woman and a fine player with a rock solid pedigree, but let's not rewrite history. Mary was just a small notch below the superstars of women's pool in her prime.
Nonetheless, congrats to Mary on this well-deserved honor.
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Quick Belinda Bearden story. I was in Austin, I think for business, back when I was still playing some (never real good). So, of course, I looked for a pool hall. Belinda was in the one I went into, taking all comers for exhibition. Can’t remember if she was hired for promotion or if she had an interest in the place.
So, she was playing each comer one game. I got in line and just hoped I could play her. Heck, I had seen her play on TV! My turn came, and I broke and ran a rack of 9 Ball. So, she said we’d play another. She broke and ran the next rack. I thanked her, but she said we would play the tie breaker. By this time, there was quite the crowd watching. So, I was running the final rack and got to the 6 or 7 ball. I remember thinking, “Dang! You’re going to beat Belinda Bearden. Don’t choke.”
Of course, I was thinking this as was stroking the shot, and I dogged it. She easily got out. She said something very nice, but I was embarrassed and left. I think she was #5 in the woman’s standings at the time. Great memory.
IMO Mary deserves to be in just for the photographs she has shared and snapped of every poolplayer of note for the past 6 decades! Thank you Mary Kenniston! :thumbup: Jim Baker and I just taught pool school weekend before last down in Ocean Springs MS, which is very close to where Mary lives.
Scott Lee
2019 PBIA Instructor of the Year
Director, SPF National Pool School Tour
Scott Lee
2019 PBIA Instructor of the Year
Director, SPF National Pool School Tour
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Mary was elected to the WPBA Hall of Fame and was to be inducted at a tour event in June. Was the event canceled? Was she inducted without a ceremony, or will they do the official induction at a future event?
Here's a Pool& Billiards article about Mary from last December showing her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place finishes: https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/...uso83-C4CyAnVRt7LAP5dQCUkI44UI06JceNphsZdLVjU
Here's a Pool& Billiards article about Mary from last December showing her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place finishes: https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/...uso83-C4CyAnVRt7LAP5dQCUkI44UI06JceNphsZdLVjU
Cool, thanks for the link!