Steve Mizerak, who sank his first pocket billiards shot at age 4, became a national champion while a full-time schoolteacher, then emerged as a pop-culture celebrity, died on Monday in Boca Raton, Florida. He was 61.
The cause was a heart ailment that followed recent gall-bladder surgery, his wife, Karen, said.
Mizerak won the US Open in pocket billiards -- the formal name for pool -- four straight times, from 1970 to 1973. He captured the Professional Pool Players Association World Open three consecutive years, from 1982 to 1984.
PHOTO: AP
In 1980, Mizerak became the youngest player inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame. Billiards Digest ranked him No. 6 among 20th-century pros. He was among the few players, including Willie Hoppe, Willie Mosconi, Ralph Greenleaf, Irving Crane, Luther Lassiter and Jimmy Caras, who were known beyond the small circle of pro billiards.
But Mizerak was perhaps best recognized as a showman, linked with other names, among them Bubba Smith, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Marvelous Marv Throneberry and Rodney Dangerfield, all appearing in long-running TV commercials for Miller Lite beer.
He parlayed his celebrity status into a Hollywood role, his character losing a tournament match to the Paul Newman character Fast Eddie Felson in the 1986 film The Color of Money.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS