Cecil P. "Buddy" Hall (born May 29, 1945 in Metropolis, Illinois) has been an American professional pool player for three decades. The International Pool Tour heralds Hall as a "living pool legend." He is nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his accuracy.
Hall has been credited for creating the "clock system" which is a technique for where to hit the cue-ball, using the clock as a mechanism for where to aim.
Hall began playing at 14 years of age in a soda shop in his home town. When local pool rooms would not let him enter because of his age, he used subterfuge to obtain a new birth certificate from a local judge which stated he was of legal age. He cut his teeth at Herbie Lynn's pool room and was soon dominating the regulars. It was not long before he hit the road to try his hand at a wider playing field. He first gained some prominence at the Johnson City tournaments.
I went there to watch all the greats of the day play. Wimpy, Jersey Red, Eddie Taylor, Cornbread Red, Harold Worst, Jimmy Moore, Fats and U.J. were playing one another in both the tournament and in backroom ring games. I entered and was very pleased when I beat Wimpy and Jersey Red and won my entry fee back.
In the following years, Johnson City lost out as the hub of top tier tournament play to Dayton, Ohio. There, organizer Joe Burns instituted a similar all-around tournaments to the format that had been used in Johnosn City. Hall played in the Dayton Tournaments for many years. He took first place there in 1974 winning $4,000. In 1982 Buddy won the Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship by edging out Allen Hopkins in the final with a score of 11-6, winning $33,500 for his efforts; an unprecedented purse at the time. ESPN's announcement of Halls' win was the first ever mention of a billiard player on that cable television network.
Buddy Hall was the thirty-ninth inductee in the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame, in the year 2000. He was named Player of the Year by the pool media, to include The National Billiard News and Pool and Billiards Magazine, in 1982, 1991, and 1998. A profile of Hall appeared in The Hustler column of the inaugural issue of The Snap Magazine, a story reputed to have "... in many ways set the tone for the magazine from there on out." He is currently a member of the International Pool Tour and still competes on various regional tours and senior events throughout the United States.
1998 Camel Shooters Nine-ball Open
1998 U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship
1995 PBC Commonwealth Shootout
1992 MPBA Bicycle Club Invitational
1992 International Challenge of Champions
1992 MPBA Rakm Up Classic
1991 International Nine-ball Classic
1991 US Open Nine-ball Championship
1991 MPBA International Classic
1987 Glass City Open
1987 Colorado Open
1987 Carolina's Cup
1987 Lexington Open
1986 Fall Classic
1986 Cue Club Open
1986 Super Bowl Open
1986 Memorial Day Open
1985 Gibbs Nine-Ball Shootout
1985 Charlotte Open
1985 East Coast Open
1985 Cowboy Casino Nine-ball Championship
1984 World Nine-Ball Open
1984 Caesars Tahoe Classic
1984 Dayton Open
1983 Dayton Open 9-ball Championship
1983 Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship
1982 Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship