- Raymond Ceulemans
Raymond, Knight Ceulemans (born
July 12 ,1937 inLier, Belgium ) is athree-cushion billiards player and possibly the most dominant single figure in any one sport, having won 35 World Championship titles, 48 European titles and 61 national titles. His nickname is "Mr. 100." [ [http://www.bca-pool.com/cgi/site/framegate.cgi?url=http://www.bca-pool.com/industry/hof/hof.shtml&cat=i Raymond Ceulemans Bio at BCA website] ] He was inducted into theBilliard Congress of America 's Hall of Fame in 2001, one of the very few non-Americans to receive the honor. In October, 2003 King Albert II of Belgium honored Raymond Ceulemans by awarding him a knighthood in recognition of his lifetime achievements.Early life
At the age of 7, Ceulemans used to play billiards on the table in his father's
café . He also liked to play association football at the local club. Although he was a goodmidfielder (in 1958 he was discovered by the clubK. Beerschot V.A.C. , but a transfer was never made), he stopped playing football and began to concentrate on billiards.Professional career
In 1961, at the age of 23, he won his first Belgian three-cushion title. In 1962, he won his first
CEB European Three-cushion Championship .A year later, he won his first world title at the
UMB World Three-cushion Championship , with averages of 1.159 and 1.307 Cuegloss|Point|points per Cuegloss|Inning|inning. He won that title 11 times in row. This winning streak came to end in 1974 where he lost toNobuaki Kobayashi in finals. He was the first three-cushion player to reach levels of 1.500 and 2.000 average. [http://www.raymondceulemans.com/bio_en.html Official bio] , Raymond Ceulemans; accessed February 3, 2007] Clarifyme|date=March 2008He won the first
BWA World Three-cushion Championship inParis, France in 1986. In 1998, he tied the world record (held byJunichi Komori of Japan) during professional match play, by scoring 28 points in a single Cuegloss|Inning|inning. [ [http://www.billaronline.com.mx/jugadores/jugint.html Documents of some players (Spanish)] ] This record was later broken.He won the European Three-cushion Championship 23 times and defended it 19 times.
Ceulemans also won 24 World Three-cushion Championships (21 from the
Union Mondiale de Billard and 3 from theBilliards World Cup Association ). Additionally, he has prevailed in 16 title defenses.He won his latest UMB world title at 64 where he defeated a pizza delivery man in the finals.
Titles
*
CEB European Three-cushion Championship (1962-1972, 1974-1983, 1987, 1992)
*BWA World Three-cushion Championship (1986, 1987, 1990)
*UMB World Three-cushion Championship (1963-1973, 1975-1980, 1985, 1990, 2001)References
External links
* [http://www.raymondceulemans.com Official web site]
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