Boys' Club pool competitions

[Bob Jewett]

Up until the 1960s (maybe later) the Boys' Clubs had billiard competitions. I think they had both carom and pool events in multiple age brackets. In pool there was no (or little?) head-to-head competition. Instead the players shot from a fixed pattern of balls. I met one of the players who had achieved a run of 176 (IIRC). His 14.1 was not up to the same level.

Here is a picture from the March 4th, 1951 Louisville Courier-Journal (page 113). You can access the article through the site newspapers.com, but you have to sign up and pay a subscription if you go beyond the free trial.

You may recognize the pattern as the basis for a common drill.

 

[book collector]

It's amazing how many people over the years {especially before about 1980} said they were Boys Club Champions at pool, also {I still hear this } college champions at chess or, they learned from a former world champion, while in jail.
None of the Boys Club Champs were very good players , the best was probably a 4 in bar league play and the chess champions always move their queen about 4 to 6 times out of the first 10 moves in the opening, which is a dead giveaway, that they never played well, at any time.

 

[Bob Jewett]

While scanning some issues of the National Billiard News for the Goldmine -- see the AZB home page -- I found the following about the rules for the Boys' Club competitions...

From the June, 1973 issue of NBN:

 

[tomatoshooter]

It's an interesting drill but I don't see why they wouldn't just play a game.

 

[Bob Jewett]

It's an interesting drill but I don't see why they wouldn't just play a game.

It allowed players to compete without traveling.

 

[kling&allen]

It allowed players to compete without traveling.

And perhaps eliminating the break makes it easier for novice players to pocket a few balls and still have fun without knowing anything about pool.

 

[Bob Jewett]

And perhaps eliminating the break makes it easier for novice players to pocket a few balls and still have fun without knowing anything about pool.

Well, I think you do need to know at least a little about pool to play it. I met one of the Boys' Club champions who had a high score of something like 176. Racks and racks and racks. Seems like it could get boring.