Welcome to Legends of the Cue!
Legends of the Cue
Legends of the Cue
"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with notable players, promoters, administrators and other people of influence in and around cue sports. We also plan to highlight memorable 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 cue sport’s greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”
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Legends of the Cue

Legends of the Cue

"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with notable players, promoters, administrators and other people of influence in and around cue sports. We also plan to highlight memorable 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 captai…

Legends of the Cue

Recent Episodes

July 21, 2026

Jorgen Sandman - Part 6 (A Pool Player with a Dream: on Survival, Service, and Legacy)

The final chapter of Jorgen Sandman’s Legends of the Cue interview brings together the personal and the historic: a lifetime of service to pool, a near-death experience, a renewed commitment to the WPA, and a simple answer to how he wants to be remembered—“as another pool player, with a dream.” Jorgen continues the Olympic conversation by explaining why pool may deserve the first true chance if billiards sports are admitted to the Games. He points to pool’s global reach, the possibility of ch
July 21, 2026

Jorgen Sandman - Part 5 (The Olympic Dream: World Games, Brisbane, and Pool’s Global Future)

Can pool become an Olympic sport? In this fifth episode of Legends of the Cue, Jorgen Sandman offers one of the clearest explanations you will hear of where billiards sports stand in the Olympic movement, what still has to happen, and why the dream remains alive. The episode begins with the continental structure of the WPA and why organizations like the EPBF, Asian federations, BCA, African associations, and Pan-American bodies became essential to pool’s global survival. Jorgen explains why t
July 21, 2026

Jorgen Sandman - Part 4 The Alphabet Soup of Cue Sports: How Billiards Reached the Olympic Family)

Pool fans know eight-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball, and straight pool. But behind the games themselves is a complex world of federations, Olympic recognition, acronyms, politics, and diplomacy. In this fourth episode of Legends of the Cue, Jorgen Sandman becomes the ideal guide through the “alphabet soup” of international cue sports governance. Jorgen explains how carom, snooker, and pool first came together under one umbrella, eventually forming the World Confederation of Billiards Sports, or WC
July 14, 2026

Jorgen Sandman - Part 3 (Building World Pool: The WPA, America, and the Junior Pipeline)

In this powerful third episode of Legends of the Cue, Jorgen Sandman pulls back the curtain on the creation of the World Pool-Billiard Association, the importance of American participation, and the youth development systems that helped Europe and Asia catch up to—and eventually surpass—the United States in world pool. Jorgen recounts the late-1980s conversations that led European leaders to look beyond their own borders and imagine a true global structure for pool. He explains why the WPA could
July 14, 2026

Jorgen Sandman - Part 2 ("Learning by Doing": Teaching Pool, Running Rooms, and Selling the Sport)

Before Jorgen Sandman became one of the most influential administrators in world pool, he was first a student, teacher, pool room operator, promoter, and believer in the power of simply getting started. In this second episode of Legends of the Cue, Jorgen explains how “learning by doing” became the motto that guided his journey from young instructor to international leader in billiards sports. The conversation begins with the games that shaped Swedish pool in its early years, especially straigh
July 14, 2026

Jorgen Sandman - Part 1 (From Swedish Ice Hockey to the Pool Hall Door)

Jorgen Sandman’s extraordinary life in cue sports begins far from the bright lights of world championships and Olympic committees. In this opening episode of Legends of the Cue, Jorgen takes us back to Sundsvall, Sweden, where a childhood shaped by ice hockey, discipline, outdoor play, and multi-sport development laid the foundation for a lifetime in pool, billiards, coaching, and sports leadership. Jorgen recalls learning to skate before he could walk, being taught fundamentals before being al

Recent Blog Posts

May 12, 2026

The Maverick Mindset: Why Justin Bergman Chose His Own Path in Pool

Welcome back to the blog, fellow cue sport enthusiasts! In our latest podcast episode, "Justin Bergman - Part 3 (Doing It His Way)," we delved deep into the fascinating and often unconventional journey of one of pool's most distinctive personalities…
May 12, 2026

Mark Wilson's Blueprint: Discipline and Distractions in Team USA Pool

Welcome back to the blog, everyone! This week on Legends of the Cue, we delved into a fascinating aspect of elite pool that often goes unseen: the delicate balance between instilling discipline and managing the inevitable distractions that come with…

About the Hosts

Allison Fisher Profile Photo
Allison Fisher

Allison Fisher started playing pool when she was 7. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 15 world titles in total. After winning 11 world championships in snooker, she moved to the United States in 1995 to play on the WPBA Tour. Allison did not take long to make her mark in the world of pool, winning only the second tournament that she played in. She has an unequalled record, winning over 60 WPBA titles as of 2024, which includes 4 world 9-Ball championships. She was invited to play in the inaugural Mosconi Cup.

Allison was inducted into the WPBA Hall of Fame, Billiard Congress of America HOF, WPA HOF, World Snooker HOF and the World Billiard Museum HOF.

Allison was nicknamed "the Duchess of Doom". Her greatest season was the 2000/2001 season when she won 8 consecutive major pro pool tournaments.

Allison was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to sport.

Mark Wilson Profile Photo
Mark Wilson

Mark grew up in Moline, Illinois and graduated high school in 1973 and attended Blackhawk College to play baseball, but pool began demanding an increasingly large portion of his attention.

He became a professional pool player in 1975. Without a pro tour in those days, a player could only earn money from the sport through gambling matches and regional tournaments. If you could excel, the reward would be a sub-poverty level income – so being young, single, and frugal were critical assets. He is deeply satisfied that somehow he managed to spend the best years of his life doing what he loved best.

Mark played in the 1994 and 1995 Mosconi Cups and captained the U.S. side in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He has been involved in pool matches in many corners of the earth. England, Iceland, Japan, Sweden, Canada, Philippines, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, in addition to all of the major and most of the minor U.S. cities have played host to his passion.

Mike Gonzalez Profile Photo
Mike Gonzalez

Mike is a retired business executive, having headed up several mid-sized companies in a career that spanned nearly 35 years. Introduced to pool at an early age, he has been passionate about the game ever since. A graduate of the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago, Mike appreciates his midwestern roots and has been a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He has served on various professional and philanthropic boards including the Material Handling Board of Governors, the Boys & Girls Club, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Southeastern Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District (Miller Park). Currently, Mike enjoys work as Lead Director of an employee-owned firm and as a mentor to young business executives. Mike met his wife Jan in college and they have been married for 40+ years. They have two grown daughters and one adorable grandson.

Reviews

Love it!

"Legends of the Cue isn’t just a podcast, it’s a living time capsule of the soul of professional cue sports. With each episode, Alison Fisher, Mark Wilson and Mike Gonzalez invite us into the inner sa…"

Terry Albl | Aug. 1, 2025