Snapshot9 said:
I got to wondering since Jimmy Moore seems to win all those old Classic matches if he played in the tournaments when Crane won 9 World Titles, and Lassister won 4? Does anybody know?
James William "Cowboy Jimmy" Moore was born on Sept 4, 1910 in Hogansville, Georgia. (The BCA incorrectly has his birth year as 1911) He began playing at age 12 when his family moved to Detroit.
In 1928, he won his first of 10 straight Michigan State 14.1 Championships.
As Jay already said, he was a perennial 2nd place finisher in top tournaments.
He did beat Luther Lassiter in a 3,000 point "challenge match" in 1958 to win something called the National Pocket Billiards Championship, although this was not a sanctioned event. This was played at Bensinger's in Chicago.
At the National Invitational Pocket Billiards Championship in New York City in 1965, Moore won his 1st major championship over a field that included Joe Balsis, Luther Lassiter, Ed Kelly, Cicero Murphy, Lou Butera, Onofrio Lauri, Frank McGown and Eddie Taylor. This was a double round-robin invitational event, but it did have a first class field of players.
He is a five-time runner-up in World 14.1 championship play, losing to Mosconi in March 1956, to Lassiter in April 1963 and again to Lassiter in August 1963. He finished 2nd to Balsis in March 1965 and again a few weeks later, also in March 1965, to Balsis again in a return match.
On September 17, 1990 at the age of 80, he ran 111 balls at "Corner Pockets" in Alburquerque. The local newspaper did an article on him after that feat.
He died on November 17, 1999 in Alburquerque, N.M at age 89.
