Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson - Part 2 (From Carinthia to California: Gerda's Leap to the WPBA)

Allison Fisher 0:14

So how did you how did you find out about the American tour at that point? That was all through Jürgen. He was So he he knew something was going on over here.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 0:23

Oh yeah. He was so plugged into the pool scene. And you know, he was very good friends with Eva. And it was actually, yeah, when he when he's the one who made it possible for me to play my first tournament here in America. And then he asked Eva if I could come and play a few tournaments and stay with her in between. So it's a book was a collaboration. The Austrian Federation helped me finance it, and Jürgen helped me get in touch with Ava. I call her UI. And she gave me a few. Yeah, she gave me a home away from home, and I, you know, the plan was to come over, compete in three tournaments, stay with her in between, and then go back home. And it was unplanned that I would come over and win the first tournament that I entered, right? So that just that obviously.

Allison Fisher 1:17

Was that beginner's luck, do you think?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 1:19

I think so. I don't think so. I was just like being a complete, you know, outsider and zero pressure, just going to have fun and see what happens. So and I was so carefree at that time, you know. There was not one negative thought in my head. I was just loving pool and having the best time.

Mike Gonzalez 1:38

So it was amazing. Easier game when the brain is empty.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 1:43

Oh my god, is it ever? Yeah. Oh gosh, that's all about, isn't it? Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 1:48

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 1:48

By the way, she speaks fluent, she speaks fluent uh Swedish too. English, Swedish. It's fine.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 1:57

Well, I lived there for a few years, so I was fluent there. Yeah. Well, you had to because nobody spoke German when I lived there.

Allison Fisher 2:07

So you and Ava could chat away and nobody would know what you were saying.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 2:12

Right. The wonderful thing in Sweden is that all the movies that they show on television, they don't dub them. You know, they don't they just show subtitles. So all the movies are in original English, but all they always have Swedish subtitles. And that's how I picked up Swedish by mostly by watching TV. Yeah. In Austria they dub all the movies, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 2:38

This was early 1993. You would have come over for that first win. Of course, Ava came over 12 years earlier, right? I mean she was already older. 1983.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 2:47

1981, yeah, exactly. She was the pioneer. She was the one who left Europe first and got settled here. And yeah, then a lot of time passed before I came. And then once I came, then they all followed, right?

Mike Gonzalez 3:01

Yeah.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 3:04

Exactly.

Mike Gonzalez 3:05

But you know, the first tournament you choose, you make it difficult on yourself because you gotta go all the way across the United States to San Francisco, correct?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 3:14

Yeah, it was in was it Santa? Was it in San Francisco? Was it in Oakland?

Mike Gonzalez 3:20

Well, it was it was called the Creative Inventions San Francisco Classic.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 3:25

Okay, San Francisco Classic. Was it oh, it might have been in Sue Bachman's poor room?

Allison Fisher 3:30

The Huber Cou's, was it? The Huber Coup. Was it Hoover?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 3:33

You know, you're asking for way too many details now. I'm getting old and I cannot remember all that.

Allison Fisher 3:38

You think it might have been at Chalker's, do you in San Francisco? Is that what you think? Yes, I think so.

Mark Wilson 3:44

Mark might be well, I remember both of those, but I I don't I think the creative inventions would have been different. So as I remember it, that was Joe Porper's stuff.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 3:56

That's it. Okay. I am not sure. I am not sure.

Mike Gonzalez 4:01

Who did you beat, you remember? In the final? We're really testing it. In the final?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 4:11

So it was the famous players was leading up to the finals. It was another sort of unknown player who reached the final with me. And I cannot remember her name now. But I remember she we were both not expected to be in the finals. I remember that. And I can picture her, but unfortunately I do not know her name.

Mike Gonzalez 4:30

For our listeners back in that era, if you if you read off some of the winners from 1993, in addition to Goethe, uh Vivian Villarreal, uh Mary, which would have been Gorino probably before Keniston at the time. Lori John was winning. Those were the those were the winning names. Robin was winning. That covers everything but uh one event won by an Asian whose name I couldn't pronounce.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 4:56

Oh, really?

