LIER - The most famous and successful billiard player in history turns eighty on Wednesday next week. Raymond Ceulemans (from July 12, 1937 in Lier) is in fine health, is vital, still plays billiards on a high level, fills most of his days with his wife Angèle and is a master in telling fascinating stories about his rich career. Next Monday, the Dutch television is coming to his house for a report. Two days later, Ceulemans celebrates his 80th birthday in a homely, family circle.
The best billiard player ever, in an era of autocracy and absolute power, won 35 world titles (20 in the three cushion), 48 European titles and 61 Belgian titles. He doesn't even take into account the titles he achieved with his successful teams. Mister 100, the nickname he received after his 100th title in Las Vegas, was appointed to knight by the Belgian king as one of the few Belgian sportsmen. He doesn't expect that his unlikely honor list will ever be approached. ,,The billiards world today, with all its professional players, has much more world class players than in my best years. We can't predict a winner anymore for the World championships and World Cups. Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers, Dani Sánchez, Eddy Merckx, they are so close to each others, that everyone can win big tournaments.''
The professionalization of his sport has boosted the level in the last five to ten years. Raymond: ,,The arrival of the Koreans, the invasion of wonderful players, has started the new evolution. They are not with five, or with ten, but with dozens of guys who can play two and more average. And nowadays, they come from all over the world. I have never played in Vietnam myself, we always thought they always made war. And now it appears to be a country where big billiard players have grown up.''
He knows and has watched most of this generation of top players and has a huge admiration for them. ,,I'm still looking forward to see those players, because it still makes me feel one of them. I'm grateful that the welcome me with open arms everywhere. That's a sign that I'm still alive. When I can find some time, I will leave for New York again in a few weeks to play the tournament. After all the years, it's still special to me. I played there since the years of Sang Lee, who died 12 years ago. But also in the World championships, like the last two years in Bordeaux, I like to see and enjoy the ambiance and the game level. It's the most common thing in the world, nowadays, that players make 40 points in 10 innings or less. That's great to look at. But I have to say that I played my best match ever, 40 in 8 innings, 18 years ago. Not too bad for those years.''
He can analyze the star players now with his expert eyes. Torbjörn Blomdahl and Eddy Merckx, the natural talents with their amazing, fast stroke technique and flashy caroms. ,,I once said: Merckx's softest shot, is still faster than Caudron's fastest shot.'' Dick Jaspers and Frédéric Caudron, he says, are the academic players in the circuit. ,,What a pleasure to look at Caudron: for him, billiard in all disciplines has no secrets.'' He admires Dick Jaspers for his enormous concentration. ,,You can drop a bomb in the room next to the billiard when he is playing, he will not hear it. I also was such a player, with a great focus.''
The averages have been raised so quickly after the development from amateurs to professionals. ,,This generation of top players only live from billiard. That means they play and practice a lot, all days. The tables, balls, cloths, cues all have been improved. Training, matches, watching other strong players has greatly increased the game level in three cushion in a short time. The position-playing has become much more important. Hard shots, like Blomdahl and Merckx, seem to be uncontrolled, but by playing and practicing a lot, they know exactly the position of the balls. For us, in my earlier years, that was a utopia.''
,,I was working in the diamond world for ten years, after that we were running cafes. I played billiard in between, travelling all over the world to big tournaments. Somewhere around 1985, it changed when Werner Bayer started his professional circuit. From then we could earn some money with billiards and we first could live like professional sportsmen. That's quite a difference with the current generation of top players. Some of them have never worked, they only play billiards.''
He is often asked, in his later years, for the most valuable and beautiful titles in his career. ,,I can't answer that question: all titles were important and wonderful. The first world title, I will never forget, but there have been so many great wins over the years. And my last, in 2001, when nobody believed in me anymore, was very special. I became world champion in Luxembourg, in a tournament with all the major players of this generation.''
His former, great friend and supporter, Herman Jacquemijn, gave me a wise lesson in life. 'Raymond, he said to me, we should enjoy each and every day. We don't have to become the richest people in the churchyard.' Raymond: ,,We will never be that. We live a good life. I just had a slight setback with my health this year. They gave me a pacemaker, because my heartbeat was so slow that it almost stopped. Now, it's regulated at 60 beats per minute. I feel great and happy on my way to my eightieth year. I never could have thought, I realised these days. When I was around twenty, I could never think I'd be eighty.''
The anecdotes of such a long career never get boring, about the long triumphal procession through cities such as Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Lima, Cairo, La Paz, Antwerp and other world cities. And all told with the typical Ceulemans sense of humor. Some of them:
,,We played the final of a World championship in the Lima football stadium. The Peruvian-neutralized Japanese Suguimizu was the big home crowd favourite, encouraged as the local hero. I was so much better, that he never stood a chance. And because the disappointment in the stands was so great, the supporters suddenly began to throw small cushions at us. The Peruvian speaker grabbed the microphone and called out: 'Please, show some respect to this great champion.'' After that, they settled down and we were able to finish the match.''
The Argentine Carlos Friedenthal was his opponent at a World championship in an all against nothing match. ,,I pushed him off the table, won with a score of 50-7 and because the scoreboards had three digits, it said: Carlos Friedenthal, 007. That's how he got his nickname James Bond.'' ,,The Japanese Keizo Kubo could produce the most incredible shots with his defining stroke. He was a skinny little guy, sharp as a knife. If you threw a loaf of bread at him, it would come back sliced...''
He would like to take nowadays top guns to the South America of the old days, with billiard tables that were so tilted, that the balls went all the unexpected sides of the billiard. ,,Playing with ivory balls was a lot different than with today's jewels. I once played a World championship in Buenos Aires. After one shot, my ball moved several centimetres before it stopped. When I went to sit down, one of the spectators bdhind me whispered: it's the will of God, sir.''
Three cushion, he is pleased to say, has become a real world sport. ,,They play it in Korea, Vietnam, Japan, North America, South America, and in Europe, everyone knows billiards. I agree that it never will be a mass sport like football. You can not put a billiard table in a football stadium. We will always keep playing in rooms and sports centres. But how great it is it to see that we are such an international sport now, with players all around the world.''
Which were his most beautiful years when he looks back? ,,That was when I played for Crystal Kelly, a fantastic team, whose sponsor also organized a major tournament every year in Monaco.'' And... the years of Werner Bayer are in his memory forever.
Raymond Ceulemans still plays for teams in Belgium and the Netherlands. For the next season, he even joined the Dallinga team with Frédéric Caudron. Mister 100 in Lier is the family team, showing up in the highest division with Peter, Kurt, Raymond and Bart Ceulemans. He rarely misses a match... and Angèle, his wonderful wife, is always around to encourage the team. ,,We've always had a good time together'', Raymond assures. ,,In my early years, Angèle could not always come along with me She had to run the business and raise the children. But now, she's always there when we play. I must say, I have a great woman, but..., that's not a real surprise for me. I found her myself. She is almost 79 now, Angèle, still very strong. I guess she's able to start off in the women's Tour de France this year.''
Raymond and Angèle, surrounded by the Ceulemans family
Raymond Ceulemans with another Belgian sports legend: football player Jef Jurion
At the World championship last year: Raymond, his wife Angèle and French former star player Francis Connesson