Tony Groff, a truck company owner from Lancaster, Pa., long dreamed of playing Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee, one of the world's top billiards players.
He came to Las Vegas this week for the Billiard Congress of America International Trade Expo and, at a pro-am charity event, paid $40 for the privilege of testing his skills against Lee in a game of 9-ball.
In a heartbeat, Groff's dream was fulfilled when, on the break, he sank the yellow-striped No. 9 ball in a corner pocket. Lee, who had turned away to sign an autograph and missed the remarkable shot, could only laugh at her quick defeat.
Such is the luck of pool. The probability of an ordinary Joe like Groff besting a world-class player like Lee in a single game is one reason so many people take up the game -- as many as 40 million in the United States.
At least 5,000 of them are in Las Vegas this week for the convention that also serves as the world's largest billiards products exposition.
"That was awesome -- I've never done that before (pocket the 9 on the break)," Groff, 40, said after the match. "But, let's face it, if this were a serious series of seven games, she wins 7-zip."
Not necessarily. Groff bought two more games with Lee for the event at the Convention Center, raising, by himself, $120 for the Billiards Education Foundation, which provides college scholarships.
Groff lost the second game and won the third after Lee uncharacteristically scratched on the No. 6 ball, leaving the eight and nine balls hanging on the pockets for her amateur opponent to sink.
"This is a fun game where anyone can get lucky and win -- it's an easy enough game to play from age 6 to 106," Lee said, taking her losses in stride and playfully placing her slender fingers around Groff's throat for photographers.
"We even have leagues for players with one arm and those who play only with their feet."
Lee says she enjoys the pro-ams because they give her a chance to raise money for the charity that BCA Executive Director Stephen Ducoff said received an estimated $7,000 as a result of Wednesday's "Challenge the Stars" event.
Groff said he opted to play Lee not only because she is one of pool's most recognizable players -- man or woman -- but because he was in attendance at a recent event in Philadelphia where Lee played well into the morning hours against amateurs to raise money for charity.
Randy Schewey, 35, of Visalia, Calif., was not so lucky in his efforts to beat one of the top-ranked women's players, Allison Fisher of England. She ran five balls after he left the 9 teetering on a side pocket for her to dunk.
Schewey shrugged off the loss, saying he got his money's worth just playing his favorite woman pro, who he often has seen on cable television broadcasts.
But Schewey, along with Lee, Groff and Fisher, admit that the big names in the sport are hardly known outside billiards circles, unlike Tiger Woods in golf or Andre Agassi in tennis who have multimillion-dollar endorsements far beyond the realm of their sports.
"It has to do a lot with us not getting corporate sponsorship," Fisher said. "We are still overcoming the gambling and hustling image."
Nick Varner, the 1999 world men's champion, agrees, noting, "We will need corporate sponsorship if we are to ever have a big pro tour like golf. Still, as far as participation goes, this is the biggest sport on the planet."
Varner said billiards should enjoy continued popularity when it is featured at the World Games in Japan in August. Efforts are afoot to make billiards an Olympic event at the 2008 Games in Beijing, as pool "has become tremendously popular in Asia," Varner said.
Ducoff said the BCA is working to change pool's image from the smoke-filled, whiskey-stained barrooms to family centers. But he says his organization does not believe all forms of corporate sponsorship for the pro tournaments necessarily will help improve pool's image.
"We would not be happy with alcohol or tobacco sponsorship of events," he said. "We're not necessarily against those products, but that's not the image we want for our major events. We are trying to show that pool offers good, wholesome family entertainment."
Marvin McKay, who runs a pool hall in Indianapolis where Lee practices, agrees that the game's biggest players have to get better known outside of the billiards industry if the pro game is ever to get big like other pro sports.
McKay, who lost his charity game to Lee, recalled one incident that hit home how today's biggest pool stars are struggling for recognition: "A customer sitting at the bar saw Jeannette practicing and, although he didn't know who she was, he complimented her on her play. On his way out, the man told her, 'Keep practicing and, who knows, you may become the next Jeannette Lee!' "
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