Mike Gonzalez 4:57

Sin Mai Lu?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 4:59

Oh Sin Mai Lu, yeah. She she played on our tour quite a big fantastic player.

Mike Gonzalez 5:07

So those were the winners in 1980. In 1993. In 1993, I mean, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Oh, by the way, I got off on the wrong foot with Gerda yesterday.

Allison Fisher 5:17

How so? What did you do?

Mike Gonzalez 5:19

I don't know. Well, we were talking about her birthday.

Allison Fisher 5:22

Her geburts tag.

Mike Gonzalez 5:24

And the next thing you know.

Allison Fisher 5:25

That's so funny. That's so funny.

Mike Gonzalez 5:27

She's talking about how old she is. And I don't think I had my hearing aids in at the time. I just had my headphones in. And so I started talking about Medicare.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 5:38

I'm like, I was so surprised. I'm like, really? I'm eligible. I'm like, no way. And and I totally believed him, right? I'm like, oh, I guess I've got to look into it.

Allison Fisher 5:48

You can't move to an old people community now. 55. 55.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 5:52

I can do that. I can do that. But yeah.

Mark Wilson 5:54

So I have encouraged. When you were in Sweden, did you meet Tom Storm or Helena?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 6:01

Oh, all of them. Man, yes. All that crew. Helena, Tom Storm, Niklas Bergenorf, Louis Ferberg. Do you remember all of them?

Allison Fisher 6:11

I remember Louise Ferberg.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 6:12

Oh, what is a great group of people? Yes.

Mark Wilson 6:16

So that probably swept your game up a notch too, right?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 6:19

Yes, 100%. I pl started competing in the Nordic Championships and the Swedish Championships and became very good friends with all those guys. And yeah, it was awesome. Henrik Lawson. Henrik Lawson. Yeah. Henrik even uh lived in Malm for a while where I lived. Because originally he's from Stockholm and he came down to Malm. And I have one of the most fondest memories with Henrik. We were playing we were working in the pool room, and the pool room closed, I'm not sure, it was maybe 11 p.m. But so at 11 p.m. we c everybody goes home, we clean up the pool room, and we decided we we both loved straight pool. So we shut the pool room down, and it was all dark around 40 tables, right? Everything's dark, but we decided to stay and just had the light on over one table, and we played straight pool all night long. Just here and I and that was amazing. So we played all night long and then in the morning went for breakfast, and that's probably the only night I ever did that, you know, because a lot of players played several days in a row. I I was never that player. My practice sessions were anywhere from two to four hours, you know, six maybe here and there. But that was the one night where I played with Henke all night long, and it was amazing.

Allison Fisher 7:43

Excellent. I just saw him recently in Jacksonville. Did you? Yeah, and we reminisced. Yeah. And I won the Was it the Worlds in Sweden, my first world championships. Goethe and me were staying together, and we went to Henrik's to stay there in Sweden. He had a bed in the closet. And he's got a picture of it. I'm holding my gold medal. That's right, I remember that. And it could barely fit in it.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 8:10

It was all it could fit was the bed. It was very funny.

Allison Fisher 8:14

Great people though. Yeah, a lot of great players and fun players. Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 8:18

Yeah, so to the point that Mark was making about some of those influencers you had, would each of you say this is true that there are certain things you remember learning from certain people?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 8:30

Certain shots, yeah. Yeah, I would say that. Yes. Yeah, for sure.

Allison Fisher 8:35

Yeah. Everyone has something to contribute, you know.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 8:38

Right. And that's the beauty of it. Yeah. Jürgen was a very good player. I honest I don't know how much he competed, but he was a really, really good player. And I learned a lot from him. But the biggest thing was, as I said earlier, was learning how to practice. And I was one of those people who just loved practicing on my own. You know, I would go to the poor room and set up my drills, and I just for a few hours I would play my drills and keep track of the scores. And that's what was so motivating to me that I had a way of tracking my progress and I could see an improvement, you know, doing the same exercises every day. And within a year, I could say the line going up of getting better and better at these drills. And what's so cool is with the drills, it's like certain types of shots, and and they come up in games in match situations all the time. So it's a certain type of shot that you recognize from the exercise you did, and you you know, you just know you're gonna make it. So yeah, that was amazing.

