Rare AP footage of Willie Mosconi playing snooker

sfleinen · Jun 5, 2019

Folks:

While searching through the AP (Associated Press) archives for any news articles (as Lou Figueroa mentioned) with interviews of people who witnessed Mosconi's 526 in 1954, I stumbled across this footage. It is not attributed or attached to any particular news article that I can see, unless I'm reading the AP Archive wrong. It looks like it was raw footage with no audio (has only static throughout, like you'd hear when first placing a phonograph needle into the leading track for a song on a vinyl LP). It looks like it was raw video-only footage intended for a later voice-over, as was the case with news at the time.

You'll see Willie shooting a couple shots on a standard pool table, then at 0:17 (17 seconds in) you'll see Willie's now shooting on a 5x10 snooker table (you'll recognize the rounded pocket corners) but with darker-than-normal colored cloth and standard-color snooker balls. He appears to miss, and what appears to be his opponent, a snooker player, takes over and pockets a long shot down the rail. (This appears to be a VERY permissive table for a shot like that, although it's certainly NOT a 6x12 table.) More shots of Willie making shots on this table ensue.

Cool footage -- I wonder what AP's intent was for this video?

http://aparchive.com/metadata/US-Billiards-Champion/08e4f2dbe0bfc9be6b9f05e0f9f30265

-Sean

Bob Jewett · Jun 5, 2019

sfleinen said:
... He appears to miss, and what appears to be his opponent, a snooker player, takes over and pockets a long shot down the rail. (This appears to be a VERY permissive table for a shot like that, although it's certainly NOT a 6x12 table.) ...

The table looks like it might not even be a 5x10. ...

mikemosconi · Jun 5, 2019

Looks like Willie is playing with his Balabushka - and judging by his weight the 1974 timeframe seems correct?

hitman22 · Jun 5, 2019

Nice! Thanks he was a class act and always great to watch

HawaiianEye · Jun 5, 2019

I don't know if it was folklore, but there was this old guy named Johnny Bruce that worked in the pool hall where I learned to play as a kid.

He'd fixed tables in the pool halls in town for decades and decades.

He claimed that Willie Mosconi shot a 147 on our best snooker table back when he came through there with his exhibitions way back in the day.

ThinSlice · Jun 5, 2019

I believe that Mosconi would get smoked by modern day players. Just my 2 cents.

Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums

Poolhall60561 · Jun 5, 2019

Nice to see Willie again, Thanks

Rubik's Cube · Jun 6, 2019

Good morning, gentlemen.

I believe Willie’s opponent in this clip is Rex Williams. I used to play kalooki and backgammon with Rex and John Spencer back in the day and recall him mentioning a series of matches against Mosconi. Rex was also the first to import pool tables into the UK, probably shortly after this exhibition.

Best wishes,
RC.

mikemosconi · Jun 6, 2019

ThinSlice said:
I believe that Mosconi would get smoked by modern day players. Just my 2 cents.

Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums

Right, sure, and Joe DiMaggio probably could not hit modern day pitchers and Rocky Marciano would get knocked out in the first round, Babe Ruth? Maybe would just be a minor leaguer- you must be very young, and a lot to learn about the past greats in sports history. Did you ever pick up a golf club from even -say 1970? Hand that to today's golfers and ask them to shoot a 68! What all those past sports greats did should never be denegrated with whatever rationale you are using for your judgement. Just my 2 cents too!

Bob Jewett · Jun 6, 2019

Rubik's Cube said:
... I believe Willie’s opponent in this clip is Rex Williams. ...

I think you're right. Here is another clip I found that appears to be about the same exhibition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZXeGzoRO8

That channel has many other old videos, mostly about snooker and English billiards but also some about pool.

https://www.youtube.com/user/stvmcal/videos

Rubik's Cube · Jun 6, 2019

Nice one, Mr J.

Those old clips sure do bring back some memories.

Best wishes,
RC.

Rubik's Cube · Jun 6, 2019

Rex Williams was unbeatable on his home snooker table in Stourbridge, near Birmingham. And I do mean unbeatable. Most of the top professionals of the day (Reardon, Spencer, Charlton etc) practiced with Williams there at some point and I don’t believe any got the better of him over a distance.

Rex Williams and John Spencer were like chalk and cheese. Complete opposites. John was jovial, always ready for a laugh and a practical joke. Ray Reardon was the same, a lovely fellow. Rex on the other hand was all business, about as dour and grumpy as anyone I’ve ever met.

Best wishes,
RC.

Straightpool_99 · Jun 6, 2019

Always great to see the great Mosconi. I Wonder how many other such snippets may exist out there.

Bob Jewett · Jun 6, 2019

Straightpool_99 said:
Always great to see the great Mosconi. I Wonder how many other such snippets may exist out there.

At this point they are a little hard to find as a search on Mosconi and pool tends to return videos of nine ball players.

Snooker Theory · Jun 6, 2019

I enjoyed watching those, never seen before. Thanks for sharing!!!!

jviss · Jun 6, 2019

Bob Jewett said:
The table looks like it might not even be a 5x10. ...

That's an interesting observation Bob. It looks like a 9' Gold Crown. I guess it could be a 10', but if you look at about 39 seconds in, with Mosconi's hand and cue it looks like a 9' one to me. I thought the score counters in the foot rail would definitely make it a 9', but they put those on the 10', too.

Do you think those balls are regular snooker size, or 2 1/4"?

Bob Jewett · Jun 6, 2019

jviss said:
That's an interesting observation Bob. It looks like a 9' Gold Crown. I guess it could be a 10', but if you look at about 39 seconds in, with Mosconi's hand and cue it looks like a 9' one to me. I thought the score counters in the foot rail would definitely make it a 9', but they put those on the 10', too.

Do you think those balls are regular snooker size, or 2 1/4"?

Well, "regular" balls in the US, if that's where it was, were 2 1/8". In the rest of the world they are 2 1/16.

alstl · Jun 7, 2019

One thing I've noticed in the few videos there are of Mosconi is how he always stays down on the ball. Always.

Bob Jewett · Jun 7, 2019

alstl said:
One thing I've noticed in the few videos there are of Mosconi is how he always stays down on the ball. Always.

But one thing I found very strange was the twitching bridge hand on some shots.

sfleinen · Jun 7, 2019

Bob Jewett said:
But one thing I found very strange was the twitching bridge hand on some shots.

I noticed that too, and not just on this video. For someone who expounds so much on the importance of the bridge hand (re: Mosconi's training video), his is not as rock solid as he professes the importance of.

It might be the "looped finger" style of closed-bridge he's using, where fleshy parts of the fingers seem to be dragging back and forth as the shaft travels through it.

-Sean

Rare AP footage of Willie Mosconi playing snooker

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