Jean Balukas (born June 28, 1959) is an American pool player, considered one of the greatest players of all time.The New York Times Company (February 3, 1992). Clean Pool by Allessandra Stanley. Retrieved March 25, 2008.New York Woman Magazine (1991). Too Good for Her Own Good by Mary Bruno. September 1991 issue. Retrieved May 8, 2007.Seyberts.com (date of copyright not provided). Interview with top male players on inclusion of women in the World 14.1 Championship. Retrieved May 8, 2007. Described as a "trailblazer, a child prodigy, a loner who rebelled against dress codes for women—the pool equivalent of Billie Jean King", she is a five-time Billiards Digest Player of the Year, was the youngest inductee into the BCA Hall of Fame and the second woman given the honor, and was ranked fifteenth on Billiard Digest Greatest Players of the [20th] Century.Sun-Times News Group (2006). NOTEWORTHY, Chicago Sun-Times, December 15, 1999, by Elliott Harris.
Balukas was considered a prodigy, coming to the public's attention first at 6 years of age at a pool exhibition held at New York City's Grand Central Terminal and thereafter appearing on television, including on CBS's primetime television show, I've Got a Secret. At just 9 years old she placed 5th in the 1969 U.S. Open straight pool championship, and placed 4th and 3rd respectively in the following two U.S. Opens. From that early start, Balukas completely dominated women's professional pool during the 1970s and 1980s.Billiard Congress of America (1995-2005). BCA Hall of Fame Inductees: 1985 - 1991 . Retrieved April 24, 2007.The New York Times Company (August 22, 1992). Billiard Master Reposes in Self-Exile by Douglas Martin. Retrieved March 25, 2008.Sun-Times News Group (February 15, 1988). Balukas Jumps Into the Shark Pool by Dave Manthey. Retrieved May 3, 2007.
Balukas won five WPBA World Straight Pool Championship titles, the WPBA World 9-Ball Championship, eight BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship titles and four WPBA U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship titles. Balukas has won over 100 professional tournaments, as well as a record streak of 16 first-place tournament finishes in a row, and was the only woman at the time to compete with men in professional play. She quit the sport amidst controversy in 1988 while at the height of her ability, due to a dispute over her conduct in a match at the Brunswick WPBA World 9-Ball Championship of that year.
Young prodigy Jean's father, Albert Balukas, along with his partner, professional player Frank McGown, was the proprietor of a forty-eight-table pool hall called the Ovington Lounge in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, New York. Balukas's introduction to play was at 4 years of age, not on one of her father's tables but on a 4-1⁄2 by 9 foot pool table in the cellar of her childhood home, purchased by her parents to keep her four billiards-playing brothers out of local pool rooms.The New York Times Company (October 18, 1987). The Best Woman in the Hall by Roger Starr. Retrieved March 25, 2008.The New York Times Company (February 5, 1967). Girl Wonder of Billiards, 7, Took Cue Early by Dave Anderson. Retrieved April 24, 2007.The New York Times Company (August 5, 1973). For a Freckled Brooklyn Girl, Pool Is No Game; A Well-Kept Secret. Retrieved April 24, 2007. In later years Balukas explained that she "almost never went to the pool hall and if I did go, I didn't play. I felt uncomfortable, and besides, girls didn't go in those days."
Wielding an ivory-detailed cue made especially for her in 1965 by renowned cuemaker George Balabushka, at 5 and 6 years of age she would practice straight pool to 50 points after family dinners with her father's encouragement but not participation. Many have assumed that she had been tutored in the game. However, Balukas states, "when they find out that my father doesn't play, many people think I must have learned the game from Frank McGown. That isn't true. I taught myself to play pool."
In 1966, McGown staged a billiards exhibition at New York City's Grand Central Terminal. With her parents' permission, he brought along the 6-year-old Balukas, where she participated in the spectacle. The attention this generated, coupled with her prodigious talent, landed her a guest appearance in 1966 on WNEW-TV's Wonderama. Later that year, Balukas, along with her younger sister Laura, appeared on CBS's popular show I've Got a Secret. None of the panelists were successful in guessing that the 7- and 5-year-old sisters were pool enthusiasts.
The following year Balukas appeared in an exhibition match at the bygone Carom Club, then located at 1697 Broadway in Manhattan. A second-grader at the time, according to her mother, Peggy, she did her homework and took a nap before appearing at the scheduled match. In advertisements for the match, Balukas was billed as "the Little Princess of Pocket Billiards." She was described by a reporter present as "a little girl with honey-blond hair...wearing a short yellow dress and green leotards...who resembles a young Shirley Temple." To great applause she edged out her opponent, Roland DeMarco, a pool enthusiast and the President of Finch College. The final score was 50 to 42.
