Jimmy Mataya

rdf:langString Jimmy Mataya

rdf:langString Jimmy Mataya is an American professional pool player, nicknamed "Pretty Boy Floyd". "Pretty Boy Floyd", as he loves to be called, 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 Dayton Open Nine-ball and went on in 1972 to win the Dayton Open All Championship, becoming the youngest player in the history of the game to win back to back titles. Mataya won over 30 major titles in his career.. A member of the Michigan State Sports Hall of Fame. In 1982, Jimmy Mataya, 31, wed Ewa Svensson, 17, 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. Mataya enjoys other games of stake. In 1991, he was seen leaving Las Vegas in a brand-new Cadillac, courtesy of the Sahara Casino. 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."