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© 2026 Legends of the Cue
Description
"Legends of the Cue" is a pool history podcast featuring interviews with Pool Hall of Fame members, winners of major championships and other people of influence in and around pocket billiards. We also plan to highlight memorable pool brands, events and venues. Focusing on the positive aspects of the sport, we aim to create and provide an engaging and timeless repository of content that listeners can enjoy now and forever. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher, Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, our podcast focuses on telling the life stories of pool's greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”
83 Episodes
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In Part 3 of our five-part conversation with snooker great Shaun Murphy, the story moves into the years when talent had to become a profession and ambition had to survive reality. Shaun reflects on the early certainty that snooker was never simply a dream, but the only plan. There was no fallback, no second option, and no diluted ambition. From the time he made his first century as a boy, he believed this would be his life. This episode explores the difficult transition from gifted junior to ...
In Part 2 of our five-part conversation with snooker great Shaun Murphy, the story moves from raw ability to the disciplined framework that helped shape one of the game’s true champions. This episode offers a revealing look at the system behind Shaun’s early development, as he reflects on the rigorous, highly structured approach created by his father — a man with no background in cue sports, but a remarkable instinct for preparation, accountability, and performance. Monthly goals, honest self...
In this first installment of our five-part conversation with Shaun Murphy, the snooker great takes us back to the beginning and opens up about the difficult early years that shaped both the man and the champion. Long before becoming a World Champion and one of snooker’s elite Triple Crown winners, Shaun was a young boy whose family life changed dramatically after financial collapse turned comfort into uncertainty almost overnight. What followed was hardship, hustle, and a growing realization ...
In the final chapter of our seven-part conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the story comes full circle. Mary reflects on the closing years of her competitive career, the health battle that changed everything, and the determination that carried her back to the table playing better, in some ways, than ever before. With candor, wit, and hard-earned perspective, Mary shares how she rebuilt her game after serious illness, teaching herself how to swing her arm again, refining her f...
In Episode 6 of our seven-part conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the story moves from championship pool to one of the most beloved rooms in the game’s history—and then to a life-altering challenge that few champions ever face. Mary reflects on the late 1980s, when she stepped away from the tour at the height of her powers to open Cue-Topia in Las Vegas. What began simply as a place for players to gather soon became something legendary. Inspired by a Philadelphia poolroom wh...
In Part 5 of the Legends of the Cue conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the road stories, rivalries, and tournament triumphs keep coming. Mary takes listeners back to the mid-1980s pool scene in Los Angeles, where action, personalities, and opportunity collided in smoky poolrooms and late-night gambling sessions. From becoming the house pro at a bustling barroom to matching up with future stars like Kelly Simpson (later Kelly Oyama), Mary recounts the hustling culture that he...
In Part 4 of our seven-part conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the road keeps rolling and the stories keep getting better. Mary takes us deep into the action-heavy pool world of the early 1980s, from Houston to Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. With her trademark honesty and sharp wit, she recalls the thrill of finding games, protecting her cover, and learning how to survive in a world where toughness, timing, and table smarts meant everything. Whethe...
In Part 3 of our conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the stories get even richer as she takes us deeper into pool’s road era—when instinct, nerve, and a well-kept spot book could mean the difference between surviving and going broke. Mary shares her unforgettable friendship with the late Grady Mathews, from first meeting him in New Jersey to their daily phone calls during his final illness. Along the way, she paints a vivid portrait of Grady’s charm, intelligence, and larger-...
In Part 2 of our conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the road opens up and the stories get even better. Mary takes us back to the years just after college, when shorthand, typing, bookkeeping, and supermarket checkout speed hardly seemed like preparation for life in pool — yet all of it formed the determined, sharp-witted competitor she would become. From the earliest days of the women’s game in the Northeast, she recalls a time before a true professional tour existed, when p...
In this first installment of our conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, we begin at the beginning—Long Island roots, a fiercely competitive childhood, and the natural athletic gifts that made her a standout long before she ever picked up a cue. Mary takes us back to growing up in Suffolk County, where sports came as naturally as breathing. A tall, fearless tomboy with a sharp mind and a gift for competition, she excelled in nearly everything she tried—basketball, softball, field...
