![]() Billiards parlors were respectable places, catering to the emerging urban middle and upper class. This suggests that billiards may have been prevalent in taverns outside the city limits (Vine and South Streets), as were other forms of sports and entertainments frowned upon by Quakers and, therefore, not found within the city proper.īy the early 1800s billiards had become popular in Philadelphia and most other major cities. The earliest reference that has been found for billiards in Philadelphia is a 1793 notice of sale for the Black Bear Tavern in Southwark (Queen Village), which mentions that an adjoining building contained a large space intended to be used for billiards. George Washington played billiards with the Marquis de Lafayette in 1777. There are references to billiards being played in Virginia as early as 1710 and in New Orleans in 1723. Shakespeare refers to billiards in Antony and Cleopatra (1606-09), suggesting that by that time billiards was sufficiently popular for the reference to be understood by his audiences.īilliards was brought to America by both the English and Spaniards. King Louis XI of France had a billiards table made in 1470. The game is thought to have originated in France or England in the 1400s as an indoor alternative to croquet. The location and date of the origin of billiards are not really known. All the nationally prominent billiards players of the time played in Philadelphia and some lived in the area, including Willie Mosconi (1913-93), who is considered to be the second-best billiards player of all time. By the 1930s there were over 200 billiards parlors in the city. Other national championships were held in the city in the first decades of the twentieth century. There was sufficient interest in billiards in Philadelphia by 1858 for the city to be the location of the first informal American billiards championship. Groff for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia)īy the mid 1800s, the more-affluent members of Philadelphia society were playing billiards in exclusive men’s clubs while working-class men played billiards in taverns and saloons. ![]() Mosconi began playing at a very young age at his father’s billiards parlor in South Philadelphia. Willie Mosconi, depicted here in a mural on South Street, is considered to be the second-best billiards player of all time and the best straight pool player. Groff for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia) ![]() This photograph from 2015 shows one segment of the mural in which Mosconi is watching Davis lining up a shot. Created in 2006 by artist John Lewis, the mural depicts Mosconi and Davis, who played against each other in 1940. The image of Mosconi is part of a mural commemorating Edward “Chick” Davis in the 1400 block of South Street. He was the technical advisor for the film The Hustler (1961) with Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman (and said to have made Newman’s trick shots), which increased the popularity of pool in the United States. Under the sponsorship of Brunswick, Mosconi toured the country promoting what he always called pocket billiards. Mosconi holds the all-time documented record for balls continuously pocketed without a miss-526, achieved in an exhibition match in Springfield, Ohio, in 1954. Matches were usually played over several days to scores of several hundred points. Straight-pool matches were played until one player reached a certain number of points, one point being given for each ball pocketed. Between 19 he won fifteen consecutive championships. ![]() Willie Mosconi is considered to be the second-best billiards player of all time and the best straight-pool player. This photograph from 2015 shows one segment of the mural in which Davis is lining up a shot. Created in 2006 by artist John Lewis, the mural depicts Davis and Willie Mosconi, whom he played in 1940. He later owned two other billiards parlors, one on Broad Street and one on South Street.ĭavis is commemorated as a billiards player and businessman by a mural in the 1400 block of South Street. Having experienced discrimination when he toured the country playing billiards, Davis opened a billiards parlor at Broad and Bainbridge Streets that was welcoming to all players regardless of race or gender. Black players had no opportunity to compete in national championships or against the top players of the day. At the time billiards parlors and championships were segregated, as was much of American society. Born in South Philadelphia, Davis learned to play billiards at the Christian Street YMCA, the first black YMCA in Philadelphia. Edward “Chick” Davis (1907-2006) was a prominent African American billiards player in the mid-twentieth century.
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