Buddy Hall

Buddy "the Rifleman" Hall at the 2003 US Open

Cecil P. "Buddy" Hall (born May 29, 1945 in Metropolis, Illinois) has been an American professional pool player for three decades.^[1] The International Pool Tour heralds Hall as a "living pool legend."^[2] He is nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his accuracy.^[2]

Hall has been credited for creating the "clock system" which is a technique for where to hit the cue-ball, using the clock as a mechanism for where to aim.^[3]

Hall began playing at 14 years of age in a soda shop in his home town. When local pool rooms would not let him enter because of his age, he used subterfuge to obtain a new birth certificate from a local judge which stated he was of legal age. He cut his teeth at Herbie Lynn's pool room and was soon dominating the regulars. It was not long before he hit the road to try his hand at a wider playing field. He won his first pro event at the age of 17 in straight pool, which he did not play at the time. He first gained some prominence at the Johnston City tournaments.^[4]

I went there to watch all the greats of the day play. Wimpy, Jersey Red, Eddie Taylor, Cornbread Red, Harold Worst, Jimmy Moore, Fats and U.J. were playing one another in both the tournament and in backroom ring games. I entered and was very pleased when I beat Wimpy and Jersey Red and won my entry fee back.^[4]

In the following years, Johnston City lost out as the hub of top tier tournament play to Dayton, Ohio. There, organizer Joe Burns instituted a similar all-around tournaments to the format that had been used in Johnston City. Hall played in the Dayton Tournaments for many years. He took first place there in 1974 winning $4,000. In 1982 Buddy won the Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship by edging out Allen Hopkins in the final with a score of 11-6, winning $33,500 for his efforts; an unprecedented purse at the time. ESPN's announcement of Halls' win was the first ever mention of a billiard player on that cable television network.^[4]

Career

Buddy Hall was the thirty-ninth inductee in the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame, in the year 2000.^[5] He was named Player of the Year by the pool media, to include The National Billiard News and Pool and Billiards Magazine, in 1982, 1991, and 1998. A profile of Hall appeared in The Hustler column of the inaugural issue of The Snap Magazine, a story reputed to have "... in many ways set the tone for the magazine from there on out."^[6] He is currently a member of the International Pool Tour^[7] and still competes on various regional tours and senior events throughout the United States.

References