more trivia:
they had a hard time finding a suitable place for mosconi to train newman, so they ended up in the basement of a girl's college...
Willie
- Thread starter JAM
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more trivia:
they had a hard time finding a suitable place for mosconi to train newman, so they ended up in the basement of a girl's college...
professionalist
Willie wasn't 100% perfect but he always struck me as the ultimate professionalist. If I looked it up in the dictionary I'd expect to find his picture.
I always credit watching Willie on TV with teaching me that pinpoint spot position with a cue ball was possible, he also had a lot to do with my "taking care of business" attitude towards pool. I owe a lot to a man I never met.
Hu
Willie wasn't 100% perfect but he always struck me as the ultimate professionalist. If I looked it up in the dictionary I'd expect to find his picture.
I always credit watching Willie on TV with teaching me that pinpoint spot position with a cue ball was possible, he also had a lot to do with my "taking care of business" attitude towards pool. I owe a lot to a man I never met.
Hu
All of these posts about Willie define who he was and it was great to read the new clippings too. Thanks, I had a blast filling in some spots about Willie.
When Jennie started this thread I thought she was talking about Williebetmore.
The thought that started rolling around in my head was about who was the greatest pool player of all time and then I thought; THE GREATEST pool icon or THE GREATEST POOL PLAYER OF ALL TIME.
Efren Reyes has performed some of the greatest miracles I have ever seen on the table, but the reports of Willie, going out to exhibitions, week after week, month after month, year after year, playing at the higest level all of the time makes me lean toward Willie. Willie had quite an ego and it would not allow him to be gracious in losing and while I admire the way Efren carries himself in that department, I have to give the nod to Willie for being the GREATEST POOL PLAYER OF ALL TIME.
Efren is my pool hero because I have seen with my own eyes what greateness he possesses.. I missed out on Willie Mosoni for various reasons but the documentation of his consistent level of play is not equaled by Efren's heroics. Maybe it is because in Efren's time there are more champions or maybe Willie was just the better player.
Efren should get out the video camera and see if he can break the Willie Mosconi World Record in straight pool.
I bet Efren could set up shop in a mall to see if he could break the record and he would make a fortune by charging admission.....
Anyway, thanks again for the Willie stories!
When Jennie started this thread I thought she was talking about Williebetmore.
The thought that started rolling around in my head was about who was the greatest pool player of all time and then I thought; THE GREATEST pool icon or THE GREATEST POOL PLAYER OF ALL TIME.
Efren Reyes has performed some of the greatest miracles I have ever seen on the table, but the reports of Willie, going out to exhibitions, week after week, month after month, year after year, playing at the higest level all of the time makes me lean toward Willie. Willie had quite an ego and it would not allow him to be gracious in losing and while I admire the way Efren carries himself in that department, I have to give the nod to Willie for being the GREATEST POOL PLAYER OF ALL TIME.
Efren is my pool hero because I have seen with my own eyes what greateness he possesses.. I missed out on Willie Mosoni for various reasons but the documentation of his consistent level of play is not equaled by Efren's heroics. Maybe it is because in Efren's time there are more champions or maybe Willie was just the better player.
Efren should get out the video camera and see if he can break the Willie Mosconi World Record in straight pool.
I bet Efren could set up shop in a mall to see if he could break the record and he would make a fortune by charging admission.....
Anyway, thanks again for the Willie stories!
That brings up a question about beating the record. Back when Willie did it one of the requirements was that it be accomplished in an announced exhibition so that spectators and media would have a chance to witness the feat.
With the advent of video a run at the record could easily be documented in a private session. The question is would it qualify as a record in the regard that it didn't have the pressure associated with a public exhibition with third party, unaffiliated, and perhaps paying spectators in attendance?
With the advent of video a run at the record could easily be documented in a private session. The question is would it qualify as a record in the regard that it didn't have the pressure associated with a public exhibition with third party, unaffiliated, and perhaps paying spectators in attendance?
Maybe you are right for you, but there are a ton of great people in our sport and the rest that you mention. And it seems to be in vogue to make excuses for folks if they have poor behavior.
To really be great is in spite of the difficulties, they remember without their fans they would probably be nothing.
Give me a John Brumbeck, Efren Reyes, and many, many others that show what greatness and class is REALLY about.
Ken
If they thought the public pool rooms got too crowded can you imagine if the coeds had got wind of Paul Newman being in the basement of their dorm?
I believe Brunswick had Willie on their payroll for years because Willie was good for pool, and pools image.
Brunswick let Mosconi go because of his public attitude it was rumored. He would actually insult the people who came to see him, which I personally witnessed on several occasions. Mosconi later worked for Ebonite. When he died it had been many years since Mosconi had any affiliation with Brunswick.
