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FDSH graduate Frideres enters Hall of Fame

Submitted photo Jessica Frideres, a Fort Dodge Senior High graduate, was inducted into the VNEA Hall of Fame.

A little over two decades ago, Jessica Frideres made a choice.

She didn’t want to sit idly by in the billiard rooms and watch her husband play the sport without her.

Twenty-three years later, Frideres is a decorated player that was placed last spring in the Valley National 8-Ball League Association (VNEA) Hall of Fame.

“It’s an accomplishment that you never dream is possible,” Frideres said. “I was excited like anyone would be, but it didn’t feel real. It’s something you can’t win — you have to be inducted.

“It was one of the last things on my mind.”

Frideres, who grew up in Fort Dodge and graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High in 1994, was always around her husband Jerrod when he was shooting pool. One day, she just decided to join the fun.

“When I met Jerrod, he was always playing. I would just go watch at first,” Frideres said. “I decided to start playing instead.

“It seemed fairly easy at first, but the competition got better every year and it keeps getting tougher to this day.”

That decision resulted in a lot of wins and a path to both the VNEA and Midwest Pool Association Hall of Fames.

Frideres has won 11 Midwest eight-ball singles awards and nine team crowns during her career. In VNEA, she has won four national eight-ball singles crowns, two nine-ball singles golds, six scotch doubles championships, and three team titles.

Frideres was also selected six times for a coveted spot on the VNEA All-Star teams. VNEA Iowa state first place finishes include eight-ball masters singles 13 times, as well as 13 spots on the master teams.

In her career, Frideres has combined for over 60 first-place performances in the ACS Nationals, Minnesota and Illinois state tournaments, Great Plains, ISPA, and in 2017, earned the women’s all around championship in the United States Amateur Bar and Table Championship, to go along a the first-place showing in the nine-ball division.

Frideres first picked up a cue in Fort Dodge and remembers the early days in her hometown.

“When I first started playing, I would play at the Playground that was owned by Jerry Harrison,” Frideres said. “I learned a lot there and in those local tournaments.”

Frideres, who lives a mile outside of Fort Dodge, shares the love of billiards with Jerrod, also an avid and decorated player.

The two have their own business, which was developed and is surrounded by billiards.

“Jerrod and I have a billiard and sign company,” Frideres said. “When I first started, I didn’t know I would be doing it for a living. I wanted to play and found a way to play.

“If I had not played, we would have never gotten into this business.”

Frideres’ three US Bar Table championships, national tournament titles and state crowns in the three sanctioning bodies are accomplishments the Hall of Famer had in mind during her career. Maintaining that success is the next goal.

“I have hit literally every goal I have set,” Frideres said. “I have been in the Top-100 and have won numerous tournaments. It does get tougher as you continue to play, though, so my main goal to maintain my performance level.”

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