Allison Fisher - Part 5 (Legacy, Balance and the Final Frame)

Mike Gonzalez 0:17

So you had the benefit, not that we're going to fast forward now to today, but you've had the benefit of hindsight here in looking back over a long and successful career. And this is true of any sport, I suppose. As you you I know golfers in particular, they go through this peak of performance, right? Where everything just comes together and it's a certain age and you know fitness and how your head is mentally, because there's a lot of aspects of the mental game on golf, which that's talked about all the time, maybe not as much in pool, but it it certainly applies. So you got all that coming together for a peak period of performance. For a golfer, it may not be more than a couple of years. Sometimes it's 12 months where it's just they're in that zone, right? Uh so I'm sure pool players the same way. As players come out of that zone, what's going on? Are they not putting in the work? Is it uh the body's changing? Is it mental acuity and sharpness? What's going on that that gets people out of their peak performance?

Allison Fisher 1:25

I think all sorts of things. It could be anything. It depends. You have peaks and troughs. It's like if I watch um the men or some of the women, they have the like a great year, and then the next year it's not happening. That can be focus. Because the other thing is when you manage yourself, there's a lot of other distractions. For example, when you win, win, win, win, win. Now you're maybe there's an expectation, you've got more things to fulfill if you're managing yourself. You've got maybe exhibitions you've got to do, you've got appearances you need to do, you've got you're being pulled in different directions. So the more successful you are, the more things go on, usually. So that's one thing. I think desire is a massive thing. If you don't have a desire to and the will to do something, you're not going to be as good. Um, so maybe goal setting. Um yeah, so desire, goal setting, complacency, um different directions. Yeah, there's a lot of things. Your body changing, maybe your work out, not you're not doing as much as you should be doing. There's lots of different things. And at different times in your career, but you also have to have a balance of life.

Mike Gonzalez 2:43

Yeah, and th that's come up a lot as we talk about the golfers, and and it it particularly true of you guys as well. What the fan doesn't see when there are ebbs in performance is there's stuff going on outside the ropes, as we say in golf, or outside the pool hall.

Allison Fisher 2:59

Yep.

Mike Gonzalez 2:59

You've got a personal life and things are happening.

Allison Fisher 3:02

Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 3:02

And we don't see that.

Allison Fisher 3:03

No, don't see as you get older, also, when you're young, you're fearless, you've got everything to gain, your desire, your you know, outlook on life is different. And as you get older, you're going to experience relationship breakups, you're going to experience deaths, you know, you're going to lose people that are in your life, your friendships, you might lose friendships, you might lose relationships. There's just ups and downs that you have to deal with that people have no idea that are going on.

Mark Wilson 3:32

I would like to add one thing too, that uh Allison held the peak, uh, her prime longer than anyone that has ever been in my lifetime or perhaps before. And uh I was affiliated with the women's tour for eight years. So I got to see it firsthand. And it came to ESPN finals every time, it's her and Karen every single time. And so uh there was rumors that ESPN was trying to shape it differently so that it wouldn't just be Allison and Karen because people couldn't tell, is this the most recent final? Is this years ago? It's just Allison and Karen. No, really, and they would they would change like the carpet color or they would change the format to single elimination in the finals or just to all kinds of little oddities just because she is so dominant at that point.

Allison Fisher 4:22

That's true. They did change the formats a few times.

Mike Gonzalez 4:26

Try to try to throw you off a little bit.

Mark Wilson 4:28

It didn't help. I mean, it didn't work, it was amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 4:31

Well, you just kept winning 99, bunch of wins, 2000, bunch of wins. You win another world championship in Japan uh uh in in 2001. And by the way, we're runner-up three different times. So just kind of bridge the gap between the the uh the third championship '98 and the fourth championship in 2001. Were you still playing as well as you always had? I mean, certainly your record reflects that. Well uh and did you have some close calls of the world championships in the intervening years?

