Wikipedia:WikiProject Cue sports/Wanted cue sports biographies

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Wikipedia's coverage of the cue sports in general, and particularly with regard to biographies of players and other individuals famous because of their involvement in billiards, is still somewhat sparse. It is the aim of this page to help foster coverage in the area. What follows is an abbreviated list of prominent, relevant individuals, arranged by game and where appropriate by gender). Any name that is red-linked indicates that there is no known Wikipedia article for that person. A word of caution: by virtue of the way much of this list was compiled (namely from 2007 player rankings), many prominent figures, possibly some of the most famous, may be omitted. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and if a notable person is missing, please add his or her name to an appropriate section (at the bottom, alphabetically, or in an "Unranked but notable" subsection, depending on the section).

Entries will be removed from the list when they are no longer redlinks.

Draft articles to be completed

The following are in some stage of development, and anyone should feel free to work on them and take them "live" when they are at least Start class:

• List of World Eight-ball Champions is mingling actual eight-ball with blackball / British eight-ball pool, and needs to be split into:
  • List of World Blackball Champions – User:SMcCandlish/Incubator/List of World Blackball Champions (outdated draft)
  • List of World Eight-ball Champions – User:SMcCandlish/Incubator/List of World Eight-ball Champions (outdated draft)

Legends

These are by far the most important missing cue sports biography articles with regard to carom billiards and pool.

Priority should first be given to those that are the most redlinked from other articles. They are otherwise listed here simply alphabetically.

• Anyone still red-linked in Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame
• Jack Breit (pool player) ("Jersey Red"; redlink at Luther Lassiter)
• Marshall Carpenter ("The Tuscaloosa Squirrel")
• Hubert Cokes ("Daddy Warbucks")
• Arthur Cranfield (pool player) ("Babe") (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame)
• James Evans (pool player)
• Frank C. Ives .us? (redlink from William A. Spinks; turn-of-last-century carom champ also an English billiards pro)
• Larry Johnson (pool player) ("Boston Shorty") (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame)
• Edwin Kelly ("Champagne Eddie", "Cue Ball Kelly") (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame, Ralph Greenleaf)
• Jerome R. Keogh (redlink at Alfredo de Oro; continuous pool and straight pool champ from late 19th, early 20th c.; maybe also carom champ)
• Johnny Layton (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame)
• Cicero Murphy (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame)
• Ben Nartzik (redlink from BCA Hall of Fame)
• Frank Paradise (a famous early cuemaker)
• Charlie Peterson (billiards player) .us (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame, Balkline and straight rail; high run of over 10,000)
• Herman J. Rambow (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame)
• Ray Schuler
• George Franklin Slosson USA (redlink from William A. Spinks, Balkline and straight rail; turn-of-last-century balkline champ; many NYT references, often as George F. Slosson, so that should be a redir; one NYT piece calls him "George H. Slosson" by mistake, confusing him with G.H. Sutton apparently; born in Canada, grew up in and ran the Columbia Hall billiard parlor in Chicago; the press often also just called him George Slosson, so redir that as well; nicknamed "the Student" as of 1893, but that nick may not have stuck long)
• Gus Szamboti (redir. Augustine Szamboti and just Szamboti to this; second most famous American cuemaker after Balabushka; his son is also a cuemaker, but probably non-notable - cover him in a "Legacy" section at Gus's article or something)
• Eddie Taylor (pool plalyer) ("The Knoxville Bear") (redlinked from BCA Hall of Fame)
• Maurice Vignaux .fr (redlink from Balkline and straight rail; straight rail champ)

See also #Players of English billiards and #Other carom players (men) for more historical players that probably qualify as "legends".

