Quote "
On 29 August 1998 there is a dinner being held in Melbourne Australia to
celebrate the centenary of the birth of a man that I believe to be the
greatest to ever pick up a cue. His name was Walter Lindrum. The dinner is a
black tie affair which will be attended by former Prime Ministers and
British Lords
I doubt that any Americans have ever heard the name and I suspect that many
English enthusiasts, having heard of the venerable Walter Lindrum are unsure
of his record.
I appreciate that there are many different cue sports and that it is simply
not possible to compare players who never met head to head and didn't even
play the same game, but I would be interested to hear the various cases for
your "best of the best".
American players whose records I am reasonably familiar with include Ives,
Mosconi, Hoppe, Mizerak and others. Who was the best of these? Are there
videotpaes of them available?
What about Raymond Keulmans the Belgian genius. I have seen tapes of him
playing three cushion carom and he has to be considered as he has dominated
his branch of cue sports for so long.
What about the giants of the Snooker world:
Joe Davis, Ray Reardon, Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.
I have attended three World Snooker Championships at Sheffield (Full Monty
Country) in the U.K. and Hendry is the best I have ever seen playing
Snooker, though many folk I know rate Joe Davis as the best.
Having seen and read about all of these guys I believe Lindrum's claim to be
the strongest, but what say you?
Walter Lindrum played English Billiards and dabbled a little (very little)at
Snooker and pool games. A few of his highlights included:
* They had to change the rules of the game to limit his scoring.
* He still holds all the major records in his sport from the 1930's. Is
there another sport anywhere where the world record stands from the 1930's?
.
* He holds the record for scoring the fastest 100 break (fifty scoring
shots) in less than 30 seconds; close cannons.
* He regularly occupied the table for hours on end without missing (and
he played fast)
* Opponents would regularly not get a shot in a match up to 1000 points
(around 400 shots)
* His world record break (4137) entailed nearly 2000 consecutive strokes
without missing. In the post WW2 era I think there has not been a single
break over 1000 (say 400 shots) in a world championship.
* Playing partners attest that in social matches he played for more than
12 hours without a miss or a break. I wonder when he went to the toilet?
Bear in mind we are talking English Billiard tables here: 12ft x 6ft with
pocket openings at three and a half inches and cloth with a heavy nap on it.
Not your compact American tables with pockets in which you can park a
pickup.
Walter's father Fred was the Australian champion for many years around the
end of the last century and trained the boy from birth. From the age of six
he practiced 14 hours a day, every day, interrupted only by a limited
schooling. Although born a right hander his father forced him to play left
handed so they could stand face to face at the table for instruction. The
result was that he was truly ambidextrous.
For the first couple of years Fred would only let Walter have one ball, the
cue ball, to hit. What a happy day it must have been when Fred finally gave
him something to aim at!. But imagine how well he knew the angles by then.
Fred basically kept him locked up for twenty five years, just playing within
the family. His older brother was the Australian champion during most of
this period, but Walter was not allowed to seriously challenge him because
it would have ruined his older brother's career as a professional.
The world had a glimpse of Walter's genius when the recent world champion,
H.W. Stephenson came out to Australia for a billiards tour. He was ambushed
by a 24 year old Walter, losing 6540 to Walter's 16000.
Walter's competitive career was brief, playing his first world championship
in his thirties and bursting onto the UK scene as a virtual unknown. Within
two years, having of course been unbeaten and winning by unheard of margins,
the authorities revised the rules to attempt to limit his scoring and
reintroduce some interest into a game which had effectively been "solved".
It didn't work, he kept scoring prolifically and effectively ruined the
sport, taking all the competitive interest out of it. Paradoxically, the
greatest ever killed the very sport he was born for. Walter retired to
Australia in disgust and refused to travel again for competition. At one
time there was talk that he should play Willie Hoppe in an agreed "neutral
format" game, but neither player was happy with the arrangement so it never
came to pass. So we must guess.
My guess is Walter Lindrum by a mile, but what say you.
How good was your man. Tell me about him.
"unquote
i read this way back in 1998... and yes i was so impressed i tried finding footage of the man playing.. to say he is spectacular is short of a gross understatement..
