VA State 9-Ball Championship
- Thread starter Brozif
- Start date
Indeed, it was a very nice match.
CONGRATS!!
CONGRATS!!
That is so cool! I remember watching Chris when he competed in the Virginia State 9-Ball Championship at the young age of 16. His parents dropped him off at the pool room. He was still in school and was planning on going to college. He has a very nice family.
I think Chris made it to the finals one year, coming in second place, so this is a great win for him. I'm sure he's happy as can be to have this title. Bravo to a great kid and a worthy champion!
And honorable mention goes to Dave Hunt for runner-up. Wow!
It was 2005 that Chris made it to the finals. I just pulled up my thread that I wrote. He was actually 15 years old at the time. Here's the AzBilliards thread for a fun read: War Veteran vs. Child Prodigy.
Here's a snippet of my observation of Chris in 2005:
The chatter on the rail this weekend was all about Chris Futrell, a 15-year-old child prodigy making his mark. Some folks were saying he is the "Corey Deuel of the new millennium," exhibiting all of the traits of a pool phenom.
Chris is quite a humble young man. Wu may be the new 16-year-old World Pool Champion, but watch out for this kid. He is going to break records in years to come. When you see him play, you too will recognize Chris Futrell is truly an American champion in the making.
He's already captured one major title by winning the junior championship tournament held at this year's Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, PA.
A 15-year-old Chris Futrell on the left, posing with the Josh the TD in the middle and the war veteran on the right at the 2005 Virginia State 9-Ball Championship.
Here's a snippet of my observation of Chris in 2005:
The chatter on the rail this weekend was all about Chris Futrell, a 15-year-old child prodigy making his mark. Some folks were saying he is the "Corey Deuel of the new millennium," exhibiting all of the traits of a pool phenom.
Chris is quite a humble young man. Wu may be the new 16-year-old World Pool Champion, but watch out for this kid. He is going to break records in years to come. When you see him play, you too will recognize Chris Futrell is truly an American champion in the making.
He's already captured one major title by winning the junior championship tournament held at this year's Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, PA.
A 15-year-old Chris Futrell on the left, posing with the Josh the TD in the middle and the war veteran on the right at the 2005 Virginia State 9-Ball Championship.
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That is so cool! I remember watching Chris when he competed in the Virginia State 9-Ball Championship at the young age of 16. His parents dropped him off at the pool room. He was still in school and was planning on going to college. He has a very nice family.
I think Chris made it to the finals one year, coming in second place, so this is a great win for him. I'm sure he's happy as can be to have this title. Bravo to a great kid and a worthy champion!
And honorable mention goes to Dave Hunt for runner-up. Wow!
He's a great champion and a great role model for this game! He's incredibly humble! He shows a level of maturity far beyond his years. This game is full of hot heads and cocky players that like to talk a lot of garbage, but he doesn't fall into either one of those categories. It's like you can't be angry when he beats you cause he's such a nice guy! He doesn't hoot and holler when he wins and shove it in your face. Pool needs a whole bunch of guys like him to even out all the Ryan McCreesh's of the game!
Like any assembly of humans, you get all types in pool.
I dont' think it is really fair to either Ryan or Chris to shine the same light on them both. Pool is a very different thing for the 2 of them.
Congrats Chris
Yes Indeed. We had 1 tremendous final. My hat goes off to both David Hunt and our 2011 VA State 9 Ball Champion, Chris Futrell for the final they gave us. We had 43 of the State's best players and it was a gruelling campaign.
I would like to thank my sponsors 1 last time for their support of the event:
Diamond Billiards LLC
InsidePool Magazine
Simonis Cloth
Kamui Products
Cue Tips, Cue Repair - Newport News, VA
Rob Marshall Studio
Brian Keller (Brian in VA) - for ALL you do.
It was a great event as always and you will be hearing from me soon enough about another great event.
The payout for this event is below:
2011 VA State 9 Ball Championship Payout
1st $1200 + Open Spot Chris Futrell
2nd $700 + Open Spot David Hunt
3rd $500.00 Greg Taylor
4th $300.00 John Newton
5th $250.00 Bobby Chamberlain
6th $250.00 Chris Bruner
7th $150.00 Chris Loar
8th $150.00 Larry Kressel
Yes Indeed. We had 1 tremendous final. My hat goes off to both David Hunt and our 2011 VA State 9 Ball Champion, Chris Futrell for the final they gave us. We had 43 of the State's best players and it was a gruelling campaign.
I would like to thank my sponsors 1 last time for their support of the event:
Diamond Billiards LLC
InsidePool Magazine
Simonis Cloth
Kamui Products
Cue Tips, Cue Repair - Newport News, VA
Rob Marshall Studio
Brian Keller (Brian in VA) - for ALL you do.
It was a great event as always and you will be hearing from me soon enough about another great event.
The payout for this event is below:
2011 VA State 9 Ball Championship Payout
1st $1200 + Open Spot Chris Futrell
2nd $700 + Open Spot David Hunt
3rd $500.00 Greg Taylor
4th $300.00 John Newton
5th $250.00 Bobby Chamberlain
6th $250.00 Chris Bruner
7th $150.00 Chris Loar
8th $150.00 Larry Kressel
So first and second place get a free entry to the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship? Wow! That is a nice prize. I didn't know second place got the Open entry. This is really great for David Hunt for sure.
