Dave Matlock should be in the Billiard Hall of Fame

[ShootingArts]

Every male pro pool player inducted in the player (not meritorious service) category since 2000 would qualify as a prolific winner on the big tables. I couldn't be bothered to look back any further.

I am genuinely laughing. You put in more effort than I did. I worked purely off of memory. I do apologize if I was the sole cause of your efforts! I thought I recalled some players in the hall that weren't known as tournament players.

For example, Fats is backdoored with the meritorious service thing, but how much did Fats do for pool other than incidentally? I think I remember some other road players in the hall. Don't care enough to dig. These guys may have won a major tournament or two but I suspect others not in the hall have won more. They are there because they are famous or infamous, which certainly applies to Dave.

Keith doesn't seem to be in the BCA hall of fame. He is old enough and has a lot in common with Fats plus has won some pretty significant titles if not the very biggest.

most bar table players of David's era could also play on the 9-footers and even snooker tables.

Jennie,

Oddly enough, snooker is more like bar table pool than big table pool. As long as there are red balls on the table you are playing almost entirely back and forth across the table, only six feet. When you run out of red balls then the other balls are usually on their original spots and you shoot "a drill" that you have shot many times before. That is why while snooker is harder than pool, it isn't much harder. In fact, with the trend to tight pockets in pool, pool and snooker may be very close to the same difficulty now.

I spent between twenty and forty hours a week on a snooker table for two or three years. Good fun and the pockets on bar tables seemed huge after a few hours tuning on a snooker table.

There was a pool room full of gigolos that would hustle drunks while their girls danced next door. Twenty a game action every night, fifty a game a couple of nights a week, a hundred a game a few times a year. All on bar tables and just a few miles up the road from the snooker tables. I was in heaven for a few years while it lasted! Half naked girls coming from next door to raise hell at me for taking all their hard earned money added a little spice too.(grin) That was late seventies or early eighties making the money even sweeter also.

Hu

 

[skogstokig]

I am genuinely laughing. You put in more effort than I did. I worked purely off of memory. I do apologize if I was the sole cause of your efforts! I thought I recalled some players in the hall that weren't known as tournament players.

For example, Fats is backdoored with the meritorious service thing, but how much did Fats do for pool other than incidentally? I think I remember some other road players in the hall. Don't care enough to dig. These guys may have won a major tournament or two but I suspect others not in the hall have won more. They are there because they are famous or infamous, which certainly applies to Dave.

Keith doesn't seem to be in the BCA hall of fame. He is old enough and has a lot in common with Fats plus has won some pretty significant titles if not the very biggest.




Jennie,

Oddly enough, snooker is more like bar table pool than big table pool. As long as there are red balls on the table you are playing almost entirely back and forth across the table, only six feet. When you run out of red balls then the other balls are usually on their original spots and you shoot "a drill" that you have shot many times before. That is why while snooker is harder than pool, it isn't much harder. In fact, with the trend to tight pockets in pool, pool and snooker may be very close to the same difficulty now.

I spent between twenty and forty hours a week on a snooker table for two or three years. Good fun and the pockets on bar tables seemed huge after a few hours tuning on a snooker table.

There was a pool room full of gigolos that would hustle drunks while their girls danced next door. Twenty a game action every night, fifty a game a couple of nights a week, a hundred a game a few times a year. All on bar tables and just a few miles up the road from the snooker tables. I was in heaven for a few years while it lasted! Half naked girls coming from next door to raise hell at me for taking all their hard earned money added a little spice too.(grin) That was late seventies or early eighties making the money even sweeter also.

Hu

mike massey maybe? not a road player, but more of a trick shot master than tournament winner

 

[ShootingArts]

mike massey maybe? not a road player, but more of a trick shot master than tournament winner

Mike won a few nine ball tournaments against the best in his younger years. He aspired to be a pool player more than a trick shot artist back then. He was less than a ball away from running with the best but that can be a long ways when you are consistently a half step behind!

A funny story: I hadn't seen Mike for twenty years or more when I bumped into him. He glared at me. He has a memory like an elephant!

Hu

 

[JAM]

This is from Facebook, but check out this shot Dave did at the recent Colorado Open.

David Matlock shot at the 2024 Colorado Open

 

[Black-Balled]

The hall of fame seems to have a sliding scale. I'm pretty sure a look at past entrants won't show them all to be big table big tournament winners.

Matlock is legend, has been legend for decades. Ta

I think Matlock's high run on a bar table is 28 games. I can't remember any of the big table specialists coming on the "easy" bar tables and running that many or more.

Hu

If it is indeed 28, that is a funny coincidence.

The high run record for tournament play in 3c billiards is 28 ( shared by 3 players).

Now that I think about it, there was a football.game where one team had 28 points.

Damn numbers!

