1. Charlie Peterson
   Welker Cochran
2. Thomas Hueston
   George Sutton

Welker Cochran was a world class carom billiards and three-cushion billiards champion. He was inducted posthumously into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1967!

1. George Sutton
   Shane Van Boening
2. Andrew Ponzi
   Larry Johnson

Born in 1983, Shane Van Boening is the current number one ranked pocket billiards player in the United States. Did you know that he hails from a family of pool champions including his grandparents, mother and aunt?

1. Eddie Taylor
   Larry Johnson
2. Harold Worst
   Willie Hoppe

Harold Worst was a three-cushion billiards champion. He won that championship in 1954, and died just 11 years later at the age of 37.

1. Loree Jon Jones
   Jeanette Lee
2. Ruth McGinnis
   Allison Fisher

Nicknamed The Duchess of Doom, Allison Fisher was an English pool player who went pro in 1991 and retired in 1997. She did, however, win a gold medal at the World Games in 2009.

1. Willie Mosconi
   Earl Strickland
2. Allen Hopkins
   Efren Reyes

Born in Roseboro, North Carolina, Earl "the Pearl" Strickland is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. He is also considered one of the more outspoken and controversial players as well!

1. Efren Reyes
   Steve Mizerak
2. Dennis Orcollo
   Bennie Allen

Born in 1979, Dennis Orcollo is a professional pool player from the Philippines. He is nicknamed Surigao and RoboCop. He has also been referred to as "the Philippines' Money-game King"!

1. Loree Jon Jones
   Jeanette Lee
2. Jean Balukas
   Allison Fisher

Jean Balukas was born in Brooklyn, New York, and ranks among the best pool players in history. She was considered a prodigy, making a name for herself in pool at the young age of six!

1. Nick Varner
   Robert Cannefax
2. Bennie Allen
   Alfredo De Oro

Did you know that Nick Varner became only the second man to earn over $100,000 in prize winnings from playing pool? During his career he won 16 major nine-ball events and was "Player of the Year" in 1980 and 1989.

1. Alfredo De Oro
   Mika Immonen
2. Luther Lassiter
   Nick Varner

Nicknamed "The Iceman," Mika Immonen was inducted into the Billiards Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2014. Since 2000, he has earned more than 35 championship titles!

1. Nick Varner
   Jake Shaefer Jr.
2. Earl Strickland
   Welker Cochran

Born in 1894, Jake Shaefer Jr. was known as The Prodigy. Do you know how many balkline titles he won? Seven - in the years 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1929, and 1930.

1. Earl Strickland
   Jake Shaefer
2. Sang Lee
   George Sutton

Sang Lee was a Korean American three-cushions billiards player and world champion. He was often referred to as the "Michael Jordan of three-cushions billiards", but died sadly in 2004 from stomach cancer.

1. George Sutton
   Johnny Archer
2. Jimmy Caras
   Andrew Ponzi

Jimmy Caras began playing pool at the age of 5. Later in his life he won four world championships in his career that spanned 60 years. He died at the age of 93 in 2002.

1. Luther Lassiter
   Willie Mosconi
2. Charlie Peterson
   Andrew Ponzi

Luther Lassiter was a world-renowned pool player from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Did you know that his nickname was Wimpy? He is ranked number 9 on the Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players of the Century.

1. Allen Hopkins
   Irving Crane
2. Willie Hoppe
   Willie Mosconi

Known as the Deacon, Irving Crane is considered one of the all-time greats in the game of straight pool. During his career, he won many championships including six world billiards titles.

1. Irving Crane
   Jim Rempe
2. Frank Taberski
   Allen Hopkins

Frank Taberski was nicknamed "The Gray Fox"! Did you know that he won 10 world title challenge matches in a row? He is ranked at number 7 on the Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players of the Century.

1. Steve Mizerak
   Willie Mosconi
2. Jimmy Caras
   Irving Crane

Stephen Mizerak Jr. hailed from Perth Amboy, New Jersey and became a world champion pool player during the 1970s and 1980s. He was nicknamed "the Miz"... for obvious reasons!

1. Mike Sigel
   Steve Mizerak
2. Willie Mosconi
   Irving Crane

Mike Sigel has won more than 107 professional pool tournaments in his career. He was even named "Player of the Year" three times by Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiards magazines. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the age of 35, the youngest ever!

1. Alfredo De Oro
   Willie Hoppe
2. Luther Lassiter
   Irving Crane

Alfredo de Oro was born in Manzanillo, Cuba in 1863. Several times a world title holder, he is ranked number 4 on the Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players of the Century!

1. Willie Hoppe
   Ralph Greenleaf
2. Thomas Hueston
   Buddy Hall

Ralph Greenleaf was one of the first members inducted into the Hall of Fame. Did you know that in his 1950 obituary, the New York Times wrote of him, "What Babe Ruth did for baseball, Dempsey did for fighting, Tilden did for tennis...Greenleaf did for pocket billiards."?

1. Eddie Taylor
   Jasmin Ouschan
2. Willie Mosconi
   Buddy Hall

Jasmin Ouschan became a member of the Women's Professional Billiards Association in 2007, though she competed professionally as early as 2002. She hails from Austria and is currently one of the top-ranked women in the sport!

