Charlie Ursitti's outstanding pool and billiard history

E

Ed Wiggins

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Pool promoter and historian Charlie Ursitti has put online a truly outstanding collection of information going back to 1877.

He is in the process of scanning complete issues of "Billiards" magazine from 1913 to 1934. These contain great stories of players and tournaments and many pictures.

There's lots more on his website:

http://charlesursitti.com/

You can spend many hours here!

Ed
 
ursitti......

Great thread on one of the world's foremost experts,,,,,

Is he still out of Las Vegas ???
 
Nyc

I think Charlie works out of New York City.

He's mentioned in Dyer's book, "The Hustler and the Champ" because he promoted the TV battles between Mosconi and Fats.


Ed
 
good read

Just read the 1877-1889.Looking at the birth/death dates,those guys were dropping like flies in their 40s and 50s.No Idea what the game 61 up is/was.
 
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Great Great Great stuff.

I love reading all the old ads. There was as much or more competition back then as there is now.

And they didn't pull any punches either about their competition.

Bensinger's Billiard and Bowling was advertised as health clubs. :-)

Thank you Charlie Ursitti!!!!

And thank you Ed Wiggins for the link.
 
Great find! I now have it on my favorites list.

I didn't realize Ralph Greenleaf and Frank Taberski were about the same age. There were some great rivalries over the years.
 
smoooothstroke said:
Just read the 1877-1889.Looking at the birth/death dates,those guys were dropping like flies in their 40s and 50s.No Idea what the game 61 up is/was.
Click to expand...

If I understand the name correctly, 61 up (also known as 61 pool) is a very early precursor to 14.1 and Rotation.

The game is played exactly like rotation only you can pot any ball at any time. No need to contact the lowest ball. By in 1889 points were carried over from rack to rack rather than playing on a game by game basis and every ball was worth one point. However the break ball concept didn't develop until 1911.

edit: Based on Charlie Ursitti's site, the first 14.1 world tournament was held March 25 1912.
 
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They mention Pyramid pool in the 1877-1889 section. I wonder if there is any relation to the modern Russian Pyramid pool.
 
Wow!!

Huge thanks to you for finding the link and to Mr. Ursitti for creating the website. I looked at the July 1916 issue and it's amazing how many and how big the pool rooms were back then. It also has rules for 15 ball continuous, which from what I can tell is straight pool, 14.1 continuous.

Thanks!!
 
demonrho said:
They mention Pyramid pool in the 1877-1889 section. I wonder if there is any relation to the modern Russian Pyramid pool.
Click to expand...

Demonrho

Just an Educated Guess but Russia Royalty might of brought Pyramid pool to the US. 1870 to early 1900's Royalty of all kinds traveled the globe. Russians were very fond of Western American Hunting and did it safari style.
 
Ed Wiggins said:
Pool promoter and historian Charlie Ursitti has put online a truly outstanding collection of information going back to 1877.

He is in the process of scanning complete issues of "Billiards" magazine from 1913 to 1934. These contain great stories of players and tournaments and many pictures.

There's lots more on his website:

http://charlesursitti.com/

You can spend many hours here!

Ed
Click to expand...

i'm enjoying my hours spent here allready ! you were right.

and don't anyone forget they played on 5x10 tables back then.
 
Ed Wiggins said:
Pool promoter and historian Charlie Ursitti has put online a truly outstanding collection of information going back to 1877.

He is in the process of scanning complete issues of "Billiards" magazine from 1913 to 1934. These contain great stories of players and tournaments and many pictures.

There's lots more on his website:

http://charlesursitti.com/

You can spend many hours here!

Ed
Click to expand...


Ed,
I was not on AZB since Feb 17. But I found two gems in your offerings once I looked thru some threads. Between this post and your thread on Bud Hypes, you deserve a lot of praise as well as a nice pat on the back!

Charlie Ursitti sent me much of this info about 8-9 years ago. He was doing some research on William Clearwater at the time and I was doing research on Bennie Allen. We ended up trading lots of great info on many great players. He's the person who first got me into searching micro-films at big libraries for pool historical info. He is a SUPER guy who really has a passion for the rich history of our great sport.
He is friends with Mr. Mosconi's family and knows just about anybody who was anybody in American pool. He's been in NYC since I've known him and he's also done much for the Paul Sorvino Asthma Foundation. Charlie Ursitti is just one great human being! He used to attend the Super Billiard Expo but I don't knoiw if he'll be there this year.

You really struck a good chord with me on this thread! Thank you Ed!!
 
Just incredible! Thanks to all who brought this to us. Especially the "helpless, disabled shut-in" :groucho: (sheeeeeeeeeeeeit.... that'll be the day)
 
This is just way too cool! Those magazine articles are absolutely fantastic. Actually takes you back in time to a place you can only dream about. Kind of like a poor man's time machine. Some of those pool halls back then were beyond description. I could not imagine walking into a hall with 30, 40, 50 tables. And these tables were not just tables, but stunning works of art. The atmosphere must have been intoxicating.

Incredible, absolutely incredible.

Thanks,
RG
 
Charlie died in 2018 and his website had been out of commission for a while. The files are still available for viewing on Deno Andrews' Scribd page:

https://www.scribd.com/user/10247027/Deno-J-Andrews

I think you have to sign up for a Scribd membership but it is free. They will ask you to upgrade or start a "free" upgrade trial, but that's not necessary.

The "Billiards Magazine" articles are not there, just the tournament records.
 
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