Mosconi, "Willie" (William J.)
Billiards
b. June 27, 1913, Philadelphia, PA
d. Sept. 16, 1993
Mosconi's father owned a billiards parlor but wouldn't let his son play, so Willie began sneaking in at night when he was five years old, practicing with a broomstick and potatoes.
He entered his first major tournament in 1937 and won the world pocket billiards championship in league play in 1941 and in tournament play the following year. After losing the championship in a match with Andrew Ponzi in 1943, he regained the title by beating Ponzi in 1944 and held it until 1946, when Irving Crane won a world championship tournament.
Mosconi reclaimed the championship by beating Crane in a 1947 match. From 1950 through 1953 and in 1956 and 1957, Mosconi won annual tournaments to become world champion. He retired from competition after suffering a stroke in 1957.
In 1954, Mosconi ran a record 526 balls during an exhibition in Springfield, OH. He also set a record for highest run in a single game, 127 balls, in 1945, and his high grand tournament average of 18.34 balls in 1950 is the record for a 4 1/2 by 9-foot table.
Even after his retirement from formal competition, Mosconi was an enthusiastic promoter of pocket billiards for the Brunswick company, giving exhibitions and appearing in televised matches. He was technical advisor for the 1961 movie, The Hustler, which starred Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason.