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
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
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
Hey, that's great! Not sure why I had trouble finding that. There is at least one other Mosconi story about the Lamb's club where they did a Lambasting (similar to the Friar's club roasts).
Thanks again!
I am glad I looked into this threadOriginally 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:
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.
I never heard of this- maybe the most impressive straight pool competitive performance ever!
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