This is the list of people inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's hall of fame to honor outstanding people who, through their competitive skills and dedication, have enriched the sport and industry. Two categories have been established in the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame. The "Greatest Player" category is awarded for outstanding players who must be 40 years of age or older, have been active professionals for at least 15 years and have recorded significant achievements in national or international competition recognized by the BCA. The "Meritorious Service" category (•) is awarded for those who have made lasting, memorable and important contributions to the game or the billiards industry.
The year of induction is listed after the name.
Karen Corr is a Northern Irish professional pool and former snooker and English billiards player. She was inducted in the BCA Hall of Fame in 2012.
William Joseph Mosconi was an American professional pool player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mosconi is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. Between the years of 1941 and 1957, he won the World Straight Pool Championship nineteen times. For most of the 20th century, his name was essentially synonymous with pool in North America – he was nicknamed "Mr. Pocket Billiards" – and he was among the first Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame inductees. Mosconi pioneered and regularly employed numerous trick shots, set many records, and helped to popularize pool as a national recreation activity.
The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). It was established under this name in 1948 as a non-profit trade organization in order to promote the sport and organize its players via tournaments at various levels. The BCA is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The voting members of the organization are mostly equipment manufacturers.
Sang Chun Lee, most commonly known simply as Sang Lee, was a Korean-born American professional three-cushion billiards player and world champion.
Gerda Hofstätter Gergerson, nicknamed "G-Force", is an Austrian professional pool player. Hofstätter won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 1995. She is a winner at the European Pool Championship on nine occasions, and won the Austrian national Championship seventeen times. Hofstätter is a two-time Hall of Fame inductee being voted into both the Women's Professional Billiard Association and Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fames in the Greatest Players Category. Hofstätter was the Austrian Sportswoman of the Year for Carinthia in 1993. Hofstätter played on the WPBA Tour until her retirement, doing so from 1993 onward.
Jeanette Lee is an American professional pool player. She was nicknamed the Black Widow because, in spite of her sweet demeanor, she would "eat people alive" when she got to a pool table and always wear black when playing pool.
Niels Feijen is a Dutch professional pool player, from the Hague. His nickname is "the Terminator". In 2014 he won the WPA World 9-ball championship.
Allison Fisher is an English professional pool and former professional snooker player.
Alfredo de Oro was a Cuban professional carom billiards and pool player who several times held the world title in both three-cushion billiards and straight pool simultaneously. He was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1967, the first non-American to receive the honor. He was ranked number 4 on the Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players of the Century.
Dennis Orcollo, sometimes called Dennis Orcullo, is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "Surigao" and "RoboCop". He has been called "The Money-Game King".
Irving Crane, nicknamed "the Deacon", was an American pool player from Livonia, New York, and ranks among the stellar players in the history of the sport. Widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time, and a member of the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, he is best known for his mastery in the game of straight pool at which he won numerous championships, including six World Straight Pool Championship titles.
Joseph (Joe) Balsis, nicknamed "the Meatman", was an American professional pool player, who was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1982.
Jacob Schaefer Sr., nicknamed "The Wizard", was a professional carom billiards player, especially of the straight rail and balkline games, and was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968.
Jacob Schaefer Jr. was an American professional carom billiards player with German grandparentage, a specialist in balkline games, and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968. His nickname was "the Prodigy".
Jimmy Mataya. Mataya started shooting pool at age 11. Within a few years was playing exhibitions with Willie Mosconi. He then won three consecutive Michigan State Championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968. At 21, he won the 1971 Los Angeles 9-Ball Championship. Mataya won multiple titles in his career and in 1989 became a member of the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame.
Erwin Rudolph was an American pocket billiards player from Cleveland, Ohio and a five-time world champion. One of his great feats was running 125 points in 32 minutes.
James William Moore, known as "Cowboy Jimmy Moore", was a world-class American pocket billiards (pool) player originally from Troup County, Georgia, and for most of his life a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, best known for his mastery in the game of straight pool.
Pat Fleming is an American professional pocket billiards player and the founder of Accu-Stats Video Productions. Fleming is the fifty-third inductee into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame, recognized in the Meritorious Service category on June 12, 2008. In 1983, Fleming invented the Total Performance Average (TPA), a statistical performance analysis system, which is currently the standard metric for professionals.
Dorothy Wise (1914–1995) was an American professional pool player. She was born in Spokane, Washington. When she first started playing pool professionally, there were very few national tournaments for women. She won many local and state tournaments, so she called herself the world champion. The first national tournament for women happened in 1967. She won and kept winning for the next five years. She lost the title in 1972. She played in the final against 13-year-old Jean Balukas.
James Caras was an American professional pool player, most well known for winning five World Straight Pool Championship titles between 1935 and 1949.