Pool tournaments history 1990s

cool thread, and nice post jay..
love to read about the history and all the great players that came through-
 
Ratamon said:
Thank you so much for sharing your memories Jay! This a great post!

May I just confirm the year of the Hollywood Open and the Sands Regent that took place shortly afterwards please? According to my research, the only time Roger Griffis was in the finals of the Sands was in June 1990 (SRO XI) and he lost to Earl in the finals. He did beat Efren 11-9 on his way, though. Thanks again Jay!
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I'm Pretty sure it was the same year. I got it a little wrong. Efren did win in Hollywood (Roger was second) and Roger knocked him out at the Sands. I remember we watched the Buster Douglass-Mike Tyson fight during the Hollywood tournament. Douglas had been a 30-1 underdog and went off at 20-1. After it was over, Danny Diliberto (a great fighter himself) said something I never forgot, "A bad fighter in good condition will beat a good fighter in bad condition!"
 
Ratamon said:
Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm glad to see there are still a few us interested in the history of the game.

I'm currently compiling a list of all Sands Regency Open winners, runner-ups and 3-4 place finishers. The ultimate plan is to post an article on wikipedia. Being a gold member, I do have access to The National Billiard News but they don't cover all of the SROs.

I have attached the list with few missing names. If someone could help me complete (and, most importantly, verify) the spreadsheet, that would be very much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Terry
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Here are some results (top two only) from the Cue Sports Journal, a local magazine which was published for three or four years in the 1990s. These results are from before the CSJ started publishing.

Results85to88Small.jpg

Results89to92Small.jpg
 
Here are the results and some report from Sands XVII. The final went hill-hill.

SandsXVII.jpg
 
Thanks a million Bob. It’s great to see that these clippings from the CSJ confirm the info in my spreadsheet. It would be great if you could find any further info on SRO 14, 18, 20-22, 24, and 25
 
Well worth mentioning re 1990's tourneys IMO are the annual ones that were (and I think still are) held as part of Allen Hopkins' springtime expositions initially in New Jersey then in several Philly-area venues (Valley Forge, etc.)

I remember one match there -- crowded with bleacher spectators -- between Earl and Johnny Archer, and mid-match Earl's trailing badly and very frustrated, turns to the crowd and quite audibly says "I was doing great in all the tournaments till this guy [Archer] came along."

Arnaldo
 
Only the top few on the money list back in the early 1990s made $50,000 for the year. As for the Sands, it used to have gigantic fields, sometimes more than 256, so the prize money wasn't very strong in view of the field size. The Sands was probably the second biggest event (or third behind the BCA Open) of the year, behind only the US Open 9ball. There wasn't much money in tournament pool until the PBT took off circa 1996. That's why so many more of the action players steered clear of the major tournament scene back then.
 
sjm said:
Only the top few on the money list back in the early 1990s made $50,000 for the year. As for the Sands, it used to have gigantic fields, sometimes more than 256, so the prize money wasn't very strong in view of the field size. The Sands was probably the second biggest event (or third behind the BCA Open) of the year, behind only the US Open 9ball. There wasn't much money in tournament pool until the PBT took off circa 1996. That's why so many more of the action players steered clear of the major tournament scene back then.
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The Sands had two events twice a year, a pro event and one for a regional nine ball league (USPPA). The league event may have gone over 256, but I don't think the pro event ever got that large. The league event drew a lot of spectators for the pros. Room were maybe $39 per night and that was before the casinos invented resort fees.
 
I remember around 93-94, Johnny came through the inland empire and we got a call he was matching up with Francisco Galindo at his room in San Bernardino (Gold Ball Billiards) for $10,000 a set. Johnny giving Francisco the 8. We went over there and watched that. Johnny ended up $30,000 loser. Francsico was one hell of player. Him and Ernesto were probably the best Mexican players around.
 
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