All Time Junior Player Rankings

[billb]

I am curious which junior players had the highest gear during their time in the junior ranks (18 or under years of age). I saw Corey Deuel as a teenager, Jason Hill from Maryland, Michael Coltrain, Jerry Slivka, Richard Barney, Josh Brothers, Shane Hennen and a couple other very solid junior players. I have heard stories about Chan Whitt being an absolute monster and I know there have been other junior players who were playing at an extremely high level at or under 18 years old. Just wondering who you guys consider the best United States junior player ever or maybe your top five?

Personally, having seen Michael Coltrain at a very young age, I would definitely say he is in that discussion. Also, Jerry Slivka was a stone cold killer at a young age.

I am certainly not knocking any other junior players.......just asking for thoughts from those who may have encountered other players that I didn't mention or haven't seen play in person.

 

[mikemosconi]

It depends how far you want to go back. From 2000 to mid 2006 era I would agree with Josh Brothers, Shane Hennen and add Shane Winters name to that mix- they were the only 3 to beat my older son during the 2000 to 2004 SBE Junior tournaments, but those three kids were pretty much just playing pool full time by then , from what I saw of them at SBC from 2000 to 2004- not a road that I would endorse.

But you had a lot of really good young players from the early 90s through mid 2000s as a result of the Color of Money pool revival starting in '87. I remember Robbie Saez as a young gun in the Bridgeport Ct. area in the 90s - there were so many kids skipping school and playing almost full time during the early post movie boom from 87 thru the mid 90s as well.

You can go back to the Hustler movie of '61 and I remember a lot of really good young players coming out of that era too- from the mid 60s forward. Larry Liscotti comes to mind immediately- I think Mike Sigel was up in Rochester as a teenager playing regularly with Irving Crane by the late 60s. Alan Hopkins was running a lot of balls as a teen as well in the 60s.

You want to go back real far- Mosconi, Babe Cranfield, Jimmy Caras, Willie Hoppe- all boy wonders in pool.

 

[sjm]

One of the all-time greatest juniors was Joe Balsis. This will surely surprise many, as nearly all the major titles Joe won were past the age of 40.

The truth, however, is that Joe was a stone cold killer as a junior in the late 1930's, but he opted to go into the family's business, which was the meat business, giving rise to his eventual nickname, which was "the meatman". When he returned to world class competition about twenty years later, he was immediately a force to be reckoned with, and he was successful at Johnston City.

His "late start" didn't get in the way of his ultimate BCA Hall of Fame induction. In fact, Joe got all the way to the final of the World Straight Pool Championships at age 59 in 1980, only to lose to a rising star named Mike Sigel, who claimed his very first world championship.

 

[sjm]

No end of great players showed world class form at a very young age. Two of them that I watched up close in their youth were North Carolina's Earl Strickland and New Jersey's Allen Hopkins. Let's not leave out Dennis Hatch of Buffalo, New York, who ran over 300 balls in straight pool before he was eighteen.

 

[Cuaba]

15-20 years ago one of the backers in Bangkok brought over a teenager from Taiwan to play money games with the locals. He was giving huge spots and destroying everybody. He offered me the 6 out + the break, which I don't think Efren could have given me at the time, and I'm sure he wouldn't have. The only (and I mean only) games I won were the ones where I broke & ran out past the 6. He beat me 9-2 and 9-3. I've played several world champions and this kid was playing better than all of them. I told everybody there and everybody I saw in the USA after that that this kid from Taiwan was gonna be a world champion. I've still got a picture with him from that day. It was Ko Pin Yi.

 

[hang-the-9]

No end of great players showed world class form at a very young age. Two of them that I watched up close in their youth were North Carolina's Earl Strickland and New Jersey's Allen Hopkins. Let's not leave out Dennis Hatch of Buffalo, New York, who ran over 300 balls in straight pool before he was eighteen.

There are not many top players that were not already good by 18, it's probably a lot rarer to find players that did not pick up a cue till their 20s or 30s and became great at it. Dechaine won like 4 Jr yearly events in a row (maybe the SBE one?).

 

[evergruven]

it's probably a lot rarer to find players that did not pick up a cue till their 20s or 30s and became great at it.

good point..new thread!

 

[couldnthinkof01]

Jesse engle took 2nd in jr worlds I believe and put a beatdown on Mike Siegel in the US open at 17 or 18. Dechanie was coming up at the same time. Jesse Bowman and Shane Mcminn were also great jr players.

 

[jay helfert]

I agree that many future champions were already playing great pool by their teens but the two best I can think of were Shannon Daulton, who was a seasoned money player at 14-15, and then there's the strange case of one Keith McCready. who was playing against the best players in the world in the biggest money games at age 14, and often winning! In that respect Keith was somewhat unique. The other future champions mentioned on here were either playing against players who were not among the elite or gambling for smaller stakes altogether. They were still getting acclimated to competing against the champions of their era at an age when Keith was beating these guys.

