Air-hockey champ rules the world from home
Colin Cummings can beat you — and everybody else — at air hockey.
The 17-year-old senior at Beaumont’s Kelly Catholic School is the reigning, defending, undisputed world champion of air hockey.
We’ve all played air hockey at a friend’s house or Dave & Buster’s or a mall arcade. We flail away at the puck, hoping to score a goal — mostly by luck, usually by accident. On defense, we press the mallet against the goal, protecting it like a mama duck.
Cummings doesn’t play that way. He’s always attacking. He plans every shot, several shots ahead. He plays air hockey like a grand master plays chess.
“I’ll move the puck around a lot on my side of the table,” he said. “I’ll get the opponent to think I’m going to shoot it to the left side of the goal. As soon as they think that, I’ll shoot it to the right side.”
“I hit the puck as hard as I can, but I make sure that my opponent never maintains or controls it. I use the same exact motion whether I’m shooting to the left side or the right side. My opponents have no idea where it’s going. They get totally faked out. I do it so fast, they can’t even comprehend that I’m faking them out.”
An air-hockey table is 8 feet long. Cummings slams the puck around 60 mph. Good luck stopping it. Or seeing it. Cummings won the air-hockey world championship last year, defeating Billy “The Machine” Stubbs. Cummings’ triumphant final point made ESPN’s Top 10 Plays. Last week, he doubled down by winning the Texas Open, defeating 11-time champion Danny Hynes twice en route to the finals.
He will defend his world title this fall in Houston.
I asked him, “Have you lost an air-hockey match since becoming world champion?” “Nope.” He’s the youngest-ever world champion. He’s undefeated since turning 16. Some say he’s the greatest player in air-hockey history. While professional air hockey is booming — about 1,000 players enter pro tournaments around the world — Cummings isn’t getting rich in the sport. His biggest pay day so far … $1,000. Plus a bunch of trophies and a cool championship belt.
Cummings started playing air hockey in the fifth grade, when his family moved to Texas from North Carolina. One of his new neighbors was an airhockey fanatic. Cummings picked up the sport and soon was beating everybody on the street.
Two years later, Cummings was the No. 1 junior air-hockey player in the world. It was time for him to buy his own air-hockey table.
“Luckily, there was a professional table for sale at a garage sale in The Woodlands. It was like brand new. Pro tables cost about $3,000. But they just wanted to get rid of it, and I got it for $300,” Cummings said.
He practices at home now, by himself, or with his dad, Michael, who just happens to be the No. 17-ranked player in the world.
Houston is the world capital of air hockey. The sport took off here in the ’70s, at bars and mall arcades. The sport caught fire in University of Houston dorms and recreation areas. Local players formed the U.S. Air Hockey Association and set down the first set of standardized tournament rules. First player to reach seven points wins the game. You don’t have to win by two points. Each match is decided best-ofseven games. The inaugural world’s championship tournament was held in Houston in 1978.
The United States Air Hockey Association has affiliated groups in Venezuela, Spain, Russia and the Philippines.
“The USAA recognizes two types of competitions: tournaments, like the Texas Open, where players acquire points toward their ranking, and oneon-one matches where players must defend their rankings. For example, although Colin Cummings is the No. 1 player, he must defend that ranking if he is challenged by any player in the world,” said Phil Arnold, founding member and current president of the United States Air Hockey Association.
Cummings survived such a mano-a-mano challenge in February. It took him two hours, but Cummings swept his opponent, 4 sets to 0.
Most air hockey pros are in their mid-30s. Nobody trash talks or tries to intimidate Cummings for being a teen, though.
“Nah, we’re like a fraternity,” he said. “We all know each other. We all respect each other’s ability at air hockey.”
Cummings hopes to attend the Air Force Academy next year and major in aeronautical engineering. In the meantime, he enjoys being a local celebrity. Yes, people who whip up on opponents at Dave & Buster’s do drop by his house — the classic pop in — to see how they measure up. So far, nobody’s come close to beating him.
He’s the world’s champ — and the world includes his house.