I am taking the liberty of passing along an email I received from Jim Parker, which contains a bit of history on high runs in straight pool:
"Thanks for the current update on the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship currently being hosted in New Jersey. The grand event appears to have brought out the best in all of its contenders.
When noticing Max Eberle's high run of 127 balls, I thought it only appropriate in giving you and a few other 14.1 enthusiasts a pearl of billiards history that each of you might pass along to the games other fans, those who might one day find the game of Straight-Pool and step up to its more challenging qualities.
Runs of 127 are synonymous with 14.1 championships dating back to 1929 when Ralph Greenleaf missed the mark by one point with his high run of 126. In 1935 Bennie Allen and George Kelly in both New York and Minneapolis each missed the magic number by two points with their runs of 125.
Then in 1939 Andrew Ponzi scored two more balls to run his 127 consecutive points in league play. For Ponzi this was hardly his greatest achievement since he had already set an unheard of 153 point run five years earlier in the 1934 World Championships. The year of 1939 proved an especially good year for 14.1 Continuous when in Layton Utah, a subtle conservative by the name of Irving Crane quietly stepped up to a pocket billiard table and showed his billiards counterparts how the game should be played to its fullest with his all time high run of 309!
In 1945 it was Willie Mosconi that ran his 127 points in a single game championship match. And of course his nemesis, Jimmy Caras, couldn't let Willie have all the glory, so the following year in 1946, and during a single game title match Caras also scored 127 consecutive points.
As for the current New Jersey Championships, congratulations are in order for Mr. Thosten Hohmann's high run of 174 ... it was just short of 8 balls to tie Joe Procita's 1954 high run of 182 consecutive points.
This writer can only suspect that if all of the above mentioned billiards past Supernova World Champions were seated in today's audience of spectators attending the New Jersey Championships with their handsome 4.5' x 9' tables, they'd all be proud in seeing their game still in existence, and presented in the high style of the time in which they lived. But rest assured, they also would each find eternal comfort in knowing that "their" records still stand, and remain intact and unbroken today as when they were first becoming established some 80 years ago, and during a time in American billiards history when all of their above mentioned matches were played on ... 5' x 10' tables!
Good Luck, and Good Day,
Jim Parker, President
The Illinois Billiard Club
"Thanks for the current update on the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship currently being hosted in New Jersey. The grand event appears to have brought out the best in all of its contenders.
When noticing Max Eberle's high run of 127 balls, I thought it only appropriate in giving you and a few other 14.1 enthusiasts a pearl of billiards history that each of you might pass along to the games other fans, those who might one day find the game of Straight-Pool and step up to its more challenging qualities.
Runs of 127 are synonymous with 14.1 championships dating back to 1929 when Ralph Greenleaf missed the mark by one point with his high run of 126. In 1935 Bennie Allen and George Kelly in both New York and Minneapolis each missed the magic number by two points with their runs of 125.
Then in 1939 Andrew Ponzi scored two more balls to run his 127 consecutive points in league play. For Ponzi this was hardly his greatest achievement since he had already set an unheard of 153 point run five years earlier in the 1934 World Championships. The year of 1939 proved an especially good year for 14.1 Continuous when in Layton Utah, a subtle conservative by the name of Irving Crane quietly stepped up to a pocket billiard table and showed his billiards counterparts how the game should be played to its fullest with his all time high run of 309!
In 1945 it was Willie Mosconi that ran his 127 points in a single game championship match. And of course his nemesis, Jimmy Caras, couldn't let Willie have all the glory, so the following year in 1946, and during a single game title match Caras also scored 127 consecutive points.
As for the current New Jersey Championships, congratulations are in order for Mr. Thosten Hohmann's high run of 174 ... it was just short of 8 balls to tie Joe Procita's 1954 high run of 182 consecutive points.
This writer can only suspect that if all of the above mentioned billiards past Supernova World Champions were seated in today's audience of spectators attending the New Jersey Championships with their handsome 4.5' x 9' tables, they'd all be proud in seeing their game still in existence, and presented in the high style of the time in which they lived. But rest assured, they also would each find eternal comfort in knowing that "their" records still stand, and remain intact and unbroken today as when they were first becoming established some 80 years ago, and during a time in American billiards history when all of their above mentioned matches were played on ... 5' x 10' tables!
Good Luck, and Good Day,
Jim Parker, President
The Illinois Billiard Club
