L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Whatever his past was one can never discount what he did for the game of pool in the modern age. And for that we should all be thankful is nothing else.
Mr. X
- Thread starter L.S. Dennis
- Start date
He was a prodigy but his family did not want him to be a pool player. He was not coddled at all. When he defied his family's path for him and started playing in competition, he realized he could make money and went out and basically put food on the table for his family-WM's problem was he was a child prodigy and was coddled like a little kid from a early age. Sounds like he would have fit in perfectly in todays world of butthurt entitled whiners.
-dj
Good info. Thanks. So i guess him being an a-hole was his own doing.
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Here’s a little side note, back in the 90’s a friend of mine was editor and publisher of a pool news letter who decided to due a little post mortem on Willie with a phone call interview it’s Willie’s wife Flora. During their conversation one question my friend asked Flora was ‘what was Willie like in actual like away from the media spot light?’ Her answer was after a slight hesitation was ‘well he always dressed nice!’Good info. Thanks. So i guess him being an a-hole was his own doing.
That being said there is/was nobody in history of pool that was more important to the game as Willie Mosconi. I mean who else after almost 30 year of his passing still lights AZ Billiards forum like this guy?
Actually, I have a feeling a lot of that anger he showed was an act. When he had a dead ball in the pack (and it looked like he was safe), he would scowl and curse and walk around steaming about how badly he left himself. Then, he would close his eyes and fire the dead one in and the crowd went crazy. He was a showboat for sure.Good info. Thanks. So i guess him being an a-hole was his own doing.
-dj
I’ve written this before but I suppose one more time won’t hurt: I saw Mosconi play four times.
I have also seen, in person at tournaments and on streams and DVDs, most of the contemporary crop of 14.1 greats. And not one of them — no one — made running balls at 14.1 look so ridiculously easy. After watching Mosconi run 100 you’d swear you could do it too. But of course you couldn’t.
Lou Figueroa
PracticeChampion
Well-known member
I did that sorta thing the other day. I've never played 14.1, only seen bits here and there at pool halls and I somehow stumbled on Dennis playing Appleton I think on YouTube and Dennis never missed, perfect score. I thought that looks fun, and easy, racked them up and made 5 or 6 LoL, yeah not so easy
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Lou,
I concur with what you say completely, I too saw Mosconi at least twice, possibly 3 times during the early 60’s.
No one played with that elegance that he had when running balls. I‘ve also seen Jimmy Caras three of four times as well as Joy Procita once, but seeing Mosconi was more than something very special.
Yes, Dennis, it was just nuts how easy he made it look.
Having played more 14.1 over the years my conclusion is that what Mosconi was doing was constructing very small, but very perfect angles, at a very short distance, over and over again. So that, it looked totally natural and easy to get on the next shot. Every time, he was putting the CB just exactly where it needed to be to move over smoothly for the next shot.
It was like watching a great card mechanic easily turn over four aces right in front of your eyes after having shuffled up the deck.
Lou Figueroa
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Lou,
As a youngster Willie had the luxury of playing quite a bit with Greenleaf, he by his own admission learned much from Greenleaf especially with regard to limiting cue ball movement of which Greenleaf was a master. Babe Cranfield talks about thiis in one of his books.
If I’m not mistaken, during some of Willie’s exhibitions he would ask someone in the audience to place a dollar bill on the table with all fifteen balls scattered around. Willie would run all 15 and at the end of the rack would have the cue ball on the dollar bill whereever it may be laying, and usually close to George Washington’s face on the dollar bill.
We were lucking to have seen him play in our lifetimes, as were many others in remote parts of the country due all the exhibitions he did during the Brunswick years.
Dennis, yes, getting the chance to see Willie, though past his prime, was something special.
I recall reading about his tour with Greenleaf and he said that he noticed Greenleaf never left himself a shot with more than two feet between the CB and OB. Mosconi vowed to himself to cut that distance in half.
Lou Figueroa
A friend of mine was a pretty good player and was his home town best. Willie came to town and played an exhibition against my friend. My friend got the first open shot and ran over 50 balls and missed. He said Willie then came up close to him and whispered, "They didn't come to see you shoot." Then Willie proceeded to run a hundred balls and shake my friends hand.
middleofnowhere
Registered
That's true he said almost word for word the same thing to one of my friends you played in an exhibition. He had run about 25 or 30 balls and played Mosconi
safe. Mosconi actually seemed angry and actually said those same words nobody came here to see you play.