Thorsten Hohmann voted into the BCA Hall of Fame

Bob Jewett

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Thorsten Hohmann has been elected to the BCA Hall of Fame as the 2021 choice. His competition included Orcullo, Deuel and Feijen and several other players. From the press release:

Hohmann, who will turn 42 on July 14, narrowly edged Philippines star Dennis Orcullo in voting and will enter the Greatest Players wing of the BCA Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on Friday, Oct. 29, at the Norfolk Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Va., in conjunction with the 2021 International Open. In addition to Hohmann, the 2021 BCA Hall of Fame Banquet will also feature the formal induction ceremony for women’s world champion Kelly Fisher. Fisher was elected to the hall in 2020, but no ceremony was held due to COVID-19 restrictions.
 
Another win for the mighty Thor.

Great reporting.
 
Bob,

Is it limited to one player per year? Hohmann for sure deserves it - with two world 9b and all the straight pool titles, and of course the IPT tile, but a shame Dennis has to wait a year.
 
Wonderful news. Thorsten is a very deserving candidate for induction, one of just five (Ortmann, Sigel, Varner, Hohmann, Feijen) that I know of that won a WPA-Sanctioned World Straight Pool Championship and a WPA-Sanctioned World 9 ball Championship. Four of these are now elected to the Hall of Fame, and I suspect Niels Feijen won't have to wait very long for his own induction.

Kudos to the BCA and the Hall of Fame committee on a job well done.
 
Bob,

Is it limited to one player per year? Hohmann for sure deserves it - with two world 9b and all the straight pool titles, and of course the IPT tile, but a shame Dennis has to wait a year.
Dennis' competitive resume is modest compared to that of Feijen, who also has failed to gain admission to this point.
 
Dennis' competitive resume is modest compared to that of Feijen, who also has failed to gain admission to this point.
Feijen per his resume is orders of magnitude in front of Dennis. DO will probably get there but not vs Feijen. In fact SVB might get to 40 and get his jacket before Dennis. Dennis is worthy and will get in but when it comes to World staged events his resume looks weaker.
 
Feijen per his resume is orders of magnitude in front of Dennis. DO will probably get there but not vs Feijen. In fact SVB might get to 40 and get his jacket before Dennis. Dennis is worthy and will get in but when it comes to World staged events his resume looks weaker.

I know Niels has a world 9b title, but Dennis has the world 8b (beating Dennis in the finals) and Niels does have a world 14.1. But other than that I don’t see orders of magnitude more for Niels. In particular I personally place a lot of weight of Dennis’ repeated wins at the Derby.

By the way, I love Niels and want him in too.
 
Bob,

Is it limited to one player per year? Hohmann for sure deserves it - with two world 9b and all the straight pool titles, and of course the IPT tile, but a shame Dennis has to wait a year.
No. The voting is something like "for all who deserve to be in the HOF at this time". I think there were at least four names there -- including Thorsten's of course -- who do belong in. After the leading vote-getter, any additional candidates require 75% percent yes votes, which is hard to get in a very talent-laden field.
 
Here is Neils' record on majors:

Major Titles
2018 World Pool Masters
2014 WPA World 9-Ball Championship
2013 World Pool Masters
2008 World Straight Pool Championship
2007 International Challenge of Champions
2005 Big Apple 9-Ball Championship
2004 Skins Billiard Championship
Additional
12X Mosconi Cup Team Europe
2X European 9-Ball Champion
7X European Straight Pool Champion
2017 Predator French Open
2014 Deurne City Classic 9-Ball Champion
2011 World 8-Ball Championship (Runner-up)
2010 World 8-Ball Championship (Runner-up)

And for Dennis:

Major Titles
2020 Derby City Classic Nine-Ball Banks
2016 U.S. Open Straight Pool
2015 U.S. Open 8-Ball
2014 U.S. Open One-Pocket
2014 Derby City Classic Nine-Ball Banks
2013 World Cup of Pool (with Lee Van Corteza)
2013 U.S. Open One-Pocket
2012 China Open
2012 U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship
2011 Predator International 10-Ball Championship
2011 Derby City 9-Ball Championship
2011 WPA World 8-Ball Championship
2010 World Pool Masters
2009 Predator International 10-Ball Championship
2008 Qatar World Open 9-Ball Championship
2007 BCA Open 9-Ball Championship
2006 Sands Regency 9-Ball Championship
Other Titles
2020 Texas Open 10-Ball
2014 Hard Times 10-Ball Open
2014 Jay Swanson Memorial 9-Ball
2013 U.S. Open Bar Table 10-Ball
2012 Hard Times 10-Ball Open
2010 Asian Games 9-Ball
2007 Bill Staton Memorial
SEA Games (Southeast Asian Games)
Gold Medal
2011 8-Ball
2010 9-Ball
2015 9-Ball
2013 10-Ball
2019 10-Ball
 
