I know Mosconi is one of the most popular of that era but I am fond of the guys like Caras, Babe, and The Deacon who were his competitors. It is coming up on the 10th year anniversary of Mr. Caras passing so I thought I would post this writeup from the New York Times. If you have any stories or things you would like to share please do. 
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Jimmy Caras, 93, Champion at Pool, Dies
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: December 09, 2002
Jimmy Caras, who began playing pool at age 5 and went on to win four world championships and the United States Open, died Tuesday in Jacksonville, Fla. He was 93.
In a career that spanned six decades, Caras vied for supremacy in pocket billiards, as pool is formally known, with figures like Ralph Greenleaf, Willie Mosconi, Luther Lassiter and Irving Crane.
Caras won world titles in 1936, '38, '39 and 1949, then returned from 12 years in semiretirement to win the Open in 1967 in a field of 48. He was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1977. Billiards Digest ranked him as the 10th-greatest player of the 20th century.
A native of Scranton, Pa., Caras grew up in Wilmington, Del., where his father, an immigrant from Greece, owned a pool hall. He became a teenage hustler.
''I'd come home from high school with books under my arm,'' Caras told Ira Berkow of The New York Times last year. ''I'd walk in and Dad would say, 'I want you to play someone for $100.' One time he lined up this $100 match and I peeked in the cash register and saw only $35. I said, 'Dad, what if I lose?' He said, 'You won't lose.' Talk about pressure.''
At age 17, Caras won an exhibition match against Greenleaf, who was one of pool's biggest stars and a leading sports celebrity of the 1920's. That earned Caras the nickname Boy Wonder of the World and brought Greenleaf a stinging rebuke.
As Caras told it many decades later to AZBilliards.com, more than 300 people were on hand as he embarrassed Greenleaf at the Caras family pool hall. After the exhibition, as Caras remembered it, Greenleaf's wife, the vaudeville actress Princess Nai Tai Tai, came up to her husband trembling with rage and smacked him, saying: ''What? A world champion? And you let a high school kid beat you?''
By the 1960's, Caras had largely forsaken tournaments, deciding instead to teach the game and travel on behalf of Brunswick, the sporting goods manufacturer he had represented since the early 1930's.
In 1962, Caras defeated Mosconi at the New York Athletic Club in a match taped for ABC's ''Wide World of Sports.'' He won a modest $3,500, but the plush setting was far removed from the smoke-filled pool halls of the 1930's, when Caras emerged as a champion.
In 1967, he returned to the sport's top level, entering the United States Open in St. Louis.
''It was the college kids who did it,'' he said. ''Every time I'd give a clinic, they'd ask me why I didn't play Wimpy Lassiter, Jersey Red, Cicero Murphy or some of the other big boys. Finally I had to find out for myself if I could really play.''
He lost his first match, then ran off 11 straight victories, including consecutive triumphs over Lassiter on the same evening to win the title.
He is survived by three daughters, Linda Stringer and Diana West, of Jacksonville, and Marjorie McCrossan, of Las Vegas; a sister, Cleopatra Caras, of Washington; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Last year, he was still driving his Cadillac a half-mile or so to a Jacksonville billiard parlor to shoot a few racks.
Caras once told a story that presumably reminded him of his hustling days as a teenager. He was sitting in a pool hall in Millville, N.J., waiting for the owner, a longtime friend, when a young man came in and said: ''Hey, mister, want to play nine-ball? Buck a game. I'm the best in town, but I'll take it easy on you.''
Caras was reluctant, but finally agreed. Soon he was dropping balls with great monotony. He won 18 straight games, then returned the money.
''Why did you pick on me?'' Caras asked.
''Well,'' the boy replied, ''you just looked like a sucker.''
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Jimmy Caras, 93, Champion at Pool, Dies
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: December 09, 2002
Jimmy Caras, who began playing pool at age 5 and went on to win four world championships and the United States Open, died Tuesday in Jacksonville, Fla. He was 93.
In a career that spanned six decades, Caras vied for supremacy in pocket billiards, as pool is formally known, with figures like Ralph Greenleaf, Willie Mosconi, Luther Lassiter and Irving Crane.
Caras won world titles in 1936, '38, '39 and 1949, then returned from 12 years in semiretirement to win the Open in 1967 in a field of 48. He was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1977. Billiards Digest ranked him as the 10th-greatest player of the 20th century.
A native of Scranton, Pa., Caras grew up in Wilmington, Del., where his father, an immigrant from Greece, owned a pool hall. He became a teenage hustler.
''I'd come home from high school with books under my arm,'' Caras told Ira Berkow of The New York Times last year. ''I'd walk in and Dad would say, 'I want you to play someone for $100.' One time he lined up this $100 match and I peeked in the cash register and saw only $35. I said, 'Dad, what if I lose?' He said, 'You won't lose.' Talk about pressure.''
At age 17, Caras won an exhibition match against Greenleaf, who was one of pool's biggest stars and a leading sports celebrity of the 1920's. That earned Caras the nickname Boy Wonder of the World and brought Greenleaf a stinging rebuke.
As Caras told it many decades later to AZBilliards.com, more than 300 people were on hand as he embarrassed Greenleaf at the Caras family pool hall. After the exhibition, as Caras remembered it, Greenleaf's wife, the vaudeville actress Princess Nai Tai Tai, came up to her husband trembling with rage and smacked him, saying: ''What? A world champion? And you let a high school kid beat you?''
By the 1960's, Caras had largely forsaken tournaments, deciding instead to teach the game and travel on behalf of Brunswick, the sporting goods manufacturer he had represented since the early 1930's.
In 1962, Caras defeated Mosconi at the New York Athletic Club in a match taped for ABC's ''Wide World of Sports.'' He won a modest $3,500, but the plush setting was far removed from the smoke-filled pool halls of the 1930's, when Caras emerged as a champion.
In 1967, he returned to the sport's top level, entering the United States Open in St. Louis.
''It was the college kids who did it,'' he said. ''Every time I'd give a clinic, they'd ask me why I didn't play Wimpy Lassiter, Jersey Red, Cicero Murphy or some of the other big boys. Finally I had to find out for myself if I could really play.''
He lost his first match, then ran off 11 straight victories, including consecutive triumphs over Lassiter on the same evening to win the title.
He is survived by three daughters, Linda Stringer and Diana West, of Jacksonville, and Marjorie McCrossan, of Las Vegas; a sister, Cleopatra Caras, of Washington; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Last year, he was still driving his Cadillac a half-mile or so to a Jacksonville billiard parlor to shoot a few racks.
Caras once told a story that presumably reminded him of his hustling days as a teenager. He was sitting in a pool hall in Millville, N.J., waiting for the owner, a longtime friend, when a young man came in and said: ''Hey, mister, want to play nine-ball? Buck a game. I'm the best in town, but I'll take it easy on you.''
Caras was reluctant, but finally agreed. Soon he was dropping balls with great monotony. He won 18 straight games, then returned the money.
''Why did you pick on me?'' Caras asked.
''Well,'' the boy replied, ''you just looked like a sucker.''
