A Little Help on Jean Balukas please
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
Thank you. I hate to bother her, but will if I can't get answer here, which I know I can. Johnnyt
PS: Where the hell is Jay when I need him?
Thank you Bobby. Johnnyt
Oh the lore of Miss Jean Balukas. Is there a female pro (currently) that plays Jean's speed in her prime? Albeit misogynistic, I've always heard she, "played like a man."
I wish there were videos of her playing online!
(besides the one of her on I've Got A Secret
I wish there were videos of her playing online!
(besides the one of her on I've Got A Secret
There's at least one other video of her playing. It's the one I mentioned in my earlier post. I bought it off someone awhile ago, it's not an officially taped match just a grainy video someone recorded from the stands. And yes, she played like a man.
The Accu-stats statistics magazine has some of her 9-ball matches in open play clocked. All of those magazines are on-line somewhere on AZB. She beat Cisero Murphy in the 1980 World 14.1 championships.
.... after a brief search, here is the Accu-stats link: http://www.azbilliards.com/accustats/
I see from those that she beat Mizerak in the Glass City Open in 1987 with a very nice TPA. She appears in the "men's" events in only the last 6 or 7 of the magazines.
Jean was listed several times as in the top 10 for break performance in the open nine ball events.
Umm...they don't? (or maybe they do...I'm not out to start a flame war about it.) I believe my reference was suggested in a time where the professional population of pool players was strongly male dominated. And sure enough, Miss Balukas made work of many of them, hence the comparison. In that time frame, I don't believe many, or if any, women's professional could keep up with men's tour, even. It's been said that Jean could at that, and her speed was not underestimated.
(We should probably all ask Jay or Robin here before we all make any assumptions; they would know for certain....)
My wonder is how does the '88 Jean Balukas stand up to the '09 Ga Young Kim or Karen Corr?
(If any of you haven't, read Jean's Wiki. It's pretty interesting.)
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Thank you very much Bob. Johnnyt
Not much on the info side of things but I found this....
With the following info...to me it sounds like throw it in the book Johnny
"This photograph is a work for hire created prior to 1968 by a staff photographer at New York World-Telegram & Sun. It is part of a collection donated to the Library of Congress. Per the deed of gift, New York World-Telegram & Sun dedicated to the public all rights it held for the photographs in this collection upon its donation to the Library. Thus, there are no known restrictions on the usage of this photograph. "
With the following info...to me it sounds like throw it in the book Johnny
"This photograph is a work for hire created prior to 1968 by a staff photographer at New York World-Telegram & Sun. It is part of a collection donated to the Library of Congress. Per the deed of gift, New York World-Telegram & Sun dedicated to the public all rights it held for the photographs in this collection upon its donation to the Library. Thus, there are no known restrictions on the usage of this photograph. "
I don't feel any of today's ladies have a stroke as powerful as Jean's, and I also feel that Jean's break was first rate, at least comparable to that of big-breaking Ga Young Kim. Jean did, indeed, play like a man, and her huge stroke was a very important advantage back in the days of nappy cloth. Still, I believe that, in her best years, Allison Fisher was a better pocketer of balls tha Jean, and by my reckoning, among today's ladies, Kelly Fisher pockets the balls easily as well as Jean used to.
Straight pool is another story. Jean's credentials cannot be matched. Jasmin's straight pool game is really quite similar to Jean's in many ways. So, for that matter, is Jeanette's. Either one of them would have given Jean a very serious run for her money had Jean been one of their contemporaries.
Still, all these points aside, Jean is the best all-around female pool player ever, the very definition of a champion.
Straight pool is another story. Jean's credentials cannot be matched. Jasmin's straight pool game is really quite similar to Jean's in many ways. So, for that matter, is Jeanette's. Either one of them would have given Jean a very serious run for her money had Jean been one of their contemporaries.
Still, all these points aside, Jean is the best all-around female pool player ever, the very definition of a champion.
She had wins over The Miz, David Howard and Mike Lebron as well. When she beat Earl Herring (a very good player) in the New York Straight Pool Championship, he "retired" from competition for many years.
Jean was the dominant woman player of her era. She won the last SIXTEEN events she played in! That said, the fields were smaller then (typically sixteen players and occasionally as many as twenty four) and the depth of talent was not nearly as strong as today's women's events. But Jean was so clearly above the rest of the pack, that it was hard to ascertain how good she really was. Only when she played in men's or open events did we begin to see how strong a player she could be. I always felt that if she had continued to play, she would have eventually won a "mens" tournament. She was that good.
Was she better than today's top players. I doubt it. Could she have competed successfully in todays women's championships? Definitely! I've always felt that she would be a contender on today's women's tour and fully capable of winning an event. Jean Balukas was a champion, as SJM said. She knew how to compete and how to win.
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I know there is a compliment in there somewhere!!
Danny Medina and I were at some tournament back east, I just can't remember where right now, but she had just beaten Buddy and I think Nick too. The men were hot about it a passing around a petition to sign asking bannishment of females and the Mens Pro Tour claiming if put too much pressure on the "MEN"!! We laughed our asses off and Danny refused to sign.
We got to the site the next morning and David Howard was alone in the practice room and working very hard and just punding balls in. Danny asked what he was doing and David replied that there was no way he was going to let that ***** beat him. She was his next match.
When it was time for his match there was a huge crowd on hand as there was quite a buzz by now. You would have thought David was playing for a million bucks. Jean put up one heck of a fight and as I remember her break failed her and David won something like 11-9 in a very tough and hard fought match. David looked as if he had just chase Oscar De La Hoya for 15 rounds.
"Played like a man"?? Jean played like a top notch pool player!! I do understand what you mean,, but I just wouln't feel comfortable phrasing it like that, but I well lunderstand what you mean!!
I watched Jean play in a few matches in the early nineties in Reno. She did pick off a few men, but never finished all that high in any of the nine ball tourneys.
Alison Fisher would have definitely given Jean a run for her money. It probably would have been close, with Jean winning more tournaments than Alison. Fisher is still one hell of a player and like the Tiger Woods of women's pool in the past 10 years.
Alison Fisher would have definitely given Jean a run for her money. It probably would have been close, with Jean winning more tournaments than Alison. Fisher is still one hell of a player and like the Tiger Woods of women's pool in the past 10 years.
