Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Child Prodigy Jean Balukas
If there was any female player in history considered the possible equal to Allison Fisher, that player would be Jean Balukas. The Brooklyn-native was a child prodigy, as can be seen in this amazing footage of her pocketing balls. (You have to wait a few minutes to see it.) Balukas competed in her first U.S. Open at age 9, and at age 12 she won her first BCA title. She abruptly left competitive pool in 1988 at the height of her career. Balukas was the second woman ever to be inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame. Fisher, the sixth, was inducted this year.
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Have you ever found video of an Adult Jean Balukas playing pool?
Nope, although I haven't really looked around for one. You might poke around on Youtube. Also, Jean Balukas attended this year's Hall of Fame banquet for Allison Fisher and Johnny Archer. There may be video of that posted up soon, but, of course, she won't be playing pool in that video.
Here's an interesting article on Jean Balukas from 1991:
http://www.marybruno.com/clips/mb_toogood.html
It mentions that the 1988 Brunswick World Open 9-ball tournament in which she played was broadcast live from Caesear's Palace. I haven't found any video of her playing as an adult. There's a video of a Charlie Rose show on which she appeared as part of a panel.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7723968570429466320&ei=wut0S4WtL9SalAfdp8GxCA&q=jean+balukas&hl=en&client=firefox-a#
Video of Balukas doing a few practice shots as part of a panel of billiard players on the Charlie Rose show:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7723968570429466320&ei=wut0S4WtL9SalAfdp8GxCA&q=jean+balukas&hl=en&client=firefox-a#
There's alos an interesting magazine article from 1991 that references a televised match she had vs. Robin Bell in Las Vegas at the Women’s Final of the Brunswick World Open 9-ball tournament. No video though:
http://www.marybruno.com/clips/mb_toogood.html
Thanks Roy. I had forgotten about that Charlie Rose footage... I'll post up a little note about your find on the Facebook page as well.
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