Balkline players (men)

• Piet J. van Duppen BEL (1905 World Billiards Champion; honored on a Belgian postage stamp in 2006; redirs needed from "Van Duppen" & "VanDuppen" spellings)
• Albert Colette BEL (1907 World Billiards Champion; honored on a Belgian postage stamp in 2006)
• Piet Sels BEL (1909 World Billiards Champion; honored on a Belgian postage stamp in 2006)

Three-cushion players (men)

The following players are taken from the top 100 in the larger listing by world rank as of 1999, maintained by the Billiards Worldcup Association. Although their relative ranking order has been generally maintained (players with extant articles are missing from the list), and all of these players are notable by virtue of making the list, where a player falls in the standings is not necessarily an indication of his prominince in the sport.

Priority should first be given to those that are the most redlinked from other articles, then in the order in which they appear in this list (or a combination of these factors, when tied).

Other carom players (men)

• Maurice Daly (billiards player) USA (needs no intro; aside from carom stuff, he was a finger billiards trick shot artist)
• Frank Ives USA (youngest World Balkline Champion; redlink from William A. Spinks, etc.; often known as Frank C. Ives, so redir that; nicknamed "the Napoleon", )
• Edward Fournil FRA (redlink from William A. Spinks; turn-of-last-century carom champ)
• Albert Garnier FRA? (redlink from Balkline and straight rail; first straight rail world champ, 1873, and author of Scientific Billiards)
• William Sexton (billiards player) .us (redlink from Balkline and straight rail; straight rail champ; needs dab page, too; d. April 25, 1898, New York, New York )
• George Spears USA (redlink from Balkline and straight rail; straight rail champ)
• Joseph Dion (redlink from Balkline and straight rail; balkline champ)
• William H. Catton USA (redlink from William A. Spinks; turn-of-last-century balkline champ; of both St. Louis and Chicago at various times; many refs. to him in NYT archives (often only by surname - he was a "face" of his era; often referred to as simply William Catton - that needs to be a DAB page); make William Catton (billiards player) a redir to William H. Catton.)
• Edward McLaughlin (billiards player) USA (Philadelphia) (redlink from William A. Spinks; turn-of-last-century carom champ)
• Thomas Gallagher (billiards player) USA (Chicago) (redlink from William A. Spinks; turn-of-last-century carom champ; apparently nicnamed "Grey"; active at least as early as 1894)
• Rerolle FRA (redlink from Calvin Demarest; turn-of-last-century carom pro, former French Amateur Champion)

Three-cushion players (women)

• Aygen Berk TUR (redlink from Semih Saygıner; Women's Billiard Champion of Turkey; note the Turkish char. in name - make redirs. for former married name at Aygen Berk Saygıner, Aygen Berk Sayginer)

Pool players (men)

The following men are taken from top 250 of the larger listing by world rank as of 2006, maintained by the World Pool-Billiard Association (); the international governing body for billiards, plus various additions and changes since then. Although their relative ranking order has been maintained below Group 1 (top priority bios in this category), and all of these players are notable by virtue of making the list, where a player falls in the standings is not necessarily an indication of his prominince in the sport. For instance, Mike Sigel, listed at 204 while he was still a redlink, is one of the more famous pool players, but was retired for ten years, so thus wasn't high up.

Priority should first be given to those that are the most redlinked from other articles, then in the order in which they appear in this list.

Pool players (women)

Section under construction - please begin adding names now. Start with WPBA top 50.

Priority should first be given to those that are the most redlinked from other articles, then in the order in which they appear in this list.

• Chou Chieh-yu TWN (redlink from List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions; family name is Chou, sometimes referred to as Chieh-Yu Chou or Chieh-yu Chou in Western media)
• Zhou Meng-meng CHN (redlink from List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions, juniors; family name is Zhou)
• Mary Ann Rakin USA (redlink from List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions, juniors)
• Anna Kostanian USA (redlink from List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions, juniors; lower priority - 2nd place; WPBA Most-improved Player Award, 2009)
• Helen Athanasiou GRE (redlink from List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions, juniors; lower priority - 2nd place)
• Natalia Seroshtan RUS (2019 Treviso Open, 2019 Veldhoven Open quarter-finalist)
• Melisa Rademakers NED (2019 Treviso Open redlink) possibly related to Tamara Peeters.
• Ine Helvik NOR (redlink at 2019 Veldhoven Open, 2019 Antalya Open)
• Christine Steinlage GER (redlink at 2019 Veldhoven Open, 2019 Antalya Open)
• Helena Thornfeldt "Sledgehammer" SWE (WPBA Hall of Fame in 2017; WPBA US Open winner; runner-up at 1996 Women's World 9-Ball; died August 20, 2019 at 52; lots of obits )

