Tom Jennings (pool player)
Tom Jennings is an American professional pocket billiards (pool) player and mathematics professor. In 1976 and 1977, he won back-to-back US Open 14.1 Pocket Billiards Championships, being the first player since Steve Mizerak to win consecutive championships.[1] He won both titles while also a full-time mathematics professor at Middlesex County College in New Jersey.[2]
1976 US Open
In August 1976, despite having never won a single match in four prior US Open competitions, Jennings was victorious in the straight pool (14.1 continuous) championship held in Chicago.[1][2]
1977 US Open
The 1977 tournament was held in Dayton, Ohio in September. Jennings was not positioned well for a repeat performance. He lost in the first match of the double elimination tournament to Tom Kollins by a score of 150–135. He won the next five matches easily, and earned the right to play Dick Lane in the championship match.[1]
The championship was played to 200 balls, instead of the standard 150. Lane was a formidable opponent, having made a run of 111 balls earlier in the tournament. After 19½ innings, Lane was in a 64-ball run and was leading by a score of 196–42, four balls away from the championship. On the 65th shot of his run, Lane missed the break, giving Jennings an opening. Jennings returned immediately with a 71-ball run of his own (his personal best for the tournament), which closed the gap to 196–113. The two mostly traded safeties for ten more innings, during which time Lane only sank a single additional ball while Jennings inched his way closer to Lane's score. With the score at 197–171 after 30 innings, Jennings put together a final run of 29 balls to seal his second consecutive US Open championship. Jennings' 158 balls to Lane's 1 over the last eleven and a half innings has been called "Billiards' Biggest Comeback."[1]
