Steve Mizerak won the World Straight Pool Championship twice, including a record 4 consecutive BCA US Open Straight Pool Championship titles.
23 Facts About Steve Mizerak
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At the age of 5, Steve Mizerak trained for hours every day before doing his first exhibitions at the age of 6.
3.
In 1965 when Steve Mizerak was 20 years old he qualified for the World Straight Pool Championship, where he shocked the pool world by defeating top players like Irving Crane, Luther Lassiter, and Joe Balsis.
4.
Steve Mizerak then took a position as a history and geography teacher at a secondary school in Perth Amboy, New Jersey where he taught for 13 years.
5.
Steve Mizerak did another dozen or so Miller Lite ads over the next decade.
6.
However, Steve Mizerak struggled in competitions because of his busy schedule of exhibitions promoting Miller Lite.
7.
In 1979 Steve Mizerak proved his dominance by winning the US Open 9-ball Championship, defeating Jim Rempe in the finals and going undefeated in the tournament.
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At the time Steve Mizerak was the youngest player ever to receive this honour.
9.
Steve Mizerak won back-to-back World Straight Pool Championship titles in 1982 and 1983, and multiple nine-ball tournaments throughout the 1980s.
10.
Steve Mizerak reached a major final in 1989 and was his 5th final of the US Open Straight Pool Championship although falling short to German champion Oliver Ortmann.
11.
Steve Mizerak owned a Florida-based company that sold billiards equipment, ran a billiards parlor in Lake Park, Fla.
12.
In 1978, Steve Mizerak became the first American-born player to compete in a professional Snooker event.
13.
Steve Mizerak competed in the 1978 Canadian Open, Mizerak won his first match, including an 81 break, but lost to Tony Knowles by 9 frames to 7.
14.
In 1974, Steve Mizerak competed against John Spencer in Snooker and Straight Pool.
15.
Steve Mizerak won all 3 frames of Straight Pool and unexpectedly won 2 of the 3 frames in Snooker, to win the overall competition.
16.
Steve Mizerak again lost against all three opponents in snooker but won both in straight pool and eight-ball, to be undefeated in the overall title.
17.
Steve Mizerak turned professional in 1988 and competed in the World Snooker Championship in 1988 and 1989, but failed to progress beyond the first round of qualifying on both occasions, losing to low-ranked snooker professionals.
18.
Steve Mizerak owned and operated pool halls in the West Palm Beach-Lake Park, Florida area during the 1990s and 2000s.
19.
Steve Mizerak founded the Senior Tour in 1996 for players over 50, which held around 5 or 6 tournaments a year, and offered guaranteed prize money of $25,000 to $50,000.
20.
Steve Mizerak suffered from obesity for the later part of his adult life, weighing over 400 lbs by the end of his career.
21.
Steve Mizerak suffered a series of strokes the first in 2001 at the age of 56 which left him with physical challenges that prevented him from playing pool competitively, subsequently retiring from competition.
22.
Steve Mizerak died on May 29,2006, at the age of 61, in Boca Raton, Florida, due to complications stemming from gallbladder surgery.
23.
Steve Mizerak was survived by his wife Karen, two sons, a stepson and two grandchildren.