Allison Fisher shares a personal announcement: her Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and her decision to retire from competitive pool. In this special episode of Legends of the Cue, Allison joins fellow host Mike Gonzalez for an honest, emotional conversation about change, family, and her enduring love for the game.

Diagnosed in July 2025, Allison opens up about the symptoms that led her to seek answers, the shock of receiving the news, and the private challenges behind her absence from tournament play. She reflects on the grief of stepping away from competition after four decades and the support of her partner, Dee, her mother, and close friends as she begins a new chapter.

Then comes the story behind an unforgettable farewell. Allison revisits her final competitive event in Jacksonville, where she partnered with Jesus Atencio to win The Predator Pro Billiards Series Jax Mixed Doubles Open gold and earned bronze in the women’s World Nine Ball Championship. With most spectators unaware of her diagnosis, every match carried a significance they could not see. From a surprise arrival by Dee to the joy of standing on the podium, Allison reveals what those moments truly meant.

There is laughter here, too: friendships, fierce rivalries, and the shared experiences that make the billiards community feel like family.

Allison also discusses finding connection with others living with Parkinson’s, her hopes for raising awareness, and why teaching, commentary, and preserving cue sports history through this podcast remain central to her life.

Her competitive career has ended, but her involvement in pool continues with purpose, gratitude, and plenty of stories still to tell.

Listen as one of the sport’s greatest champions shares this news in her own words, thanks the fans and sponsors who have supported her, and looks ahead to what comes next, both within the game she loves and beyond the tournament arena.

Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text.

Support the show

Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on:

Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1

Music by Lyrium.

About

"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come.

Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.

Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”

Winning a world championship changes how others see you. Winning two can change how you see your responsibility to the sport.

In the concluding chapter of Hydred Goldberg’s Legends of the Cue story, the two-time WPA Parasport Heyball World Champion looks beyond trophies toward the future of wheelchair pool, women’s billiards and international Parasport competition.

Hydred discusses returning to competition as defending champion, her growing friendship and rivalry with Catherine Schneeberger, and why she chose not to room with Catherine before their second world championship despite their close relationship. She also reflects candidly on Schneeberger finally defeating her at the 2026 World Championship in Oslo—and what Hydred intends to do differently next time.

The conversation goes deep into the continuing evolution of Hydred’s game: developing multiple strokes from the wheelchair, precise chair alignment, practicing opposite-handed shots, and why she would rather kick than use a jump cue. Mark Wilson and Allison Fisher join her in a lively debate about jump cues, traditional pool skills and the changing character of the sport.

Hydred also talks about Henrik Larsson, whom she describes as her pool mentor and doubles partner, and about their shared work promoting Parasport billiards internationally. She discusses accessibility, the tiny number of female wheelchair competitors, her dream of seeing cue sports enter the Paralympic Games, and which country she would represent if that dream became reality.

Then comes Alli’s Rapid Rack, with questions about Efren Reyes, world championships, creativity, jump cues and Hydred’s ultimate goal: winning a match in a women’s professional pool event.

The episode closes with deeply personal questions about what Hydred would tell herself immediately after her 1993 accident—and, ultimately, how she hopes to be remembered.

Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text.

Support the show

Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on:

Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1

Music by Lyrium.

About

"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come.

Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.

Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cu...

How does a lifelong 9-ball player enter a world championship in a game she has barely played—and leave as the first women’s champion in its history?

That unlikely journey is at the heart of Part 3 with Hydred Goldberg on Legends of the Cue.

Hydred joins Allison Fisher, Mark Wilson and Mike Gonzalez for a detailed exploration of what elite pool really looks like from a wheelchair. She explains how table height, flooring, wheel position, abdominal strength and stroke mechanics affect every shot, why draw can become particularly demanding, and how wheelchair players develop different patterns and solutions around the table.

She also remembers the atmosphere of old-school Southern California poolrooms, watching Keith McCready perform an outrageous draw shot at College Billiards and looking up to top female players such as Tina Pawloski.

Hydred then traces nearly two decades working in makeup before stepping away from that career and recommitting to pool. Her return led her into the National Wheelchair Poolplayers Association, where she became increasingly aware of just how few women were competing in wheelchair billiards.

Then came a phone call about something called Heyball.

Hydred had never seriously played the Chinese-origin discipline and had no regular access to a Heyball table. Yet at the inaugural 2024 WPA Parasport Heyball World Championship in Los Angeles, she kept winning.

Her championship battle with Catherine Schneeberger eventually came down to a spot-shot shootout—the second shootout the two had contested during the event.

Hydred won.

Six months later in Brisbane, she did it again, defeating Schneeberger once more to become a two-time WPA Parasport World Champion.

Hydred discusses the pressure, the friendship, the rivalry—and the lingering imposter syndrome that made even two world titles difficult to comprehend.

Give Allison, Mark & Mike some feedback via Text.

Support the show

Follow our show and/or leave a review/rating on:

Our website: https://www.legendsofthecue.com

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legends-of-the-cue/id1820520463

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Za0IMh2SeNaWEGUHaVcy1

Music by Lyrium.

About

"Legends of the Cue" is a cue sports history podcast featuring interviews with Hall of Fame members, world champions, and influential figures from across the world of cue sports—including pocket billiards, snooker, and carom disciplines such as three-cushion billiards. We highlight the people, places, and moments that have shaped the game—celebrating iconic players, memorable events, historic venues, and the brands that helped define generations of play. With a focus on the positive spirit of the sport, our goal is to create a rich, engaging, and timeless archive of stories that fans can enjoy now and for years to come.

Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher and Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, Legends of the Cue brings these stories to life—told in the voices of the game’s greatest figures.

Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cu...