In 1969, at 9 years of age, Balukas competed in her first BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship, taking 5th place among a field of adults.Billiards Digest (1999). "50 Greatest Players of the Century" by Kenneth Shouler. Billiards Digest Magazine. October 1999 issue, page 50-51 and 60. In the next two U.S. Opens, in 1970 and 1971, she placed 4th and 3rd, respectively. By that time she was already fairly well known, having had additional television appearances alongside such billiard stars and celebrities as Willie Mosconi, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Falk, Hugh Downs and Sonny Fox. She would later appear on television many more times, in addition to broadcasts of pool matches, including an interview on The Mike Douglas Show airing on January 11, 1977, with Bernadette Peters and David Niven.The New York Times Company (January 11, 1977). Television. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
U.S. Open Straight Pool Champion On August 18, 1972, at 13 years of age Balukas won the women's division of the BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship, along the way defeating five-time champion Dorothy Wise and taking home a prize of $1,500. Balukas was the U.S. Open's youngest winner ever and by a large margin. She roundly defeated her opponent in the finals, Madelyn Whitlow of Detroit, Michigan, with a score of 75–32 in 44 .The New York Times Company (August 20, 1972). 8th-Grade Girl Captures U.S. Open Billiards Crown by Dave Anderson. Retrieved April 25, 2007. Reporting on the competition, The New York Times stated: "Miss Balukas showed signs of strong title contention throughout the tournament play as she defeated six opponents with precision shooting and near flawless strategy."
In 1973, at 14, Balukas successfully defended her straight pool U.S. Open title, defeating runner-up Donna Ries, a psychologist from Kansas City, Missouri, with a final score of 75–72 in 42 innings and a high of 26, earning her a $2,000 purse.The New York Times Company (August 12, 1973). Miss Balukas, 14, Wins 2d Pocket Billiards Title. Retrieved April 25, 2007.The Washington Post (then the Times Herald) (August 12, 1973). Balukas Holds Billiards Title. Retrieved April 26, 2007. Earlier in the tournament she trounced Mieko Harada, a housewife from Kyoto, Japan, 75–1 in 20 innings and with a 25-ball high run. In the 1974 U.S. Open held at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Balukas defended her title, again beating out Harada but by a much closer, nailbiting 100–99 final score. This was Balukas' third straight U.S. Open title at the age of 15. The close finale echoed the results seen in the men's division, where Joe Balsis defeated Jim Rempe 200-199 for the men's crown.The National Billiard News (September 1979) page 24. "Pot Shots," by Bruce Venzke. Retrieved May 18, 2007.The New York Times Company (August 12, 1974). Miss Balukas Wins 3d Billiards Title. Retrieved April 26, 2007.The New York Times Company (August 11, 1975). West Takes U.S. Pocket Billiards Title . Retrieved May 2, 2007.
In 1975 Balukas defeated Ries again in the U.S. Open semi-finals with a score of 75–15 in 15 innings,The New York Times Company (August 6, 1975). Brooklyn Girl Gains in U.S. Billiards. Retrieved May 2, 2007. dispatched Ames, Iowa native Gail Breedlove 75–19, and then again faced and defeated Harada in the finals, claiming the $3,000 purse with a score of 100–63 in 39 innings and posting a high run of 23.The New York Times Company (August 10, 1975). Jean Balukas Wins 4th title. Retrieved May 3, 2007. In 1976, then 17, Balukas took her fifth consecutive U.S. Open title, beating Gloria Walker of Cheyney, Pennsylvania 75–46 in 39 innings, winning a $1,700 purse.The New York Times Company (August 16, 1976). Billiards to Jennings. Retrieved May 4, 2007. Balukas went on to win the next two U.S. Open straight pool championships for a total of seven back-to-back wins, her streak foreclosed after 1978 by the discontinuance of the competition itself.The New York Times Company (December 18, 1977). Winners of Individual and Team Championships During 1977. Retrieved May 3, 2007.The New York Times Company (December 17, 1978). Winners of Individual and Team Championships During 1978. Retrieved May 3, 2007.
Balukas was not just talented at pool but was an all-around good athlete. Starting at age 16, and for two other years, she was invited to participate in ABC-TV's Superstars. Held in Rotonda, Florida, the event pitted championship athletes from one sport competing in sports other than their own specialties, vying for cash prizes totaling $69,000. In her first appearance in 1976, while a junior in high school, she finished second taking titles in tennis and bowling where she won with 192 points. The winner that year was speed skater Anne Henning. Other competitors included, diver Micki King, tennis and golf pro Althea Gibson, Skier Kiki Cutter, sprinter Wyomia Tyus, and Tennis champ Martina Navratilova. The second place win was bittersweet for Balukas, because based on the award of prize money for placing at Superstars ($13,100), she lost amateur standing and was thereafter banned from competing in high school sports, also becoming no longer eligible for a college athletic scholarship.
Balukas has won numerous other titles including five wins at the WPBA World Straight Pool Championship. Upon her first win in that tournament held at a convention hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey on August 14, 1977, she was described as "the 18-year-old prodigy from Brooklyn." There she again outplayed Walker (then of Ithaca, New York), with a score of 100–57, and earned a $1,001 prize.The New York Times Company (August 15, 1977). Hopkins, Miss Balukas Pocket Billiards Victors. Retrieved May 1, 2007. Balukas has more U.S. Open wins than any other player, male or female, the runner up for the men being Steve Mizerak with four. Her ball average over the seven U.S. Opens was in a different class than her opponents. Balukas averaged 3.44 in 1972 with the next best, Gloria Walker, having an average of 2.37. In 1975 she averaged 4.05, while no other player averaged even 3.
Playing with men