Remembering Cisero Murphy

[Blackjack]

Note: I have posted this several times over the past several years on various sites as a tribute to my mentor, my hero, the late, great Cisero Murphy. He was much more than just a pool player to me. He was a friend and a role model. Not a day goes by when I don't think of his glaring eyes burning a hole through the cue ball as he dissected rack after rack. His impact on the game of pool and sports in general should never be taken for granted. Cisero opened doors and broke barriers within our sport during a very rough time in our nation's history - and he prevailed. That's what champions do.

Remembering Cisero Murphy​

It is Black History Month, and I would like to write a few words for one of the all time great Straight pool players of our time, Cisero Murphy.

Murphy all but dominated the game in the New York City hotbeds of straight pool throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Cisero Murphy won the Eastern States 14.1 championship in 1959, and the New York State Championship from 1959-1964. In 1964, he was excluded from paticipating in the World Invitational 14.1 Championship despite his skill. Many players picketed outside the front of the Commodore Hotel in Burbank, California (the site of the tournament) to protest his exclusion. Cisero won a battle to compete in the event the very next year. It was his first attempt at winning a world title, and he won it. He defeated Luther Lassiter convincingly in the finals.

During his illustrious career, Cisero Murphy attained a high run of 262 balls in competition. After retiring from competitive pool, Cisero Murphy started the "Pool in the streets" program in his old neighborhood of Brooklyn. Cisero decided use his god given talent to help those who could profit from it. He gave free lessons and exhibitions thoughout the next twenty years.

All world championships and high runs aside, his greatest achievement was his induction into the BCA Hall of Fame in 1995. This induction came years after many of the players he dominated had gained entry. He will always be known as pool's Jackie Robinson.

Cisero Murphy will always be remembered for his kindness, warmth and his unforgettable smile. I will always remember Cisero as the best straight pool player I ever saw. Black or white. Through all of Cisero's obstacles, he never complained or backed down. He just went into competition and proved to everybody else what he already knew : He was the best.


Blackjack David Sapolis

 

[recoveryjones]

Thanks for that excellent piece of history Blackjack. It's kind of ironic because I was just watching a match(1992 US Open 14:1) between Murphy and Zuglan. Murphy lost that particuliar match, however, he definitley died a winner.RJ

 

[Michael Webb]

I think it was 1994, I met Mr. Murphy at a straight pool championship at Spot Shots in Maine. I enjoyed meeting him.
Tap Tap Blackjack

 

[sjm]

[Murphy all but dominated the game in the New York City hotbeds of straight pool throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Cisero Murphy won the Eastern States 14.1 championship in 1959, and the New York State Championship from 1959-1964. In 1964, he was excluded from paticipating in the World Invitational 14.1 Championship despite his skill. Many players picketed outside the front of the Commodore Hotel in Burbank, California (the site of the tournament) to protest his exclusion. Cisero won a battle to compete in the event the very next year. It was his first attempt at winning a world title, and he won it. He defeated Luther Lassiter convincingly in the finals.

Thanks, Dave, for the reminder. I didn't know Cisero very well, but got to know him a little in the mid 1990's, a period in which he sometimes frequented the Amsterdam Billiard Club in NYC. Last year, another highly skilled but very humble and lovable Brooklyn-born pool player, who also calls the Amsterdam Billiard Club home, won his first major title. That, of course, would be Tony Robles, another of pool's greatest ambassadors, and an old friend of Cisero.

What happened outside the Commodore is well known. Perhaps not as well known is that few felt more deeply about the injustice of Murphy's exclusion than the very young Steve Mizerak, one of Murphy's proponents from the beginning. I remember chatting about it with Steve some thirty years ago.

It was really sad that Cisero died so shortly after his induction into the BCA Hall of Fame, and yet, in another way, I'm so glad his induction happened in his lifetime.

A beautiful painting of Cisero Murphy hangs right by the house table at the Amsterdam Billiard Club, Dave. I wish you could see it. Cisero's gone, but far from forgotten. He's a permanent fixture in the history of NYC pool, and in the history of pool in general.

 

[Blackjack]

I have seen that picture at Amsterdam. I used to watch Cisero at McGirt's. A section of my book Chasing the Dream outlines and describes my relationship with Cisero, a relationship that wasn't always warm and fuzzy. Here's more stuff I have written about him over the years.

http://www.azbilliards.com/blackjack/blackjack4.cfm

http://www.geocities.com/blkjackds12/Dedication_Stroke_Of_Genius.html

Blackjack

Thanks, Dave, for the reminder. I didn't know Cisero very well, but got to know him a little in the mid 1990's, a period in which he sometimes frequented the Amsterdam Billiard Club in NYC. Last year, another highly skilled but very humble and lovable Brooklyn-born pool player, who also calls the Amsterdam Billiard Club home, won his first major title. That, of course, would be Tony Robles, another of pool's greatest ambassadors, and an old friend of Cisero.

What happened outside the Commodore is well known. Perhaps not as well known is that few felt more deeply about the injustice of Murphy's exclusion than the very young Steve Mizerak, one of Murphy's proponents from the beginning. I remember chatting about it with Steve some thirty years ago.

It was really sad that Cisero died so shortly after his induction into the BCA Hall of Fame, and yet, in another way, I'm so glad his induction happened in his lifetime.

A beautiful painting of Cisero Murphy hangs right by the house table at the Amsterdam Billiard Club, Dave. I wish you could see it. Cisero's gone, but far from forgotten. He's a permanent fixture in the history of NYC pool, and in the history of pool in general.