Trick shot and artistic pool players

Prioritize by prominence, redlinks. Note

Only players not already notable as pool players generally are listed here; others are above.

• Tom Rossman USA (founder of artistic pool and the World Artistic Pool Championship; notable outside of AP; redirs needed from Dr. Cue, Dr Cue, Doctor Cue)
• Nick Nikolaidis ("Nick" probably short for "Nicholas", "Nicolas" or something similar - find out and redir if needed; 2006 APTSA Masters champ; 2007 APTSA US Open runner-up, nick: "Quick Nick"[same source]; 2007 APTSA US Open semi-finalist, 2007 APTSA Masters semi-finalist, 2008 APTSA Masters quarter-finalist, 2006 WPA World Championship quarter-finalist)
• Paul Gerni USA (redlink from Mosconi Cup, Trick shot, Stefano Pelinga; M.C. player; also listed in the #Unranked but notable section, above)
• Yoshikazu Kimura JPN (one of the pioneers of the discipline)
• Mark Dimick USA (OK) (2008 APTSA Masters champ, 2007 WPA W.C. contender)
• Sebastian Giumelli ARG (2007 WPA W.C. runner up, 2008 APTSA Masters semi-finalist, 2006 WPA World Championship semi-finalist, 2007 APTSA Masters quarter-finalist; his homepage)
• Eric Yow USA (TN) (2006 WPA World Championship semi-finalist; 2007 WPA W.C. quarter-finalist; nick: "the Preacher"[same source]; 2008 APTSA Masters runner-up, 2007 APTSA Masters quarter-finalist)
• Lucasz Szywala POL (Krakow) (2007 WPA W.C. semi-finalist; nick: "Cool Hand Luke"[same source])
• Bruce Barthelette USA (MA) (2008 APTSA Masters semi-finalist; 2007 WPA W.C. quarter-finalist; nick: "the Big Guy"[same source]; 2008 APTSA Masters quarter-finalist)
• Dave Nangle USA (MD) (2007 APTSA US Open semi-finalist, 2007 WPA W.C. quarter-finalist)
• Matt MacPhail USA (MA) (Matthew MacPhail likely real name - find out and redir if needed; 2007 APTSA US Open semi-finalist, nick: "No Fail MacPhail"[same source]; 2006 WPA World Championship quarter-finalist)
• Sal Conti USA (CT) (Samuel Conti (pool player) likely real name - find out and disambig if needed; 2007 APTSA US Open semi-finalist, nick: "Cool Cat"[same source]; 2007 APTSA Masters quarter-finalist)
• Jason Lynch USA (MI) (2007 APTSA US Open semi-finalist; nick: "the Michigan Kid"[same source])
• Steve Geller USA (ND) (2007 WPA W.C. contender; nick: "Stellar"[same source] - but is it "Stellar" alone, "Steve Stellar", or "Stellar Geller"?; 2006 WPA World Championship quarter-finalist)
• Charles Darling (pool player) USA (MO) (2001 AP World Champion, 2008 APTSA Masters semi-finalist, 2007 WPA W.C. contender; nick: "Spitball Charlie"[same source]; nice article on him; update the Charles Darling DAB page)
• Alexander Kasyanov (billiards player) UKR (2007 WPA W.C. contender)
• Sergiy Vaskovskyy UKR (Kiev) (2007 WPA W.C. contender)
• Mike Mossin RUS (Moscow) (likely really Mikhail Mossin in full - find out and redir if necessary; 2007 WPA W.C. contender; nick: "the Russian Mike Massey"[same source])
• Jim Sommer DNK (Roskilde) (likely James Sommer in full - find out and redir it if needed; 2007 WPA W.C. contender)
• Javier Gómez (pool player) MEX (2007 WPA W.C. contender; create a Javier Gómez DAB page)
• Marcell Kaiser GER (Ratheim) (2007 WPA W.C. contender; nick: "the Visa"[same source])
• Nate Bryant USA (GA) (probably either Nathan Bryant or Nathaniel Bryant in full - find out which and redir it; 2007 WPA W.C. contender; nick: "Okinawa Slim"[same source])
• Arkadiy Loshakov RUS (Moscow) (2007 WPA W.C. contender)
• Tim Chin USA (MA) (2008 APTSA Masters contender; 2007 APTSA Masters contender; 2006 WPA World Championship contender)
• Jamey Gray ("Sharpshooter") (allegedly notable; listed at http://www.trickshotworldcup.com/player_bio.php?form_player_name=jameygray but with no data)
• Lars Riiber (Lars Harald Riiber of Oslo, Norway - #2 AP player in the world in 2004; tied for 3rd in inaugural Trick Shot Magic in 2000.)

