By Sinclair Hawkins
I had awakened at 5 am that morning, so I was a little tired and disheveled as I hailed myself a cab outside the modern D/FW Airport terminal. I had come to Dallas once again to cover the sport's grandest championship event. Being a little on the drowsy side, I didn't notice when my cab ride seemed just a little too long and a lot too expensive. I slipped my friend the cabby a $50 and grabbed my luggage, while being simultaneously impressed at the size of the D/FW Hyatt Regency Hotel which, for the first time, had been chosen to host the biggest week in the constantly expanding world of foosball.
After checking in, I napped, showered, watched Sportscenter and headed downstairs hoping to find a place to eat before making my way inevitably to the championship ballroom. After downing a Club sandwich and a Sam Adams, I boarded the 7:45 tram from the East Wing (where my room was) to the West Wing (where the foosball ballroom was located).
As I always do, I marveled at the
championship ballroom, not only at it's size, (which this year was larger than ever) but at it's inherent beauty as well. Row after row of table soccer battlefields 210 foosball tables lined up end to end stretching out for as far as the eye could see.
I removed my journalist's notebook from my case and began to write down the way things were, on that Labor Day weekend in Texas as seen through the eye of the only full-time traveling foosball journalist in America. That's me, I'm the guy.
For eight long years, legendary Alabama foosballer Cindy Head has dominated the women's events at the World Championships. She had been ultimately victorious in the singles category for each of those eight years while seizing the doubles honors in all but one. Cindy's feisty, aggressive style coupled with her tremendous physical ability and overall foosball intelligence had allowed her to dominate the sport like no other in the sport's history. But that was then and this was 1995.
On this weekend of weekends, Cami Carter, fresh off her National Women's Doubles championship of two months earlier (with Cindy Stuart) finally accomplished something which no other women had been able to do in nine years. Cami, the talented tour pro from High Point, North Carolina defeated the multi-defending champion Cindy Head in three hard fought games to put the future Hall of Famer out of the World Singles championship for the first time in nearly a decade. Cami then proceeded to knock off winner's bracket champ Tiffany Billirakis in a classic two set final, Carter winning 54 in the third and final game.
Carter's final successful scoring effort was a thing of beauty as Cami passed the ball from the two rod to the five, then from the five to the three rod and then all in one motion she caught the ball and scored it to win the World Championship.
In Women's Doubles Tiff Billirakis came back to win a world title of her own, teaming with Floridan Angela Sine to claim global honors. Tiff and Angela came from the loser's side to dispatch two-time 1995 protour women's doubles champs Liz Hill and Christina Fuchs in four straight games. Later on this day Ms. Hill and Ms. Fuchs would be named Female Forward and Goalie of the Year respectively, but on this hot, humid day in Dallas, Tiff Billirakis' high quality forward game and Angela Sine's clutch blocking and impressive overall goalie skills were too much for everyone as a new era in women's foosball was born.
When I heard that Terry Moore and Stephanie Dean were going to play against Adrian Zamora and Caryn Varadinek in the World Mixed Doubles finals I quickly boarded the hotel tram taking me to the other end of the ballroom and headed directly toward the pits where I secured my seat in the championship arena press box.
"Moore and Dean won the first set!", someone informed me as I sat down to watch the beginning of the 2nd set from just behind fooscaster Jim Stevens and his number one analyst Evan Stachelek. Both of them seemed unusually excited and animated about this mixed doubles match up. But I guess that's their job.
Terry Moore and Stephanie Dean (1995 Best Sportswoman) had been the premier mixed doubles team on tour this year, winning both the Hall of Fame Classic and the National Championships. Adrian Zamora had been playing extremely well recently. Not only had he placed second at the recent National Championships with Louis Cartwright, but he had looked like the Adrian of old doing it. In previous years, this catquick foosballer from California's Bay Area had been rated among the sport's elite, only to see his rating plummet all the way down to twenty-five. But at both the San Francisco Nationals and again at the Worlds here in Dallas, Mr. Zamora had brought with him a very high caliber brand of table soccer expertise.
So here it was, one three out of five match for the world title. In the first game an accidental selfgoal by Terry Moore had handed the opening contest to Zamora and Varadinek (who resides in North Babylon, New York) 54. In the second game Adrian and Caryn maintained the momentum with Zamora catching fire, apparently headed for world championship glory. In the third game A.Z. had a threerod shot to win the title, only to see big Terry Moore move into the goalie position and block the shot. Terry then moved back into his familiar forward position, stole the ball and converted to get back into it, now down two games to one.
After leading 2 zip and having a shot to win the championships, Zamora and Varadinek had temporarily seem things slip through their fingers. But after trailing 32 in the fourth game, things turned back the other way with the excited and relieved Adrian Zamora stroking home the resounding final shot to win the Open Mixed Doubles World Championship in impressive fashion.
"I've worked harder on my game and practiced more for this World Championships that I have in years, maybe ever." Dave Gummeson remarked to me early in that World Championship weekend. He had just finished doing the color commentary on an Inside Foos telecast with Jim Stevens and had politely and briefly explained his pretournament preparatory routine on his way out of the booth towards an awaiting doubles match.
I thought about that comment and the determined manner in which "Professor" Gummeson had uttered that insightful statement as I watched him win the open singles final at the World Championships. Looking very much like a smalltown college professor, Dave, a successful protour player for a number of years, put it all together Labor Day Weekend in the Lone Star State.