Players like Hopkins, Hatch, Coltrain and Mizerak could definitely compete with the world's best players by age 17 or 18, but were still underdogs against them. Keith was the favorite over the world at age 18! Remember, "The World has the eight ball" and it was true!

 

[Dave714]

Tony Watson was very strong at 13.

 

[Island Drive]

I worked for the BCA for a few yrs and ran the Jr Nationals/program along with John Lewis. I got to watch the Jr's play at Magoos a couple years in a row. The only player that stuck out at the age of 13-14 was Justin Bergman. He played like like no other in the room. There were of course many good players there, but his style, outside cueing of whitey and his adult looking game surprised me. He played ''fast and loose''.

 

[ChrisinNC]

I worked for the BCA for a few yrs and ran the Jr Nationals/program along with John Lewis. I got to watch the Jr's play at Magoos a couple years in a row. The only player that stuck out at the age of 13-14 was Justin Bergman. He played like like no other in the room. There were of course many good players there, but his style, outside cueing of whitey and his adult looking game surprised me. He played ''fast and loose''.

I thought Tyler Straun, about the same age as Bergman, was just as impressive, with better fundamentals.

If I’m not mistaken, Straun ousted Bergman to win the 2000 and 2001 BCA Junior Nationals 14-and-under, then won the 18-and-under Junior Nationals in 2002, despite only being 15 years old. Reminds me of what Tiger Woods did winning consecutive US Junior and US Amateur titles at such a young age. Sadly, Straun and his girlfriend were killed in a highway accident in 2007.

 

[Tin Man]

Wu won the world 9 ball championship at age 16. He was down 16-12 and ran 5 racks and out to take the title. I didn't get a chance to see everyone in the world at 16 but I think based on that run and that stage this must be the standard by which all else is measured.

 

[u12armresl]

15-20 years ago one of the backers in Bangkok brought over a teenager from Taiwan to play money games with the locals. He was giving huge spots and destroying everybody. He offered me the 6 out + the break, which I don't think Efren could have given me at the time, and I'm sure he wouldn't have. The only (and I mean only) games I won were the ones where I broke & ran out past the 6. He beat me 9-2 and 9-3. I've played several world champions and this kid was playing better than all of them. I told everybody there and everybody I saw in the USA after that that this kid from Taiwan was gonna be a world champion. I've still got a picture with him from that day. It was Ko Pin Yi.

Tough game. You had to think you had the best of it even after losing the first set. They are simply betting you don't make a ball on the break and that if you do you can't run 5 balls.

 

[rossaroni]

Wu won the world 9 ball championship at age 16. He was down 16-12 and ran 5 racks and out to take the title. I didn't get a chance to see everyone in the world at 16 but I think based on that run and that stage this must be the standard by which all else is measured.

I was surprised that it took this long for someone to mention Wu. Maybe it was a given.

Or perhaps the fact that he placed 2nd at the 2004 Junior World Championships, he wasn’t that good.

 

[PoolBum]

Wu won the world 9 ball championship at age 16. He was down 16-12 and ran 5 racks and out to take the title. I didn't get a chance to see everyone in the world at 16 but I think based on that run and that stage this must be the standard by which all else is measured.

Wu also won the world 8 ball title in the same year. Has anyone else in the history of the game won two major world titles at the age of 16?

LoreeJon won the world straight pool title at age 15.

 

[sjm]

Wu won the world 9 ball championship at age 16. He was down 16-12 and ran 5 racks and out to take the title. I didn't get a chance to see everyone in the world at 16 but I think based on that run and that stage this must be the standard by which all else is measured.

Yes, but in the initial post it says "Just wondering who you guys consider the best United States junior player ever or maybe your top five?" Wu is not a United States player unless the post is interpreted as meaning anyone that's ever played in the United States. Had foreigners been included in the discussion, both Josh Filler and Fedor Gorst would have merited serious attention.

 

[sjm]

LoreeJon won the world straight pool title at age 15.

If women are included, Jean Balukas probably won five world straight pool championships by the age of 18.

 

[ChrisinNC]

If women are included, Jean Balukas probably won five world straight pool championships by the age of 18.

Stu, leave it to you to catch this blaring omission. Jean was clearly pool’s Mozart of child prodigies. At the age of 9 Jean finished 5th in the Women’s 14.1 US Open, and started her string of US Open 14.1 titles at the age of 13. She was inducted in to the BCA Hall of Fame at age 26 - 10 years younger than the next youngest HOF inductee’s - Mizerak and Sigel, who were both 36.

 

[Island Drive]

I thought Tyler Straun, about the same age as Bergman, was just as impressive, with better fundamentals.

If I’m not mistaken, Straun ousted Bergman to win the 2000 and 2001 BCA Junior Nationals 14-and-under, then won the 18-and-under Junior Nationals in 2002, despite only being 15 years old. Reminds me of what Tiger Woods did winning consecutive US Junior and US Amateur titles at such a young age. Sadly, Straun and his girlfriend were killed in a highway accident in 2007.

Don't forget Joey Gray....