His grandfather, his grandmother and his aunt were champion billiards. Shane not only kept the family tradition, but broke all records. As he explains in his own website, at the age of 2, they gave him a little billiard table and there he started to make his first shots.
Step by step, he was learning with the help of his grandfather, and when he was 16 he was already playing for money in South Dakota and other points in the United States. In 2007, by winning its first US Open, it stopped being a promise and began to be the rival to beat that it is now.
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A peculiarity of Shane is that he suffers from hearing problems and uses hearing aids. However, that has never affected his game.
Shane is an amazing billiard player, but if anything he stands out in the stratospheric serve he has. It is no coincidence: in several interviews he says that for many years he has dedicated whole sessions of 6 or 8 hours practicing the service. Although now he spends less time on break and more on long balls.
He is also known for playing always with a glove and, for some years, with extension in the club.
His last big accomplishment was to get the fifth US Open 9 Ball Championship, thus equaling the record that his friend Earl Strickland had so far. It was not easy. And, in fact, there is a curious story that Shane himself shared with his fans.
When he lost in the third round with Chang, Shane received several provocative messages from an anonymous enemy. The sender sent that dose of negative energy to sink the player but this had the opposite effect. Shane saw in those messages the best motivation and from that moment he got to work until he got the fifth:
When away from the pool table, Shane is a great lover of hunting and fishing. If you follow him on Facebook you will see that it very often replaces the cue for the fishing rod and he loves to show it to his followers:
Today, Shane is at least one step above the rest of American billiards. At 33, he won't stop amazing us.
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