Poor Larry Kressel must have not been able to crank out a gear this year. He usually rises to the top, as does Chris Loar who won it five or six years ago.
I'd love to see that tall guy, John Newton, score a triumph one year.
Virginia may be for lovers, but it's also for pool players, too, thanks to JMDinVA!
Poor Larry Kressel must have not been able to crank out a gear this year. He usually rises to the top, as does Chris Loar who won it five or six years ago.
I'd love to see that tall guy, John Newton, score a triumph one year.
Virginia may be for lovers, but it's also for pool players, too, thanks to JMDinVA!
I'd like to give a big shout out and thanks to JR Calvert and Inside Pool Magazine for hosting and producing a terrific high definition stream, LIVE, for the past 2 days as well. Working with JR and Alvin was a lot of fun!
Brian in VA
Brian in VA
I apologize if my post offended you. I was not trying to insult anyone. Although I went back and re-read my post and I can see why it may look like I was taking a pot shot at Ryan. I'm not the most intelligent individual and so sometimes my meaning is lost in the way that I word things. Let me try to get out of this whole I've dug for myself.
I've met Ryan and been around him in a few tournaments. He's a great player and has incredible hart. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and is an in your face type player, where Chris is not. My only comparison would be in their demeanor around the game that they both play. Pool needs both types of players. I just wish there were more out there like Chris.
The light as you say that I'm putting them under is the game of pool. That is the only thing these two individuals have in common. They both play pool. I have never asked either of them why they play the game or what they want to get out of it. I just assumed that they both want to be the best possible players they can be. I figure players of their abilities probably enter tournaments with the aspirations of winning them. There are many others that get into tournaments for the experience, to learn, play against pro's and improve their game. Thank goodness for them because without them to make up the numbers, most tournaments would not be a success.
I probably shouldn't have singled out Ryan. There's many out there like him. It's just that he was the first player that came to mind who's personality and demeanor around the table is the complete opposite of Chris'. I'm not talking about him on a personal level cause I don't know him in that way. I'm only talking in reference to the game of pool.
Again I apologize and will strive to do better from now on in choosing my words more wisely. Take care my friend.
I know Ryan pretty well, and he can get a wee bit intense when he's in the heat of battle. 
Knowing Ryan McCreesh aka "Genie Man" as good as we do, it's always enjoyable to see him on the road. He's a good action partner when you're looking to play a captain's set of one-pocket. He's always ready to jump in.
One year, we were playing in Albany, NY which is Ryan's hometown. His mother came to watch Ryan compete. I got a chance to chat with her, and she was a sweet as could be. She gave me her spaghetti sauce secret, which I still use to this day. There's a lot of Italian heritage in Albany, NY.
Ryan's mom told me that Ryan has always had difficult accepting defeat, which in this racket sure must be a bummer. It's a fact of life that there can only be one winner and one loser, and you can't win 'em all.
As luck would have it, Ryan had to play my partner in the tournament. I was sweating bullets because Ryan is very capable of beating anybody on the face of the earth, and I knew it. :frown:
The match seesawed back and forth and comes down to the double hill-hill, with Ryan breaking. He broke the balls like a cannon, pocketing a couple on the break, and began to run out. It was a Mickey Mouse run-out. I was ready to accept defeat for my horse in the race.
Ryan has two balls left, the 8 and 9, and he leaves himself perefect with a straight-in duck shot in the side pocket. I mean, it was so easy that I could have made it one-handed. He needed two balls to win the set.
He pulls the trigger on the 8-ball, and I'm not sure what happened, but the 8-ball went straight up in the air about 2 feet and landed on the floor about 5 feet away from the table. I'll never forget the look in Ryan's eyes. You could have fried an egg on his head. :embarrassed2:
Next time we ran into Ryan back home, everything was cool, and we hung out together in the pool room. One thing about losing, it only hurts for a little bit.
Knowing Ryan McCreesh aka "Genie Man" as good as we do, it's always enjoyable to see him on the road. He's a good action partner when you're looking to play a captain's set of one-pocket. He's always ready to jump in.
One year, we were playing in Albany, NY which is Ryan's hometown. His mother came to watch Ryan compete. I got a chance to chat with her, and she was a sweet as could be. She gave me her spaghetti sauce secret, which I still use to this day. There's a lot of Italian heritage in Albany, NY.
Ryan's mom told me that Ryan has always had difficult accepting defeat, which in this racket sure must be a bummer. It's a fact of life that there can only be one winner and one loser, and you can't win 'em all.
As luck would have it, Ryan had to play my partner in the tournament. I was sweating bullets because Ryan is very capable of beating anybody on the face of the earth, and I knew it. :frown:
The match seesawed back and forth and comes down to the double hill-hill, with Ryan breaking. He broke the balls like a cannon, pocketing a couple on the break, and began to run out. It was a Mickey Mouse run-out. I was ready to accept defeat for my horse in the race.
Ryan has two balls left, the 8 and 9, and he leaves himself perefect with a straight-in duck shot in the side pocket. I mean, it was so easy that I could have made it one-handed. He needed two balls to win the set.
He pulls the trigger on the 8-ball, and I'm not sure what happened, but the 8-ball went straight up in the air about 2 feet and landed on the floor about 5 feet away from the table. I'll never forget the look in Ryan's eyes. You could have fried an egg on his head. :embarrassed2:
Next time we ran into Ryan back home, everything was cool, and we hung out together in the pool room. One thing about losing, it only hurts for a little bit.
