One of a Kind

Bustamante broke through in 1997 with two majors before winning BD Player of the Year honors the following year.

Even so, fortuitous luck was still an essential ingredient to upward mobility. That came in 1991, when a Filipino friend took Bustamante to Europe to play in some tournaments. After playing in an event in Switzerland, the pair was driving through Germany when they stopped at Rick's Cafe, a poolhall in the town of Kiel, near Hamburg. The owner, an Indonesian, immediately fell in love with Bustamante's style on the table. Bustamante suddenly became the house pro, complete with a handsome salary, room and board, and money to travel to tournaments throughout Europe and even to the U.S. and back home to the Philippines. It was a productive gig he ran with for over a decade.

"In Germany I slept good, I ate good, I made money and I practiced every day," Bustamante said. "I was only 29 years old so [I was] in good shape then. "

Bustamante's presence lit up the entire pool scene throughout the Continent. Veteran Oliver Ortmann recalls that, when Bustamante first came to Germany, the buzz about this unique Filipino spread quickly amongst Europe's pool community.

"His style was totally different than any European player," Ortmann said. "He came out with shots nobody knew to come up with. He did safeties you wouldn't even think about. He had this really powerful break shot. To beat Bustamante at that time was to beat the best in the world. He was like a hero to us in Europe. He really helped grow pool in Germany and in Europe. Everyone was talking about him."

With Germany as his base, Bustamante soon headed to the Promised Land for all Filipinos, the United States, making his tournament debut in 1992. Noted tournament director Jay Helfert recalls that once word got around about this new Filipino player on the scene, his mere presence in a room had everyone paying rapt attention.

"Back then he used to have long hair," Helfert said. "He'd wear all black. He was scary. We'd say, 'Here comes Dracula.' He sucked the blood out of the American pool players' pockets. And he had the most powerful break anyone had ever seen. That was a huge advantage."

"I don't know where that break comes from," Bustamante said, laughing. "People in the States used to ask me how I got that big break and I tell them, 'I guess it's because I eat a lot of rice. It makes me strong.'"

And Bustamante, whether in money games or in tournaments, was always dead serious about taking care of business. "Although Francisco has always been a friendly guy, he wasn't really there to make friends," Helfert said. "He came to win and to win money. He saw other players as rivals. He was there to match up. He had so much heart and courage. Francisco was fearless and not afraid of anyone."

Nobody was surprised when Bustamante finally broke through and won two Camel Tour events in 1997. But the following year, he took his game to another level, winning four major tournaments in the U.S. and capturing his first BD Player of the Year award. For the next few years Bustamante continued traveling the world and winning consistently. Then in 2002 his exploits cemented his rarefied status among pool's all-time elite. It started in the knockout rounds of the World Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales, when Bustamante received a nightmarish call from his wife, Mila, back in the Philippines, telling him that their 7-month-old daughter had contracted a viral infection and suddenly died.

"When my wife called me, I just wanted to quit and go home," Bustamante said. "But my wife and Mr. Puyat (his sponsor) told me, 'If you come here there's nothing you can do.' So I play[ed] for my daughter."

In the match right after he found out his daughter had died, however, he looked listless and uninterested. He trailed 10-6 in a race to 11 against Antonio Lining, who was breaking for the match. But Lining broke dry and Bustamante ran out - and then won the next four racks for a miraculous victory. That was the spark for one of pool's most inspirational runs, which ended in a heartbreaking 17-15 loss to Earl Strickland in the final.

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