Year 2000 Fireworks:
Charlotte Hosts the $50,000 National Championships

The second stop on this year's exciting Tornado pro foosball tour was an eventful 4 day foosball extravaganza that saw great performances from some of the sport's biggest names mes while also offering up a couple of surprise finishes and a truly remarkable coming of age performance from one of the game's newest stars.

The year 2000 version of the $50,000 National Foosball Championships took place on a glorious Independence Day weekend in the "Queen City" of America's south, Charlotte, North Carolina. The Downtown Hilton and Towers, a beautiful venue that featured shops, restaurants as well as a spacious ballroom facility was the host for this prestigious tournament. With six National open titles at stake (Masters Singles included) the competition was fierce with players from across the United States shooting to have their names etched in foosball history.

In Open Singles at the Charlotte Nationals, former partners Louis Cartwright and Terry Moore squared off in an exceptionally played final with Cartwright owning the winner's side of the bracket. As the match proceeded it again became apparent that these two table soccer superstars knew the other's style of game as if it were their own. They blocked each other's roll-over snake shots extraordinarily well and did not allow anything to score from the goalie position, at least early on in this Open Singles final. In the final game of the first set, Moore finally broke through, finding the chink in the armor of Cartwright's defense. He scored a couple of slicing near side shots from goal and drilled home key offensive efforts from his three rod as well to send the final match to a second set. In the final 3 out of 5 showdown, Terry contiinued to slice shots in from back against Cartwright, who possesses one of the best zone defenses in the sport, but didn't make the proper adjustments against Moore until late in the match and it proved to be costly... The second set was a closely-contested affair, much like the first, which went eventually to Terry Moore due in great part to his offensive conversions from goal and his always efficient overall singles game. With his victory Big Terry notched his 38th career open title and 7th national titlee, all since 1992.

The Open Mixed Doubles event at this year's National Championships featured a surprise winner's bracket finalist along with two local stars and a powerhouse comeback duo. Minnesotan Steve Mohs, looking for his first career major open title, and partner Amy Pfirmann from Maryland surprised the field by winning the winner's side of the bracket in impressive fashion.

On the loser's side, longtime tour stars Dave Gummeson and Christina Fuchs won 4 straight matches after losing to Mohs and Pfirmann to reach the final. Their journey to the final included a second tournament win over Hall of Fame Classic champs Todd Loffredo and Lisa Pride with both matches going down to the final ball. To earn their spot in the final, Gummeson and Fuchs got past the event's surprise team, local stars Richard Worley and Lisa Merritt who had their best open finishes ever with their third place result. In the mixed pairs final Mohs and Pfirmann, who was playing in her first ever open final, won game one and led 2-0 in the third game before Gummeson and Fuchs stormed from behind to win the first set. Again as in the first set Steve and Amy claimed game one to seize the momentum in the final match. But once again Dave and Christina came back to dominate the final two games and win their first title as a team two games to one. For Gummeson it was his second National title in the last 4 years while Christina Fuchs earned her third victory at this event in the last four years.

The Women's competition at this year's championships featured a familiar story and an equally familiar outcome. Birmingham, Alabama's Cindy Head, considered by all to be the greatest lady player ever, again dominated the event winning both the Singles and doubles titles giving her an amazing nine open titles in the last two years. In singles, Cindy defeated longtime nemesis Liz Hill, coming from the loser's bracket to win in two tough matches, making it three "double dips" in three 2000 Nationals finals. In the doubles event, Ms. Head teamed with the great Texas player Gena Murray to win the title defeating 1999 national titlists Liz Hill and Christina Fuchs in the final.

Terry Moore and Bobby diaz entered the Open Doubles competition at the 2000 Nationals as possibly the greatest team ever, having won a remarkable 11 major Open Doubles titles since first pairing up back in 1996. They had won the National title in both 1996 and 1998 and were looking to add the 2000 championship to their trophy case as well.

After losing a semifinal match in the winner's bracket, Moore and Diaz came back to defeat Horton and Beine for 3rd place or better and Todd Loffredo and Tracy McMillin to reach the final.

The winner's side of the Open Doubles bracket witnessed a tremendous overall team performance from Don Swan and his new partner Ron Sipiora. The number four ranked Swan, now living in Dana Point, California, had won 9 career titles including a 1998 World championship in Mixed Doubles and is considered by most to be a great goalie and one of the best all around players alive. Fellow Californian Ron Sipiora entered the 2000 Nationals never having one a major pro tour event with his best finish occurring in Open Singles at the 1998 Nationals when he placed second.