In the final installment of this four-part conversation on Legends of the Cue, Austrian Hall of Famer Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson reflects on the closing chapters of her competitive career and the deeply personal choices that shaped the life that followed. Joined by Allison Fisher, Mark Wilson, and Mike Gonzalez, Gerda looks back on more European and Austrian titles, her 2009 straight pool success, and her final professional victory at the 2010 San Diego Classic. This episode goes far beyond t...
In Part 3 of our four-part conversation with Austrian Pool Hall of Famer Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson, the stories are as rich as the accomplishments. Gerda joins Allison Fisher, Mark Wilson, and Mike Gonzalez for a candid and often hilarious look back at one of the most memorable stretches of her career—when world-class pool, relentless practice, international travel, and lifelong friendships all came together. Gerda reflects on the challenge of balancing instinct with technique, and how expos...
In Part 2 of our four-part conversation with Austrian Pool Hall of Famer Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson, Gerda’s story takes a bold turn—across an ocean, into the spotlight, and straight onto the American tour. Gerda recounts how a perfectly-timed connection through Jan and the legendary Ewa Mataya Laurance opened the door to her first U.S. events in early 1993. The original plan was simple: come over, play three tournaments, stay with Ewa in between, then go home. But pool had other plans. With ...
In Part 1 of our four-part conversation, we welcome the unstoppable “G-Force”—Austrian legend Gerda Hofstätter-Gregerson—for a deep dive into the roots of a world-class competitor. Before she became a trailblazer in women’s professional pool and a WPBA & BCA Hall of Famer, Gerda was a fierce, fast-rising athlete from a small Austrian town, growing up in a bustling household with three sisters, two grandmothers, and a father who was dramatically outnumbered—but quietly influential. Gerda t...
In this moving final chapter of our six-part Legends of the Cue conversation, Mitch Laurance brings his remarkable journey full circle—through gratitude, reflection, and the relationships that have shaped a life squeezed for every ounce of meaning. Before we leave the world of pool, Mitch turns his attention to the people beside him—Allison Fisher and Mark Wilson—offering heartfelt thanks for what they’ve given the game and the players who love it. What follows is an unforgettable exchange of...
In Episode 5 of our six-part life-story series with Mitch Laurance, we pick up where his improbable second act really takes flight—behind the microphone, on the biggest stage pool had at the time: ESPN. Mitch takes us back to that first broadcast, when pool commentary was still being figured out in real time… and he was, too. With the opening and closing done live and much of the commentary recorded in post, Mitch describes the surreal learning curve of watching a match like a fan—only to hea...
In Episode 4 of our six-part conversation with actor, producer, and longtime billiards broadcaster Mitch Laurance, the story turns on a single moment in Winston-Salem that changed everything. Mitch takes us back to 1990—sent to “go play pool” at a charity night during a golf event—only to find two tables… and two legends. On one side: Nick Varner. On the other: a Swedish star with “green laser eyes,” Ewa Mataya, already at the top of her game. Mitch hadn’t come looking for love, but one glanc...
In Part 3 of our multi-part life-story conversation with American film and television actor—and longtime sports broadcaster—Mitch Laurance, we detour through the worlds that shaped him long before pool took center stage. Mitch takes us back to Los Angeles in the 1980s, when a persistent friend talked him into an early-morning tee time at Balboa. What happened next surprised him: not instant love for golf, but total fascination. Here was a ball sitting still on the ground… and he couldn’t hit ...
In Part 2 of our conversation with actor and sports broadcaster Mitch Laurance, Mitch takes us deeper into the improbable zigzags that turned a behind-the-scenes job at Saturday Night Live into a front-row seat to entertainment history—and ultimately, into a life on camera. Mitch starts where most origin stories don’t: as a production “gopher” in the early days of SNL, absorbing the chaos, the pressure, and the genius up close. But week by week, opportunity finds him. He becomes a researcher ...
In this opening chapter of our multi-part conversation, Mitch Laurance takes us all the way back—before the bright lights of television, before the broadcast booth, before the roles that made his career a near-constant highlight reel—back to a simpler time on the south shore of Long Island. Born in Queens and raised in Hewlett, Mitch shares what it really felt like growing up as an identical twin: the built-in best friend, the constant competition, the comfort of always having someone to thro...
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