Tom Kollins

Tom Kollins
birthday	February 6, 1936
date of death	22nd June 2020 (age 84)
nationality	United States
Prize money	£ 1,062
Success at amateur tournaments
National championships	5 × winners
Best results
World championships	10 × group stage
Continental Championships	3 × group stage ( Europe )
Professional tournaments	-

Tom Kollins (born February 6, 1936 , † June 22, 2020 ; actually Thomas Kalinowski ) was an American snooker and pool player as well as billiards official and coach, who won the United States' snooker championship five times and later became vice president the United States Snooker Association .

Career

Born Thomas Kalinowski in 1936, Kollins grew up in Pennsylvania before getting married and moving to Detroit to work in the radio business. He discovered pool for himself when he came across a pool hall as a newspaper carrier in 1949. In the 1960s, he won the Michigan Straight Pool Championship twice ; in the following years he reached the top ten places at the US Open three times . Even decades later, he had success in pool. In 1977, however, he discovered snooker for himself, even if snooker was hardly represented in the USA at that time. Between 1968 and 1974 he had also worked as the manager of a billiards division of a Detroit sports club, before setting up as a freelance pool coach in 1974. In the same year, Kollins reached the final of a tournament that was later led at least by the database CueTracker as the first edition of the Snooker Championship of the United States , in which he lost to Eric Connelly . From this period he took part every year as captain of the US team in the International Snooker League , an amateur tournament for all players worldwide. He also took part in the IBSF World Snooker Team Cup twice. That being said, Kollins made extra income during the 1980s selling video tapes to pool players. In 1984 Kollins took part in the amateur world championship for the first time , but retired with two wins from eight games in the group stage. In 1991 he won the first US snooker championship recognized by the US Snooker Association when he defeated John Abruzzo 4-2 in the final.

In the same year he took part - again without much success - in the amateur world championship before he could defend his US title in 1992 against John Lewis. Also in 1992 he was eliminated from the group stage at the amateur world championships . In 1993 he lost to Mike Massey in the US championship in the semifinals , but won the game for 3rd place against Lewis before he was eliminated again in the group stage at the amateur world championship . After he lost to David Yao in the 1994 US championship in the final and was eliminated again in the group stage of the amateur world championship , he had to admit defeat in the 1995 US championship in the second round. In the same year he failed again in the group stage at the amateur world championship .

In 1996 and 1997, Kollins retired from the US Championship in the quarter-finals and the second round. At the same time, he took part in the European Championship for the first time , but could not win a single frame and was therefore eliminated in the group stage. This participation was possible because the USA was associated with the European association at that time . He took part in the tournament two more times, for example he had to admit defeat in the group stage of the 1997 edition . It wasn't until 1998 that he succeeded again when he defeated Tom Karabotsos in the final of the US championship. After he was eliminated from the group stage without a win at the World Amateur Championship in 1998 , he was able to defend his US title against Murali Venkataraman in 1999. In the same year he could not win a game at the amateur world championship before losing to Ajeya Prabhakar in the final of the US championship in 2000 . After he was eliminated from the group stage despite two winners at the amateur world championship of the same year, he managed to take revenge against Prabhakar in 2001 and defeated him 5-0 in the final of the US championship. It was to be his last appearance in the final of the US championship.

In 2002, Kollins took part in the Amateur World Championship again without much success . In 2008 he reached the quarter-finals of the US championship at the age of 72 and lost to Raymond Fung ; In 2009 and 2011 he lost to Ahmed Aly Elsayed in the same round . In 2013 he took part in the tournament again and was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the latest. After losing again to Raymond Fung in the quarter-finals in 2015 at the age of 79, he was eliminated in the group stage in 2017. That being said, Kollins moved back to the Detroit area in 2014 after living in Chicago for nearly 30 years . Kollins, who was a father of seven, grandfather 20 times and great-grandfather 25 times as of June 2020, was the most highly regarded US snooker player according to Ajeya Prabhakar . With his five titles, he was the record holder in the US championship for a long time until Ahmed Aly Elsayed equalized this record in 2019. At the same time, Kollins set a record for the highest break in tournament history with a 123 break. In addition, Kollins was also involved as a billiards official, so he was Vice President of the United States Snooker Association . He also represented the USA at the International Billiards & Snooker Federation during the 1990s . Kollins contracted prostate cancer around the beginning of 2020 and died on June 22, 2020 at the age of 84 while listening to a game of snooker. Ajeya Prabhakar, ex-player and president of the US federation, regretted the "great loss for our sport". The IBSF recognized Kollins as "an outstanding figure in the history of organization and sport in the United States".

successes

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
Second	1977	United States Snooker Championship (controversial)	Eric Connelly	2: 3
winner	1991	United States Snooker Championship	John Abruzzo	4: 2
winner	1992	United States Snooker Championship	John Lewis	4: 3
Second	1994	United States Snooker Championship	David Yao	2: 5
winner	1998	United States Snooker Championship	Tom Karabotsos	5: 4
winner	1999	United States Snooker Championship	Murali Venkataraman	5-0
Second	2000	United States Snooker Championship	Ajeya Prabhakar	3: 5
winner	2001	United States Snooker Championship	Ajeya Prabhakar	5-0

Web links

• Profile of Tom Kollins at CueTracker
• Profile of Tom Kollins at AZBilliards.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ajeya Prabhakar : Player Profiles: Tom Kollins. In: snookerusa.com. United States Snooker Association , accessed July 25, 2020 .  
2. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1977-1978 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
3. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1984-1985 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
4. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1990-1991 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
5. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1991-1992 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
6. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1992-1993 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1993-1994 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
8. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1994-1995 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1995-1996 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1996-1997 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1997-1998 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1998-1999 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
13. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 1999-2000 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2000-2001 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
15. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2002-2003 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
16. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2007-2008 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
17. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2008-2009 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2011-2012 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
19. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2012-2013 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2014-2015 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
21. ↑ Ron Florax: Tom Kollins - Season 2016-2017 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 25, 2020 .  
22. ↑ ^{a b} The passing of a United States snooker legend. In: snookerusa.com. United States Snooker Association , June 23, 2020, accessed July 25, 2020 .  
23. ↑ ^{a b} Vivek Pathak: The IBSF pays tribute to Passing Legend 'Tim Kollins'. IBSF , June 23, 2020, accessed on July 25, 2020 .