Willie's Game: An Autobiography
Sep 2015 · Open Road Media
4.8star
4 reviewsreport
Ebook
260
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About this ebook
A “fascinating” memoir by America’s greatest professional billiards player, a child prodigy in the pool halls of the 1930s who became a world champion (Library Journal).
Willie Mosconi’s father never wanted him to play billiards. At night, the boy would lie awake listening to the clatter of balls downstairs in the family pool hall, and when his father wasn’t around, he would climb onto an apple crate to practice his shots. When his dad started locking up the balls and cue, young Willie improvised with potatoes and a broom handle. By the time he was 7 years old, he was good enough to play against Ralph Greenleaf in a match billed as “The Child Prodigy vs. The World Champion.”
It was the start of a magnificent career that would include an unprecedented 15 world championships and the record for most consecutive balls run without a miss: 526. Nicknamed “Mr. Pocket Billiards,” Mosconi was instrumental in popularizing pool in America, serving as a consultant for iconic films such as The Hustler and The Color of Money and facing off against the famed hustler Minnesota Fats in 2 celebrated matches.
Cowritten with journalist Stanley Cohen, Willie’s Game is the colorful, captivating autobiography of an illustrious champion who lifted his sport to new heights and played by one simple rule: If you don’t miss, you don’t have to worry about anything else.
Willie Mosconi’s father never wanted him to play billiards. At night, the boy would lie awake listening to the clatter of balls downstairs in the family pool hall, and when his father wasn’t around, he would climb onto an apple crate to practice his shots. When his dad started locking up the balls and cue, young Willie improvised with potatoes and a broom handle. By the time he was 7 years old, he was good enough to play against Ralph Greenleaf in a match billed as “The Child Prodigy vs. The World Champion.”
It was the start of a magnificent career that would include an unprecedented 15 world championships and the record for most consecutive balls run without a miss: 526. Nicknamed “Mr. Pocket Billiards,” Mosconi was instrumental in popularizing pool in America, serving as a consultant for iconic films such as The Hustler and The Color of Money and facing off against the famed hustler Minnesota Fats in 2 celebrated matches.
Cowritten with journalist Stanley Cohen, Willie’s Game is the colorful, captivating autobiography of an illustrious champion who lifted his sport to new heights and played by one simple rule: If you don’t miss, you don’t have to worry about anything else.
Ratings and reviews
4.8
4 reviews
About the author
Stanley Cohen is an author, editor, and reporter whose work has received numerous awards for journalistic excellence. Originally from the Bronx, Cohen earned a BA in journalism from Hunter College and an MA in philosophy from New York University; he also served on the faculty at both schools. Cohen’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Inside Sports, and Sports, Inc., among many other publications. The Game They Played, his acclaimed account of the match-fixing scandal surrounding the 1949–50 City College men’s basketball team, was named one of the top sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated and was the basis of the HBO documentary City Dump, for which Cohen served as a program consultant. He is also the author of A Magic Summer and The Man in the Crowd, as well as the coauthor of Willie’s Game, an autobiography of billiards legend Willie Mosconi. Cohen lives in Tomkins Cove, New York.
Willie Mosconi (1913–1993) was a professional pool player. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he won the World Straight Pool Championship an unmatched fifteen times between 1941 and 1957, and in 1954 ran 526 consecutive balls without missing, a world record that still stands. Nicknamed “Mr. Pocket Billiards,” Mosconi appeared on several television shows, including I’ve Got a Secret and What’s My Line?, and was an advisor for the 1961 film The Hustler starring Paul Newman. He has been inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. In 1994, the Mosconi Cup international pool tournament was founded in his honor.
Willie Mosconi (1913–1993) was a professional pool player. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he won the World Straight Pool Championship an unmatched fifteen times between 1941 and 1957, and in 1954 ran 526 consecutive balls without missing, a world record that still stands. Nicknamed “Mr. Pocket Billiards,” Mosconi appeared on several television shows, including I’ve Got a Secret and What’s My Line?, and was an advisor for the 1961 film The Hustler starring Paul Newman. He has been inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. In 1994, the Mosconi Cup international pool tournament was founded in his honor.
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