Allison Fisher 5:02

I don't remember that, but I do remember I lost my dad. So my dad died in two tho beginning of 2001 in February, and I think I could I struggled that whole year. It was ironic that year because you know, I'd lost him, and he was really the one that I listened to with everything, and I played terrible, and I think that was a year Karen won everything. I couldn't get there, you know, I just couldn't get over the winning line. But ironically, I won two or three major events. Like I won I think I won maybe the champion of champions, and I think I won the world. Maybe not, maybe I did win the world, I think. Was that 2001?

Mike Gonzalez 5:46

You did, you try to mention. Yeah, I so I don't know what happened.

Allison Fisher 5:49

Something kicked in that I ended up winning it, and I was like, I was shocked myself. And I th and may maybe those events were towards the end of the year.

Mike Gonzalez 6:00

I think they were.

Allison Fisher 6:01

They were. So my dad died early in the year, and I just struggled very, very hard with getting over the winning line. Everything was a struggle. So that was a big thing for me, a big trauma, I think.

Mike Gonzalez 6:12

Well, as you said, that year went Karen Corps, Karen Corps, Jeanette Lee, Karen Corps, Karen Corr, Karen Corps, and then all of a sudden, boom, tournament of champions and and WPA World Championship, Allison Fisher, uh, you're kind of back.

Allison Fisher 6:27

Yeah, I don't know how, but I did and um got back on track. You know, when my dad was dying, I said to him, Oh, well, we've had a good run, haven't we? And he said, Yeah, but you've got a lot more to do. I was thinking, oh, I can relax now.

Mike Gonzalez 6:43

Yeah, yeah.

Allison Fisher 6:44

But he was like, Yeah, but you've got a lot more to do, a lot, you know, a lot more to win. So, you know, he kind of left me with that.

Mike Gonzalez 6:51

Well, and and you did because I've still got another page and a half of wins here.

Allison Fisher 6:56

It was getting harder though, I can tell you that.

Mike Gonzalez 6:58

Uh in what way?

Allison Fisher 7:00

Well, the fact that I didn't have him there, I think. I didn't have an I did I never had a coach in pool or anyone to bounce off. I mean, Mark, you've helped me out a lot. But I didn't have that person I didn't sort of call upon anyone. I never had the person to that I got real close to that I would just bounce off of. Like a lot of these like Jasmine, Kelly, they've had coaches since they were kids that have grown up with them, and and even to this day, Kelly calls her coach every day, I think, wherever she is in the world. And Jasmine the same, should or she had a coach called Michael, and not so much now, but you know, they've grown up with these people, they've known them implicitly, and that makes a big difference, even for a chat, even if it's not about the game or if it is about the game, just brings you back into focus. So I think when I lost my dad, I lost a lot of that. You don't realize how important somebody is until you lose them either.

Mike Gonzalez 8:00

Yeah, you know, you're always trying to impress your parents, aren't you?

Allison Fisher 8:03

Yes, you are. I don't know if my son tries to impress me or not, but I think you always yeah, I mean, uh my dad, it wasn't like he coached me or anything, but he just knew what to say. And it wasn't, it's just he was my dad.

Mike Gonzalez 8:19

Yeah. You know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you keep winning. Uh 2002, there must have been six or seven wins here, 2003, a bunch more, 2004, and so on. I mean, just as we said, that stretch up to I think 2007, where you were the number one player in the world. At any time did your desire to put in the work uh and your motivation ebb at all?

Allison Fisher 8:45

I'm sure it did. I what happened to me throughout my career, and it doesn't matter what age I was at, I would always have times of thinking, oh, I'm missing out, or I'm, you know, um I'm losing motivation. And whenever I felt like that or thought that, something good would happen. Like I'd knock in a century break at Snook and I think, oh, you know, that's great, you know, I'd get going again. Or I'd win a tournament and it would just get me all back into it. So I think I've always had those sort of situations where I'm like maybe losing a bit of interest or lack of motivation, and then just something good happens, and then it sort of would get me pull me back into it. And also I've always felt like I've been given a very big gift, so I've always tried to respect that as well. So you know, I'm definitely uh I've been lucky over the years, I've been given a gift, and you don't want to throw it away. And I've definitely had times where I've not put in the work for sure. There's no doubt about that. But I also think on the opposite side of that is that I wouldn't be sitting here over so many years if I didn't have the balance of life. You know, some people come in and do it strongly for a few years and then disappear, whereas I've been in doing this for 40 years competing.