Snooker players

Presently rather unprioritized; priority should probably go to a balance of achievement level and number of redlinks.

This list is transcluded from Wikipedia:WikiProject Snooker/Wanted snooker bios a.k.a. WP:SNOOKERBIOS.

Historical notables

• Leo Taelman - nl:Leo Taelman exists.
• Murt O'Donoghue - first player to make a maximum break.
• Clare O'Donnell

Other

• Gold medalists at the Southeast Asian Games
• More IBSF champs: Lots of players are redlinked at IBSF World Snooker Championship

Players of English billiards

Priority should first be given to those that are the most redlinked from other articles. They are otherwise listed simply alphabetically. Many if not most of these are redlinked from World Professional Billiards Championship (which is too long to add to every entry below).

Legends and early notables

• Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindrum (Frederick William Lindrum I) AUS (redlink from Walter Lindrum; first World Champ from .au)
• Frederick William Lindrum II AUS (redlink from Walter Lindrum; World Champ after defeating John Roberts Sr.)
• Frederick William Lindrum III AUS (redlink from Walter Lindrum; Australian Champ)
• Joe Chapman (billiards player) GBR? (redlink at Tom Reece)
• Alfred Bowles ENG
• John North (billiards player) ENG
• Albert Williams (billiards player) ENG
• S.W. Stanley ENG? (redlink from John Roberts Jr. (billiards player); not a world champ or runner up so maybe non-notable)

1920s–1970s notables

• Albert Johnson (billiards player) ENG
• H. A. O. Lonsdale ENG (first Eng. Am. Champ., defeated W. D. Courtney 500–334 for the title)

Modern notables (men)

• Paul Bennett (billiards player) ENG (redlink at 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship; 2007 Pro World quarter-finalist; Joseph, Bernard, Paul Bennett - related?)
• Devendra Joshi IND (redlink from 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship [quarter-finalist], Geet Sethi, Pankaj Advani; 1994 Pro World finalist, 2007 quarter-finalist)
• Lee Lagan ENG (redlink from Geet Sethi; 2003 IBSF Amateur World Champion, 2006 Pro World finalist)
• Ashok Shandilya IND? (redlink from Geet Sethi; 2001 Pro World finalist; broze medalist with Sethi in doubles at 2006 [15th] Asian Games; middle name Harishankar)
• Mark Hirst (billiards player) ENG (redlink from 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship, 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship; 2007 Pro World group round entrant)
• Micheal Kreuziger AUT (redlink from 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship, 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship; 2007 Pro World group round entrant; redir from Michael Kreuziger)
• B. Bhaskar [B. ??] IND (redlink from 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship [quarter-finalist], 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship)
• Rob Hall (billiards player) ENG & Phil Mumford ENG (redlinked at English Amateur Billiards Championship as top 2 players of 2014)
• Martin Goodwill ENG (redlink from English Amateur Billiards Championship [2009 champ], 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship [quarter-finalist])
• Arvind Savur IND (redlink from Pankaj Advani; coach to Advani and perhaps others, so presumbly a champ in his day, but perhaps not, and if not probably non-notable)
• More redlinked entries at 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship, 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship

