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Allen Hopkins (pocket billiards)
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional pocket billiards
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
(pool) player, professional billiards color commentator and BCA Hall of Fame inductee. He promotes multiple annual pool events and still competes as a professional contender.
Amateur days
At seven years old, after watching many tournaments on television, Allen began to play pool on a small tableBilliards table
A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above...
his parents bought for him. As an amateur, at the age of 12, Hopkins a prodigious 110 balls and took this talent to play against grown men.
Pool career
By the age of 17, he went professional and took 5th place in the 1969 US Open Nine-ball ChampionshipUS Open Nine-ball Championship
The U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
.
In 1977, Hopkins earned the title in that event again as well as the PPPA World Nine-ball Championship and the World Straight Pool Championship. By 1981, he won the US Open Nine-ball Championship
US Open Nine-ball Championship
The U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
, and in 1983 won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
WPA World Nine-ball Championship
The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual, international, professional nine-ball pool tournament, founded in 1990, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association , and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport...
. In both 1986 and 1987, Hopkins was the champion of the Japan World Open.
Hopkins' professional career began in the 1970s and spanned over three decades. He served on the board of the now-defunct Professional Pool Players Association as well as president of the MPBA.
At the 1979 PPPA World Open 14.1 Pocket Billiard Championship in New York City, New York, Hopkins posted the largest victory margin in the event, defeating Richie Florence, 150-1.
In 1993, he saw victory in the Challenge of Champions.
Allen Hopkins has had a high run of 410 in straight pool
Straight Pool
Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
(14.1 continuous), and has run 15-and-out three times, in the game of one-pocket.
In 2002, Hopkins triumphed in the Denver Ten-ball Open, defeating Earl Strickland
Earl Strickland
Earl "The Pearl" Strickland is an American professional pool player and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 2006...
, Filipino champion Jose Parica
Jose Parica
Jose Parica is a Filipino professional pool player from Manila, nicknamed "Amang" and "the Giant Killer." As a Philippine Hall of Famer, he pioneered the "Filipino invasion" in the United States, especially in the game of nine-ball.Also known as "the King" and "the Legend" in Philippine pool,...
, Corey Deuel, David Matlock, and faced Shannon Daulton in a thrilling double-hill finals.
In 2008, he was inducted to the BCA Hall of Fame by the Billiard Congress of America
Billiard Congress of America
Billiard Congress of America is a governing body for cue sports in North America , the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association...
.
Titles
- Champion of Champions, 1973
- Garden State Open, 1973
- New Jersey State Open, 1974
- World Open 14.1 Champion, 1977
- US Open Nine-ball ChampionUS Open Nine-ball ChampionshipThe U.S. Open Championships is an annual professional pool tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake, Virginia...
, 1977 - PPPA World Nine-ball Champion, 1977
- PPPA World Nine-ball Champion, 1979
- Baltimore Bullet Nine-ball Champion, 1980
- US Open Nine-ball Champion, 1981
- River City Nine-ball Champion, 1984
- Meucci World Nine-ball Champion, 1987
- Japan World Open Champion, 1988
- Valley Forge Classic Champion, 1989
- Legends of One-pocket Champion, January 1991
- International Challenge of ChampionsInternational Challenge of ChampionsThe International Challenge of Champions is an annual nine-ball pool tournament held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has always been broadcast on ESPN and is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association...
, 1993
Sportscasting and event promotion
Allen Hopkins Productions started the Super Billiards Expo, each year held in Valley ForgeValley Forge
Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site of the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War.-History:...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, which has since become the biggest consumer-orientated expo in the Billiards industry trade show in the world, with multiple tournaments for amateur, seniors, women and men professional player levels.
He has combined efforts with Billiards International and promoted innovative pocket billiards
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
exhibitions like the Skins Billiards Championship
Skins Billiards Championship
The Skins Billiards Championship was an annual nine-ball tournament held in the US. It was promoted by Allen Hopkins Productions and Billiards International, and was broadcast on ESPN. While most pool tournaments pit pairs of players against each other in , this unusual event pits four...
, the Texas Hold'em Billiards Championship, and the US$1,000,000 Nine-Ball Shootout.
The Team DMIRO Tour was backed by Allen Hopkins, however, ended when tour owner and business partner Mike Andrews closed the tour due to the lack of Allen's involvement.