Greatest of all time
- Thread starter Pangit
- Start date
Wimpy Lassiter
I think he needs to be at least considered as the greatest of all time. He did win 16 titles at Johnston City; WAY more than anyone else, and he won them in all of the different events. (14.1, 9-ball, and one-pocket) He also won a number of world championships, BCA Championships, and other all around events. I'm not sure if he played 3C or snooker, but I think at least as far as American pool is concerned, his name should definitely be in the running.
I think he needs to be at least considered as the greatest of all time. He did win 16 titles at Johnston City; WAY more than anyone else, and he won them in all of the different events. (14.1, 9-ball, and one-pocket) He also won a number of world championships, BCA Championships, and other all around events. I'm not sure if he played 3C or snooker, but I think at least as far as American pool is concerned, his name should definitely be in the running.
Last edited:
As much as I like and respect Mosconi's skill, imo he cannot even be considered for the "best ever" simply because he only excelled at one game. The best players could/can play all games...even snooker & 3C. Efren fills the bill there quite nicely...and is still playing extremely strong (and winning) in his late 50's!
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Larry Fine
Banned
The best ever Mister Lee was Willie Hoppe sir.
Hard to argue against Harold Worst.
Edited to note that Worst was a protege of Willie Hoppe.
Edited to note that Worst was a protege of Willie Hoppe.
Lassiter would be an obvious choice,just ask any great player of any era,luther is my pick also!
My thoughts
we are so lucky to have the internet available to us, access to video of all the current & a few past greats of the game that we love.
We can also travel great distances to compete against and or watch those same great living players.
The vast majority of us will never have the opportunity to see or watch the great talent of years ago.
Unfortunately very few of the accomplishments of the greats of yesterday were recorded, so we have no way of comparing the talent of past & present players.
It is fun to imagine how some of them would match up though.
SLIM
we are so lucky to have the internet available to us, access to video of all the current & a few past greats of the game that we love.
We can also travel great distances to compete against and or watch those same great living players.
The vast majority of us will never have the opportunity to see or watch the great talent of years ago.
Unfortunately very few of the accomplishments of the greats of yesterday were recorded, so we have no way of comparing the talent of past & present players.
It is fun to imagine how some of them would match up though.
SLIM
I was born in the 70's, that being said I would have to give the nod to Lassiter with Reyes close behind.
Lol I think Efren could do all that, while chewing gum, and if he could speak better english i wouldnt be suprised to watch him having conversations with the crowd and STILL making it look easy and he would still be feeling pleased as punch
Don Willis
Flew under the radar (by his own choice) most of his life, but regularly beat world champions in 14.1 and 9-ball.
http://www.gcaba.com/willis.htm
Flew under the radar (by his own choice) most of his life, but regularly beat world champions in 14.1 and 9-ball.
http://www.gcaba.com/willis.htm
Fortunately this topic hasn't ever been discussed before, whew.... Glad to finally get some fresh questions in this forum.
Welcome.
Welcome.
Alfredo de Oro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_de_Oro
From the BCA Hall of Fame
http://home.bca-pool.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=31
Alfredo DeOro
1862 - 1948
Inducted 1967
The career of the distinguished Spanish champion ALFREDO DeORO encompassed both Three-Cushion and Pocket Billiards and spanned the closing decades of the 19th century and the opening decades of the 20th. DeOro, who served in his country's diplomatic corps, first gained the Pocket Billiard crown in 1887. He was to repeat the achievement 16 times in the next 25 years. DeOro held the Three-Cushion title 10 times from 1908 through 1919. In 1934, at the age of 71, DeOro came out of retirement for a Championship Tournament, winning two dramatic victories from defending champion Welker Cochran and the ultimate winner of the tournament, Johnny Layton.
And don't forget the slow cloth and inferior pool balls, not the greased lightning cloth and more precision pool balls we play with today.
If the conditions were that easy, Schmidt, Harriman etc would have snapped of 526 like it was nothing by now on a similar table.
I agree, good case to be made for Varner. He beat Efren over in PHI as well...
There's a pretty obvious reason why Efren couldn't do that...But I'll let someone else point it out.
the best is yet to come
I have seen kids in their teens and early twenties with the knowledge and cue ball control that once took many thousands of hours to learn in the school of hard knocks. With government programs or even just the instructors and educational material available today the youngsters can get such a huge headstart on old time players that when one of the super gifted that comes along only once or twice a generation starts with the knowledge laid in front of them from an early age they will blow away everybody that has came before them. They may not post the win numbers because fields are so deep now but the level of play will exceed anything ever seen before I believe.
Speaking of the knowledge out there and readily available watching li'l Joe Villalpando's DVD's I was most impressed but couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. Somebody could start with a decent stroke and spend several months with those DVD's and be where I was at after ten or fifteen thousand hours playing pool. Other good material out there too but Joe's stuff really gives somebody all they need to be a winner without a lot of stuff missing or added. Turned out that when Joe and I started talking we pretty much mirror each other's thoughts on how to win at pool and he is a hell of a nice guy but there is still a part of me that thinks he handed over a tremendous amount of information for pocket change. I can't help thinking that I could take a kid with a burning desire and the right other qualities and send them to Joe, Joe Tucker, and maybe one or two other instructors and turn out an absolute monster in less time than it takes to get a two year degree.
Hu
I have seen kids in their teens and early twenties with the knowledge and cue ball control that once took many thousands of hours to learn in the school of hard knocks. With government programs or even just the instructors and educational material available today the youngsters can get such a huge headstart on old time players that when one of the super gifted that comes along only once or twice a generation starts with the knowledge laid in front of them from an early age they will blow away everybody that has came before them. They may not post the win numbers because fields are so deep now but the level of play will exceed anything ever seen before I believe.
Speaking of the knowledge out there and readily available watching li'l Joe Villalpando's DVD's I was most impressed but couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. Somebody could start with a decent stroke and spend several months with those DVD's and be where I was at after ten or fifteen thousand hours playing pool. Other good material out there too but Joe's stuff really gives somebody all they need to be a winner without a lot of stuff missing or added. Turned out that when Joe and I started talking we pretty much mirror each other's thoughts on how to win at pool and he is a hell of a nice guy but there is still a part of me that thinks he handed over a tremendous amount of information for pocket change. I can't help thinking that I could take a kid with a burning desire and the right other qualities and send them to Joe, Joe Tucker, and maybe one or two other instructors and turn out an absolute monster in less time than it takes to get a two year degree.
Hu
There's a pretty obvious reason why Efren couldn't do that...But I'll let someone else point it out.
he wares dentures
There's a pretty obvious reason why Efren couldn't do that...But I'll let someone else point it out.
he wares dentures
My pick for GOAT...Ricky Carmichael or Roger Decoster