The new Billiards Digest has a cover story arguing that there is now "proof" that Rudolf Wanderone was actually the model for Minnesota Fats in The Hustler.
After a long buildup, the totality of the evidence presented in the article seems to be that an early draft of the novel used the nickname New York Fats, which Tevis crossed out by hand and changed to Minnesota Fats.
This seems like pretty weak proof. Never mind that Wanderone was apparently one of the loudest, most boisterous characters in 20th century public life, while the book's Minnesota Fats was an even-keeled and quiet presence. Also never mind that Wanderone went by a number of other names: New York Fats, Broadway Fats, Chicago Fats, Triple-Smart Fats, and so on. It's not as if nobody else was using the name Fats - Fats Domino, Fats Waller, Fats Navarro come to mind.
What are people's thoughts on this? At the very least, I'm surprised they made it the cover story and presented the new evidence as something much more authoritative than it actually seems.
After a long buildup, the totality of the evidence presented in the article seems to be that an early draft of the novel used the nickname New York Fats, which Tevis crossed out by hand and changed to Minnesota Fats.
This seems like pretty weak proof. Never mind that Wanderone was apparently one of the loudest, most boisterous characters in 20th century public life, while the book's Minnesota Fats was an even-keeled and quiet presence. Also never mind that Wanderone went by a number of other names: New York Fats, Broadway Fats, Chicago Fats, Triple-Smart Fats, and so on. It's not as if nobody else was using the name Fats - Fats Domino, Fats Waller, Fats Navarro come to mind.
What are people's thoughts on this? At the very least, I'm surprised they made it the cover story and presented the new evidence as something much more authoritative than it actually seems.