Mike Gonzalez 10:03

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 10:04

So to be doing it that long and still be competitive is amazing. And um, I think it's just purely because I've had balance in my life.

Mike Gonzalez 10:13

Yeah. So how hard was it to accept that uh uh moving from 2007 to 2008, Allison Fisher's no longer number one in the world?

Allison Fisher 10:24

Well, it gives you something to aspire to, doesn't it? Something to try and get back, I think.

Mike Gonzalez 10:29

Uh well it can have that effect. I assume with somebody like you it probably did.

Allison Fisher 10:34

Well, I think like we've talked about, things are going on in your life too. And at that point, I I think everything was pretty good. So I know in everything was pretty good. I just don't know. I think maybe maybe the balance of life maybe was a little different. Relationships and things like that, you know. So, but I think that's inevitable, isn't it? In in any sport, you're going to not be there all I always knew that, you know, to not squander your winnings and things like that. Or I always knew that because I thought you're never going to be number one forever. So I was very smart in that sense. Um, I never took it for granted, and I think it's inevitable in any sport.

Mike Gonzalez 11:19

Yeah, of course your mum went through some serious uh surgery back in 2009, didn't she?

Allison Fisher 11:24

She did. It was it was a weird situation for me that particular time because we were pregnant with Pearson. My mum was about to have a quadruple bypass that came out of the blue, and Mike Pinozo was calling me while I was in the Philippines saying you've been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Mike Gonzalez 11:45

I had The Trifecta.

Allison Fisher 11:47

I had a trifecta of weirdness going on, and I didn't know how to feel. You know, it was strange.

Mike Gonzalez 11:55

Yeah, just a a mix mix of emotions.

Allison Fisher 11:57

It was very much a mix of emotions, actually, because when I say we were pregnant with Pearson, my partner at the time, we actually nearly lost him while we were in the Philippines and China. So yeah, a lot of things were going through my mind.

Mike Gonzalez 12:13

Yeah, I mean, how do you perform at your peak?

Allison Fisher 12:16

I wasn't. I went to and out in that tournament in China because we ended up in hospital and yeah, it was very messy. And then my mum, I came home and surprised her planes, trains, and automobiles to get to England to see her. And she'd come through a major surgery, so it was just yeah, it was a very roller coaster of emotions, very much.

Mike Gonzalez 12:37

Yeah. Yeah. So let's uh talk about uh that 11-year period or so when you were number one in the world. Uh at any one point, who would you point to as the second best player in the world?

Allison Fisher 12:50

Um it varied at different times. There was Guy Young Kim who I mentioned. Karen Korr came over at some point. So those two were my top two at that point. Um Jannet was in two when I first came over in '94 was number one in the world, and then you know, Vivian at some point before that. But I would say that Guy Young and Karen were my, you know, nemesis, if you like, as far as my competit top competitors, I think.

Mike Gonzalez 13:26

Yeah. So you you come out of uh this peak performance era. You continue to win, maybe not at the rate you were winning, but uh, you're still a top player winning three or four events a year, it seems like. And uh so you go from sort of 2009 up through the period of COVID with uh several wins. Were you competing as much during that time in your career as you were when you were in your prime?

Allison Fisher 13:52

I probably put my cue down actually through COVID. I was like I was spending more quality time with the family, to be honest. I was doing different things at home. I think everyone was. And I didn't really pick up my cue and I didn't miss it either.

Mike Gonzalez 14:07

There probably weren't that many events that they contested, were there?

Allison Fisher 14:10

Well, there weren't any events going on through COVID. There was some online, but I wasn't interested in that. Playing the ghost, it wasn't really my thing.

Mike Gonzalez 14:17

Well, when when did they pick it back up then? Was it 22, 23?

