Jean Balukas at age 6

[cuechick]

I just found this very interesting article about Jean... keep in mind it was before the formation of the WPBA ...

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088318/1/index.htm

I would love to know what the commercial she did was!

 

[Hal2]

Hate to admit this ....

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

but I recall seeing the orginial broadcast of "I've Got a Secret" with young Jean Balukas.

Thanks for sharing,
Hal

 

[PoolBum]

Bump for anyone who may have missed this cool video of Jean at age six!

 

[Barbara]

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

Way cool!! Thanks for the link!

Barbara

 

[jackson]

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

Playing pool - cost $4/hour

Watching pool on TV - cost $price of a six-pack

Watching this link - PRICELESS!!!

Jackson:smile:

 

[maldito]

The best - was able to see her take a tournament down in the 80's at Resorts in AC - what a stroker - totally ran over Fran Crimmi who came in #2 at that tournament. The 3 best strokers on the WPBA that I have seen are Balukas, Jazz, Villareal - there may others I have not seen - understand Kostanian has good "slip" stroke.

 

[i4pool]

PoolBum-- Thanks for the link. I really enjoyed. At age 6... amazing & adorable!

-Abe

 

[fanthom]

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

Thanks for the link. Good reading. Assuming that the write-up was accurate, I found the whole thing overly melodramatic. Sad to see talent cooped over politics. To cancel yourself out over dress codes and playing into another gender's division because so-and-so said this and that is sad. Can you imagine Roger Federer, R. Nadal, Agassi etc. not playing in Wimbledon because they don't like to wear an all white outfit. It's ridiculous. I say stop being a drama queen, shut-up and shoot! Let the best player win!

 

[worriedbeef]

Thanks for the link. Good reading. Assuming that the write-up was accurate, I found the whole thing overly melodramatic. Sad to see talent cooped over politics. To cancel yourself out over dress codes and playing into another gender's division because so-and-so said this and that is sad. Can you imagine Roger Federer, R. Nadal, Agassi etc. not playing in Wimbledon because they don't like to wear an all white outfit. It's ridiculous. I say stop being a drama queen, shut-up and shoot! Let the best player win!

to be fair i think her finishing playing was a culmination of a lot of things, and the spat over the fine was just sort of the final straw. she'd been getting disillusioned with the game for a while I think - and thought if she's gonna walk away sooner or later anyway she may as well do it now.

 

[Pushout]

Thanks for the link. Good reading. Assuming that the write-up was accurate, I found the whole thing overly melodramatic. Sad to see talent cooped over politics. To cancel yourself out over dress codes and playing into another gender's division because so-and-so said this and that is sad. Can you imagine Roger Federer, R. Nadal, Agassi etc. not playing in Wimbledon because they don't like to wear an all white outfit. It's ridiculous. I say stop being a drama queen, shut-up and shoot! Let the best player win!

Living in Binghamton at the time the dress code thing went down I understood that somehow Jean did not know before the tournament that formal wear was required. Jean is not/never was a "drama queen". You can bet that the other girls were very glad to have her not compete. If it was a matter of "let the best player win", Jean would have been allowed to compete. You have no idea just how "catty" the WPBA was at that time. That said, there was a similar attitude toward Loree Jon Jones when she was at the peak of her game. Loree Jon just never made any waves. Jean was a class act all the way.
The article is not very accurate in my opinion, for one thing they called the tournament where the dress code thing came about "The Binghamton Classic". It was never called that, it was the B C Open 9-ball Championship, for starters.

 

[fanthom]

Living in Binghamton at the time the dress code thing went down I understood that somehow Jean did not know before the tournament that formal wear was required. Jean is not/never was a "drama queen". You can bet that the other girls were very glad to have her not compete. If it was a matter of "let the best player win", Jean would have been allowed to compete. You have no idea just how "catty" the WPBA was at that time. That said, there was a similar attitude toward Lori Jon Jones when she was at the peak of her game. Lori Jon just never made any waves. Jean was a class act all the way.
The article is not very accurate in my opinion, for one thing they called the tournament where the dress code thing came about "The Binghamton Classic". It was never called that, it was the B C Open 9-ball Championship, for starters.

I certainly hope JB will reconsider. Now is the time to bring forth that talent and show the world that you truly are a world champion. The WPBA is now international and there are many talented ladies coming from all parts of the world. Back then, most competitors are local yet for some reason titles are named with the word 'WORLD' on them. Nobody gets any younger with the passing of time. If one is truly a legend in what they do or have done then let it all be known. Now is the best time and opportunity to prove it. Let the world be the witness to all that greatness and show the true champion of champions. Rock 'em JB! :wink:

 

[metallicane]

Wow, great stuff. I am trying to get my little girls to play. They are interested, but certainly no prodigys yet.

 

[mbvl]

JMHO, but I don't think any female pool player past or present can hold a candle to Jean Balukas. I met her at the BCA Hall of Fame banquet several years ago, and made a fool of myself gushing praise on her. What a shame she hasn't played in 20 years.

Mark

 

[rackmsuckr]

I certainly hope JB will reconsider. Now is the time to bring forth that talent and show the world that you truly are a world champion. The WPBA is now international and there are many talented ladies coming from all parts of the world. Back then, most competitors are local yet for some reason titles are named with the word 'WORLD' on them. Nobody gets any younger with the passing of time. If one is truly a legend in what they do or have done then let it all be known. Now is the best time and opportunity to prove it. Let the world be the witness to all that greatness and show the true champion of champions. Rock 'em JB! :wink:

She has nothing left to prove. She is already a legend.

 

[Johnnyt]

Being from NY I've seen Jean play about a dozen times and have a video of her playing. I've seen Allison live twice and TV many times.

In my opinion it's way to close to call who was the best at their peaks. Jean had a much better break than Allision, but IMO Allision would own the safety battle...not by much, but a little better than Jean. My statement would be; Allision and Jean were the best two female tournament players of all time. Johnnyt

 

[JohnnyOzone]

Jean was a straight pool player.

She played 9Ball (much like Miz, Sigel, Hopkins) because that's what the tournaments were.

No woman has ever come close to her in straight pool.

 

[Johnnyt]

There are a lot of women now that have run over 100 ball...not so when Jean played. Johnnyt

 

[JB Cases]

I think that Dorothy Wise ran more than a hundred balls.

 

[fanthom]

She has nothing left to prove. She is already a legend.

I beg to disagree. Women's pool at the time were limited to mostly the continental US. It's like saying Effie is the legendary pool of all time back in the 70s and 80s when he only played mostly in the Phils. Quite an unfair claim or title to make, don't you think? However, having witnessed his many accomplishments in world pool competition and high stakes gambling when he went international, then one can say perhaps the title would be more fitting. Like I mentioned, today's women's pool is worldwide. I think JB still has alot of play left in her and in would be a joy to see ALL THAT in todays competitive pool.

See also JohnnyTs comments. :wink:

 

[orangecrush]

Here is another video link that I found. It has Jean Balukas, Fran Crimi, Steve Mizerak, Mike Sigel. I also noticed that the video stops at 38:42, Is anyone else having the same problem?


http://www.charlierose.com/guests/jean-balukas

Walker