Playing a smart, tactical, patient style of foosball, Gummeson devastated his open singles competition, giving lesson after lesson to opponents, young and old on his way to a foosball PHD. To reach the finals, Dave taught veteran Randy Stark a lesson, defeating the former Open Doubles World Champ from Tuscon, AZ in three games. In reaching his lofty position, Stark had notched impressive victories over National Champ Don Swan while also recording a gritty come from behind 3 games to 2 to win over nemesis Johnny Horton, before losing to former Tuscon resident Rob Mares.
In facing Rob Mares, one of the tour's rising superstars, in this bigmoney event, Gummeson was confronting a player performing on an equally high level. Mares. (1995 Sportsman of the Year) had used his quick hands, fast reflexes and superior allaround abilities to scratch his way back from the loser's bracket. Two of the sport's classiest sportsmen going head to head fo $6,000 in World Championship loot.
The 26 year old Mares from Denver Colorado jumped out to a 42 first game lead but saw the 33 year old foosball vet eran from Minnesota meticulously comz back to win 54 in an exquisite display o
s high percentage foosball. The second game also went down to the proverbial wire with Gummeson stroking home; frontpin fireball to tie it at four. But facing two consecutive potential game winning shots against him, Gummeson blocked both shots and then converted a transition fivebar shot to beat the disappointed Mares and win game two. Game three was all Gummeson as he rode his growing tide of momentum to the title, winning in three straight games. Professor Gummeson certainly did his homework, earning an A+ for his performance at this year's World Championships as he graduated with World Championship honors.
With the weekend's biggest match less than 10 minutes away, I disembarked from the hotel's inhouse rapid transit system (the East Wing tram) and ambled down the stairway toward the ballroom next door, where there was ongoing, a bridge tournament of substantial size. I should have noticed this fact a bit earlier as most of the folks in this ballroom probably could have played in a 65 and over event.
Righting myself and finding my sense of direction, I quickly made my way to the press box. Located in the western reaches of the humongous fooshall, the 1995 World Championship Pit Area was easily the finest we had ever seen and the press box, hovering directly above pit table number I, was unquestionably the perfect fooswatching perch.
I pulled my tattered note pad from it's holding place and prepared to watch and report on the final big event of this big avent weekend, the Open Doubles Final 15,000 big ones awaited the eventual winners.
As expected, the number one seeded :eam of Terry Moore and Bobby Diaz had Zarned themselves a spot in the World
Championship Open Doubles Final but they certainly went about it the hard way losing relatively early, and being forced into the loser's bracket.
Big Terry and Florida Bob found themselves having to defeat such major league duos as Dieter Theile (One of the many European players on hand at this year's Worlds, as the sport's worldwide popularity continues to explode) and veteran Thor Donovan. Moore and Diaz also had to get past the lowly seeded but highly productive tandem of Don Pfleiderer of Minnesota and Garret Scherkenbach of Colorado for 3rd place while then defeating World Mixed Doubles Champ Adrian Zamora and his National Championship runnerup partner Louis Cartwright for a place in the open doubles final.
Defending World titlists Todd Loffredo and Scotty Wydman had defeated Zamora and Cartwright in three straight games in the winner's bracket final and now awaited a showdown with the topseeded Moore and Diaz in a much anticipated dream matchup. The number one seeds vs. the defending world champs.
In recent months, 1994 titlists Loffredo and Wydman had been the talk of the foosball world. At the National Championships in July this formidable duo had gone the entire three day event without losing a single game, an unheard of accomplishment. Todd, the 1995 Tornado Player of the Year, and Scotty, the year's finest goalie in the voting, were out to prove themselves worthy of those awards while also attempting to become the first team in She modern foosball era to win a World Championship in consecutive years.
The first game of this classic confrontation saw Wydman doing it all from the goalie position, he passed, he scored, and
he blocked 1995 Forward of the Yea Terry Moore with great effectiveness Meanwhile, the great Loffredo continued to display his worldbest form of recenl months and previous years. Todd spanked home a straight pullshot to win game one 53. In game two, Wydman again displayed wonderful goal tending ability as he maintained his defensive edge ovel Terry's powerful frontpin shot, but Moore's fiverod advantage and a clutch block by Diaz led to Terry scoring to even it up on his fourth game point attempt. In the third game, Moore and Diaz grabbed a quick lead with Moore lefthooking a dynamic 5man shot at 44 in this pivotal third game. In an unexpected move, Wydman moved to the forward position and quickly passed the ball from the five to the three. After a timeout Loffredo moved back up front and stroked one home to take a 21 lead in games, moving to within one of repeating at the World Championships. In the fourth game, the continued excellence of Todd Loffredo and the outstanding goaltending of Scott Wydman overwhelmed the number one seeds as this Dynamite Denver Duo won the match and the title in four games.
History had been made, Loffredo ano Wydman had repeated as World Champions.
As I sit here on the airplane typing the final few words of this World Championship report, I am once again on the edge of extreme exhaustion. A Tornado World Championship has again come and gone and as usual it was bigger and better than ever. I ask the flight attendant for 3 or 4 of those small shot bottles and settle back for the long flight home. I write my last sentence and turn off my laptop computer, I look forward to next season.