 

[sammylane12]

Certainly, Dave was a legend on the bar table, quite possibly the greatest ever. That said, bar table pool does not represent the highest level of competition in our sport, and there is no bar table title that would be considered a major championship in our sport.

Unlike guys like Buddy Hall and SVB, Dave could not duplicate his bar table success in pool's major championships so, unless a category of great bar table players were added, Dave does not have the competitive resume that would seem to justify BCA Hall of Fame consideration.

With or without induction, however, Dave's legend will live on forever.

It would be OK with me if a bar table category was added to HOF.

 

[ShootingArts]

If it is indeed 28, that is a funny coincidence.

The high run record for tournament play in 3c billiards is 28 ( shared by 3 players).

Now that I think about it, there was a football.game where one team had 28 points.

Damn numbers!

Seven is often seen as a good luck number. Four is occasionally seen as a good luck number but more often as a bad luck number. When you think about it, twenty-eight divided by seven is four but four times seven is twenty-eight. Yin and yang, it can't all be coincidence!

Some people think thirteen is unlucky. Not me! My divorce papers were served on the thirteenth. I shook the two servers' hands, thanked them profusely, and invited them in for a celebratory drink! They looked a little bemused. I guess not the result they usually got.

Hu

 

[Bob Jewett]

... The high run record for tournament play in 3c billiards is 28 ( shared by 3 players).
...
Damn numbers!

That would be four carom players who share the high run of 28. But who's counting?

And 28 is a perfect number in that it is the sum of its divisors: 1+2+4+7+14 = 28.

But back to the topic... If anyone here really feels strongly that Dave belongs in the Hall of Fame, put together a bio and send it to the committee. That's the first step. There are similar discussions every year, but so far as I know, they have never resulted in a bio being sent in. As mentioned before, the nomination would be in the "veterans" category which is for players who were somehow overlooked or never got enough votes when they were active.

 

[SmoothStroke]

Sweet Stroke. Steve was funny.

 

[bbb]

This is from Facebook, but check out this shot Dave did at the recent Colorado Open.

David Matlock shot at the 2024 Colorado Open

dave is a lefty
notice he hit the first shot righty !!!!!

 

[Black-Balled]

That would be four carom players who share the high run of 28. But who's counting?

And 28 is a perfect number in that it is the sum of its divisors: 1+2+4+7+14 = 28.

Forthomme, caudron and komori, yeah?

Ceulemans is #4?

Dammit. I'm gonna get sent back over to the 4 ball tables over this one.

 

[AtLarge]

Forthomme, caudron and komori, yeah?

Ceulemans is #4?

Dammit. I'm gonna get sent back over to the 4 ball tables over this one.

Yup. According to Gabriels:

1993, Komori​

1998, Ceulemans​

2012, Forthomme​

2013, Caudron​

 

[fjk]

Sweet Stroke. Steve was funny.

He ran those two racks pretty easily. He looked like he could do that all day long. Interesting matchup between those two. Who would win in a race to 100 (on the barbox)?

 

[ShootingArts]

He ran those two racks pretty easily. He looked like he could do that all day long. Interesting matchup between those two. Who would win in a race to 100 (on the barbox)?

I played Johnny a long long time ago on a barbox. It depends on who leads and who follows as long as the break is working. If the other player controls the position of the cue ball for every shot it can be a long cold evening.

Hu

 

[Black-Balled]

Yup. According to Gabriels:

1993, Komori​

1998, Ceulemans​

2012, Forthomme​

2013, Caudron​

I thought so for a second when I initially typed it...then thought I was just being dumb

And I was right!

 

[SmoothStroke]

He ran those two racks pretty easily. He looked like he could do that all day long. Interesting matchup between those two. Who would win in a race to 100 (on the barbox)?

Johnny played pretty good, player of the decade is quite the achievement
Dave just glides through racks, I like his movement and demeanor through a rack.
Johnny can dramatize a simple rack but got the job done.
I'm taking Dave, I'm not an expert.

