Gerda Hofstatter (File photo courtesy of Lori Jones)
The Women's Professional Billiards Association is proud to announce that Gerda Hofstatter Gregerson, affectionately known as the “G-Force”, was inducted into the WPBA Hall of Fame on January 5, 2018 at the 2018 WPBA Grand Slam, held at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
Gerda has demonstrated throughout her career, her athleticism, dedication, and passion for billiards.
Gerda Hofstatter, known as the “G-Force” to her colleagues and fans, was one of the perennial stars of the WPBA, the globally recognized association of the world’s best female professional pool players.
In her youth, Gerda was a competitive tennis player, skier, and fencer, and won the Austrian and International Junior Fencing Championships before deciding to focus exclusively on pool.
Born in 1971 to a family of four sisters and merchant parents, Gerda’s love for pocket billiards took hold at age 15 when she joined a hometown team in Althofen, Austria. Inspired by the beauty of the sport, Gerda made the leap to individual tournaments a year later, then quickly became the Austrian National Champion. At age 18, she brought home Austria’s first European Championships Gold Medal.
Those early accomplishments were recognized when her hometown awarded her an Honorary Gold Medal and “Key to the City.” One of Gerda’s fondest memories is of the time-off children were granted from school so they could participate in the mayoral-sponsored festivities.
In 1990, after finishing her secondary education, Gerda moved to Sweden to study and compete. After garnering Europe’s top player ranking for two consecutive years,
Gerda moved to the United States in 1993 to compete in the newly formed WPBA Classic Tour. To the surprise of many, including herself, Gerda won her first event and remains the only person to have done so in WPBA history. That year, Gerda was voted Austria’s Athlete of the Year for her state of Carinthia—besting both male and female athletes, including Olympic alpine skiers. Gerda’s WPBA tour wins span nearly two decades:
• 1993 Creative Inventions San Francisco Classic Championship
• 1993 Brunswick Billiards Atlantic Classic
• 1994 Leisure Bay Billiards Orlando Classic
• 1995 Huebler Cues Seattle Classic
• 1995 WPA World 9-Ball Championship
• 1996 McDermott Cues Austin Classic
• 1997 Brunswick Billiards WPBA National
• 1999 Discovery Huther-Doyle Rochester Classic
• 1999 Brunswick Billiards New York Classic
• 2000 BCA Open 9-Ball Championship
• 2010 San Diego Classic
In addition to her titles, Gerda has over 20 second-place finishes at WPBA sponsored events. In Europe, she took home 11 European Championships and 17 Austrian National Championships before retiring from the sport.
Gerda will always feel grateful to Predator Cues, Cal Spas, and CueTrackTM who sponsored her over the years. Beyond all else, she’s most appreciative to the thousands of fans and pool lovers around the world that came to see her play and who kept in touch through thick and thin. They will never be forgotten.
A love for teaching led Gerda to join Allison Fisher, Mike Massey, and Paul Potier as co- owners of Pool School in Paradise, a vacation and training venue attracting international clients. Gerda was also a co-instructor with Allison Fisher at Allison Fisher World Champion Academy, a weekend intensive for pool enthusiasts.
Gerda was ranked in the World Top 10 for 16 consecutive years from 1994 to 2010, and has been featured in dozens of ESPN televised matches. Most recently, she appeared in the 2010 WPBA San Diego Classic, where she triumphed over Asia’s #1 player to win the tournament. Her last televised match was a loss in the finals of the 2012 U.S. Open while she was six-months pregnant.
At the height of her career, Gerda took time to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from New York University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She has been a perennial supporter of charitable causes, particularly Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, a leader in funding breast cancer research, and Make-A-Wish Foundation®, grantors of wishes for children diagnosed with life- threatening medical conditions.
Gerda resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and two daughters—all avid pool lovers!
