Welcome to Legends of the Cue!
Legends of the Cue
Legends of the Cue
"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with notable players, promoters, administrators and other people of influence in and around cue sports. We also plan to highlight memorable brands, events and venues. Focusing on the positive aspects of the sport, we aim to create and provide an engaging and timeless repository of content that listeners can enjoy now and forever. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher, Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, our podcast focuses on telling the life stories of cue sport’s greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”
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Legends of the Cue

Legends of the Cue

"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with notable players, promoters, administrators and other people of influence in and around cue sports. We also plan to highlight memorable brands, events and venues. Focusing on the positive aspects of the sport, we aim to create and provide an engaging and timeless repository of content that listeners can enjoy now and forever. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher, Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, our podcast focuses on telling the life stories of cue sport’s greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”

Legends of the Cue

Recent Episodes

Aug. 11, 2026

Darren Appleton - Part 3 (Inside the Mosconi Cup—Leadership, Rivalry and Team Europe)

Few players have embodied the emotion of the Mosconi Cup like Darren Appleton. In Part 3 of his Legends of the Cue interview, the European pool icon goes inside the team room, the arena and the pressure cooker that transformed the annual USA-versus-Europe contest into one of cue sports’ greatest spectacles. Appleton reflects on joining Team Europe in 2009 and bringing a more vocal, fiery presence to a group traditionally known for quiet professionalism. He explains why assembling the highest-
Aug. 11, 2026

Darren Appleton - Part 2 (Reinventing a Champion—From English 8-Ball to World 10-Ball Glory)

Darren Appleton’s rise was anything but gradual. In Part 2 of this Legends of the Cue interview, “Dynamite” recalls winning the first professional tournament he entered, developing one of pool’s most admired cue deliveries and making the career-defining decision to leave English 8-ball behind for American pool. Appleton explains why his compact stroke, timing and cue-ball control were developed through observation rather than formal coaching. He remembers studying Jimmy White, Ronnie O’Sulliv
Aug. 11, 2026

Darren Appleton - Part 1 (From Pontefract to Professional Pool—The Making of “Dynamite”)

Before Darren “Dynamite” Appleton became a multiple world champion and BCA Hall of Famer, he was a fiercely competitive kid growing up on a council estate in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. In Part 1 of this five-part Legends of the Cue interview, Appleton takes Mike Gonzalez, Allison Fisher and Mark Wilson back to the beginning of a remarkable cue sports journey. Darren explains how a childhood shaped by working-class values, football, boxing and family competition forged the mentality that late
Aug. 4, 2026

Alan McManus - Part 6 (The Future of Snooker, Pool vs. Snooker, and Alli’s Rapid Rack)

The sixth and final part of our Legends of the Cue interview with Alan “Angles” McManus looks forward as much as it looks back. After tracing Alan’s journey from Glasgow schoolboy to Masters champion, Crucible semi-finalist, commentator, and podcaster, this closing episode turns to the future of snooker, the growth of cue sports, and the enduring connection between snooker and pool. Alan shares his views on the modern professional game, the extraordinary standard of today’s players, and the i
Aug. 4, 2026

Alan McManus - Part 5 (From Professional Snooker Player to Commentator, Analyst, and Podcaster)

In Part 5 of our Legends of the Cue conversation with Alan McManus, we follow his transition from the professional arena to the commentary box, the television studio, and the world of podcasting. After more than three decades as a professional snooker player, Alan retired in 2021 and moved more fully into broadcasting. In this episode, he reflects on how the balance gradually shifted from competing to commentating, what he learned from being around television production, and why explaining th
Aug. 4, 2026

Alan McManus - Part 4 (Beating Stephen Hendry, Winning the Masters, and Crucible Memories)

Part 4 of our Alan McManus series brings us to the championship heart of his career: the 1994 Masters at Wembley, the famous final against Stephen Hendry, and the long arc of a professional snooker life lived at the highest level. Alan takes Mike Gonzalez, Allison Fisher, and Mark Wilson inside one of the most memorable wins of his career: defeating Hendry 9–8 in the Masters final. He reflects on what finals felt like, why some players seemed naturally built for them, and how different the at

Recent Blog Posts

May 12, 2026

The Maverick Mindset: Why Justin Bergman Chose His Own Path in Pool

Welcome back to the blog, fellow cue sport enthusiasts! In our latest podcast episode, "Justin Bergman - Part 3 (Doing It His Way)," we delved deep into the fascinating and often unconventional journey of one of pool's most distinctive personalities…
May 12, 2026

Mark Wilson's Blueprint: Discipline and Distractions in Team USA Pool

Welcome back to the blog, everyone! This week on Legends of the Cue, we delved into a fascinating aspect of elite pool that often goes unseen: the delicate balance between instilling discipline and managing the inevitable distractions that come with…

About the Hosts

Allison Fisher Profile Photo
Allison Fisher

Allison Fisher started playing pool when she was 7. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 15 world titles in total. After winning 11 world championships in snooker, she moved to the United States in 1995 to play on the WPBA Tour. Allison did not take long to make her mark in the world of pool, winning only the second tournament that she played in. She has an unequalled record, winning over 60 WPBA titles as of 2024, which includes 4 world 9-Ball championships. She was invited to play in the inaugural Mosconi Cup.

Allison was inducted into the WPBA Hall of Fame, Billiard Congress of America HOF, WPA HOF, World Snooker HOF and the World Billiard Museum HOF.

Allison was nicknamed "the Duchess of Doom". Her greatest season was the 2000/2001 season when she won 8 consecutive major pro pool tournaments.

Allison was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to sport.

Mark Wilson Profile Photo
Mark Wilson

Mark grew up in Moline, Illinois and graduated high school in 1973 and attended Blackhawk College to play baseball, but pool began demanding an increasingly large portion of his attention.

He became a professional pool player in 1975. Without a pro tour in those days, a player could only earn money from the sport through gambling matches and regional tournaments. If you could excel, the reward would be a sub-poverty level income – so being young, single, and frugal were critical assets. He is deeply satisfied that somehow he managed to spend the best years of his life doing what he loved best.

Mark played in the 1994 and 1995 Mosconi Cups and captained the U.S. side in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He has been involved in pool matches in many corners of the earth. England, Iceland, Japan, Sweden, Canada, Philippines, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, in addition to all of the major and most of the minor U.S. cities have played host to his passion.

Mike Gonzalez Profile Photo
Mike Gonzalez

Mike is a retired business executive, having headed up several mid-sized companies in a career that spanned nearly 35 years. Introduced to pool at an early age, he has been passionate about the game ever since. A graduate of the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago, Mike appreciates his midwestern roots and has been a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He has served on various professional and philanthropic boards including the Material Handling Board of Governors, the Boys & Girls Club, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Southeastern Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District (Miller Park). Currently, Mike enjoys work as Lead Director of an employee-owned firm and as a mentor to young business executives. Mike met his wife Jan in college and they have been married for 40+ years. They have two grown daughters and one adorable grandson.

Reviews

Love it!

"Legends of the Cue isn’t just a podcast, it’s a living time capsule of the soul of professional cue sports. With each episode, Alison Fisher, Mark Wilson and Mike Gonzalez invite us into the inner sa…"

Terry Albl | Aug. 1, 2025