 | |
| Born | 25 September 1950 Perth Amboy, New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  United States |
| Nickname | "Pretty Boy Floyd" |
| Professional | 1966 |
| Pool games | Nine-Ball |
| Tournament wins | |
| Other titles | 30 |
Jimmy Mataya (September 25, 1950-March 22, 2024). Mataya started shooting pool at age 11. Within a few years was playing exhibitions with Willie Mosconi. He then won three consecutive Michigan State Championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968. At 21, he won the 1971 Los Angeles 9-Ball Championship. Mataya won multiple titles in his career and in 1989 became a member of the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame.[1][2]
In 1982, Mataya wed Ewa Svensson, of Sweden (who was later inducted into Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame as Ewa Laurance in 2004), forming pool's first "power couple". Their daughter Nikki was born in 1985. Jimmy and Ewa later divorced.[3]
Mataya enjoys other games of stake. In 1991, he was seen leaving Las Vegas in a brand-new Cadillac, courtesy of the Sahara Casino.[4] In that same year Snap Magazine published an "...in-depth interview with Mataya, who offered many tips for young players and talked about his vision for the future of the sport."[5]
- ^ Pool and Billiard Magazine, December 1987
- ^ "World Team Billiards Trading Card Set | CueSight.com". www.cuesight.com. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- ^ Geffner, Mike. "Everybody Loves Ewa", Billiards Digest, page 52, April 2004
- ^ "Billy's Briefs", The Snap Magazine, page 7, September/October 1991, published by OTS Publications, a division of Billiard Enterprises of Florida
- ^ July/August, 1991 issue of The Snap.