Modern notables (women)

• Alena Asmolava BELARUS (mentioned but not redlinked at Chitra Magimairaj, as 2014 Senior Women's Snooker Championship runner-up; may not be notable enough)

Five-pins players

Priority should first be given to those that are the most redlinked from other articles. They are otherwise listed simply alphabetically. Nationality given at main article.

Winners of the World Five-pins Championship and/or Five-pins Pro World Cup:

• Domenico Acanfora (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Michelangelo Aniello (redlinked from Five-pins; 2nd priority in this section, as current champ as of early 2007)
• Anselmo Berrondo ("la Bibbia") (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Miguel Angel Borrelli (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Fabio Cavazzana ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Carlo Cifalà (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Ricardo Fantasia (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Manuel Gomez (billiards player) (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Nestor Gomez (billiards player) ("Nené") (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Crocefisso Maggio ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Salvatore Mannone ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• David Martinelli ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Giampiero Rosanna ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Attilio Sessa ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Gustavo Torregiani ITA (redlinked from Five-pins)
• Gustavo Zito ITA (redlinked from Five-pins; 1st priority in this section; has 2x as many titles as the best of the rest)

Misc. games

• Albert Raminsch LAT (redlink from Novuss; first pro. novuss champ)
• Leo Taelman - co-creator? of bumper pool. Needs sourcing. Some unsourced stuff at nl:Leo Taelman

Notable as non-players

Priority should first be given to those listed in the #Legends section instead of here, then to those that are the most redlinked from other articles and by achievements. They are otherwise listed somewhat haphazardly, with "some" eye to priority.

• Mitch Laurance (redlink from Ewa Mataya Laurance; ESPN pool commentator; make higher priority than seems warranted - more articles in Category:Cue sports non-player personalities will help protect the cat. from CfD)
• George Fels (redlink from Cue sports techniques; pool author)
• Bob Jewett (writer) (redlink from Alex Pagulayan; pool writer)
• Jerry Briesath (best-known pool instructor in the world, and also a billiards writer; redirs needed from Gerry Briesath, Jerry Breisath and other plausible typos)
• Tim Miller (pool instructor) (second-best-known pool instructor in the world, and pool writer; The Monk needs to become a DAB page [move current article to book's full title], and an entry is needed at Monk (disambiguation))
• Hugh W. Collender (co-founder of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company (and a presently a redir to that article), author of Modern Billiards: A Complete Text-book of the Game, Containing Plain and Practical Instructions How to Play and Acquire Skill at This Scientific Amusement, and Regulations Governing the Various Games, 1881 by Trow's, repub'd. 1804 by B.B.C. Co., 1909 by B.B.C. Co.; may have been a notable player in his day as well; also known as Hugh Collender and H. W. Collender/H.W. Collender)
• Mark Griffin (entrepreneur) (effective redlink at Billiard Congress of America and (when it exists) at CueSports International, maybe some event articles; billiards promoter and owner of CueSports Intl.; presently circularly redirs to CueSports Intl. section at BCA article)

Marginally cue-sports related

This section is for people referred to repeatedly from cue sports articles, but only marginally related to the sport. A good example would be actors and directors in pool movies, famous people (presidents, whatever) who were serious players, but whose articles don't mention this (Jules Grèvy was one, now fixed).

Priority should be given to those with the most redlinks from cue sports articles only, not in Wikipedia as a whole.

• [no entries at present]

Common wikilink errors

• List of World 9-Ball Champions ⇒ List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions
• Robert Byrne ⇒ Robert Byrne (author) (there's already an article on a different Robert Byrne)