Allison Fisher 9:42

I think that's a difference with um European and maybe Asian versus American players in general. Is the practice discipline practice on your own? Discipline practice, yeah. I think so. Yeah.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 9:57

Right.

Mike Gonzalez 9:57

What were what were some of your favorite drills early on, Gerda?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 10:01

Well, I would set up these shapes. One of my favorite these drills was called the L shape. You just set up 15 balls, you know, down fr to the foot point from the center of the short drill down to the L, and you had to shoot them in order, work your way around. It was about precise cue ball control. And I thought that was such a valuable drill. And a lot of straight-in shots, you know, stop, draw, follow, and straight-in shots. Those were probably my favorite drills.

Allison Fisher 10:30

I'll tell you what her best shot was, and I would bet on her to make it all the time. Is a thinnest of cuts with loads of spin. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. If she had a really thin cut, length of a table, using so much spin, it was it looked like you couldn't possibly make that shot. She was the one to play it, you'd bet on.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 10:53

That's one of the shots that Mike Massey taught me at in Sweden at the junior training camp. He said he set up a shot, and it looked, I mean, physically it's impossible to go more than 90 degrees, but it looked like it's more than 90 degrees. And when he first set it up, I thought he's you know what what's wrong with him? That's never possible. And then he showed it to me, and I was like, wow, and then I started practicing it, and I fell in love with that shot. It looks impossible.

Mike Gonzalez 11:22

Extreme outside spin, then or was it?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 11:24

Extreme outside spin. Yeah.

Allison Fisher 11:26

It's a very I couldn't even get in my head at all. Extreme English. And banking and a banking ability, and that was another thing.

Mike Gonzalez 11:35

You know, how do you learn to even aim that extreme English? It's all feel.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 11:40

I feel like it's all feel. You have to know your cue and how much it makes the ball deflect. So it's just, you know, repetition and trusting your feel. I don't think that's an exact science.

Mike Gonzalez 11:52

Let's take you back to that first trip to the US for that tournament you won in San Francisco. What are your memories of that in terms of how you were treated and perceived by the other players, your experiences in a in a new country, and you know, a bit strange for you?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 12:06

Right. They were all extremely nice. I had made a name for myself. I was invited into the tournament as the European champion. So I hadn't, you know, I hadn't made a name for myself in Europe, and everybody was extremely welcoming and polite. Later on, I learned that you know they made fun of me a little bit. But nobody said that to my face when I first came. They were all extremely nice. So, and I guess that's Ava. And then, yeah, we laugh about it now. But then Ava took me under her wing and you know, gave me some fashion tips and showed me how to wear makeup and all that. But yeah, no, everybody was extremely nice and professional. And they welcomed me.

Mike Gonzalez 13:04

You came across and played how many tournaments that first year?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 13:08

I know the two I had I think there were 17 on the tour, but I couldn't make all of them because I had to play. I don't know if 17 was in '93 or '94. I remember one of them because I had it, I had it on my fridge in Sweden. That included that was on my schedule of tournaments I would love to play. You know, that included world championships and other one. But I also had to play the European tour, so I missed quite a few in America. But I played at least half the tour schedule.

Mike Gonzalez 13:37

Okay. You talk about your memory. You talk about your memory being not that great. There was not there were 17 events that year.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 13:45

Were there? Oh, really? Okay. Yeah, because my mind was blown how many awesome tournaments they have. So I was like, I I need to live there, I need to live there. But it took a while.

Mike Gonzalez 13:56

So between the first win, which was in San Francisco, and then your second win, I think, was at the Brunswick Billiards Atlanta Classic, which would have been about midpoint in terms of those 17 events, did you play all of those in the first half of the season or or not?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 14:12

That's a good question. I probably not. I I think I came and went a couple times. I don't think I stayed the whole because as a yeah, I still were on a was on a tourist visa then. So I would have only been allowed to stay for three months anyway. Plus, I I had a sponsor in Europe and I had to I couldn't miss the the tour stops on that European tour. So I had to go back for those.

