Untold Stories in Billiards Digest

Alfredo De Oro's controversial return to Cuba

Before the age of Mosconi, before even Ralph Greenleaf: there was Alfredo De Oro, the Cuban-born legend. De Oro won his first pocket billiards crown in 1887 and then went on to win it 31 more times. He was also the only person in history to simultaneously have held both the pool and billiards crowns on two separate occasions. 

During his heyday, De Oro was considered the best cue sports player in the world. Some still say he is the greatest ever.

In the January edition of Billiards Digest, I write about De Oro's glorious return to Cuba in 1918 for a world three-cushion championship. Held in one of the nation's finest theaters and attended by the president himself, that three-day competition is remembered today as one of the most dramatic ever in three-cushion billiards. But it also ended in controversy and bitterness.

You can read all about it in this month's Untold Stories column, which you can find here. There also also links to previous Untold Stories columns at the Billiards Digest website.


-- R.A. Dyer

1918: De Oro versus Otis in Havana

Otis and De Oro step off the steamer, docked at Havana.

Alfredo De Oro, perhaps the greatest cue sports player of all time, met Brooklyn native Charles Otis during a world championship match in Havana in 1918. I've reproduced just above a front page news article that chronicles his arrival in Havana. It appeared in El Mundo, then the principal newspaper in Cuba.  I love the old bowler hats.

It was said that the old lion was ecstatic about his return. Living then in New York City, De Oro had not set foot in Havana for 25 years. A local newspaper man accompaning De Oro on a quick tour of Havana reported that he was  struck speechless by the startling transformations then underway in the Capitol city.

The venue for his match with Otis was the Payret Theater, a regal stone structure built in 1877. That's a picture of it just below. Raised seats were set in the orchestra pit, and more were placed on the stage. Audience members also took seats in the front sections of the theater, as well as in the balconies. The president himself, Mario Garcia Menocal, was among the 2,000 in attendance. It was Menocal who would pin the championship medal, pictured above at right, on the the chest of the eventual victor.

Look for upcoming Untold Stories column about the dramatic contest in Billiards Digest.

The Payret Theater, the venue for the championship match, was built in 1877.

The History of Sharking 2.1

The Alfredo De Oro Bladder Technique

De Oro

I wrote an essay sometime back in which I listed some of the most popular sharking techniques in history. Somehow I neglected to mention one of my favorites. During the 1936 World Billiards Tournament, when Alfredo De Oro was 71 years old, the Cuban master found himself matched up against the legendary Welker Cochran. Cochran was then at the top of his game.

This is was what Cochran had to say about the encounter:

 "I knew the old man would have to take six piss breaks during the game. I couldn't complain about it because of his age, and I wasn't going to let it bother me if he took a lot of time. Halfway through the game he hadn't asked for permission to leave the table and I started worrying about him. Started worrying about his bladder. After all, he still hadn't gone to the can. Was he alright? Was he going to go in his pants? Was he in pain trying to hold it back? I got so worried about his bladder I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. That old man did not take one piss the entire game, and that's what beat me."

That anecdote was included in Robert Byrne's hilarious book, McGoorty: A Poolroom Hustler. If you haven't read the book, you should do so immediately.  It was also from Bob Byrne that I learned about another great book, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship, by Stephen Potter. I took many of the sharking techniques listed in my earlier post from that book.

Sharking, technically, is different from hustling. A person who sharks uses psychological warfare to distract an opponent. For instance, he might intentionally blow his nose as his opponent is shooting. A hustler employs outright deceit. The most obvious example is the player who intentionally shoots poorly in order to lure the guileless into a bigger bet.

I have never come across any evidence that Alfredo De Oro hustled pool. But it's not surprising that a man now remembered as one of the greatest in history would resort to sharking (or any other legal tactic) to win.  De Oro (1863-1948)  won more than 30 pocket billiard titles.  That's more titles than both Willie Mosconi and Ralph Greenleaf. De Oro also held the three-cushion title ten times between 1908 and 1919.

-- R.A. Dyer

Alfredo De Oro: One of the Greatest Ever

If you've been following along lately, you know we've had on-gain off-again discussions here about the greatest pool players in American history. Several months ago we conducted a poll on the issue.  Willie Mosconi and Ralph Greenleaf received the most votes, which prompted a run-off. The voting is still open on the question. You can find the ballot on the panel at right.

