Jimmy Caras Anecdote

rikdee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Saw Caras in exhibition at Michigan State University billiard room the winter of 1972. I had with me a brand new Viking cue. Jimmy spied it, compimented the cue, and proceeded to shape the tip, chalked it, and handed it back to me. IIRC, he ran about 55 first try on one the many Anniversaries in the room. I did get an autographed copy of his trick shot booklet he was handing out at the end of the show. Regretfully, the MSU billiard room is long gone.
 

kanzzo

hobby player
Those guys back then were at a level I don't think will ever see again in 14.1 ---
Nice Post -- old school stuff
MCP

Thorsten Hohmann played a straight pool tournament once, where he shot 125 and out on his first chance (all matches were races to 125) in quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

He had 8 matches in the whole tournament, shot 125 and out 4 times and needed 20 innings for all the matches (1000 points) including safety breaks and ends of innings because he reached 125 and match was over.
 

stevekur1

The "COMMISH"
Silver Member
Originally posted by my father awhile ago, but he recently updated it. Hope you like it:

CARAS RUNS 100

It was a bitter cold, windy night in Ithaca, New York in the fall of 1948. At the Student Union in Cornell University a crowd of about 60 students and a few faculty had gathered in a large room containing a dozen pool tables to see an exhibition by Jimmy Caras. A freezing Canadian winter wind was hurtling down Lake Cayuga and across the campus as Jimmy arrived with his “manager,” both wearing heavy coats, scarfs, gloves, hats – the works.
The manager made the following startling announcement in a loud voice: “Mr. Caras will now run 100 balls.” You could hear a distinct murmur spread across the room. Meanwhile Jimmy has removed his coat and is screwing his cue together, still not saying a word. I figured that he just didn’t speak English which is why the manager had made that announcement. A hush then descended on the crowd.
I don’t think the whole thing took more than 15 minutes. He never took a practice shot – just broke the balls and started running. The manager counted off the score and announced the next ball to be pocketed, as they used to do in tournaments. When Caras hit 100 the whole place burst into wild applause. He bowed to the crowd, unscrewed the cue, put it into its case and disappeared into the night, again without saying a word. A really amazing moment for all of us neophytes who had never seen anything like it.

John White


Very nice post Dan, thanks so much for sharing that.

Steve
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Very nice post Dan, thanks so much for sharing that.

Steve

Glad you enjoyed it. I have or had several other stories from my father but I can't seem to locate them, even online. If I do I'll post them as well. One was about Lassiter and one or two about Mosconi. I used to post them every once in awhile on AZ.
 

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Glad you enjoyed it. I have or had several other stories from my father but I can't seem to locate them, even online. If I do I'll post them as well. One was about Lassiter and one or two about Mosconi. I used to post them every once in awhile on AZ.

A Lassiter story from your father: https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=3706192&postcount=17

And here's some info from your father about Mosconi: https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=4983673&postcount=89
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member

bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Originally posted by my father awhile ago, but he recently updated it. Hope you like it:

CARAS RUNS 100

It was a bitter cold, windy night in Ithaca, New York in the fall of 1948. At the Student Union in Cornell University a crowd of about 60 students and a few faculty had gathered in a large room containing a dozen pool tables to see an exhibition by Jimmy Caras. A freezing Canadian winter wind was hurtling down Lake Cayuga and across the campus as Jimmy arrived with his “manager,” both wearing heavy coats, scarfs, gloves, hats – the works.
The manager made the following startling announcement in a loud voice: “Mr. Caras will now run 100 balls.” You could hear a distinct murmur spread across the room. Meanwhile Jimmy has removed his coat and is screwing his cue together, still not saying a word. I figured that he just didn’t speak English which is why the manager had made that announcement. A hush then descended on the crowd.
I don’t think the whole thing took more than 15 minutes. He never took a practice shot – just broke the balls and started running. The manager counted off the score and announced the next ball to be pocketed, as they used to do in tournaments. When Caras hit 100 the whole place burst into wild applause. He bowed to the crowd, unscrewed the cue, put it into its case and disappeared into the night, again without saying a word. A really amazing moment for all of us neophytes who had never seen anything like it.

John White
I am glad I looked into this thread
Nice post dan
Thanks for sharing....:thumbup:
 

mikemosconi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm playing some lately with a guy from Pa. who played with someone named Jimmy MatZ from Pa. He says that Jimmy ran 100s at will almost, even on the toughest tables. he shared a story where Jimmy Caras came in to do a 14.1 exhibition at a college there and MatZ beat Caras by 100 points! Matz walked over to the college Dean and asked- how much did you pay this guy Caras for the exhibition- $125- he told the Dean, next time save the money and I'll do it for free!
 
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sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Thorsten Hohmann played a straight pool tournament once, where he shot 125 and out on his first chance (all matches were races to 125) in quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

That was in the 2005 European 14.1 Championships.
 

mikemosconi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks! I am even more impressed after reading that thread. Competitive runs are the the ones I focus on because both Mike Eufemia, and to some extent, John Schmidt, have demonstrated disappointing 14.1 success compared to their practice / exhibition success. The unique pressures of competition are the true test of any athletic achievements IMO. How many times have I seen unranked "pros" in many sports look like champions while warming up then melt to the floor under competitive "heat". One has to factor in the ability to "relax" the mind and body under competitive fire as an essential attribute of championship play.
 

Don Owen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Both he and Mosconi were amazing that way. They never failed to run 100 or more in any exhibition! These were the masters of 14.1, along with Crane and Cranfield at that time. I saw Jimmy in 1963 at Oklahoma U. He had been retired from tournament pool about ten years but vowed to come back and play again, saying these new guys weren't that good. A year or so later (at age 57) he entered the U.S. Open Straight Pool and won! You can look it up.

I was there. In fact I got to play Jimmy. Dick Lane was his other victim, but Dick did much better than I did.
—Don
 

Don Owen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was there. In fact I got to play Jimmy. Dick Lane was his other victim, but Dick did much better than I did.
—Don

I was wrong. I was remembering several years later. I was going to school at OU then but I don’t remember Caras coming in 1963.
—Don
 

L.S. Dennis

Well-known member
I saw Jimmy Caras a couple of times in the early 60’s. One time he played Dorothy Wise, and the other time he played Sax Dal Porto. He won both times of course and as everyone has note he was a real gentleman.
 
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