Ralph Greenleaf

measureman

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There is a huge thread (again) on Willie Mosconi so I thought a little talk about Ralph might be fun (Justnum stay out)
I always wondered about his alcoholism.
Did he start to drink to calm his nerves and got addicted or was he predisposed to it?
Was he a dog playing sober?
Had he been sober and with good nerves would he have been even better?
 
Not something I'm proud of, but when I was young(er) and dumb(er) the local watering hole had $1 cans every Thursday. Well, nearly every Thursday, for a few years mind you, myself and a freind would go, put our quarters on the table one time (playing doubles), then proceed to drink and play pool for free all night long. There were many nights I would see double and just aim for the center. I could play better than I could walk and talk, and as long as I didn't take a break, I'd keep it going.

My understanding is that Ralph was a full blown alcoholic, meaning he was never not "drunk" in some sense of the word. They say that the more he drank the better he played. I can see that happening but it will such as hell catch up with your body soon enough. I'm sure if he was able to calm it down a bit, he would have been a solid player for years to come.
 
My book has more details, but the first public reports of Ralph's problems were in late 1924 immediately after his father died. Ralph's messy divorce from his first wife was big news.

1670460671250.png


Ralph had won several world championships by 1924, so he certainly could play sober. I think Mosconi's famous quote accurately describes the rest of Ralph's life:

1670461025360.png


Link to the book:

 
Mich said:
@Bob Jewett yes, but I thought he owned Greenleaf until he quit playing when they put in the 60 second shot clock.
Click to expand...

Taberski had a winning record over Greenleaf before Greenleaf turned 18, but not afterwards. Taberski did retire for a few years (after the shot clock was introduced just for him in a few tournaments), but later returned and often battled Greenleaf. Greenleaf won the bulk of those later matches. Although Taberski always found a reason to fuss. Maybe Earl is one of his descendants

From 1928:.

1670461363488.png


Ursitti's history of pool has all the stats. But a few examples:

1924 national billiard league championship:

1670461516267.png


1926 World Championship:

1670461578771.png


1928 World Championship:

1670461628425.png
 
measureman said:
There is a huge thread (again) on Willie Mosconi so I thought a little talk about Ralph might be fun (Justnum stay out)
I always wondered about his alcoholism.
Did he start to drink to calm his nerves and got addicted or was he predisposed to it?
Was he a dog playing sober?
Had he been sober and with good nerves would he have been even better?
Click to expand...
He got so drunk in 1935 he disappeared from NY and turned up being arrested for vagrancy in Okmulgee, a town about 40mi south of Tulsa. How the fk he ended up in Okmulgee is anybodies guess. To get out of jail he had to run balls(87 iirc) to prove who he was.
 
garczar said:
He got so drunk in 1935 he disappeared from NY and turned up being arrested for vagrancy in Okmulgee, a town about 40mi south of Tulsa. How the fk he ended up in Okmulgee is anybodies guess. To get out of jail he had to run balls(87 iirc) to prove who he was.
Click to expand...

Best theory I have heard (from @RabbiHippie ) is that Greenleaf was in Eufaula to play the "Euafala Kid" Womack at one pocket.
 
garczar said:
Still, NY to SE Oklahoma is one LONGGGGGGGG way to go to play some local kid 1p. Specially back then.
Click to expand...
I'm wrapping up an article about the origins of One Pocket that will be available soon on OnePocket.org ... but at risk of letting out a bit of a spoiler, in 1935 there wasn't much One Pocket being played anywhere but in Oklahoma!

One Pocket was unknown in New York until Minnesota Fats and Hubert "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes took it there only after first being exposed to the game in Oklahoma on road trips.

That might have happened by 1935 but not much earlier than that.
 
Last edited:
garczar said:
He got so drunk in 1935 he disappeared from NY and turned up being arrested for vagrancy in Okmulgee, a town about 40mi south of Tulsa. How the fk he ended up in Okmulgee is anybodies guess. To get out of jail he had to run balls(87 iirc) to prove who he was.
Click to expand...
Truly pool's greatest accomplishment. Willie ran 526, sure, but Ralph could teleport.
 
garczar said:
Still, NY to SE Oklahoma is one LONGGGGGGGG way to go to play some local kid 1p. Specially back then.
Click to expand...

He was on the road doing exhibitions throughout the midwest trying to make money, visiting "hick towns" in his own words. Just a few years (or even one year) earlier he did a similar tour with Mosconi. The book has more details. Like the pro players of today, Ralph spent most of the year away from home.

Edit: and he had divorced his second wife and grew tired of living with her in Maryland.
 
RabbiHippie said:
I'm wrapping up an article about the origins of One Pocket that will be available soon on OnePocket.org ... but at risk of letting out a bit of a spoiler, in 1935 there wasn't much One Pocket being played anywhere but in Oklahoma!

One Pocket was unknown in New York until Minnesota Fats and Hubert "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes took it there only after first being exposed to the game in Oklahoma on road trips.

That might have happened by 1935 but not much earlier than that.
Click to expand...
A man named Hayden Lingo in Okla. City is credited with inventing the game.
 
garczar said:
A man named Hayden Lingo in Okla. City is credited with inventing the game.
Click to expand...
Often cited as ‘the man that invented One Pocket’, it is more likely that he was just such a strong early practitioner of the game that he and the game became nearly synonymous. However, at least two people have told me that it was ‘his rules’ that became the basis for the Jansco Brother’s tournament rules, which were the first published rules for the modern game, used for the first Johnston City tournament in 1961.


Although he was from Oklahoma City, Lingo spent long stretches on the road, at least as far from home as Boston. Old-timers from Oklahoma City describe him as a well-dressed and soft-spoken man, while those who ran into him on the road often describe him as a secretive hustler. From Eddie Taylor to Squirrel, to Freddie the Beard, all who knew him agree that he was an unusually smart player, who approached One Pocket like a studious chess master would approach chess.


Like other early masters of the game, he was said to have an uncanny mastery of control over the balls, and even late in life as his health failed, his combination of superior ball control and knowledge made him an intimidating player.
 
Texas Carom Club said:
i would have just shot him 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
Pool was bad for TV before there was even TV

But really, 20 mins (if Bob was serious) is absurd. That's like 4 and a half hours for a single rack of 14.1 lol

If he ran 100 it would take him like a day and half of uninterrupted table time

No jury would convict you under these circumstnaces
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top