But throughout this discussion there's been one important player who almost entirely escaped notice. That player is Alfredo de Oro, pictured above. De Oro is largely forgotten these days, probably because his spectacular career occurred before living memory and because his exploits were overshadowed by the very colorful Ralph Greenleaf, who followed close on his heels. But de Oro was among the first inductees into the Billiard Congress Hall of Fame. He also mounted a championship career that would rival that of Greenleaf or any of the other lions.

De Oro played both three-cushion and pocket billiards — and excelled at both. According to his short bio in the BCA's Official Rules and Record Book, de Oro first gained the pocket billiards crown in 1887 and then went on to win it 31 more times. I'll say it again: He won it 31 more times. By contrast, both Greenleaf and Mosconi won the pocket billiard title fewer than 30 times apiece. Not only that, but de Oro also held the three-cushion title ten times between 1908 and 1919. Harold Worst also excelled at both sports, but not with de Oro's dominance.

De Oro was born in Manzanilla, Cuba on April 28, 1863. That's a copy of his passport above. (It's incredible what you can find online.) According to a quick bio I found on Wikipdedia, de Oro's first public appearance as a professional was in the fourth US National Fifteen-ball Championship, held in New York, February, 1887. By my calculation, he would have been 23 years old. He died in 1948, two years before Ralph Greenleaf.
-- R.A. Dyer

1918: De Oro Returns to Cuba

Billiard champ greeted as conquering hero 

After a decades-long absence, Alfredo de Oro, the great Cuban pool and billiards champion, returned in 1918 to his homeland. The Cuban government had just granted De Oro a lifelong pension in recognition of the acclaim he had brought his native land. De Oro, then living in New York City, returned the goodwill by agreeing to play a world championship in Havana. The challenger was Charles Otis, then one of the top U.S. players.

I recently found a reference to De Oro's return to Cuba in a news article that appeared in  The New York Times. Through a little more sleuthing (at the Latin American Studies Library at the University of Texas) I turned up plenty more about De Oro's return, including extensive coverage from Cuba's El Mundo and Havana Post newspapers.

I'll write about my findings in an upcoming Untold Stories column for Billiards Digest. In the meantime, check out this Jan. 18, 1918 copy of  El Mundo. Coverage of De Oro's match against Charles Otis is stripped across the front page. (You'll have to click on it to view it better.)

Some quick background: According to his short bio in the BCA's Official Rules and Record Book, De Oro first gained the pocket billiards crown in 1887 and then went on to win it 31 more times. De Oro also held the three-cushion title ten times between 1908 and 1919. He was born in Manzanilla, Cuba on April 28, 1863. He died in 1948.

-- R.A. Dyer

The History of High Rolling

Lassiter & Fats: Big Bets in Today's Dollars

9-ball genius Luther Lassiter

This is what Luther Lassiter said about Norfolk, Virginia, back in the 1940s: "Greatest pool town that's ever been. You had five or six people there who were really gambling. People had lots of cash, and players from all over the country -- anybody that played for money at all -- came to Norfolk."

Lassiter was a prince among the Norfolk hustlers during his World War II Coast Guard years. During one particularly memorable  straight pool match-up Wimpy took $5,000 from a club owner. You can read all about it in Hustler Days.

The size of that $5,000 wager -- and the heart Lassiter needed to win it -- got me to thinking. That amount of money is a lot, even today.  After all, many of the regional tournaments even now pay less for first place. Shane Van Boening  also recently won $10,000 from Mika Immonen, but it took him three days to do it. But Lassiter won his money during a single game in the 1940s. During those years $5,000 was a king's ransom.

You can find various inflation calculators on the Internet. Here's a link to one. It's from the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics. So how much is $5,000, wagered in 1946, valued in today's dollars? According to the inflation calculator: $56,000! During a 100-point game of straight pool Lassiter's opponent was within just two balls of taking the cash. That's when Lassiter ran 92 and out. Talk about heart.

There are other references to historic wagers. For instance, Minnesota Fats won about $20,000 from Richie Florence and two others in Johnston City, back in 1971. You can read about that encounter in The Hustler & the Champ. How much would $20,000 be valued today? More than $107,000, according to the  inflation calculator. However, unlike Lassiter's score, it took Fats a couple of weeks to win all that money.

I've also came across a reference to a $250 wager between Alfredo De Oro and Charles Otis back in 1916. It was a private bet between the two players before their championship billiards match held in Havana, Cuba. In today's dollars, the wager would have amounted to $5,000. De Oro, then considered the greatest player ever, was said to have put up his own money. Otis was staked.

Have a story about a particularly memorable wager from yesteryear? Send me the details, and we'll plug it into the inflation calculator.

-- R.A. Dyer