Mike Gonzalez 14:37

Well, you had to go back home and win the eight ball and the nine-ball European pool championship that year, too.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 14:41

Oh that, yeah, yeah. It was your sponsor in good, huh? In Europe, it was the magazine, and it was a Brunswick dealer in Austria. It was my first sponsor to begin with, Tutch, he was called. But then it was the magazine, the billiard news that sponsored me for those two years that I played on the European tour.

Mike Gonzalez 15:10

You mentioned Corinthia a couple of times. Of course, that's your state in Austria. And so in 93, as a result of your pool exploits, you were named the athlete of the year, Austria's athlete of the year, for your home state of Corinthia.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 15:25

Wow, yeah, that was a huge honor. They hold these events where the the governor, the governor of Corinthia, I guess, holds a gala, a one evening, and they invite the best and winningest athletes from all sports, and they have an evening where everybody gets honored. It's a nice get together, you get a nice meal, and you get called out and get a medal from the governor. And you know, I was first invited to that through fencing. This is a funny story because I won the I won the Austrian Championship in fencing, and I was invited to that gala for fencing, right? And I remember going there, and each sport had its own table, and I was sitting at the table for the fencers, but I noticed the table for the pool players, right? And at that point I hadn't played pool yet, but I remember thinking, oh wow, those are the pool players. That is so awesome. And I was fascinated with them being honored for playing pool, right? Yeah, that seemed like something that was completely unreasonable and so fascinating that you know that they would be awesome pool players. And then there I go, a few years later. I know I know. It's so funny how life works, but I remember being fascinated way before I fell into it.

Allison Fisher 16:40

You're the only person who could do that too, probably. I bet nobody's done that since going gone from the fence into the pool table. Oh eat your heart out, Jasmine.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 16:50

Yes, you would believe she's an amazing athlete, that girl. She's yeah, she's amazing. She could probably be a triathlete and win. Yeah, she's so fit, it's incredible. Great, great athlete.

Mike Gonzalez 17:04

We'll have to have her on some attack.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 17:06

You must, yeah, she's she's amazing. Yeah. And now, her how about her YouTube thing? She's so amazing. Her YouTube channel, she's I love it. She's so awesome.

Mark Wilson 17:18

I love it too. I watch the same episodes over and over, and despite the fact I know the material, her presentation is so complex. I know. I just sit there and laugh and smile. I just love the way she's doing it.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 17:30

She's infectious. She's infectious as awesome.

Mike Gonzalez 17:34

You want you wonder if she has any production help or if she does some of that herself, I wonder.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 17:38

She does it herself. She does it all herself.

Mark Wilson 17:41

No, I'm really impressed.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 17:42

Yeah, she's great.

Mark Wilson 17:44

You know, the reason that uh Gerda's here today is just that she's this unassuming chronic overachiever that has a spark and an enthusiasm, and it wouldn't matter what field you put her in, she's going to excel. That's just Gerda.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 17:58

So you're very sweet. Thank you, Mark.

Mark Wilson 18:00

But also true. You know, I'm not being nice.

Allison Fisher 18:03

Oh I don't say that for our known for being nice, Mark.

Mark Wilson 18:06

No, exactly. You've got to have that spark. And when she talks about doing training exercises or drills, oftentimes to Americans that denotes tedium and drudgery, where she's looking at it as a spark of opportunity and of fun, and I could journal what I'm getting and see if I'm tracking my progress and where I'm going, and that's you know just her. So definitely.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 18:27

Oh yeah. Thank you, Mark.

Mike Gonzalez 18:29

So who met Goethe first?

Mark Wilson 18:33

Between us? Yeah. When did you I imagine Alison? I I don't know. I about the time of the WPBA would be Mark.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 18:42

I remember you coming to Bergheim, Germany.

Mark Wilson 18:46

What year was part of the American? But uh let's see, I was in Borlange, Sweden.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 18:54

Borling, Sweden? Which which year was that in which tournament? I remember 96. I I remember your outfit, Mark. I remember your outfit. Was it a price cut? No, he had the band around the waist. He looked so smart.

Mark Wilson 19:10

Oh, yeah. The tuxedo, yeah.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 19:12

Oh yeah, he looked so smart. I remember you.

