Who do you think is the most well known pool player (among the general public)?

THE MONTREALER said:
In the usa it would be Johnny Archer and also Earls Strikland for playing pool billiards

In Snooker World Wide it would be Ronnie Osullivan and also Stephen Hendry.

Hope this helps tks Leonard
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So, you're saying people that don't have anything to do with pool....would know who JA is? On what basis would they know who he is might i ask?
 
Among those old enough to remember the Miller Lite commercials, the Miz would rank high. But Fats and Ms Lee probably lead. And Efren is known by every single Filipino.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
justinb386 said:
This is probably one of the dumbest questions I have ever asked on here, but I wonder what the most famous name that comes to mind for the average non pool playing public.

I am guessing either Minnesota Fats, or Jeanette Lee (more known as "The Black Widow").

If you walked up to some average person on the street, and asked them about famous pool players that come to mind (if they even know what pool is anymore), I bet that they would not know the name of arguably the greatest female player ever (Allison Fisher), or many of the other greats, like Johnny Archer, Buddy Hall, Mike Segal, Earl Strickland, and many others.

If a name does come to their mind (the average person that you walk by on the street), then I am guessing it would either be Fats, or The Black Widow.

I just think it is sad that the greatest pool players in the history of the sport of pool (if the general public even considers the game of pool to be a sport) will never be known, or remembered by 99.9% (or more) of the general public.

This is kind of going off topic, but I just looked up Shane Van Boening on facebook, and it appears that he has under 2,000 people (1,957 people) following him on facebook. Arguable the greatest player in the world (and number 1 player in the US), and seemingly less then 2,000 followers on facebook (unless he has another facebook page that I did not notice).

Is the sport of pool (if you can call it a sport) dying, or what do you think? Why so little interest from the general public? What is it that has killed the popularity of pool (in the US) over the years? When I was a kid, back in the 90's, pool seemed to really be booming. The general bar goer seemed to love to play. I could go into any bar, and hate to wait at least a half an hour to get on a pool table (from the at least 10 stacks of quarters that were lined up on the rail). It is not like that anymore. Seemingly not many people care about pool anymore (even as something fun to do while having a few beers).
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Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, Keith McCready - for Color of Money/The Hustler movies
Efren Reyes - oldest and greatest
Earl Strickland - best natural player
Johnny Archer - for his powerful break
Buddy Hall - best pattern position player
Nick Varner - great player but known for gum chewing
Mike Sigel - best tournament player who talks more than any player
Jose Parica - Best unknown player who should be in the Hall of Fame
 
realkingcobra said:
What makes you think anyone that don't play pool, or have anything to do with pool....would know even ONE pool players name today? Do you know who Carlos Monzon was, if you don't follow boxing, then you have no idea he was arguably the greatest middle weight champion that ever held that belt.
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That is interesting. Yeah, I never heard of him. You made me curious though, because I really do like to watch boxing. Just not a big follower of it, like you said. Boxing is a thousand times more popular then pool too. Maybe a million times more popular, if you look at how many boxing fans there are compared to fans of pool players.
 
THE MONTREALER said:
In the usa it would be Johnny Archer and also Earls Strikland for playing pool billiards

In Snooker World Wide it would be Ronnie Osullivan and also Stephen Hendry.

Hope this helps tks Leonard
Click to expand...

I agree with Ronnie and the other snooker guys (for people from the UK), but I am sure that nobody that never played pool seriously or even as just a hobby has ever heard of Johnny Archer , or Earl Strickland .
 
Nine ... corner said:
:rotflmao1::rotflmao1: However, it might be Paul Newman!
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:thumbup: well played sir.
Actually - I like the original post, ,,, made me think a bit. I'd imagine you'd typically get a different answer in England than you might in the Philippines. Still - I worked up a google search and along with our own:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=212994 (which I found very enjoyable)
there's also:
https://www.pinterest.com/shopwatsons/celebrities-playing-pool/
and
http://www.purpleclover.com/entertainment/3649-stars-playing-pool/item/elizabeth-taylor1/

interesting subject or at least a fun twist of the original concept.
 
Here in Germany nobody knows professionell poolplayers, it´s all about the snooker players.
So Ronnie O´Sullivan is the name and Raymond Ceulemans from 3 cushion billiards, because 20-30 years ago 3 cushion billard was the only billard what was shown on german television.
 