Allison Fisher 14:21

I think so, yeah, around that time. And I again sl it wasn't fast paced back for me because the WPBA didn't have a it got a tour going, but it didn't start off with and then Predator came in and started putting on these 10-ball events, like 20,000 to the winner. And I was like, I I started to pick up my cue. I thought, well, because I didn't know if I was retired or not, I felt retired. Then I thought, well, I'll give it a go and see if I and then I practiced a bit and I thought I still got it. So I entered at my first Predator event in Canada, and I came second. And that was with those short races and shootouts, which I hated. Um but anyway, so it was still there, and I sort of got back into it, I think. All new people, a lot of new people, a lot of the older people stopped playing, and then and then a new contingent was coming through.

Mike Gonzalez 15:15

So Alison, I'm not gonna say it was your final victory. I like to refer to it as your most recent win. I was privileged enough to sit with your mom and see you playing in the Palmetto Billiards invitational in 2024. I I think I saw the Saturday play. I to be honest, I didn't see the Sunday play, I watched it streaming.

Allison Fisher 15:35

Oh, yeah, that was uh a really great result. I felt great in that tournament. I felt mentally ready. My game was up to par. And uh I remember winning that Hill Hill, actually. I and I played Christina's Lateva, didn't I, in the final? And I beat Christina to catch um Hill Hill as well, I think in the semis, I broke and ran the last rack. But it was a big deal getting over the winning line again because as much as I've won in my career, when you've had a lull, you know, quite a long break and not played, and then I was coming back, I've gone full circle where I was coming back to see if I could win again, basically. And you know, the confidence level wasn't like when I was first came over and coming from a 12-foot table to a nine-foot. For some reason I wasn't as confident, and um but I put in a bit of work and worked with my friend Jim at the time, and um I was practicing again and putting the work in, so my confidence level was back, and then mentally I was totally there in that event. I actually thought I was gonna win it. It was just doing everything right, just making sure I was following all my steps. And I got the victory.

Mike Gonzalez 16:55

Yeah, yeah. So so bring us up to today then, uh, in terms of uh are you competing? Uh uh are you healthy? Are you putting in the work? Is there a lot of stuff uh gobbling up your time right now, other than this podcast?

Allison Fisher 17:11

Well, again, the balance of life, isn't it? I'm putting my family time as very much the quality time these days. My kids are teenagers of 15 and 14, so it's very important for me to spend time with them. Um I have sponsors on tour that I represent, so I'm I'm picking and choosing what I play, and I'm not doing so much of the international events because I don't really need to. My partner said to me, he said, Well, uh do you are you gonna is it gonna change your life if you miss this event? Because sometimes I've questioned whether to go in certain events, and I thought it's not gonna change my life. I've been playing for 40 odd years in events, missing an event here and there is not gonna change my life. You know, I miss the camaraderie of the friendships of the people. That's something that's changed over the years. I was very much, you know, singular, single-minded. Um but when you grow up with people on a tour over decades and you go through different things together, you get to know each other as friends. So as much as you're enemies on the table, you want to beat each other, you do create friendships along the way. So they're important. But um honestly, in my heart, if I didn't play another event, I don't think I would be upset with myself. But that's I will play and I will play events still, but it's just I'm probably a bit more choosy these days than in the past. I can't be a full-time, I can't be like some of the players on the road because there are events all over the world and you could be playing all the time if you wanted, but you can't to me, you can't have a relationship like that. You can't have quality family time. And I'm not a spring chicken anymore, so every moment I have is very valuable to me now.

Mike Gonzalez 19:02

Yeah, and I think I've I've probably told you this before. You know, if you won two or three more events, would that really change your pool playing legacy?

Allison Fisher 19:10

No. I've done everything I really want to do, I absolutely have. I can say that with my hand on my heart. I've done everything I want to do. So if it didn't happen for me again, I it wouldn't be a bad thing. And you know, I've just got to make the most out of life now.

