The moment is seared in Mika Immonen's memory. The then 27-year-old Finnish national walked into Kansas City's Bartle Hall Convention Center to attend his first-ever billiard industry trade show. Immonen, already an established star in Europe, had recently relocated to New York City, and was beginning to make his presence felt on pool's world stage. He'd finished ninth at the 1999 World Pool Championship, and won his first event on U.S. soil, the Turning Stone Classic, a few months ahead of the 2000 Billiard Congress of America Trade Expo.Immonen's mission in Kansas City was to land a sponsor or two to help supplement the costs involved in travelling the world in search of billiard immortality. Handsome, stylish and well spoken, Immonen certainly had the look that billiard companies would want associated with their brands. And, his talent, while still somewhat raw, offered a significant upside.As he worked the aisles, milling through the seemingly endless maze of exhibitors sprawled across the massive, 280,000-square-foot show floor, he came upon the Brunswick Billiards booth. There, chatting with a large gathering of show-goers, was 91-year-old Jimmy Caras.Immonen stood, slack-jawed, staring at the billiard legend, known many decades earlier as "Boy Wonder." The young Finn didn't need to see the stats — four-time world champion, BCA U.S. Open champion in 1967, at age 57. Immonen knew he was in the presence of a Hall of Fame player."I was in awe," Immonen remembers today. "I wanted to ask him if I could get him a chair, or something to drink. I was completely at his service.

"I'd never seen him play," Immonen adds. "But I didn't question it. He was a great player."That's the moment that being in the Hall of Fame became a goal of mine."For Immonen, now 41, retirement and the awe-struck gaze of aspiring young players is likely still a ways in the distance. But the inspiration drawn from that moment in Kansas City, in part, drove Immonen to a pair of world pool championships, a pair of U.S. Open 9-Ball titles, a pair of International Challenge of Champions wins, the World Doubles Championship, 14 appearances for Team Europe in the Mosconi Cup, and, most recently, his own place along side Caras and 63 other pool legends in the BCA Hall of Fame."Needless to say, I'm really honored to be in the Hall of Fame," Immonen says. "I want to live up to that honor."For Immonen, as driven and mentally tough as any player in the world, the effect of being able to write, "Hall of Fame," after his name goes far beyond prestige and applause during tournament introductions."Obviously, my family and friends are all very proud," Immonen says. "But what's most interesting is how people who don't know much about me or my profession react. Being able to say, "I'm in the Hall of Fame," puts everything in a nutshell. All of a sudden, it gives people perspective. I play a sport, and I'm now in a group of the greatest players ever. People can instantly relate to that."The idea of sports halls of fame was fresh in Immonen's mind when he received news of his election in August."It's funny," he recalls. "I was coming home from Los Angeles, and I was at JFK [Airport in New York]. There was a guy near me, and he was talking to his son about what the hall of fame means in sports. It was interesting hearing him explain the importance and significance of being in a hall of fame."The next day, I received the call saying was in the BCA Hall of Fame."Immonen's journey to the game's most sacred shrine actually began, not in Finland, but in London, where he was born alongside his fraternal twin brother Kari. It was long after the family moved to Helsinki that Mika, then 16, sought refuge from the brutal Finnish winters in a local poolroom. The game of choice was Kaisa, or Russian pool, with oversize billiard balls. Over the next few years, Immonen would matriculate to snooker, and then to American 8-ball.By the mid-'90s, Immonen was a force on the EuroTour, and began making trips to the U.S. to cross cues with the then-mighty Americans. Success in the U.S. was tougher to come by, and after one particularly disheartening event, Immonen made two decisions that would shape his future."I was at a PCA [Professional Cuesports Association] tournament in Olathe, Kan." Immonen recalls. "And I went two-and-out.

I was really frustrated, and I knew I had to do something. I decided to shift my focus away from pool to clear my head. I decided to run a marathon. I picked up a runner's handbook, and started training. I picked the New York Marathon as my goal."The marathon training itself gave Immonen new life at the table, and his tournament performances immediately improved."My game was still raw," he admits today, "but, mentally, I was stronger. I believed I could win."Immonen continued to ascend the ranks, but not without a few memorable bumps along the way. Just months before his marathon debut, Immonen earned the 19th seed in the 1999 World Pool Championships in Cardiff. The 128-player field opened with six-player round-robin groups. With a pedestrian 2-2 record, Immonen's only chance to advance to the single-elimination final 64, required a 7-0 whitewash over American Kim Davenport in his final group match. Incredibly, Immonen led the match, 6-0, and was running out, until he missed the final 7 ball. Davenport won the rack, and Immonen broke down into tears, his hands covering his face.Crestfallen, Immonen returned to the U.S., ran his marathon (posting a sub-four-hour time), and, more importantly, decided to settle in the Big Apple.

"I felt rooted in New York City," he says. "And, over the years, it has been inspirational for me. People work hard here. You can't be lazy and succeed here, because there are too many people who will outwork you. Regardless of what your job is, you have to have a strong game to make it in New York.

"And I love the pool community here," he adds. "It's a fun place to play, and always competitive. It's a very active pool city."WHAT A DIFFERENCE A CENTURY MAKESThe trigger for Mika Immonen was as simple as the calendar rolling from the 20th century into the 21st century. Immonen owned the first decade of the new millennium, beginning with his Turning Stone triumph and Sudden Death 7-Ball win on ESPN in 2000.The real breakthrough, however, was his triumph in Cardiff at the 2001 World Pool Championship. Immonen scuffled again through the group stage, but once he reached the final 64, he rolled through six matches, including a 17-10 win over German ace Ralf Souquet in the finale, to earn his first world title.

"Every champion will tell you that the first major title is so important," Immonen says. "It is so necessary to establish the precedence that you can do special things, and that you can rise to that challenge."Immonen rose to many challenges during the decade. Just here months after winning that life-changing World Pool Championship, Immonen found himself on the wrong end of Corey Deuel's 11-0 title-match win at the 2001 U.S. Open. Immonen rebounded to win the prestigious U.S. title in back-to-back years (2008, 2009).
In 2006, Immonen was two balls from securing a historic win for Team Europe over Team USA in the Mosconi Cup in Rotterdam, Holland, when a badly misplayed shot opened the door for the U.S. to salvage a tie. Two years later, Immonen was unstoppable, winning the MVP award in a European victory.

He totaled 10 pro titles from 2000-2009, capping the decade with an incredible six-month run of wins — winning the Qatar Open, the Galveston World Classic 10-Ball title, the U.S. Open, the Challenge of Champions, and garnering his second world title, the 2009 World 10-Ball Championship.Immonen's dazzling dash to the end of the decade was enough to earn him Billiards Digest's Player of the Decade honor."I think the end of 2009," Immonen says, thinking back, "that kind of sealed a spot in the BCA Hall of Fame. The second U.S. Open and the World 10-Ball Championship were a pretty big statement."Immonen remains one of the game's most mentally tough players, and one of the game's fittest players, which bodes well for continued success at the table for years to come."I'm still young," says Immonen, who completed his second New York Marathon in 2013 (another sub-four-hour performance). "I've got a good 15 years of good pool left. I could still be a threat for a while."Experience plays a big role in pool," he insists. "And, with age comes experience. I had a faster time in the marathon at 40, than I did at 26. When you're young, you have no patience. You're too anxious." Not that the Manhattan Finn plans to play pool forever."I'd like to be known for something else, too," he says. "I think I can use skills I've acquired as a player and from traveling around the world to do something else. We'll see."