# Buddy Hall

Cecil P. "Buddy" Hall (born May 29, 1945, in Metropolis, Illinois) has been an American professional pool player for three decades and is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. The International Pool Tour heralds Hall as a "living pool legend." He is nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his accuracy and had been a consistent top player for over two decades and virtually unbeaten when playing "money matches".
Many players and pundits consider him to be one of the most fundamentally solid 9-Ball players of all time, heralding him with the best cue ball control of any player.
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.
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. After watching all the great players, he first gained some prominence when he entered the Johnston City tournament in 1970 and beating some top players.
   "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."
In the following years, Johnston City lost out as the hub of top tier tournament play to the Dayton Open Tournament. There, in 1974 organizer Joe Burns instituted a similar all-around tournament to the format that had been used in the Johnston City Tournament. He took All-Around first place there in 1974 winning $6,800 and after continued to complete in the Dayton Open Tournaments for many years. 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 $35,000 for his efforts; the biggest first prize money in a tournament at the time. Hall had an ESPN's announcement of his win, which was the first ever mention of a billiard player on that cable television network. "The Rifleman" won a considerable amount of 9-Ball tournaments that were held from the 1970s through to the 2000s. In 1995 'Rags to Rifleman' was published, a biography of his life and career.

## Career

Buddy Hall is a winner of over 100 professional tournaments in pocket billiards. In 1974 Hall won one of his first events in the Dayton Open all-around tournament. Hall later in his career went on to win the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in 1991, 1998. On his road to victory of the 1991 U.S. Open 9-ball Championship, in the semi-finals, Buddy after trailing 7-1 behind against Johnny Archer, ran 8 consecutive racks in a row to win the match. Archer later stated on a TAR Podcast that Buddy in the game of Nine-ball was: "The best I've ever seen, the best I've ever played". Hall was the thirty ninth inductee in the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame, in the year 2000. He was named Player of the Year by the pool media, to include Pro Billiards Tour, National Billiard News and the Billiards Digest Magazine, in 1982, 1991, 1997, 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." He is a former member of the International Pool Tour and has later retired from professional competition although sometimes competes on various regional tours and senior events throughout the United States.
Buddy is starring in the upcoming billiard movie, "The Tale of Texas Pool", set to be released on December 25, 2024.

## Career titles and achievements

| 1974 Dayton Open 9-Ball 1974 Dayton Open All-Around 1975 Bakers 9-Ball Open 1975 Citrus 9-Ball Open 1975 Greenway 9-Ball Open 1976 Citrus 9-Ball Open 1978 Austin 9-Ball Open 1978 Virginia Beach 9-Ball 1978 Virginia Beach All-Around 1978 Southeastern 9-Ball Open 1978 Houston 9-Ball Open 1979 Corpus Christi 9-Ball Open 1979 Austin 9-Ball Open 1979 Memphis 9-Ball Open 1979 Houston 9-Ball Open 1979 Houston 8-Ball Open 1979 Jackson Mississippi 9-Ball Open 1979 Norfolk One-Pocket Open 1979 Gibbs Invitational 9-Ball 1979 Gibbs Invitational All-Around 1980 Sacramento 9-Ball Open 1981 Illinois 9-Ball Open 1982 St. Louie 9-Ball Open 1982 Jackson Mississippi 9-Ball Open 1982 Bowling Green 9-Ball Open 1982 Clyde Childress Memorial 9-Ball Open 1982 Caesars Tahoe Billiard Classic 1982 Billiards Digest Players of the Year 1983 Dayton 9-Ball Open 1983 Clinton 9-Ball Shootout 1983 Iowa State 9-Ball Open 1984 Tampa 9-Ball Shootout 1984 Dayton 9-Ball Open 1984 Caesars Tahoe Billiard Classic 1985 Cowboy Casino 9-Ball Open 1985 East Coast 9-Ball Open 1985 Charlotte 9-Ball Open 1985 Gibbs 9-Ball Shootout 1986 Florida State 9-Ball 1986 Cue Club 9-Ball Open 1986 Florida 9-Ball Open 1986 Fall Classic 9-Ball 1986 Florida Memorial Day 9-Ball Open 1986 Charlotte 9-Ball Open 1987 Lexington All-Star 9-Ball 1987 Carolina's Cup 1987 Colorado 9-Ball Open 1987 Glass City 9-Ball Open 1987 Super Bowl 9-Ball Open 1987 Denver 9-Ball Open 1987 Bruces 9-Ball Open | 1988 Florida Master's 9-Ball Open 1988 Shane's Bar Table 9-Ball Open 1988 Grand Stand 9-Ball Open 1989 Citrus 9-Ball Open 1989 Florida Master's 9-Ball Open 1989 Willard's Classic 9-Ball 1989 Memphis 9-Ball Open 1990 U.J. Puckett 9-Ball Open 1990 Southern California 9-Ball Open 1991 Capital City 9-Ball Open 1991 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship 1991 International 9-Ball Classic 1991 Bicycle Club 9-Ball Invitational 1991 Billiards Digest Players of the Year 1992 Rak'M Up Classic 9-Ball 1992 International Challenge of Champions 1992 Champs Billiards 9-Ball Open 1992 Southern California 9-Ball Open 1993 Challenge Match Race to 45 vs. (Johnny Archer) 1993 Hard Times 9-Ball Open 1993 Nashville 9-Ball Open 1994 Bowling Green 8-Ball Open 1995 PBT Commonwealth Cup 9-Ball 1996 Florida State 9-Ball Championship 1997 Senior Tour Tulsa 1997 Florida State 9-Ball Championship 1998 Florida Senior Tour 9-Ball 1998 Pine Needles Seniors Open 1998 Viking Cue Pro Warm Up 1998 Florida Tour 9-Ball 1998 Texas Open 9-Ball Championship 1998 Camel Shooters Nine-ball Open 1998 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship 1998 Legends of One-Pocket Championship 1998 National Billiard News Player of the Year 2000 Florida State 9-Ball Championship 2000 Florida Tour 9-Ball 2000 Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame 2001 Florida Tour 9-Ball 2001 Gibbs 14.1 Tournament 2001 Florida Open 9-Ball 2001 Lucasi Central Florida 9-Ball Open 2001 Derby City Classic One Pocket 2002 Midwest Tour 9-Ball 2004 Gulf Coast Classic Bank Pool 2005 Senior Masters 9-ball Championship 2005 Hard Times One Pocket 2006 Shooter's Billiards One Pocket 2008 Shooter's Billiards One Pocket 2011 One Pocket Hall of Fame |