Mike Gonzalez 19:28

Yeah, yeah. Well, Mark, you know, as you look at Allison's record and uh look at the accolades and the honors that have been bestowed upon her, uh, not just her MBE title, which by the way, we're gonna get upgraded. Okay, that's that's my mission in life, is I'm gonna get her title upgraded. So I've gotta I gotta get wired into the king somehow. That's funny. And on New Year's Day honors, we're gonna get her stepped up a notch. I'd like to be calling her Dame one one time. That would be nice. That'd be awesome. Yeah, yeah.

Mark Wilson 20:03

I was so proud of her when she was awarded the MBE because I knew the Beatles had gotten one and uh member of the British Empire, for anyone that wouldn't know. But uh to make an impact in our sport like that, where your country would recognize you, it was just like uh I was happy about it. I've been happier. I don't know. I was telling her, now anytime you sign your autograph, Allison, you got to put MBE and the year behind it, she goes, Oh, do we? Of course you do. Oh yeah. It but you know, it really goes back to this is uh mental toughness. When you look at what she's endured to stay at the top, and it's not just uh the travel conflicts and the hardships, and then when you travel, everybody wants a little piece of hey Allie, would you look at this? Shoot me one game, sign my case, uh could I take a picture with you? And uh and it's still it's all that conflict uh it takes away, put static in your concentration, and then you're at the final match, and now the TV lights are out, and there's uh uh some kind of a hectic thing. And you go back to the green room and you wait, and then you don't know when, and now we're ready to go, now go perform. And it's not an easy thing. And uh it really and then she handles it all with such grace, like you uh she would never say these things, even though she knows these things. But I'll say it because I saw it and uh couldn't be more impressed uh overall. So uh, you know, I'm spitting with her in case you didn't know. Thank you, Mark.

Allison Fisher 21:34

It's been a pleasure actually teaching with Mark. As I said yesterday, it's like I've been very lucky with the people that I've crossed paths with on the journey, and uh he's he's definitely one of them up there in my books, you know, to s as a friend and uh a player and somebody I respect very much in the sport.

Mark Wilson 21:54

I'll tell you another thing, and this is a side, she is an all-star. If you've ever traveled Anywhere in the world with her. She knows the ins and outs of travel, getting around how you do things. And I'm bewildered wherever we go. She's got it down. No, this is how you do it here. So that's pretty cool, too.

Mike Gonzalez 22:12

Funny. Well, you look back through all these uh accolades and you know, player of the year, all the different billiard magazines named her player of the year. Seems like every year. Billiards Digest, ninth greatest living player of the 20th century. Uh, served her organization as president in 2000. She's got Walk of Fame. She's got uh most favorite, uh fan favorite in uh in billiard type magazines. Hall of Fames, we talked about the, you know, one of the big ones, which was the 2009 BCA Hall of Fame. Uh that that uh induction was in Virginia. I think Barry Stern might have uh recorded a video for you that evening, didn't he?

Allison Fisher 22:55

Yeah, I've got a video of that. Mike Pinozo, I think, did it. And um, yeah, definitely one of the highlights of my career. When you go in the Hall of Fame and just the people in the room, it's wonderful, you know, your peers and and people who watched you over the years, and it's quite a night because you get to say, you know, get to thank everyone and and mention everyone who's been a part of that journey. And it's really wonderful to be recognized for what you've done in the sport.

Mike Gonzalez 23:26

Of course, you were inducted into your own professional organization Hall of Fame, the WPBA Hall of Fame in 2016. We talked about your MBE in 2022, inducted into the World Snooker Hall of Fame in 2022, and then in 2024, inducted into the inaugural class of the WPA Hall of Fame. That was pretty cool.

Allison Fisher 23:48

Yeah, it's the World Billiard Hall of Fame. So that was I was one of the first people in that, and I sat next to Ronnie O'Sullivan and actually we were sitting in China. I went to China for the day. This is what happened. I had a tournament to come back to in Iowa. So I I was in China, I flew there. It was it was planes, trains, and automobiles. Got to China on this long trip, then to Shanghai, then to cross in a taxi an hour and a half to a train station, got a two-hour ride to a train station, got to the train station, was in the car another hour and a half, got to China hotel, lost my voice for the induction, so I couldn't speak. I have no idea what happened. I woke up with no voice the next day, got inducted into that hall of fame in China, had the dinner that night, next morning. I was back to the US.