Mark Wilson 19:16

From that the year was when Ralph Suquay beat Tom Storm in the Finals 11s. 1996. That's what I remember championships. I remember that vividly.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 19:26

That wasn't your 96 wasn't your first time. You came sooner than that.

Mark Wilson 19:31

Well, let's see.

Allison Fisher 19:32

Because I played Ivan that one.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 19:34

We all have trouble with our memory, but I I want to remember that you came that first year. You definitely didn't play in Berkheim, Germany.

Mark Wilson 19:43

No.

Allison Fisher 19:44

Mark, did you play in Munich? Did you play in Munich in 92?

Mark Wilson 19:48

No. Japan. I was around in Taipei. We played world championships over there, but not Germany.

Allison Fisher 19:55

Yeah, Borlanger was Borlanger was 1996. Is that the one you won? That was my favourite event ever, I think, because I remember the atmosphere in that place and it was really long matches, which I really loved. Yeah. And I I played at Helena in the final and it was a race to eleven, and the men's was raced to 13. Is that what you said?

Mark Wilson 20:17

I I remembered the 13. I think it was eleven for the men, because I remember or I thought that uh Ralph won eleven-zero.

Allison Fisher 20:23

But imagine this, you know, years later we ended up racing to seven. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. But anyway, that's it. How about you, Ali?

Mike Gonzalez 20:32

When did when was your first uh recollection of meeting?

Allison Fisher 20:35

Well, Gerda and me met in 1992 in the Munich Masters. I, by chance, I'm still a snooker player, and Stacy Hilliard, who was another snooker player, we decided let's go over to Munich and play in the pool event. I have no idea why, but we just did. And we grabbed a pool stick and went over. We spent a lot of money doing it because we used to spending £25 to enter a tournament in England for snooker, and this was like hundreds of dollars. So it was like, what are we doing? And we met every pool player there, like Ava was there, all the top American players and top European players. And uh it was it was so much fun. Um I went to dinner with Gerda and your sister Karen. Yeah, Karen Ingrid. And so we spent some time there. That was our first meeting, and we hung out there, and uh I met Tom Storm, Oliver Ortman, all the great players. And then Stacy ended up winning the tournament. I lost to Louise Ferberg and sweet.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 21:34

And the Semis. You finished third, right?

Allison Fisher 21:36

And I finished third, and it we had the best time ever.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 21:40

It was an awesome event.

Allison Fisher 21:41

But I never played pool after that till three years later. So that was it. It was a one and done for then for that time. But we had a great time with the ball players, fantastic. We went to the banquet at the end, didn't we?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 21:54

Yes, that banquet. Crazy. They know how to party in they They're really really great at organizing tournaments and it's all super, you know, professional. But when the tournament is over, they know how to put on a party too.

Allison Fisher 22:13

Do you remember Dr. Barbara Eisenheim?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 22:15

Oh my gosh.

Allison Fisher 22:16

Put that on.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 22:17

Yes.

Allison Fisher 22:18

I would not have remembered. She contacted me recently on Facebook. I remember Dr. Barbara, but not the Eisenheim bit. Right. Anyway.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 22:25

That's funny. Yeah, great.

Allison Fisher 22:26

And the prize, you got I got a gold gold keychain and a Mont Blanc pen. And I'm like, wow, this is these are really nice prizes here. Really nice.

Mike Gonzalez 22:38

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 22:39

Anyway, that's the first time we met. And then we didn't meet again until the trade show, the expo in Las Vegas in 1995 when I was trying to come on to tour. Right. Back to back to Goethe and 1994, I think we're at.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 22:55

Yeah, I remember you from that trade show. I had already competed over here for a few years, and I was at the trade show, and I remember we met, and he was like, Oh, you're doing so well. And I'm like, Yeah, you should come over. Then that was the beginning of BR.

Allison Fisher 23:13

I remember when I first met you Good uh there I bumped into you and you were holding a baby. I thought, Oh, did you have a baby?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 23:20

What baby was I holding? I have no idea.