Johnny's Titles and achievements​

2016 Hangelar 9-Ball Open 2016 Tennessee State 8-Ball Open 2015 Tornado Open 9-Ball Championship 2013 Music City Classic 9-Ball 2012 Music City Classic 9-Ball 2011 Maryland 14.1 Championship 2011 Music City Classic 9-Ball 2011 Challenge du St. Laurent 9-Ball 2010 Turning Stone Classic 2009 Steve Mizerak 10-Ball Championship 2009 Turning Stone Classic 2009 U.S. 10-Ball Invitational 2009 Gem City Classic 2009 Mosconi Cup 2008 Turning Stone Classic 2008 UPA Desert Shoot Out 2008 Turning Stone Classic 2008 Jay Swanson Memorial 9-Ball 2007 Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship 2007 Turning Stone Classic 2007 Great Southern Billiard Tour 2006 International Challenge of Champions 2006 Turning Stone Classic 2006 Music City Classic 9-Ball 2006 SML Entertainment Open 9-Ball Championship 2005 Predator Florida Pro 9-Ball Open 2005 Glass City Open 9-Ball Championship 2005 Mosconi Cup 2004 Super Billiards Expo Players Championship 2004 Big Apple 9-Ball Challenge 2004 North American Open Tour 2004 Carolinas Open 9-Ball Division 2004 Predator Florida Pro 9-Ball Open 2004 Derby City Classic 10-Ball Ring Game 2004 Mosconi Cup 2004 Billiards Digest Player of the Year 2004 Border Battle, Team USA VS Team Canada 2003 Glass City Open 9-Ball Championship 2003 Molson Cup 2003 Border Battle, Team USA VS Team Canada 2003 World Summit of Pool 2003 Super Billiards Expo Players Championship 2003 ESPN Sudden Death Seven-ball 2003 Predator Florida Pro 9-Ball Open 2003 Predator Atlanta 9-Ball Open 2003 LG Flatiron "On Cue 2" 9-Ball Tournament 2003 IBC Western Canadian Open 9-Ball 2003 Mosconi Cup

2003 Billiards Digest Player of the Year 2002 Capital City Classic 9-Ball 2002 Joss Northeast Tour 2001 Mosconi Cup 2001 Border Battle, Team USA VS Team Canada 2000 BCA Open Nine-ball Championship 2000 Music City Classic 9-Ball 2000 Euro Tour Portugal Open 2000 Euro Tour Italy Open 2000 Mosconi Cup 2000 Billiards Digest Player of the Decade- 1990s 1999 Billiards Digest Player of the Year 1999 Mosconi Cup 1999 US Open Nine-ball Championship 1999 Camel Kasson Open 1998 Mosconi Cup 1998 ESPN Ultimate Challenge 9-Ball 1997 Mosconi Cup 1997 PCA Viking Challenge 1997 WPA World Nine-ball Championship 1996 Billiards Digest Player of the Year 1996 PBT Pro Tour Nine-Ball Championship 1995 Sands Regency 9-Ball Open 1995 PBT Riviera Nine-Ball Championship 1994 PBT Florida Flare Up II 1994 Sands Regency 9-Ball Open 1994 Touch of Class Billiards 9-Ball Classic 1993 Billiards Digest Player of the Year 1993 PBT Riviera Nine-Ball Championship 1993 McDermott Masters 9-Ball Championship 1993 Capital City Open 9-Ball 1993 Bicycle Club 9-Ball Invitational 1993 Sands Regency 9-Ball Open 1993 Texas Tornado 9-Ball Tournament 1992 Billiards Digest Player of the Year 1992 WPA World Nine-ball Championship 1992 Sands Regency 9-Ball Open 1992 Beach Ball Open 9-Ball 1992 International 9-Ball Classic 1992 Q-Masters Championship 1992 Kupolen Challenge Cup 1991 Sands Last Call For 9-Ball 1991 Cleveland Open 9-Ball 1991 Spring Fling Open 9-Ball 1991 Sands Regency 9-Ball Open 1990 Willard's 9-Ball Classic 1989 Wiregrass Open 9-Ball 1989 B.C. Open 9-Ball Pro-Am Doubles 1988 Huebler Cup Open 9-Ball

 

[SmoothStroke]

This was pretty cool.

 

[lfigueroa]

I think, if you are at all knowledgeable about pool, you recognized the name of a player like Matlock, and are even vaguely familiar with his accomplishments -- bar box or otherwise -- you should have an open mind about something like a HOF nomination.

I mean really, did all the old time players have a brain infarction when play went from 10' to 9' tables and guys, OMG, were being nominated and elected to the HOF?!

Lou Figueroa
let us not be
effete snobs
about all this

 

[garczar]

I'm a tad biased because i know the guy real well but the reason Dave played so much on the bb is because THAT'S WHERE THE MONEY WAS(and still is in a lot of spots). In the Midwest ALL action other than 1p was played on bb's so naturally Dave followed the $. He's a world-class 3c player(hi-run is 17-18ish) and can flat dab it on the big box. If he'd played in big table country he'd have been a monster there too. I saw him burn down a payball game in Olathe that had these chumps in the game: Efren, Parica, Walden and iirc Donny Foulks(good regional player from Pawhuska). Dave caught a gear and they all said "no mas".

 

[sjm]

If it is indeed 28, that is a funny coincidence.

The high run record for tournament play in 3c billiards is 28 ( shared by 3 players).

Now that I think about it, there was a football.game where one team had 28 points.

Damn numbers!

Yes, Matlock's 28-pack in bar table eight ball is well-known.