1. Ralph Greenleaf
   Darren Appleton
2. Jake Shaefer
   Eddie Taylor

What else would you nickname one of the best Nine-ball and Ten-ball pool players in the world? "Dynamite"! Darren "Dynamite" Appleton once completed all 200 balls in a major tournament without missing a shot!

1. Ray Martin
   Nick Varner
2. Jimmy Caras
   Ralph Greenleaf

Ray Martin held the World Champion title in straight pool in 1971, 1974 and 1978. He is nicknamed Cool Cat for his calm demeanor during his win in California during an earthquake.

1. Allison Fisher
   Ruth McGinnis
2. Jean Balukas
   Dorothy Wise

Ruth McGinnis was born in 1910 and started playing pool at the age of seven. BY the end of her career, she had triumphed over many male competitors and became known as the Queen of Billiards!

1. Erwin Rudolph
   Johnny Archer
2. Welker Cochran
   Jimmy Caras

Hailing from Waycross, Georgia, Johnny Archer was named Billiards Digest Player of the Decade at the end of the 1990s. He is a two-time WPA World Nine-ball Champion, winning in 1992 and 1997.

1. Alex Pagulayan
   Allison Fisher
2. Jean Balukas
   Loree Jon Jones

Alejandro Salvador Pagulayan is a Filipino Canadian pool and snooker player known for his calm demeanor during competitions. Nicknamed "The Lion", he has always enjoyed interacting with the audience, and they do too!

1. Allison Fisher
   Loree Jon Jones
2. Jeanette Lee
   Dorothy Wise

Did you know that Loree Jon Jones started playing billiards at the age of four? By 15, she became the youngest player ever to win the World Straight Pool Tournament!

1. Allen Hopkins
   Ray Martin
2. Eddie Taylor
   Buddy Hall

Buddy Hall has been a professional pool player for three decades. She is nicknamed The Rifleman for his accuracy and is credited for creating the "clock system" technique.

1. Robert Cannefax
   Larry Johnson
2. Willie Hoppe
   Allen Hopkins

Larry Johnson, known as Boston Shorty, was one of only a few players to ever win world titles at both pocket and three-cushion billiards. He was elected into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1999.

1. Eddie Taylor
   Buddy Hall
2. Robert Cannefax
   Larry Johnson

Eddie Taylor was commonly known as the Knoxville Bear. Hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee, Taylor was a master of the game by the 1940s.

1. Bennie Allen
   Jake Shaefer
2. Charlie Peterson
   Larry Johnson

Jacob Schaefer Sr. was one of the world's top balkline players of the early 1900s. Nicknamed "the Wizard", he was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968.

1. Mike Sigel
   Niels Feijen
2. Johnny Layton
   Bennie Allen

Born in The Hague, Netherlands, Niels Feijen went professional in 2001 and became the WPA World 9-ball champion in 2014. He is nicknamed "The Terminator"!

1. Andrew Ponzi
   Luther Lassiter
2. Johnny Layton
   Alfredo De Oro

Did you know that Andrew Ponzi won his first world pool title by defeating Erwin Rudolph in 1934? He died at the young age of 47 after suffering a heart attack while participating in a tournament.

1. Ralph Greenleaf
   Willie Mosconi
2. Jake Shaefer
   Johnny Archer

Willie Mosconi was nicknamed Mr. Pocket Billiards. As one of the first inductees into the Hall of Fame, he led the way in billiards, pioneering trick shots and setting records!

1. Willie Hoppe
   Sang Lee
2. Frank Taberski
   Irving Crane

Willie Hoppe was an internationally renowned American professional carom billiards champion of the early 1900s. He was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1966.

1. Sang Lee
   Harold Worst
2. Efren Reyes
   Mike Sigel

Efren Reyes is a Filipino professional pool player born in 1954. He is nicknamed the Magician and Bata and has won more than 70 international titles during his career!

1. Mike Sigel
   Allen Hopkins
2. Jimmy Caras
   Frank Taberski

Allen Hopkins began playing pool at the age of 7. By 17, he went pro and took 5th place in the 1969 US Open Nine-ball Championship! Today he is a member of the Hall of Fame.

1. Jean Balukas
   Jeanette Lee
2. Loree Jon Jones
   Ruth McGinnis

Nicknamed "the Black Widow", Jeanette Lee started playing pool in 1989. She went on to rank as the number one female pool player in the world during the 1990s, and received the Women's Professional Billiard Association Sportsperson of the Year Award in 1998.

1. Jim Rempe
   Ralph Greenleaf
2. Johnny Layton
   Welker Cochran

Jim Rempe began playing pool at the age of six. By 22, he had turned pro and won more than 100 major championships including 11 world titles. He is known in the pool world as King James!

1. Jake Shaefer Jr.
   George Sutton
2. Steve Mizerak
   Ralph Greenleaf

George Sutton was a handless billiard player of the early 1900s. He had no arms below the elbows but learned to play billiards during college. He would go on to set a world record in balkline competitions!

1. Erwin Rudolph
   Charlie Peterson
2. Joe Balsis
   Jake Shaefer Jr.

Charlie Peterson was called "Missionary of Billiards" for his lifelong efforts to promote pool throughout the United States. Did you know that he was the world's fancy-shot champion? He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1966.