Mike Gonzalez 24:41

Holy smokes.

Allison Fisher 24:42

Crazy.

Mike Gonzalez 24:44

Yeah, not the way to do that.

Allison Fisher 24:45

No, not really. But it was it was that again, that was an amazing time in China because all the snooker players were there, Mark, they had a snooker tournament starting the day after that Hall of Fame thing. So all the people I hadn't seen in years, and then all the dignitaries in the pool and billiard world, and and they did it, you know, in China they do everything way overboard in a good way. Um, but they've created this museum, they've built a museum for billiards, and it has all the old pool tables, everything to do with Q Sports and recognitions of all these players along the walls. You know, it's just it's an amazing place. And we were awarded a trophy and a gold med a pure gold medal. And um, yeah, it was incredible. So Fort Hall of Fames. Not bad.

Mike Gonzalez 25:36

Pretty cool. But you know, with all that, with everything I read, Mark, and of course I only read about a quarter of the list, right? Uh, there's one that kind of struck me, and and I may be I may be stepping right into it. I'm not sure what I'm getting into here, but it just seemed very impressive. Twice named the UK Thai Woman of the Year.

Mark Wilson 25:58

Well, okay.

Allison Fisher 26:00

Yeah, that's an odd one, isn't it? I I had no idea that there was a Thai Woman of the Year, but obviously I used to use bow ties when I played snooker. And there were probably women in other sports that had tires on of some sort. So I've got no idea about that award, but I didn't make that one up. That was an award. And I'll take it.

Mike Gonzalez 26:20

Yeah, exactly. I would take I just didn't know what I was getting into because I had no idea. You can kind of assume what it might be, but having not heard about anything like that, I wasn't quite sure.

Allison Fisher 26:31

You've got a little gold pin of a tie as an award. That funny. Anyway, yeah, I don't know about that.

Mike Gonzalez 26:38

Yeah, so as they said in a famous movie we all know about, well, you got that going for you, which is nice. Yeah. Say the pool thing doesn't work out for us. Yeah, they do that. We're tired. Exactly right. Okay, we talked about uh some of your TV appearances. Of course, you've been a commentator and and sports commentator and and have commentated pool in the studio, in your home, and so forth. Uh, lots of other things. One thing going on right now, which uh I've seen a lot on Facebook lately, and you can tell us more about, and that's this Q Queens project.

Allison Fisher 27:09

Yes. A friend of mine, Kim Shaw, used to play on tour, funnily enough, and used to be a snooker player. Um, has been a writer and doing a day job as well, and she's created different things. Anyway, we got talking, and then my friend Julie is a director in England of soap operas in England, a very well-known director, and she came over to do a documentary on me. Anyway, it didn't she did a lot of work, we did a lot of you know TV stuff, and then it didn't work out, it got put on the back burner. Then she bumped into somebody years later in LA called Ashley Tyndall, who's um a director and producer over here, who does docuseries, and started talking about it. And anyway, and that's what happened. They got talking about possibly doing a docuseries for somebody like Netflix, and that's what we've been doing is filming myself at home and other players at tournaments and doing lots of interviews. They've got a lot in the can, Ava, myself, Gerda, and uh past and present players, and trying to docu-series women's pool because it's very international now. We've got a lot of international players, Russian, Belarus, all over Europe, all over um America, all over South America. There's players from all over the world playing, China, Japan. And anyway, we're trying to do a thing on women's pool, and it's reached its target of it did a crowdfunding type, you know, um fundraising campaign, and it's gonna go to the next level now. They've created some great trailers, and so that's that's really what it's about women's poor and behind the scenes. It's not just you see, like we've been talking about today, you don't know what's going on in somebody's life. Well, here's your chance to see it. What's going on behind the scenes?

