Nack Ballard - USA
Born in Evanston, Illinois in 1958, Nicholas Lee Ballard, more commonly known as Nack Ballard, reigned as the #1 Giant of Backgammon for six years between 1999 and 2005. Ballard has played and excelled in many other games as well, such as Chess, Scrabble and Go, just to name a few. He won the World Championship of the American Backgammon Championship (ABC) in June of 1982 – the ABC was an organization that existed in the USA and held several events billed as World Championships for a number of years.
With countless victories in many international events the world over, Nack is particularly remembered for winning the Pro Am on three occasions - in 2001, 2003 and 2004 – once with teammate Harvey Huie and twice with Wayne McClintock. The Pro Am was a high stakes Doubles event with an entry of $10,000 formerly held in Las Vegas and was attended by many of the world's best. (This event was later called the World Doubles Backgammon Championship is now called the American Doubles Championship.)
In January of 2007, some 25 of the 32 Giants of Backgammon played in the 128-player, first-ever million-dollar backgammon tournament organized by Stephen Pearson of Player International and renowned backgammon consultant Michael Strato. The event took place in the surreal settings of the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas, and of the 25 then Giants competing, Nack Ballard went the furthest, making it to the semi-finals, just one step away from the final in which he could have won over $600,000 in first place prize money.
Ballard has played in fewer tournaments in recent years as he is writing a series of books, co-authored with backgammon master Paul Weaver, about how to play the first three rolls in backgammon – the first book in the series has been released and is called Backgammon Openings – Book A.