Allison Fisher 23:22

Jen McWherters or or maybe maybe it was Mickey, I don't know.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 23:26

Maybe it was Mary's. It was, you know.

Allison Fisher 23:29

I don't know, but I thought I don't know.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 23:31

One of the girls on tour, yeah. I was just babysitting.

Allison Fisher 23:35

Yeah, it was so cute though. It was great to meet up again. And that was the beginning of me. I went to the WPBA booth and found out how to get on tour. That was what I was doing over there.

Mike Gonzalez 23:44

Scary.

Allison Fisher 23:46

I was doing a reconnaissance mission.

Mike Gonzalez 23:48

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 23:49

Yeah. Fantastic. First time in Vegas. It was absolutely brilliant.

Mike Gonzalez 23:53

So we'll go back to 1994. You you had a win at the Leisure Bay Billiards Orlando Classic.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:00

Yes, I remember that one. Do you?

Mike Gonzalez 24:02

I think.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:03

Was it Nikki Benny's in the finals? Is that true? Do you have that?

Mike Gonzalez 24:06

I'll take your word for it. I'll take your word for it.

Allison Fisher 24:08

I feel like you had played Nikki in a final, maybe. I wasn't sure. Yeah, I think that was the first event.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:13

I think that was there. And it was held in a supply store or something.

Allison Fisher 24:19

No, probably that factory warehouse.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:21

The factory warehouse, exactly.

Allison Fisher 24:23

The billiard factory warehouse.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:25

Yeah.

Allison Fisher 24:25

You know why I know that? Because I won it a year later.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:29

Oh, okay. Is that where you bought the beer in the bath?

Allison Fisher 24:34

Yes. Yeah, we'll get back to that story, but over to you first. This is your interview.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:41

Yeah, sorry. I all I remember from that one is that I played I think I played Nicky Benish in the finals, and I felt extremely confident in that tournament. For some reason, I remember that. I knew I was gonna win it. I don't know why.

Allison Fisher 24:54

I just great feeling.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 24:56

Yeah, that doesn't happen very often, but I felt like I was in the zone. I didn't think I would miss any balls that I could see. And that doesn't happen very often. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 25:08

That's a nice feeling. So at what point did were you not going back and forth?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 25:13

95. Since 95 I've been here full time.

Mike Gonzalez 25:16

Okay, okay. So 95, you won out in Seattle at the Huber Hughes Seattle Classic. You won a couple of more European championships, one in straight pool, one in nine ball. And you go to Taipei for an a little event as well.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 25:34

Wow. Yeah, that was something else. Ellie and I had already become good friends, right? We were already practicing together, traveling together, and we were roommates at the tournament, correct?

Allison Fisher 25:47

Yes.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 25:48

Yes. And I reached the finals, and Ellie had won several world championships in Snooker. And I was so nervous for the finals. And she says, Don't worry, I'll show you how to win a final. And she took me out the night before the finals and made me have a beer. It's like to calm my nerves. She's like, I'll show you how to win a final.

Allison Fisher 26:08

I'll show you how to win a world championship, I said.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 26:11

Yeah, how to win a world championships, exactly. And she just, you know, took away all the worries and made me relax and sort of coached me in the finals. I feel like, even though I beat you in the semis, didn't I? Didn't I knock you out of the tournament? I don't know if you did or not. I'm not sure. I think I did. I think I knocked you out of the tournament. You were still nice enough to be supportive. And I played Vivian. I played Vivian in the finals. I remember that. And it did go hill hill. It did go hill hill. It was so nerf-wracking. And you know, I'm always amazed at men who remember shots from 30 years. Yeah, do you remember I played that shot? I'm like, how can you remember? But that shot, the winning shot for the world championship, it was a three-ball combination. And I feel like I looked at it and I just sort of shut my eyes and hit the ball, and it went in. And then she jumped so high. I couldn't take the drama anymore. And it was like, I'm like, let me just get it over with, and it worked. It was brutal. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 27:14

It was close my eyes and let it fly.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 27:17

She tried to try. I know. It was so crazy. It was so crazy. I won it at the same time with Oliver Ortman, right? I remember that. Yeah, Oliver and I won the 95 World Championships. It was amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 27:32

Yeah. It was a nine-ball world championship. So, what part of the year would that have been in 95?