Mike Gonzalez 29:06

Well, we look forward to seeing that.

Allison Fisher 29:07

Yeah, I think it's gonna be great.

Mike Gonzalez 29:09

I hope Netflix does pick it up, but uh it just seems like a pretty cool, uh, pretty cool project you're involved in. Um, we ought to mention your sponsors, and I'll uh I'll prompt you for those. We got Brunswick Billiards, uh, Kamui, Jam Up Apparel, Mez Cues, Fort Worth Billiards, Breaktime Billiards. Uh, they've been with you for a while?

Allison Fisher 29:28

Yes, I've been, you know, a couple of years last couple of years. Um, I like to be with people for a period of time. I don't like the sort of one-year deals, so they've been really good. It's been nice to be with Brunswick, obviously one of the top table companies in in the world. And uh the other companies, Mez is the queue that I'm using, they're from Japan, as is Kamui Tips and Chalk. They've been wonderful. Jam up the apparel that I wear. They've done an Allison Fisher line. Break Time Billiards is my local, one of my local pool rooms here in Clemens, North Carolina. And Mark and I actually have done some of our teachings out of there, our pool scores. Um, so yeah, I've got some really Fort Worth Billiards are a billiard supply company in Dallas. Really nice people in the industry, and I've been fortunate over the years. I have been with good companies and um, you know, proud to represent them.

Mike Gonzalez 30:21

Well, I'll tell you a short story about Fort Worth Billiards. I get a call yesterday afternoon, and it's a young lady in customer service at Fort Worth Billiards. I had been looking for six months ago a set of eight ball pool balls, right? The red and the yellow. And I couldn't find them and finally talked to them. I ordered it online. Yeah. It came to find out they weren't in stock, even though their website said they were in stock. They're on back order, they'll let me know, blah, blah, blah. So I went ahead and I did find that that set of balls somewhere else. So probably six months later, yesterday, I get a call from Fort Worth Boot and says, Mike, just I know you were looking for this particular product. We just got some in. If you're still on the look. And I I was very impressed with that. Yeah, it's impressive.

Allison Fisher 31:12

That's terrific.

Mike Gonzalez 31:13

That just doesn't happen these days.

Allison Fisher 31:15

No, that's really good. And by the way, what were you so that's the English pool balls, right?

Mike Gonzalez 31:20

Actually, they they do make a two and a quarter inch version of the yellow and and I didn't know that. So that's what I use for for eight ball with my friends. We just you can visualize it better.

Allison Fisher 31:31

Well, I have no idea why they don't do that and take the solids and stripes the solids and stripes out and just do that. Two colors and the black.

Mark Wilson 31:39

There was a period of time they were called casino eight ball sets, and we used to use them once in a while when we'd have an eight ball tournament, but truly uh I don't know what happened. We don't play eight ball much, I guess, is really what happened.

Mike Gonzalez 31:52

But but Mark, were they the inchant seven-eighths balls, or were they the two and a quarter? Yeah, they're two and a quarter.

Allison Fisher 31:58

I think I want to get a set of those. Uh well, I know who to call now.

Mike Gonzalez 32:02

Exactly. Exactly. Call your sponsor. They've got they just got them in.

Allison Fisher 32:07

Excellent.

Mark Wilson 32:08

Let me ask one more question. What what level of natural ability do you think you possess versus work ethic?

Allison Fisher 32:16

Oh, that's I don't know percentage-wise, but I definitely had a lot of natural ability. But I think the work I've always found in life, if I look at if I pick some snooker players like Jimmy White versus a Stephen Hendry, Jimmy had all the talent in the world, but never really won majors or never won a world championship. And he's because he was so erratic, he would be 9-nil up in one session, nine to nine in the next session, you know. Whereas if you take somebody like Hendry and Davis, they had the talent, but they worked really hard at it. So for me, I think the work and the talent I worked hard, but I had the natural talent as well. Um but percentage-wise, I don't want to know what that was. I was I had a careers educator uh sorry, a PE teacher at school once said to me, because I had a conflict of a snooker tournament and a hockey match. And anyway, after it I picked the snooker or whatever, but she said to me, You need to pick what you want to do, you know, and do it all in. So that was so I so I was good at sport, I was good at different sports to almost county levels, but snooker was the one that grabbed me, and obviously I you know had some talent for it, but the I worked really hard at it too. Um, but percentage-wise, I don't know what that would have been, but yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 33:50

