Jean Balukas at age 6

Lol..thats about as cute as it gets there. Sure wish Jean would make a comeback.

Southpaw
 
Wow. She was born D+ player. She was on many shows until she was a teenager. Thanks for the memories.

I can remember watching that with my dad on a 12" Philco TV in our living room. We weren't rich but we were the 1st on the block to have a TV. I remember about a dozen guys use to come over every weekend for the Friday Night Fights. That's how I got to love boxing and that's how I started drinking...draining the beer and booze out of the glasses and bottles in the kitchen. Johnnyt
 
PoolBum said:
I'm not sure if this has been posted on AZ before--I did a search and could not find it. This is Jean Balukas at age six on the show "I've Got a Secret." The panelists try and guess what she does, and then she gives a brief exhibition:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zNAtK-Qhlqg
Click to expand...

That was awesome PoolBum. I'm sending you my best REP. I loved Jean's accent and directness.:thumbup:

JoeyA
 
Her stroke is what blows me away... even at 6 1/2 it was so pure. I am sure some of her later matches were televised it would be great if someone has any of those to post too!

Thanks for posting that link!
 
PoolBum said:
I'm not sure if this has been posted on AZ before--I did a search and could not find it. This is Jean Balukas at age six on the show "I've Got a Secret." The panelists try and guess what she does, and then she gives a brief exhibition:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zNAtK-Qhlqg
Click to expand...

I don't know if its been here before either, Bum but I had not seen it. I knew this existed from years ago but thought it was lost. You got repped for posting it, sir. I have been wanting to see that for so long.
 
That was so cool. I never even knew she had a little sister...I wonder if she ever did anything with her skill?

I do have an old VCR tape from Wide World of Sports where she played, but it has a few sections of static, but you can still tell how awesome she could play.

She graciously posed for a picture with me when the WPBA was in Chicago. She was there to cheer on a girlfriend, but it was the biggest thrill of my life to meet my idol.
 

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So according to that video she was 6 and a half years old......that puts her at around 48-49 now. Does she still play recreationally? Why exactly did she drop out of competition? She's still young enough to whoop some ass.
MULLY
 
As usual Wikipedia has all the answers. Of course I know who she is but I never really paid much attention to women's pool and didn't know the back story to her quitting. If anyone else is in the dark about this here ya go. Interesting read.
MULLY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Balukas
 
I would love to see TAR or someone else get her to come out and play a top player of today. not to see whos best, just to see her play again. Us old folks on here have seen here play and beat all the top women of that era and enough of the top men to know she played jam-up. So we know how good she was. For others there are plenty of free and for sale video of her in her prime. I'm sure it wouldn't take an hour for her to get staked.

Any of the top ten women would work. I would say Jeanette Lee would work the best money wise. She's lost a ball or so to the new wave of champions that have come to the WPBA, but so has Jean I'm sure. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
I would love to see TAR or someone else get her to come out and play a top player of today.
Click to expand...

Jean turned down what amounted to a $30,000 appearance fee in the IPT's opening event. That's about what she would make by winning two consecutive WPBA events. It's not about the money, it's about Jean's lack of interest in returning.

As for her playing speed, I last played against Jean in 2005, at which time I'd say she played as well as all but five players on the WPBA.
 
sjm said:
As for her playing speed, I last played against Jean in 2005, at which time I'd say she played as well as all but five players on the WPBA.
Click to expand...

And I am guessing, that is without much practice? ;)
 
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