I know Niels has a world 9b title, but Dennis has the world 8b (beating Dennis in the finals) and Niels does have a world 14.1. But other than that I don’t see orders of magnitude more for Niels. In particular I personally place a lot of weight of Dennis’ repeated wins at the Derby.
You are mistaken in your assessment. Niels has a WPA Sanctioned World 14.1 Championship, a WPA Sanctioned 9-ball Championship, countless Euro-tour wins, two wins at the World Pool Masters, 7 European Straight Pool Championships, two European 9-ball Championships and a win at the International Challenge of Champions. His list of titles dwarfs that of Orcullo, whose Derby City efforts are, indeed legendary. Dennis will rightly make the Hall of Fame one day, but if he gets in before Niels, it will be because those whose titles have come outside the United States have tended to be discriminated against by the Hall of Fame committee, Dennis' list of major titles is not on a par with that of Niels.
 
Here is Neils' record on majors:

Major Titles
2018 World Pool Masters
2014 WPA World 9-Ball Championship
2013 World Pool Masters
2008 World Straight Pool Championship
2007 International Challenge of Champions
2005 Big Apple 9-Ball Championship
2004 Skins Billiard Championship
Additional
12X Mosconi Cup Team Europe
2X European 9-Ball Champion
7X European Straight Pool Champion
2017 Predator French Open
2014 Deurne City Classic 9-Ball Champion
2011 World 8-Ball Championship (Runner-up)
2010 World 8-Ball Championship (Runner-up)

And for Dennis:

Major Titles
2020 Derby City Classic Nine-Ball Banks
2016 U.S. Open Straight Pool
2015 U.S. Open 8-Ball
2014 U.S. Open One-Pocket
2014 Derby City Classic Nine-Ball Banks
2013 World Cup of Pool (with Lee Van Corteza)
2013 U.S. Open One-Pocket
2012 China Open
2012 U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship
2011 Predator International 10-Ball Championship
2011 Derby City 9-Ball Championship
2011 WPA World 8-Ball Championship
2010 World Pool Masters
2009 Predator International 10-Ball Championship
2008 Qatar World Open 9-Ball Championship
2007 BCA Open 9-Ball Championship
2006 Sands Regency 9-Ball Championship
Other Titles
2020 Texas Open 10-Ball
2014 Hard Times 10-Ball Open
2014 Jay Swanson Memorial 9-Ball
2013 U.S. Open Bar Table 10-Ball
2012 Hard Times 10-Ball Open
2010 Asian Games 9-Ball
2007 Bill Staton Memorial
SEA Games (Southeast Asian Games)
Gold Medal
2011 8-Ball
2010 9-Ball
2015 9-Ball
2013 10-Ball
2019 10-Ball

Thanks. Interesting that the HoF (or whoever put the list together) doesn’t consider the Master of the Table as a title.
 
I know Niels has a world 9b title, but Dennis has the world 8b (beating Dennis in the finals) and Niels does have a world 14.1. But other than that I don’t see orders of magnitude more for Niels. In particular I personally place a lot of weight of Dennis’ repeated wins at the Derby.

By the way, I love Niels and want him in too.
Gideon,
Like others have mentioned I just think Niels has done more at the "Premier" events. DCC is super tough but more US Based action orientated type thing. Now drop the Mosconi events on top and the winner is Niels. Dennis would need a US Open 9-Ball to make me reconsider.

Hopefully now that covid is waning I can get back to Toronto and we can hit some.
 
Gideon,
Like others have mentioned I just think Niels has done more at the "Premier" events. DCC is super tough but more US Based action orientated type thing. Now drop the Mosconi events on top and the winner is Niels. Dennis would need a US Open 9-Ball to make me reconsider.

Hopefully now that covid is waning I can get back to Toronto and we can hit some.
It would take a lot more than that for me to reconsider.