Jimmy Caras though worked for Brunswick for many many years and told me he was the only one getting a pension from them. Back then most all the pros at one time or another were on the "Brunswick pro staff" as they were refereed to.
No. There are not a ton of people at the heights you or I am speaking of.
The very best of the best. The greats. The greatest. The immortals.
Not just the really good guys, but the ones that won world championship after world championship. The guys that wanted it so bad that they chewed their tongues bloody during competition. The guys that traveled night and day and took on all comers. The guys that, even today, are remembered by the cognoscenti and aficionados of the sport for their greatness.
*That* is a very, very, very small select group. Efren, no doubt, is destined for that group. But who else? I mean, when you think of the very greatest... Sigel? Strickland? Will even guys like that ever be regarded at the same height of accomplishment in the sport that Mosconi is? Probably not.
Like I said, it is an exclusive club ;-)
Lou Figueroa
James Brown is the Father of Soul. Bill Monroe is the Father of Blue Grass. Michael Jackson is the King of Pop. Elvis Presley is the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Some claim Michael Jordan is the King of Basketball.
I think it's fair to say that Willie Mosconi is the Father of Pocket Billiards. :smile:
I think this New York Times obit, especially the part in red, sums it all up just right when it comes to what Willie Mosconi was all about:
Willie Mosconi, acknowledged as one of the greatest pocket billiards players in the history of the sport, died on Thursday afternoon at his home in Haddon Heights, N.J. He was 80.
Mr. Mosconi died of a heart attack, said members of his immediate family.
"For hustlers like Minnesota Fats, billiards was just for fun," said Stanley Cohen, who, with Mr. Mosconi, wrote "Willie's Game" (McMillan), an autobiography published last March. "But for Willie Mosconi, billiards was strictly a business."
Mr. Mosconi, whose name is synonymous with billiards in the way that Babe Ruth's is synonymous with baseball, won the world pocket billiards championship 13 times in 15 years from 1941 through 1956, the year he retired from the professional circuit.
Source: New York Times Willie Mosconi Obit [Retrieved 4 September 2011]
I have a paperbook of Willie's. If you want to purchase this paperback today new, it will cost you 71 bucks on Amazon. It's amazing how artists and sports icons are worth more dead than alive. :smile:
Willie Mosconi, acknowledged as one of the greatest pocket billiards players in the history of the sport, died on Thursday afternoon at his home in Haddon Heights, N.J. He was 80.
Mr. Mosconi died of a heart attack, said members of his immediate family.
"For hustlers like Minnesota Fats, billiards was just for fun," said Stanley Cohen, who, with Mr. Mosconi, wrote "Willie's Game" (McMillan), an autobiography published last March. "But for Willie Mosconi, billiards was strictly a business."
Mr. Mosconi, whose name is synonymous with billiards in the way that Babe Ruth's is synonymous with baseball, won the world pocket billiards championship 13 times in 15 years from 1941 through 1956, the year he retired from the professional circuit.
Source: New York Times Willie Mosconi Obit [Retrieved 4 September 2011]
I have a paperbook of Willie's. If you want to purchase this paperback today new, it will cost you 71 bucks on Amazon. It's amazing how artists and sports icons are worth more dead than alive. :smile:
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Dan Janes of Joss Cues has a beautiful black-and-white photo tribute to Willie. Check it out: JossCues.com Willie Tribute
If this were the first edition first printing it might be realistic. They list the 1995 edition as being $71.00. Mine is the 1979 edition bought for, I think,
$.25 used. As to actual new copies, I'm not sure if the book is still in print or not but they would not cost that much. I've seen Amazon make that kind of mistake often. You can still find older, used copies for much less.
Willie's Game is another story, however.
I actually have the first edition, and I put it in the leg of my Brunswick pool table in my basement as kind of a time capsule. I have some other cool pool items in that leg of my pool table as well.
When I die, I hope my daughter doesn't throw them out. :embarrassed2:
I've got 3 books by or 'with' Willie Mosconi...and they're well hidden also...I actually have the first edition, and I put it in the leg of my Brunswick pool table in my basement as kind of a time capsule. I have some other cool pool items in that leg of my pool table as well.
When I die, I hope my daughter doesn't throw them out. :embarrassed2:
..with about 2,000 books in storage...I need a librarian..:frown:
The first one I bought had a blue cover...I was 22 at the time.
The book showed what a dead-on kiss-in was.....I started finding
these shots in the pack at pool and snooker, seemed like every other game.
Seemed like a license to steal....then I'd go for months and not find one..:angry:
That's why I like the Cicero Murphy quote on Black Jack's sig line....
.."Dead balls are easier to make than they are to find."