Earl Strickland (born June 8, 1961) is an American professional pool player who is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. He has won over 100 championship titles and three world titles. In 2006 he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.[1] In 1996, Strickland won the largest cash prize to date winning the PCA $1,000,000 Challenge by being the first player to run 10 consecutive racks in a tournament.
Strickland started playing pool at the age of 8. After intensive practice, he entered his first professional tournament aged 16. Strickland rose to national prominence in 1983 with a victory in Caesars Tahoe Billiard Classic defeating Steve Mizerak in the finals and winning $35,000.[2] This was followed in 1984 by winning the McDermott Masters 9-Ball Championship.
According to sources, Strickland played "like a polished gem." He was beginning to be a dominant force on the tournament trail and recognized as a future world champion. He had the "skill, endurance, patience, temperament, and tenacity of which champions are made."[3] Because of his dominance, Strickland was named The National Billiard News Player of the Year in 1984.[4] He won the 1988 PBA World 9-Ball Championship, after a momentous final confrontation with Mike Sigel.
Strickland is a multiple winner of the prestigious Billiards Digest Player of the Year in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 2000 including Billiards Digest Player of the Decade in the 1980s.
Strickland once ran 11 consecutive racks against Nick Mannino during the first PCA tournament in 1996 where there was a stipulation that anyone who could break and run 10 racks would win US$1,000,000.[5]Jimmy Mataya, who was present at the event, witnessed Strickland's last shot, a tough nine-ballcombination in which Earl showed no fear and "fired it in with authority" to win the prize.[6] Up to that time, no one had ever run 10 racks of 9-ball in a row during a professionally sanctioned event. The feat has never been duplicated in a tournament since. This Million dollar Challenge event was a kickoff for the new tour, which Earl Strickland, C.J. Wiley, and others helped to build. He won it on the first day of the event and the very start of the brand new tour association (PCA). The insurance company backing the event refused to pay and lawsuits were filed. The dispute was over what was considered a "run rack" as during Earl's run, he made nine-on-the-breaks and early nines, as well as run the balls 1-9 in order, which is officially considered a run rack. The final rack was also an early nine made by a combination shot. Two and one half years later, the insurers were forced to pay up. Unfortunately, due to expenses of the legal battle, Earl received less than a $1,000,000 and this resulted in negative publicity around it and led to a very premature demise of the new PCA tour. Earl was very gracious about the money, but sorely disappointed that the new tour got off to a bad start. The scandal and a feud with the already existing feud with the Professional Billiards Tour fearing lost revenues and television contracts spelled doom and led to a quick demise of the new tour.
For 2007, he was ranked #6 in Pool & Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.[7]
^"USA Dominates World Nine-ball", Pool & Billiards Magazine, May 1990.
^"Earl 'The Pearl' Strickland Wins Another Caesars Event," page 11, The National Billiard News, October 1984. Retrieved May 18, 2007
^"Pot Shots" by Bruce Venzke, page 5, The National Billiard News, February 1986. Retrieved May 19, 2007
^"Earl, According to Earl"Archived May 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Billiards Digest magazine (online edition), April 2006; Note: The million-dollar prize seemed to be a very safe stipulation because runs that high are quite rare especially in formal tournament play; there have been no similar promotions since.
^"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. ISSN1049-2852.
Media related to Earl Strickland at Wikimedia Commons