I'm a huge fan of Dennis, but the facts are the facts, Nobody who pays close attention to the pro scene would call the US Open 10-ball, US Open 14.1, or US Open 8-ball major titles. These are, in recent times, small field events and the elite within these disciplines are rarely present. These titles are easier to win than strong regional events like Turning Stone and much easier to win than Eurotour events or the European Championships, which are mysteriously missing from Niels resume, despite his having about 11 of them, all of which should be listed as major titles. Feijen's 9 titles at the European championships should also all be viewed as majors. For most of the last decade, the European 14.1 championship has been the most difficult 14.1 event of the year to win, although I believe Peter Burrows is in the process of changing that. Hence, after eliminating the minor US Open events from Dennis' list of major titles and adding the 20 majors not listed under Feijen list of major titles, I'm calling the major title count as Feijen 26 (I refuse to count the Skins Championship as a major), and Orcullo 12.

I'll add that Niels has probably been a top 20 player in the world for over 20 years. He is the very definition of sustained excellence, and outside of Souquet, Niels has a strong claim to being the best ever European pool player (with Ortmann, Appleton Immonen and Hohmann also in the conversation).

If the list presented by Bob Jewett is the one that Hall of Fame voters were presented with, that explains why Dennis got more consideration than Niels, but his career doesn't nearly measure up to that of Niels, who has mass produced major titles over big, tough, fields at a far greater rate than Dennis.

All that said, these two exceptional players will both be BCA hall of famers one day, and deservingly so. I hope I'm lucky enough and healthy enough to attend their HOF inductions down the road.

I have and will continue to contend that, unless this is a case of the Hall of Fame committee being clueless and uninformed, a possibility I'm prepared to dismiss, those who have won the majority of their titles outside of the United States have been discriminated against by the Hall of Fame committee, and it's a crying shame.
 
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It would take a lot more than that for me to reconsider.

I'm a huge fan of Dennis, but the facts are the facts, Nobody who pays close attention to the pro scene would call the US Open 10-ball, US Open 14.1, or US Open 8-ball major titles. These are, in recent times, small field events and the elite within these disciplines are rarely present. These titles are easier to win than strong regional events like Turning Stone and much easier to win than Eurotour events or the European Championships, which are mysteriously missing from Niels resume, despite his having about 11 of them, all of which should be listed as major titles. Feijen's 9 titles at the European championships should also all be viewed as majors. For most of the last decade, the European 14.1 championship has been the most difficult 14.1 event of the year to win, although I believe Peter Burrows is in the process of changing that. Hence, after eliminating the minor US Open events from Dennis' list of major titles and adding the 20 majors not listed under Feijen list of major titles, I'm calling the major title count as Feijen 26 (I refuse to count the Skins Championship as a major), and Orcullo 12.

I'll add that Niels has probably been a top 20 player in the world for over 20 years. He is the very definition of sustained excellence, and outside of Souquet, Niels has a strong claim to being the best ever European pool player (with Ortmann, Appleton and Hohmann also in the conversation).

If the list presented by Bob Jewett is the one that Hall of Fame voters were presented with, that explains why Dennis got more consideration than Niels, but his career doesn't nearly measure up to that of Niels, who has mass produced major titles over big, tough, fields at a far greater rate than Dennis.

All that said, these two exceptional players will both be BCA hall of famers one day, and deservingly so. I hope I'm lucky enough and healthy enough to attend their HOF inductions down the road.

I have and will continue to contend that, unless this is a case of the Hall of Fame committee being clueless and uninformed, a possibility I'm prepared to dismiss, those who have won the majority of their titles outside of the United States have been discriminated against by the Hall of Fame committee, and it's a crying shame.

The list Bob presented did list Niels’ Euro championship events (not as majors), like Dennis’s SEA Games wins. And of course I would add Dennis’s 3 DCC Master of the Tables as majors.

My own view is that all of Hohmann, Orcollo, Niels and Corey should be in the Hall of Fame and should have all gone in this year - but nobody asked me to vote!
 
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The list Bob presented did list Niels’ Euro championship events (not as majors), like Dennis’s SEA Games wins. And of course I would add Dennis’s 3 DCC Master of the Tables as majors.

My own view is that all of Hohmann, Orcollo, Niels and Corey should be in the Hall of Fame and should have all gone in this year - but nobody asked me to vote!
Yup, they'll all get in at some point as I see it, They've all had great careers.
 
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