Lou Butera is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional pool

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...

 player (now retired and operating a pool hall

Pool hall

A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards...

) and an inductee into the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1986.

His nickname, "Machine Gun Lou", derives from his stunning the crowd and fellow competitors by 150-and-out 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...

 in 21 minutes against Allen Hopkins in 1973.

He gained exposure to the masses in 1981 and 1982 when he appeared in network trick shot

Trick shot

A trick shot is a shot played on a billiards table , which seems unlikely, impossible, or requires significant skill...

 competitions on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 and ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.

Career

Butera knocked off top players regularly in the 1970s with his trademark fast-paced style, which seemed to make the game of pool more exciting for the spectators.

In 1974, Butera won the All Japan title against the world's best, and also triumphed over Richie Florence to win the Bud Lundahl's Midwest Open, a straight pool tournament he won by a score of 150-68 in the title match. In 1991, Butera served as coach of the World Billiard Federation World Team, whose members included such luminaries as Nick Varner, Mike Segel and Ray Martin. In a profile that appeared in the May/June, 1995 issue of Snap Magazine, he was referred to as "...the man who may be the fastest pool player the game has ever known."

Lou Butera was one of the 43 invited pool players who competed in the International Pool Tour's King of the Hill Shootout in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, December 2005.
Digitized videos of Lou Butera demonstrating spectacular trick shots were included with the PC pool simulator Virtual Pool.

Filmography

As an accomplished pool player, Butera has produced various instructional videos for students of pool about the fundamentals of the game.

Lou Butera appeared in several films as an actor and technical advisor. He had a cameo appearance, as himself, in the pool hustling

Hustling

Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...

 comedy film The Baltimore Bullet

The Baltimore Bullet

The Baltimore Bullet is a 1980 film based on the adventures of two pool hustlers in the United States.It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller and starred James Coburn, Bruce Boxleitner and Omar Sharif. The Baltimore Bullet screenplay was written by legendary film and stage dancer John Brascia, from...

and as a pool player in Police Academy 6: City Under Siege

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege is a 1989 comedy crime film starring Bubba Smith, David Graf and Michael Winslow. It was directed by Peter Bonerz and written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft and Stephen Curwick. The film was given a PG rating for violence and language.-Plot:The police must investigate...

. Butera was the technical advisor in the 1984 film Racing to the Moon, starring Sean Penn

Sean Penn

Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...

.

Titles

• 1974 U.S. Classic Pocket Billiard Championship
• 1974 All Japan Open
• 1981 King of the Hill Pool Championship, Sands Casino, (Las Vegas, Nevada
  Las Vegas, Nevada
  Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
  
  )