Mount Rushmore of pool?
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So tough to narrow it down to four players. You'd really need to highlight players who transcended all of their peers for an extended period of time, and maybe changed the game by taking it to a level that hadn't been seen before.
Mosconi certainly would be a good candidate.
After that, though, it gets murky. Lassiter? Maybe. But who in the late 60s on really dominated to the level that they would stand out? Buddy, Sigel, Varner, Earl, and Archer all had periods they were unstoppable, and that is excluding many others. Efren certainly changed the kicking game (keep in mind it had only recently switched to Texas Express and the US players had only been kicking five years) but did he really dominate his peers?
As for guys like Worst or Willis, well, we can only go off a little hearsay and I don't think it's reasonable to consider them when they didn't dominate competition for long periods.
After 2000 the game has become more international and it has become even harder to stand out. Filler is definitely at the height of pool and no one could do better than what he's done over the last 5-6 years, but I'm not sure that he has quite earned a spot on Mount Rushmore. But if he hasn't, who the heck has?
In the end I just don't see picking only four. There have just been too many great players. But if I had to pick with a gun to my head, I'd go Mosconi, Efren, Earl, and SVB. I hate that Filler isn't on this list but I ran out of room. Maybe he'd edge Efren out if I wasn't so damn sentimental. So I go back to not choosing.
Mosconi certainly would be a good candidate.
After that, though, it gets murky. Lassiter? Maybe. But who in the late 60s on really dominated to the level that they would stand out? Buddy, Sigel, Varner, Earl, and Archer all had periods they were unstoppable, and that is excluding many others. Efren certainly changed the kicking game (keep in mind it had only recently switched to Texas Express and the US players had only been kicking five years) but did he really dominate his peers?
As for guys like Worst or Willis, well, we can only go off a little hearsay and I don't think it's reasonable to consider them when they didn't dominate competition for long periods.
After 2000 the game has become more international and it has become even harder to stand out. Filler is definitely at the height of pool and no one could do better than what he's done over the last 5-6 years, but I'm not sure that he has quite earned a spot on Mount Rushmore. But if he hasn't, who the heck has?
In the end I just don't see picking only four. There have just been too many great players. But if I had to pick with a gun to my head, I'd go Mosconi, Efren, Earl, and SVB. I hate that Filler isn't on this list but I ran out of room. Maybe he'd edge Efren out if I wasn't so damn sentimental. So I go back to not choosing.
I would go not necessarily who is the "BEST" pool player...but which player had the most influence on the game....which were the "game changers" or Icon's of pool....When you think of pool the names that you associate as the image of pool.......That being said.
Willie, Earl, Efren, Allison
Willie, Earl, Efren, Allison
not again...
If it doesn't have Fats on it, it is not correct
This is always hard to answer for people who started playing post 90's. I personally don't know who to include from the yester years but for someone who is 35 I would say:
Mosconi
Sigel
Efren
SVB (debatable pick, but for me there has been no one more dominant then SVB since the turn of the millennia)
Mosconi
Sigel
Efren
SVB (debatable pick, but for me there has been no one more dominant then SVB since the turn of the millennia)
POOL not snooker. Pay attention.
I think I'd break it up into eras rather than limit it to 4.
I think Mosconi and Efren are locks for their respective times.
Lassiter for the period between Mosconi and the rise of Sigel, Miz, Varner, etc.?
I would vote for Sigel as the 3rd/4th but Mizerak for the 1970s is a strooong contender.
After that, it's a little harder - the period from say 1994-2010ish. I vote Earl.
For the period from the early 2000's to about a few years ago (so the generation before Filler, Gorst, etc. really came into full swing), it's really hard. SVB? Mika?
Time will tell for the current crop, but Filler is out there chiseling his face into the mountainside as we speak.
So:
Mosconi
Lassiter
Sigel
Efren
Earl
SVB
If only 4, then Mosconi, Sigel, Efren, Earl.
I think Mosconi and Efren are locks for their respective times.
Lassiter for the period between Mosconi and the rise of Sigel, Miz, Varner, etc.?
I would vote for Sigel as the 3rd/4th but Mizerak for the 1970s is a strooong contender.
