Nick Varner
Nick Varner at 2008 Mosconi Cup | |
Born | (1948-05-15) 15 May 1948 (age 76) Owensboro, Kentucky |
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Sport country | United States |
Nickname | "Kentucky Colonel" |
Professional | 1971 |
Tournament wins | |
Other titles | 100 |
World Champion | Straight Pool (1980, 1986), Nine-Ball (1989, 1999) |
Nick Varner (born May 15, 1948, in Owensboro, Kentucky) is an American professional pool player who was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1992. Varner is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time.[1] Varner is a multiple world champion and has won back to back U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, in addition to being the oldest player to ever win the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, at 51 years old.
Career
Nick D. Varner graduated from Tell City High School in Tell City, Indiana in 1966. Varner learned to play pool in his father's (Nick Varner) pool hall in Grandview, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Varner gained notoriety on the professional pool scene after he won two ACU-I Intercollegiate Championships while attending Purdue University and playing "money games" at an on campus pool room called "The Hole". A cliché given to Varner was "Speak softly and carry a big stick" because of the way he conducted himself as well as his competitive endeavors.[2]
In 1989, Varner became only the second man to Mike Sigel, to earn over $100,000 in prize winnings in single year, accumulating an unprecedented 8 out of the 16 Nine-ball PBA tour events that year. The same year he won the PBA World 9-Ball Championship, after a momentous hill-hill final against Grady Mathews.
He was named Player of the Year in 1980, 1982, 1989, 1994, by the pool media, including the National Billiard News and Billiards Digest Magazine. He also represented Team USA eight times at the Mosconi Cup, four times as a non-playing team captain.
Varner is also an author, a video personality, a pool room proprietor, a manufacturer's representative, and an exhibition player.[3]
Varner is considered one of the best all-around players of all time, winning multiple titles in Nine-ball, Eight-ball, Straight Pool, One Pocket and Bank Pool.
Varner is one of the few players to be inducted into the BCA, One Pocket and Bank Pool Hall of Fame.
Nick is starring in the upcoming billiard movie, "The Tale of Texas Pool", set to be released on December 25, 2024. [4]
Career titles and achievements
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References
- ^ Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame Archived 2007-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Varner Carries Big Stick in World Open", by Bruce Venzke, page 5, The National Billiard News, October 1980. Retrieved May 20, 2007
- ^ The Snap, "Players of the Year", by Kreole Freddie, page 8, February/March 1980. Retrieved June 17, 2007
- ^ iMDB The Tale of Texas Pool movie
External links
- "bio on NickVarner.com" Archived 2011-08-30 at the Wayback Machine
- "Nick Varner Custom Cues", Nick Varner Custom Cues
- "Nick Varner Player Profile", InternationalPoolTour.com, International Pool Tour
- v
- t
- e
(men's)
- 1990: Earl Strickland
- 1991: Earl Strickland
- 1992: Johnny Archer
- 1993: Chao Fong-pang
- 1994: Takeshi Okumura
- 1995: Oliver Ortmann
- 1996: Ralf Souquet
- 1997: Johnny Archer
- 1998: Kunihiko Takahashi
- 1999: Efren Reyes & Nick Varner
- 2000: Chao Fong-pang
- 2001: Mika Immonen
- 2002: Earl Strickland
- 2003: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2004: Alex Pagulayan
- 2005: Wu Chia-ching
- 2006: Ronato Alcano
- 2007: Daryl Peach
- 2010: Francisco Bustamante
- 2011: Yukio Akakariyama
- 2012: Darren Appleton
- 2013: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2014: Niels Feijen
- 2015: Ko Pin-yi
- 2016: Albin Ouschan
- 2017: Carlo Biado
- 2018: Joshua Filler
- 2019: Fedor Gorst
- 2021: Albin Ouschan
- 2022: Shane Van Boening
- 2023: Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
- 2024: Fedor Gorst
(women's)
- 1990: Robin Bell
- 1991: Robin Bell
- 1992: Franziska Stark
- 1993: Loree Jon Jones
- 1994: Ewa Laurance
- 1995: Gerda Hofstätter
- 1996: Allison Fisher
- 1997: Allison Fisher
- 1998: Allison Fisher
- 1999: Liu Hsin-mei
- 2000: Julie Kelly
- 2001: Allison Fisher
- 2002: Liu Hsin-mei
- 2004: Kim Ga-young
- 2006: Kim Ga-young
- 2007: Pan Xiaoting
- 2008: Lin Yuan-chun
- 2009: Liu Shasha
- 2010: Fu Xiaofang
- 2011: Bi Zhu Qing
- 2012: Kelly Fisher
- 2013: Han Yu
- 2014: Liu Shasha
- 2015: Liu Shasha
- 2016: Han Yu
- 2017: Chen Siming
- 2018: Han Yu
- 2019: Kelly Fisher
(champions)
- 2004: Efren Reyes
- 2005: Wu Chia-ching
- 2007: Ronato Alcano
- 2008: Ralf Souquet
- 2010: Karl Boyes
- 2011: Dennis Orcollo
- 2012: Chang Jung-Lin
- 2022: Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
- 2008: Darren Appleton
- 2009: Mika Immonen
- 2011: Huidji See
- 2015: Ko Pin-yi
- 2019: Ko Ping-chung
- 2021: Eklent Kaçi
- 2022: Wojciech Szewczyk
- 2023: Eklent Kaçi
- 2024: Carlo Biado
- 2006: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2007: Oliver Ortmann
- 2008: Niels Feijen
- 2009: Stephan Cohen
- 2010: Oliver Ortmann
- 2011: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2012: John Schmidt
- 2013: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2014: Darren Appleton
- 2015: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2016: Mika Immonen
- 2017: Lee Vann Corteza
- 2018: Thorsten Hohmann
- 2019: Shane Van Boening