Johnny Archer

Johnny Archer posing with a fan, 2008

Johnny Archer (born November 12, 1968 in Waycross, Georgia) is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion" (his zodiac sign is Scorpio, and one of his sponsors is Scorpion Cues). On June 8, 2009, Johnny Archer was nominated to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.[1]

Early days

Archer grew up with his two brothers and two sisters in Twin City, Georgia, and began playing pool at the age of 12.[2]

Career

He is one of the most successful nine-ball players of the past two decades, having won the majority of the game's major tournaments at least once, culminating in his being named Billiards Digest Player of the Decade at the end of the 1990s. Archer is a two-time WPA World Nine-ball Champion, winning in both 1992 when he defeated Bobby Hunter, and later again in 1997 after beating Lee Kun-fang of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). He was also a runner-up the following year, losing in the final to Takahashi Kunihiko of Japan. He was the 1999 US Open champion, and has won over 60 professional tournaments throughout his career.

He has also been a regular on the US Mosconi Cup team, having joined them a record seventeen times, winning on nine of those occasions.

In 2003, one of Archer's most successful years, he won tournaments such as Sudden Death Seven-ball[3] and the first World Summit of Pool.[4]

Archer also won the 2006 US$50,000 winner-take-all International Challenge of Champions by defeating Thorsten Hohmann in the finals.[5]

In 2007, he won the Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship. While in the 2005 event the entire purse was awarded to the winner, in the 2007 event the purse was split.[6][7]

The Ripley's Believe It or Not! television show, on September 3, 2003,[8] pitted Archer and Jeremy Jones against each other in a challenge match in speed pool. The show had them timed against each other, to try to beat the record, which at that time stood at 1 minute 30 seconds[9] to break a full rack of balls and then pocket all fifteen balls, and then move to another table and do it again. Archer was the victor. The event was recorded in a warehouse in Los Angeles where other challenge matches were also taking place to beat records.

Archer has recently rejoined the staff of Inside Pool Magazine, where he writes a monthly instruction column.[10]

For 2007, he was ranked #3 in Pool & Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.[11]

Titles and achievements

Personal life

Archer lives in Acworth, Georgia with his wife Melanie and two children. He's an avid golfer, and ascribes his strong pool break to playing a lot of golf, noting similarities in having the timing right and using one's whole body in the stroke.[12] Archer co-owned the now defunct Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta, Georgia.

References

  1. ↑ "Johnny Archer, Allison Fisher Gain BCA Hall of Fame Election", AzBilliards.com. Retrieved July 14, 2009
  2. ↑ Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer, scorpionCues.com. Retrieved June 7, 2008
  3. ↑ "Archer Wins Sudden Death 7-Ball". InsidePOOL.com. 2003-10-01. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  4. ↑ "Archer wins World Summit of Pool". AzBilliards.com. October 12, 2003. Archived from the original on March 15, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Archer Wins Challenge of Champions". AzBilliards.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2008.
  6. ↑ "2005 Texas Hold'em Billiards Shootout" Archived February 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., at AZBilliards
  7. ↑ "Johnny Archer Wins 2007 Texas Hold Em Billiards" Archived February 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., at AZBilliards
  8. ↑ Episode 418 Archived February 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine., www.TV.com. Retrieved August 5, 2007
  9. ↑ Previous News, JohnnyArcher.net. Retrieved August 5, 2007
  10. ↑ "Johnny Archer Billiards Instruction", InsidePoolMagazine.com.
  11. ↑ "The Survey Says...: Pool & Billiard Magazine's 22nd Annual Player and Fan Poll". Pool & Billiard Magazine. Vol. 26 no. 2. Summerville, South Carolina: Sports Publications. February 2008. p. 14. ISSN 1049-2852.
  12. ↑ Archer Interview Archived June 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., October 2, 1999, AzBilliards.com. Retrieved August 5, 2007
Preceded by
Earl Strickland		 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Champion
1992		 Succeeded by
Chao Fong-pang
Preceded by
Ralf Souquet		 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Champion
1997		 Succeeded by
Takahashi Kunihiko
Preceded by
Buddy Hall		 US Open Nine-ball Champion
1999		 Succeeded by
Earl Strickland
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