After that, it's a little harder - the period from say 1994-2010ish. I vote Earl.
For the period from the early 2000's to about a few years ago (so the generation before Filler, Gorst, etc. really came into full swing), it's really hard. SVB? Mika?
Time will tell for the current crop, but Filler is out there chiseling his face into the mountainside as we speak.
So:
Mosconi
Lassiter
Sigel
Efren
Earl
SVB
If only 4, then Mosconi, Sigel, Efren, Earl.
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How? The guy doesn't play pool. Make a mountain for snooker players.
My Mount Rushmore of pool might not have anyone on it, at least not yet.
Why? The game was dominated by the U.S. in the modern era until about 20 or 30 years ago. As such it was pretty insular.
An American Mt Rushmore of Pool is easy: Mosconi, Strickland and SVB. Sigel, too. How much he won is astonishing, and he was quite a showman.
A global Mt Rushmore? Incomplete.
Mosconi would seem like a shoo-in. He helped to make pool more popular in the U.S. But he stopped playing at a high level in the mid-1960s and didn't have much influence on the global game. Not sure he laid a foundation for anything in particular.
Efren? Didn't have the greatest success in "world" championship events, but he revolutionized how the game is played. He also helped to popularize it internationally in a way that Mosconi never did.
He is the only person I put on my global Mount Rushmore for now.
SVB might be next. Why? Not just his sustained success. His dominant break changed the game and how it is played.
Beyond that? Time will tell. Filler is the most promising, but he does need to win more world titles first. He is young and just needs more time.
What I love about his game is his stellar fundamental play, including his overlooked mastery of center ball. He makes the game as easy as possible, whereas others often overcomplicate the game.
A fourth person? That player is not on my horizon at the moment. You could make a semi-serious case for Florian Kohler, the best trick shot artist ever in my view. The guy has 2 million Facebook followers!
Why? The game was dominated by the U.S. in the modern era until about 20 or 30 years ago. As such it was pretty insular.
An American Mt Rushmore of Pool is easy: Mosconi, Strickland and SVB. Sigel, too. How much he won is astonishing, and he was quite a showman.
A global Mt Rushmore? Incomplete.
Mosconi would seem like a shoo-in. He helped to make pool more popular in the U.S. But he stopped playing at a high level in the mid-1960s and didn't have much influence on the global game. Not sure he laid a foundation for anything in particular.
Efren? Didn't have the greatest success in "world" championship events, but he revolutionized how the game is played. He also helped to popularize it internationally in a way that Mosconi never did.
He is the only person I put on my global Mount Rushmore for now.
SVB might be next. Why? Not just his sustained success. His dominant break changed the game and how it is played.
Beyond that? Time will tell. Filler is the most promising, but he does need to win more world titles first. He is young and just needs more time.
What I love about his game is his stellar fundamental play, including his overlooked mastery of center ball. He makes the game as easy as possible, whereas others often overcomplicate the game.
A fourth person? That player is not on my horizon at the moment. You could make a semi-serious case for Florian Kohler, the best trick shot artist ever in my view. The guy has 2 million Facebook followers!
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Eddie Felson
Balabooshka
Joe Camel
Bob Meucci
Honorable mention…
Daddy Warbucks
Bodendorfer
The Tennessee Tarzan
Louie Roberts
Balabooshka
Joe Camel
Bob Meucci
Honorable mention…
Daddy Warbucks
Bodendorfer
The Tennessee Tarzan
Louie Roberts
For the men, this is easy. Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel, Willie Mosconi, Ralph Greenleaf. For the 9ball era only, I'd go with Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel, Nick Varner and Josh Filler.
The ladies Mount Rushmore is a little trickier, but I'd go with Allison Fisher, Jean Balukas, Karen Corr and Ruth McGinnis. For the 9ball era only, I'd replace Ruth McGinnins with Kelly Fisher.
The ladies Mount Rushmore is a little trickier, but I'd go with Allison Fisher, Jean Balukas, Karen Corr and Ruth McGinnis. For the 9ball era only, I'd replace Ruth McGinnins with Kelly Fisher.
Irving Crane, competed for championships into his 70's
