Efren started out as a billiards attendant at the pool hall that his uncle owned. Though he couldn’t initially reach the tables without assistance and wasn’t yet able to play, he still spent plenty of time on them. They doubled as his bed at night.

In the decades of the 1960s and 1970s Reyes played three cushion billiards. It was during this time that he was discovered and asked to participate in some of the bigger billiard tournaments. He experienced almost immediate success. He won tournaments in the United States, various parts of Asia and Europe. Reyes quickly developed a reputation as someone to be reckoned with on the felts. In the 1990s, he was considered as good a billiards player as his fellow countrymen, Francisco Bustamante and Jose Parica.

Many people consider Efren Reyes to be the best billiards player in the world. One person of note who has expressed such an opinion is Billy Incardona, a fellow professional pool player. He has stated on record that Reyes is perhaps the greatest player of his lifetime.

Efren has received numerous awards over the years for his great play. In 1995, Billiards Digest Magazine named him the Player of the Year. In one of the magazine’s 1996 editions, a consortium of professional players and industry insiders voted him as the best one-pocket player of all time.

Reyes became the first non-American to win the US Open Nine Ball Championship in 1994. He successfully took on Nick Varner to simultaneously secure the title and make history. The duo met again in 1996, this time in the Color of Money event held in Hong Kong. Reyes won again, this time taking home a whopping $100,000 the biggest purse (single winning) in billiards history. Efren would go on to win many more events and titles.

Efren Reyes’ success on the felts has translated into big paydays for his. He was listed as the top moneymaker in the sport in 2001, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2006 alone, he earned $646,000.

Reyes is still going strong and continues to play pool competitively. In 2010, he won the top prize in the12th annual Derby City Classic.

Born Rudolf Wanderone on January 19, 1913, it didn’t take this ace pool player a lifetime to earn his reputation. By the age of thirteen he defeated the former nine-ball champion, “Cowboy” Weston. Soon after, he also managed to defeat another exceptional opponent “Smart Henry”, giving Wanderone his first nickname, Double-Smart.

However, Wanderone wasn’t a one-name kind of man.  Amongst many other nicknames like: New York Fats, Triple Smart Fats, Broadway Fats, and Chicago Fats; the nickname that stuck the best was Minnesota Fats. Wanderone got this new name from the movie, The Hustler, insisting that Jackie Gleason’s character, Minnesota Fats, was based off of him. Although the author of the book denied any intentional resemblance between Wanderone and his character, Wanderone took on the new identity he believed rightfully belonged to him.

Most people refer to Minnesota Fats as a professional hustler, but he thought otherwise. In an interview the legend explains his logic. “I was never a hustler. See, a hustler tries to make proposition. Me, I always play the top-notch player, anything he wants to play. That’s not hustling.”

It’s clear that he was anything but modest. Wanderone proved to be the Muhammad Ali of pool, boastful and confident in his ability to defeat any worthy opponent. In the same interview as the quote above, Wanderone confidently claims, “See, I can really play. I can play whenever I want to on any kind of equipment. I wouldn’t care if the pool table had humps in it or no rails.”  Wanderone also strongly believed that he was truly irresistible amongst the people. “Call anywhere on Earth, anywhere I been. They all want me back. Wanna know why? Because I’m 100% pure.”

But not everyone was enchanted by his bold banter. Wanderone was known for having a visible rivalry with the illustrious Willie Mosconi. Mosconi scorned Wanderone’s rough-and-tumble attitude towards the artistic aspect of pool. And although Wanderone was defeated numerous times by his life long competitor, he still managed to always please the crowds and get under Mosconi’s skin.

Minnesota Fats was never the champion of an official pool tournament and he didn’t hold titles that would set impossible goals for the next pool playing generation. So why is this man considered one of the greatest pool players of all time? Not only was he a skilled pool player, he was a fantastic showman, providing entertainment for all of those that watched and loved him.  His colorful and pure way of playing the game captured the attention of millions, contributing to making pool what it is today.

FUN FACT:  He is rummored to be the father of Grammy Award winning recording artist, Etta James