Earl Strickland

Earl Strickland
birthday	June 8, 1961
place of birth	Clinton , North Carolina
Nickname	The Pearl
Greatest successes
8-ball World Cup	Round of 32 (2011)
9-ball World Cup	Victory (1990, 1991, 2002)
Pool world rankings
Current WRL location	59 (as of July 2, 2020)

Earl Strickland (born June 8, 1961 in Clinton , North Carolina , United States ) is an American pool player .

Early years

Strickland grew up as the son of a farmer in rural North Carolina. At the age of nine, his father took him into town to do some errands. When these were done, his father asked him if he wanted to play a game of pool. Earl replied that he didn't know what it was - "Pool". His father explained the game to him as well as the correct body and cue posture. After the game it was clear to the little Earl that this was "his" game. From then on he spent the dollar his mother gave him every day for school lunch on the game and preferred to starve all day until dinner. Soon he was the best player in his county, beating all adults. At the age of 15 he played his first tournament and won it. Impressed by the applause from the audience, there is no applause in the “gamble game”, Earl knew that he wanted to become a professional player from now on. In just four years, he had approached the American elite and won his first professional tournament.

Career

Strickland is the only player to have won the WPA World Championship in 9-Ball three times (1990, 1991 and 2002). In total, he has already won over 40 professional tournaments, including five times the US Open in 9-Ball (1984, 1987, 1993, 1997 and 2000) and the World Pool Masters (1997). He has represented the USA thirteen times at the Mosconi Cup , most recently in 2013 . In 2005 he was also recognized as an MVP . He has been a member of the Hall of Fame of the Billiard Congress of America since 2006 . His nickname in the billiards scene is The Pearl .

Controversy

Similar to John McEnroe , he is considered to be an easily irritable and explosive character. Barry Hearn and Steve Davis said of him that he was like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde was. Earl himself confirms this view. If he's on the winning side, he'll jump on the table. After a "messed up" blow against Thomas Engert at the Mosconi Cup 2006, he hit his cue on the floor in frustration, and the top part broke. He replaced this and then won the game 7: 4.

At the same tournament in the game against Davis it happened that he not only spoke out loud (to himself), but also entered loud arguments with his teammates, the referee Michaela Tabb and the audience. Tabb then warned the audience and threatened to expel the affected audience if they continued to disrupt the game by shouting. Strickland answered the calls with violent counter-calls, whereupon he too was admonished. Strickland responded with a harsh: "Shut up!" (Shut up). After insulting both Tabb and Davis, he apologized for his behavior the next day with a bouquet of flowers.

Web links

• Player profile on azbilliards.com
• An interview with Earl Strickland
• Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Earl Strickland: The Story-The greatest ever interview and report on Sky Sports . Retrieved January 25, 2014.
2. ^ "Van den Berg Wins a Classic" ( Memento from December 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Mosconi Cup 2006 in Rotterdam.
3. ↑ Mr. Congeniality ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on BilliardsDigest.com. Retrieved January 25, 2014.