The writer of that story was certainly around some of the players of the day. In the same paragraph with the New York Fats reference he mentions a guy with a gun under his arm who supposedly killed a man with his hands. That is a reference to Hubert Cokes called Daddy Warbucks.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16084385/daddy-warbucks-in-jail/
wow, that's a fascinating clip
I was curious and did some fact-checking on the pool
according to this, hubert got third in one pocket in 1961
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Johnst...ent Winners and Player Profiles Billiards.htm
fatty got fourth place