Johnny Archer (born November 12, 1968 in Waycross, Georgia) is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion" (his zodiac sign is Scorpio, and one of his sponsors is Scorpion Cues). On June 8, 2009, Johnny Archer was nominated to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.[1]
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Archer grew up with his two brothers and two sisters in Twin City, Georgia, and began playing pool at the age of 12.[2]
He is one of the most successful nine-ball players of the past fifteen years, having won the majority of the game's major tournaments at least once, culminating in his being named Billiards Digest Player of the Decade at the end of the 1990s. Archer is a two-time WPA World Nine-ball Champion, winning in both 1992 when he defeated Bobby Hunter, and later again in 1997 after beating Lee Kun-fang of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). He was also a runner-up the following year, losing in the final to Takahashi Kunihiko of Japan. He was the 1999 US Open champion, and has won over 60 professional tournaments throughout his career.
He has also been a regular on the successful US Mosconi Cup team, having joined them a record fifteen times, winning on nine of those occasions. The US's only losses with Archer in the roster came in 2002, when they were beaten 9-12 by Europe, 2007, when Team USA lost 9–12, in 2008 when Team USA lost 11-5 and in 2011 when Team USA lost 11-7. He has captained the American side since 2004, retaining the Cup on each occasion until the 2007 upset (the 2006 event was a 12–12 draw in Rotterdam, Netherlands with the US retaining the trophy on account of being the current holders of it).
In 2003, one of Archer's most successful years, he won tournaments such as Sudden Death Seven-ball[3] and the first World Summit of Pool.[4]
Archer also won the 2006 US$50,000 winner-take-all International Challenge of Champions by defeating Thorsten Hohmann in the finals.[5]
In 2007, he won the Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship. While in the 2005 event, the entire purse was awarded to the winner, in the 2007 event, the purse has been split.[6][7]
The Ripley's Believe It or Not! television show, on September 3, 2003,[8] pitted Archer and Jeremy Jones against each other in an challenge match in speed pool. The show had them timed against each other, to try to beat the record, which at that time stood at 1 minute 30 seconds[9] to <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> a full <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">rack</dfn> of balls and then pocket all fifteen balls, and then move to another table and do it again. Archer was the victor. The event was recorded in a warehouse in Los Angeles where other challenge matches were also taking place to beat records.
Archer has recently rejoined the staff of Inside Pool Magazine, where he writes a monthly instruction column.[10]
For 2007, he was ranked #3 in Pool & Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.[11]
Archer lives in Acworth, Georgia, and is also an avid golfer. Archer ascribes his strong pool break to playing a lot of golf, noting similarities in having the timing right and using one's whole body in the stroke.[12] Archer also has had two children with his wife Melanie. He co-owns Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta Georgia
| Preceded by Earl Strickland |
WPA Men's World Nine-ball Champion 1992 |
Succeeded by Chao Fong-pang |
| Preceded by Ralf Souquet |
WPA Men's World Nine-ball Champion 1997 |
Succeeded by Takahashi Kunihiko |
| Preceded by Buddy Hall |
US Open Nine-ball Champion 1999 |
Succeeded by Earl Strickland |
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