As the Open Doubles final got underway it quickly became apparent that Sipiora and Swan had come to play. They immediately jumped on the pre-match favorites Moore and Diaz, winning the first two games in overwhelming style with Sipiora dominating the 5 rod and scoring well while Swan defended the great Moore with equal proficiency. But as we have seen so often in the past, the final three games of the first set belonged to Terry Moore and Bob Diaz who won to take the match to a second and final set.

With all the momentum on their side, Moore and Diaz opened set number two by winning game one and it appeared that we might have yet another "double-dip" at the 2000 Nationals. In game two it looked as if Terry and Bobby would jump out to a 2-0 lead in games as they continued to play their usual brand of excellent foosball. But somehow Sipiora and Swan stole the second game and evened the match at one game apiece. The third game unfolded in similar fashion with Moore and Diaz surging into the lead only to see the underdog Californians come back to again steal the game for a 2-1 lead. Remarkably, the fourth game again seemed to be flowing towards Terry and Bobby. But with Swan making big block after big block while completely controlling the tempo and Sipiora continuing to perform extremely well on the five and three rods the match again turned towards the underdogs who won their first national title as a team.

For Don Swan the win represented his fifth career national title while for Sipiora it was his first career title of any kind. But as it would turn out Ron Sipiora's weekend wasn't quite finished yet.

For the past 13 years the prestigious Masters Singles event has been a solid staple of the professional tour. It has been an exciting and memorable ever since a red-headed fireball name Steve Murray won the inaugural competition back in 1988. The event moved from Minneapolis to Atlanta in 1982 and beginning last year became a valuable part of each season's National Championships. Other previous winners of this highly sought after title include Tom Spear, Gregg "Jeep' Perrie, Dave Gummeson, Robert Mares, Terry Moore, Louis Cartwright, Don Swan and the only two time winners Charles Britt and 1999 champion Todd Loffredo. At this year's Masters Singles event, Open Doubles partners Terry Moore and Bob Diaz both survived a tough Masters field to reach the semifinals in this 3 out of 5, single elimination competition. Texas pullshooter Tracy McMillin and 2000 doubles champ Ron Sipiora also played outstanding foosball in reaching the Masters "final four". In the first semifinal, Terry Moore faced off against Tracy McMillin with Moore looking to reach his third final of the weekend. Both players played well, winning two games each in a back and forth match that would go down to a fifth and final game. In the fifth game Moore jumped on top 3-2 only to see Tracy Mcmillin make his next three pullshots to win 5-3 and reach his first Masters final. On the bracket's other side Ron Sipiora, experiencing the tournament of his life, used a precise passing style and calculating three rod to roll over Bob Diaz in an impressive all around singles performance. There would be a brand new Masters champion in the year 2000. 1999 world mixed doubles champion Tracy McMillin of Laporte, Texas against Costa Mesa, California's Ron Sipiora who would try to win his second big title of the weekend. In the first game of the 3 out of 5 game final match, Ron Sipiora continued to operate at peak efficiency on both the five and three rods but couldn't overcome several fortunate breaks for McMillin as Tracy won game one 5-4. In game two, Sipiora carried the action as he sailed to an easy 5-1 victory. Although the match was officially tied at one game apiece, Sipiora had dominated play both from the goalie and forward positions while holding McMillin's three rod scoreless. But Tracy's hustle and transition offense had kept him in the match. As game three got underway Sipiora again found himself seemingly in control. However, Tracy pushed the game to 4-4 and then finally converted his first goal of the match from the three rod (a pull shot) to win the game. Now trailing two games to one, Sipiora kept plugging away, pulling out a 5-3 victory in game number four to send the 2000 Masters Singles final into a fifth and final game. Ron Sipiora jumped out to a 3-2 lead in game five as the battle for the green jacket came right down to the wire. The game went to 3-3 on a McMillin pull shot and then 4-4 after both players converted from their three rods. From the crowd came the familiar cry of "meatnut!" and the ball was served. Sipiora quickly advanced it to his three rod with a crisp bounce pass. He then set the ball up and stroked home the game-winner to win the 2000 Masters Championship, his first green jacket and his second title of this fantasy weekend in Charlotte.

We'll See Everyone in Texas For The Year 2000 World Championship!

Final Results:

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