Allison Fisher 27:37

Toward the end, or it was November, right? It was right before our national championship. I know all these things. It was right before the nationals because we came straight back to the nationals in LA.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 27:49

Oh, that's correct. Oh my gosh. That's another funny thing. I win the world championships. You're right. And a week later, we have the tournament here. And I feel like the hardest thing ever, having won the world championship, thinking now everybody's gonna look at me. You know how silly you are. And I remember that was the only tournament ever in my entire career where I went to and out. I lost my first two matches and I was gone. Because I was so in my head about being the world champion. So yeah, that's very funny.

Allison Fisher 28:21

Straight back down to Earth, right?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 28:23

Yeah, back down to Earth where you belong, exactly. It was very humbling.

Mike Gonzalez 28:27

You you came home and thought, well, you know, this closing your eyes and shooting is kind of working. Maybe I'll try that somewhere else.

Allison Fisher 28:33

Maybe went a little too far with that plan. Funny. No.

Mike Gonzalez 28:37

Well just pretty good year in 95, and then in 96, uh you win the McDermott Hughes Austin Classic. I guess that's down in Texas.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 28:45

Oh, yes. I think I played Helena in the finals in that one. Is that correct?

Mike Gonzalez 28:52

You know, we we do research, but sometimes not deep enough.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 28:54

So yeah, I know, neither do I.

Allison Fisher 28:57

Helena just came over in 95 too, didn't she, from Sweden. Sounds right. So she was another European who made the transition to come over to live in America at that point. Yeah, yeah, probably. Yeah, I think you probably did play her in the final.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 29:12

I'm pretty sure that was it. I remember a picture from us. She was a great player, too. Yeah, what an amazing player.

Mike Gonzalez 29:19

Yeah.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 29:19

I knew Helena from back in Sweden. You know, we competed in in Sweden together, and she even came to visit in Malmo a few times just to hang out and play together, stayed with us, and we practiced together. She's a fantastic player, and I always thought that she, you know, she never reached her potential as far as results go on tour. She was so underrated, unfortunately. I don't know why. But yeah, phenomenal player. I only have the best memories of her game.

Mike Gonzalez 29:52

So in this stretch, we're we're kind of in the mid-90s now, getting ready to go into 1997. Would you if fair to say this is probably the best pool you were playing of your career in this era?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 30:02

Yes, yes, for sure. Right before I met Ellie. I ruined everyone. No. No, I yeah, the most carefree and best I felt like was in the early 90s. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 30:15

Yeah.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 30:16

Even though I didn't know that much yet, I feel like, because I learned a lot from meeting Ellie and the the way of how snooker players go about it. That was another eye-opener, that new era. But yeah, I think I played my best in the early mid-90s.

Mike Gonzalez 30:32

Yeah. Did you change anything as a result of some of the players you came across, like uh Nalison Fisher?

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 30:38

Yes, unfortunately. Yeah, she was a very, very structured and you know, intention about intentional about every little thing in her mechanics. And it made me think about things that I never thought about before. And I I saw it worked for her and it made sense in my head, but I gave up the natural talent, free-flowing player that I was and tried to become something that I wasn't, and it totally missed with me, I feel like. But you know, it's my own no, it's not, don't be sorry. You you've raised the entire game, I feel like, for everybody, you know, with introducing people to that. So don't be sorry, you should be very proud.

Allison Fisher 31:24

But thank you.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 31:26

Yeah, in my case, I might have been better off sticking with my you know, ugly stroke rather than trying to perfect it.

Allison Fisher 31:35

No, you always she always had a really nice stroke, long sort of follow-through, long and free-flowing. Spinning spinning the balls a lot, you know, it was actually a really nice stroke. You still do, you still she still tinkers, don't you know? She still tinkers around and can beat me. She always beats me when I go over.

Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson 31:56

No. No, Dan, my husband and I, we we both love poop, but we both have a severe tremor in our arm. So when we play, we we shake like crazy and we laugh about it. But we we still love it. But there's no way I could ever compete anymore.

Allison Fisher 32:12

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