A few of the 1980s snooker stars transcended the sport in the UK. Steve Davis, would be on TV shows that were not snooker related, generally on the BBC. This was when the UK had 2 or 3 channels to choose from, so got massive viewing figures % wise. So UK, in snooker, Steve Davis for me

I don't think any pool player has transcended the sport, maybe Fats, but I am not sure.
 
If a random person on the street was asked "who is the most popular billiards or pool player is", 95% would say Minnesota Fats period. The other 5% give or take, would be made up of Tom Cruise, Mosconi and Paul Neuman.
 
justinb386 said:
This is probably one of the dumbest questions I have ever asked on here, but I wonder what the most famous name that comes to mind for the average non pool playing public.

I am guessing either Minnesota Fats, or Jeanette Lee (more known as "The Black Widow").

If you walked up to some average person on the street, and asked them about famous pool players that come to mind (if they even know what pool is anymore), I bet that they would not know the name of arguably the greatest female player ever (Allison Fisher), or many of the other greats, like Johnny Archer, Buddy Hall, Mike Segal, Earl Strickland, and many others.

If a name does come to their mind (the average person that you walk by on the street), then I am guessing it would either be Fats, or The Black Widow.

I just think it is sad that the greatest pool players in the history of the sport of pool (if the general public even considers the game of pool to be a sport) will never be known, or remembered by 99.9% (or more) of the general public.

This is kind of going off topic, but I just looked up Shane Van Boening on facebook, and it appears that he has under 2,000 people (1,957 people) following him on facebook. Arguable the greatest player in the world (and number 1 player in the US), and seemingly less then 2,000 followers on facebook (unless he has another facebook page that I did not notice).

Is the sport of pool (if you can call it a sport) dying, or what do you think? Why so little interest from the general public? What is it that has killed the popularity of pool (in the US) over the years? When I was a kid, back in the 90's, pool seemed to really be booming. The general bar goer seemed to love to play. I could go into any bar, and hate to wait at least a half an hour to get on a pool table (from the at least 10 stacks of quarters that were lined up on the rail). It is not like that anymore. Seemingly not many people care about pool anymore (even as something fun to do while having a few beers).
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This is, by far, not the dumbest question you've asked on here. This one is really pretty reasonable. Congrats old chum, you're coming along just fine !!!
 
justinb386 said:
That is interesting. Yeah, I never heard of him. You made me curious though, because I really do like to watch boxing. Just not a big follower of it, like you said. Boxing is a thousand times more popular then pool too. Maybe a million times more popular, if you look at how many boxing fans there are compared to fans of pool players.
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After 80 straight wins and holding the undisputed middle weight championship of tbe world title for 7 years, defending it 17 times....the WBC & WBA both paid him to retire because no one could beat him.
 
WinniePooh said:
Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, Keith McCready - for Color of Money/The Hustler movies
Efren Reyes - oldest and greatest
Earl Strickland - best natural player
Johnny Archer - for his powerful break
Buddy Hall - best pattern position player
Nick Varner - great player but known for gum chewing
Mike Sigel - best tournament player who talks more than any player
Jose Parica - Best unknown player who should be in the Hall of Fame
Click to expand...

Non-poolplaying people would not know a single name on your list (other than Cruise & Newman). Fats comes closest to being the most recognizable name to the average person.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
 
realkingcobra said:
After 80 straight wins and holding the undisputed middle weight championship of tbe world title for 7 years, defending it 17 times....the WBC & WBA both paid him to retire because no one could beat him.
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He won 31 times in a row. He had a lossless streak of 71, but had several draws in that time.

There is no evidence that he was paid to retire. He was in his mid thirties, which is a logical age to retire.

He was also an incredibly horrible human being and should be forgotten.
 
It's not even close, most can only name two, Minnesota Fats (without knowing his real name) or Black Widow who is often "that Asian girl that plays pool", also much of the time without knowing her real name.

I'm sure every pool player has been called "Missesota Fats" but some banger at some point, usually followed by being asked to do some trick shots, because running a rack of a normal game with good position is too easy LOL.

"This is probably one of the dumbest questions I have ever asked on here, but I wonder what the most famous name that comes to mind for the average non pool playing public."

But there are so many to chose from that could take the title, we should do a poll ;)
 
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