BCA Hall of Fame…no Mike Howerton?

[ShootingArts]

I know it stung Mark that he wasn’t recognized while he was alive.

Being involved with a handful of activities I have been familiar with multiple halls of fame too, as well as hall of fame members. People do start feeling like a redheaded stepchild when people with lesser accomplishments are voted in over and over and they are ignored.

People die and all of a sudden "Oh yeah, he should be in the hall of fame!" A day late and a dollar short, it won't mean crap to the inductee now.

Hu

 

[Cornerman]

Wow, I’m glad you didn’t mean any disrespect. Otherwise, I might have wondered.

On a slightly more serious note, Mike P is the elder statesman of the game in my opinion. He has published the gold standard when it comes to magazines and has been covering this industry for four decades.

I think that Mike being inducted might open the door for some other very deserving people. (Jerry Forsyth, Conrad Burkman, Scott Smith, Jay Helfert, etc, etc).

Chasm.


Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums

Well, I deserved that for poor choice of words. My apologies.

 

[MattPoland]

Pardon my bias, but did Kim Davenport elected to the Hall of Fame?
I checked his resume and the best he did at the World stage was a semi finalist in the 1992 WPA World Nine Ball Championship. This could be erroneous information ?
Gerda Hofstatter won a World Championchip in 1995 when there was hardly any competition. I don’t remember what else did she accomplish.
Jean Balukas retired in 1988
When Alison came to the seen she “force” retirement to many of the female “professionals “ players that were on the tour. In those days there was hardly any competition.
I don’t intend to be argumentative but I truly believe that Corey belongs BCA Hall of Fame. After all it’s the Billiard Congress of America. Not China or any other country in the world.

I like to look at it this way. Ask yourself what the best 5 finishes were of a player over their career. What were the best 5 finishes of their peers they competed against?

To me, I can’t exactly judge Kim very well. It was a different era. WPA Championship started in 1990 on the tail end of his tenure. Maybe a Sands Regency or a PBT Championship was more prestigious. But there is the point that I don’t see any US Open wins on that resume. And the people that did have US Open wins in that era did stand out as significantly more merit-worthy (Hall, Sigel, Strickland, Varner, etc). If I was voting, I would’ve needed convincing when he was inducted. I think lowering the bar for people that don’t match those levels of results just makes it a bit cheaper. And we are talking about household names I’m very much a big fan of.

Especially as we look forward to an era of pool that clearly is more international and where the major achievements are so much more easily identified. When you look at a Deuel, Jones or Schmidt, I just don’t see putting them on the same pedestal as the people they actively competed against (Souquet, Immonen, Pagalayan, Appleton, Orcollo, SVB, etc.). It’s demonstrably a different tier of player. Just like I don’t see putting a Tyler Styer in one day when you have a Filler to compare against. Not unless he really picks it up.

 

[shooter_Hans]

Jay Helfert in too.

How do we get Jay in too.

 

[stevelomako]

I know it stung Mark that he wasn’t recognized while he was alive.

I talked with Mark a few times about the things he was doing and tried doing and we got very personal. You are correct about it stinging.

Mark put a lot of heart and soul into stuff and did way more than people know even now.


For what it’s worth, I was close friends with Ray Abrams and Conrad Burkman since I first started in pool and even wrote stuff in the magazine and I would put you ahead of both of them.

Matter of fact, Conrad asked me first about taking all his photos and I declined.

 

[manopr350]

I like to look at it this way. Ask yourself what the best 5 finishes were of a player over their career. What were the best 5 finishes of their peers they competed against?

To me, I can’t exactly judge Kim very well. It was a different era. WPA Championship started in 1990 on the tail end of his tenure. Maybe a Sands Regency or a PBT Championship was more prestigious. But there is the point that I don’t see any US Open wins on that resume. And the people that did have US Open wins in that era did stand out as significantly more merit-worthy (Hall, Sigel, Strickland, Varner, etc). If I was voting, I would’ve needed convincing when he was inducted. I think lowering the bar for people that don’t match those levels of results just makes it a bit cheaper. And we are talking about household names I’m very much a big fan of.

Especially as we look forward to an era of pool that clearly is more international and where the major achievements are so much more easily identified. When you look at a Deuel, Jones or Schmidt, I just don’t see putting them on the same pedestal as the people they actively competed against (Souquet, Immonen, Pagalayan, Appleton, Orcollo, SVB, etc.). It’s demonstrably a different tier of player. Just like I don’t see putting a Tyler Styer in one day when you have a Filler to compare against. Not unless he really picks it up.

We can text each other until forever. I will leave it at this. In the USA, the term “World” had been loosely used for many years. In all professional sports. Ralph Greenleaf was World Champion 19 times! But many times he only competed against 1 player. It was basically “challenge matches”. Nonetheless they attributed him with 19 World Championships. To me a World Championship Tournament started when the World became participant of such Event. Back in the days you could see very few international players competing. You are absolutely correct about “lowering the bar”. That bar had been lowered a long time ago.
One day we may meet and will continue our conversation.

 

[Cornerman]

To me, I can’t exactly judge Kim very well. It was a different era. WPA Championship started in 1990 on the tail end of his tenure. Maybe a Sands Regency or a PBT Championship was more prestigious. But there is the point that I don’t see any US Open wins on that resume. And the people that did have US Open wins in that era did stand out as significantly more merit-worthy (Hall, Sigel, Strickland, Varner, etc)

Really need to look at the requirements:

Age
Years
Significant titles.

Both Parica and Davenport had significant titles without a WPA World Title or US Open 9-ball. It brings up the idea of some kind of metrics per event, with major event getting more weight. Maybe that’s what happens in the future.

Some players of the past used the BC Open is the defacto World Championship. It was often titled the BC World 9-ball. Davenport also won the Japan Open and 3 Sands events . That’s some big wins in an era of a slew of Hall of Famers.

If people need to see “US Open 9-ball” in a player’s résumé, then take a quick look at Louie Roberts, Reed Pierce and Tommy Kennedy. The answer for why they aren’t in the Hall of Fame gives the reason why Davenport (and Parica) *are* in. Body of work.