Willie Mosconi

William Joseph Mosconi (June 27, 1913–September 12, 1993), an American billiards player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is considered by most who knew him to be one of the best players in the history of the game. Between the years of 1941 and 1956, he won the United States states pool championship eighteen times. He pioneered and regularly employed numerous trickshots, set innumerable records, and helped to popularize the game of billiards as a national recreation activity.

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During the 40s and 50s, the billiards game most often played in competition was called straight pool, or 14.1 continuous, a form of pocket billiards considered by most top players to be more difficult than today's championship pool game 9-ball.

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Willie Mosconi once ran 526 balls in a row in an exhibition of straight pool, a record that may never be beaten. He was the technical consultant for the movie The Hustler, in which had a cameo role as a "stakes holder". The movie resulted in a boom in the popularity of pool.

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His father owned a pool hall and originally tried to keep him away from the game by taking the pool balls away, but Willie carved his own balls from potatoes and practiced with a broomstickhttp://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/mosconiwillie.shtml. He was a prodigy as a small child, then disappeared from the game for a while until the age of 19, when he had a good showing in a national event in Minneapolis. Because of this, he was invited to play with the best players in the world, and finished in the upper half.

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He was hired by Brunswick which had touring professionals and promoted their products throughout the thirties.

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From 1940 to 1941 a league was sponsored by billiard halls with 8 players, and a full round robin took place. Mosconi was sponsored by a hall in New York called McGirr's. He dominated this series, and ran 125 balls from the break five times when only two other players in history had ever done the same.

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He continued to dominate pool into the mid 1950s in a manner few have equaled.

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The Mosconi Cup, an annual pool competition between American and European players, is named in his honor.

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June 27: June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining....

1913: 1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. (click on link for calendar)...

September 12: September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). There are 110 days remaining....

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