This for Kissedout... just to mention one player and era
Harold Worst
Harold Worst Timeline/Chronology
1929: Harold Worst is born on September 29, 1929, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Harry J. Worst and Lavina Worst.
1946: According to a Chicago Tribune article dated February 13, 1950, Worst never picks up a cue until age 17, when his father installs a junior-size billiards table in the basement.
Around this time, Harold Worst meets Tena Huisman, his future wife. She later recalled in an interview that even as a teenager, he always wore a suit.
Worst begins to hang out at Chinnick's, a famous poolroom frequented by celebrities like heavyweight boxing champions Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney.
Worst's billiards tutors include Walter Brundage and oilman Joe "Red" McDevitt, an amateur champ who moved to Grand Rapids from Ohio in 1946.
Worst has a great eye, strong wrists, a cool temperament, and tremendous powers of concentration. He soon surpasses his mentors.
1949: Roy Deak "the Deacon" Nichols, who managed Chinnick's poolroom, contacted Brunswick-Balke, the sponsor of Willie Hoppe, about the "boy wonder."
As a result of Nichols' inquiry and a last-minute cancellation by another player, Brunswick-Balke agrees to pit Hoppe against Worst in a Detroit exhibition.
Although Worst loses (albeit by just one point), Hoppe is impressed, befriends Worst, and begins to tutor him.
At age 21, Worst becomes the youngest player ever to qualify for the world three-cushion billiards championship.
Worst places second in the U.S. National Three-Cushion Billiards Tournament, then fourth in the world championship.
1950: Worst marries Tena Huisman, then gets drafted and is deployed to Korea.
According to "Champion of Obscurity" by George Fels, Worst makes over $500 per week playing servicemen who "lined up" to give him their money, not believing he could be so good.
Worst snags a furlough to play in the U.S. National Three-Cushion Billiards tournament, where he places second (with a 7-2 record) after Mexico's Joe Chamaco, the defending champion.
Worst is called "the baby of the show" by the Chicago Daily Tribune.
Worst still has hair at this time, as the Chicago Tribune describes him as "blond."
Willie Hoppe predicts that Worst will emerge as "the next world champion, providing he can practice as much with a cue as he can with a rifle."
Worst then spends nine months in Korea as a member of the Army graves registration unit (an assignment that weighed on and depressed him).
On a brighter note, Worst is allowed to give billiards lessons and put on exhibitions at military recreation centers.
1951: Worst again participates in the U. S. National Three-Cushion Billiards tournament, representing the Army.
1952: Willie Hoppe wins the last of his 51 world titles, then retires at age 64. Many experts consider him to be the greatest three-cushion billiards player of all time.
Hoppe presents Worst with his personal billiards table, after retiring.
Three-cushion billiards begins to die on the vine, in terms of popularity with the public, after Hoppe's retirement.
Worst is discharged in November 1952, and returns to competitive billiards five months later.
1954: Worst's journey to Buenos Aires, Argentina results in his first three-cushion billiards world championship. The 10-day event draws 110,000 spectators.
Worst is the youngest three-cushion billiards world champion to date, at age 25.
Worst's overall record is 8-2 record, with a 60-45 victory over reigning champion Ray Kilgore and a 60-43 victory on October 25, 1954 over Argentina's Ezequiel Navarra, the hometown favorite.
Worst had to be protected by a cordon of 25 policemen from an angry mob of Argentines who were unhappy about Navarra being defeated by an outsider.
Worst turned down a $15,000 bribe from mobsters, and was advised to leave the country immediately after winning by Juan and Evita Peron.
According to an article by George Fels, Worst said that he never received the trophy.
The October 26, 1954, edition of The Grand Rapids Press bears the headline: "Worst Brings City Second World Title." (The first world title was brought by bowler Marion Ladewig.)
Accompanying the story is a two-column photograph of Harold attempting a difficult massé shot, looking dapper in a suit and polka-dot tie.
Worst will hold the world three-cushion billiards title until his premature death at age 37.
1957: Worst defends his world title in Chicago, winning four blocks in a row against Joe Chamaco of Mexico.
From Sports Illustrated: "Harold Worst, nerveless pool shark from Grand Rapids and at 28 world's youngest international billiards champion, chalked up 1,200 points to 1,021 for Mexico's Joe Chamaco, to retain his three-cushion title."
Another Sports Illustrated article: "Worst is the Best" by Jack Olsen.
1958: Worst participates in an exhibition in Chicago.
1959: Worst participates in a billiards exhibition with Masako Katsura, a diminutive Japanese female player with world-class talent.
1960: Worst defends his world title.
1961: Worst defends his world title, defeating Masako Katsura in a challenge match. Worst wins six out of seven matches.
But American interest in three-cushion billiards is at an all-time low. Fortunately the movie The Hustler, starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, stirs interest in pocket billiards.
Worst reads the handwriting on the wall and decides to start cashing in, by changing games and gameplans ...
1962: Worst creates his own line of cues, and a company called Cues Inc. to manufacture and distribute them.
Worst quips, "We could hardly call it the Worst Cues Company, now could we?"
Worst also lends his name to a line of inexpensive pool tables.
1963: At the Michigan State Fairgrounds, Worst wins the one-pocket title, beating Cornbread Red, the straight pool title, beating Babyface Whitlow, and the nine-ball title. Worst finishes second to Cornbread Red in snooker.
1964: Worst wins the Michigan snooker and pool championships, according to a Traverse City Record-Eagle article dated June 16, 1966.
Around this time, Worst defeats the legendary big-money hustler Don Willis at his best game, nine-ball.
1965: From Sports Illustrated: "Harold Worst, 36, a cue manufacturer from Grand Rapids, won the all-round title at the $30,000 Las Vegas Open, plus $4,350 in prize money. Worst also took the one-pocket division."
In the star-studded Las Vegas Open, Worst bests 100 players, winning the one-pocket division, then defeating pool legends Irving "The Deacon" Crane and "Champagne" Ed Kelly in the round-robin finale.
Worst also wins the all-round title at the famous Johnston City hustler tournament, finishing first in the nine-ball and straight pool categories, then defeating Larry "Boston Shorty" Johnson in the finals.
The game's star hustlers refuse to play Worst even. And even when they try to trap him by demanding outrageous spots, he often manages to shoot his way out of their traps (although not always).
According to George Fels, Worst gave other players the "tremors."
1966: Worst plays in the Straight Pool World Championship, held in the Windsor Ballroom of the Commodore Hotel in New York City from March 19 to March 27, 1966.
Despite being close to death, Worst wins six matches against formidable opposition and has a high run of 85 balls.
Harold Worst dies on June 16, 1966.
1970: Harold Worst is inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.
Read more here
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Harold Worst Pool Billiards the Best.htm