Kelly Fisher, already the winner of two world titles and dozens of professional events, thought that overcoming heart surgery and a double mastectomy to win her third world crown in 2019 was the most significant achievement of her storied pool career.
That all changed July 13 when the 41-year-old British native learned that she had been elected into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.
“It’s hard to explain what I’m feeling right now,” Fisher said from her home in Dumfries, Scotland, after receiving news of her election. “It’s different. It’s not a competition. It’s a reward for all you have accomplished. You win Player of the Year and that’s great. Then you win Player of the Decade and that’s even more rewarding. But to be voted into the Hall of Fame, that is another level completely.”
Fisher was the sole inductee into the 2020 BCA Hall of Fame, garnering votes on 70 percent of the Hall of Fame Board ballots to gain election from a list of eligible players that included first-timers Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines and Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, as well as American Corey Deuel, Dutchman Niels Feijen and six other candidates.
“I remember coming to the U.S. in 2004 and seeing players get into the Hall of Fame over the next few years,” said Fisher. “They’d been playing for many years and won so many titles. I wondered whether I could get to that level. As I got older, the thought of getting into the Hall of Fame became a realistic goal, which would mean the world to me.”
Fisher arrived in the U.S. in 2004 to join the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Classic Tour after having earned six snooker Women’s World Championships over a six-year period from 1997 to 2003. She broke into the WPBA’s Top 10 in less than a year and won her first WPBA title in 2005. She went on to win eight WPBA titles from 2006 to 2010. She reached the WPBA No. 1 ranking in 2008. Fisher captured her first World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) world title in 2011, when she won the World 10-Ball Championship. A year later, Fisher claimed the World 9-Ball Championship. She also earned four International Tournament of Champions titles, winning in 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014.
Fisher moved back to England in 2013. In 2014, she underwent surgery to repair a hole in her heart and, a year later, underwent a double mastectomy. She recovered to win professional titles in each of the following three years, before completing her comeback with her second World 9-Ball Championship in late 2019.
“Winning the World 9-Ball Championship last year meant so much to me,” she admitted. “It came out of the blue. I knew I was still capable, but I was over 40 and the quality of play is so high. I remember being very nervous before the final and that surprised me. I had been in many finals, but at that stage you just don’t know how many more chances you’re going to have.” Fisher was named Billiards Digest Player of the Decade for the 2010s.
In her first year of eligibility for the BCA Hall of Fame in 2019, Fisher was edged out by Canadian Alex Pagulayan in a special run-off ballot after the two had tied as top vote getters in the initial election. Both Orcollo and Hohman tallied 23 votes (51 percent) in the 2020 election. Deuel and Feijen were each named on more than 20 percent of the ballots. Shannon Daulton, Jeremy Jones, Stefano Pellinga, John Schmidt, Vivian Villarreal and Charlie Williams completed the 2020 ballot.
Voting for the 2020 BCA Hall of Fame was conducted by the USBMA Hall of Fame Board, which consists of USBMA members, elected At-Large members and living members of the Hall of Fame. To be eligible for consideration in the Greatest Players category, a player a) must be 40 years old by Jan. 1 of the year of their inclusion on the ballot; b) must have a professional playing career of at least 10 years; and c) must have recorded significant achievements in U.S.-based and international events recognized by the BCA.