Uh okay, so it's it's been a delight, first of all, to uh with Mark help recount your story for our listeners, and I'm sure that uh um we're gonna have little kids 50, 100 years from now, as we get this content archived, listening to the Allison Fisher story, because people are gonna say, wait a minute, she was the greatest woman player that ever played. We got to hear more about her. Uh so I'm so glad we had a chance to do this. Uh you have the benefit of knowing now that we have three final questions. And unlike uh the 107 guests we had on our golf podcast, and unlike Mark, who was the the uh first one uh in the ring for our for our pool podcast, uh uh we do have three questions, and uh I'm gonna let Mark start by asking the first question.

Mark Wilson 34:44

Okay, Allie. Um if you came to America and then uh at age 20 knew what you know now, what what would you do differently today?

Allison Fisher 34:56

It's a tricky one because I mean obviously we get wiser as we get older, but I think to be very present and enjoy the ride, because it's been a real good one. It's been a roller coaster. To use your time wisely, I think. Because you I think you always think you could do a bit more than you did. So use time wisely. Don't take anything too personally, because I think when we're younger we tend to do that a little bit too much. Don't put things off and and always be adventurous.

Mark Wilson 35:31

Very good.

Mike Gonzalez 35:33

Mark, do you think she prepared an answer for us today?

Mark Wilson 35:36

That was good. I think she did she cheat somewhat. That's all right. It was still hit a lot of targets there.

Mike Gonzalez 35:42

That was very good. All right, question number two, which you've probably thought about. We're giving you one career mulligan, one shot to do over that would have made a difference. Where would you take it?

Allison Fisher 35:51

I would take it back to the ESPN Ultimate Challenge playing Vivian for that chance to play CJ Wiley. There were two shots in there that I would do differently, um, but the specific shot was a three-railer instead of a two-railer, which I did and hooked myself. So that would be my mulligan.

Mike Gonzalez 36:10

And that would have gotten you in the finals. More money or just more prestige, more TV time?

Allison Fisher 36:15

Well, a bit of everything, really. I just wanted to see if I could beat CJ. You know, that was a real hurtful one to me that I would have a do-over. That's the one that always stuck with me.

Mike Gonzalez 36:26

All right, Mark, we go to you for the final question.

Mark Wilson 36:30

Um, Allie, how would you like to be remembered in our sport?

Allison Fisher 36:36

I think to be a great representative and ambassador of the sport, I think.

Mark Wilson 36:43

Well, mission accomplished then. I would have to agree you fulfilled that.

Allison Fisher 36:48

Thank you.

Mark Wilson 36:49

Well, it's been great having you on, and I think we've all learned a lot. So uh on behalf of Legends of the Q, we're gonna wrap it up.

Allison Fisher 36:58

Well, thank you very much for having me. I've had bored you two.

Mike Gonzalez 37:02

Well, thank you, Allie. And uh I tell you, I can't uh tell you both how happy I am to have both of you guys come into my life and uh take on this project with me. I think it's gonna be a wonderful journey. I'm glad to have uh both of your life stories in the can and looking forward to launching our podcast uh for the enjoyment of all our listeners, uh, hopefully sometime in August. So thanks again for joining us and telling your life story on Legends of the Q.

Allison Fisher 37:31

Thank you very much.

Mike Gonzalez 37:33

Thank you for listening to another episode of Legends of the Q. If you like what you hear, wherever you listen to your podcasts, including Apple and Spotify, please follow us, subscribe, and spread the word. Give our podcast a five-star rating and share your thoughts. Visit our website, sign up for our newsletter, and support our Pool History Project. Until our next golden break with more Legends of the Queue, so long, everybody.