Page Thirteen The Daily Utah Chronicle, Tuesday, September 26, 1978 Pool pro dnspDays exhilbitooini stylo JOHN MURRAY Chronicle staff Pool halls in America have always been associated with g gambling, sluts, cops and punks. Maybe that was why Mr. Mosroni wouldn't let his son Willie near the tables in his South Philadelphia pool hall. He locked up the balls and cues at closing time. But Willie was not discouraged. He carefully selected a d broomstick and several potatoes and played in of the middle the night. Willie Mosroni was at Sunset Sports Saturday, exhibiting the style which won him the national championship 15 times, signing pool tables with a magic marker and keeping the crowd happy. "My cousins were vaudevillians; they were in the Ziegfeld Follies. I was supposed to be a dancer. I was destined to be in show business," Mosroni said. "But the bottom fell out in '30, after the crash. You know, in vaudeville, people like Jack Benny were the number three act. There were only half a dozen good dance teams back in those days. My cousins started in 1914. They headlined the Palace 58 times. I don't know if you young people know about the Palate, but it was the epitome of show business. I came up playing jxx)l in the earlv '30s: 1933." Mosroni said. by chain-smokin- six-year-o- ld well-rounde- $100 a day A man in the crowd around the pool table shook Willie's hand. "You put on an exhibition in St. Joseph, Mo. I was there. I was 10 years old." he said. "I been around so many places," Mosroni said. "You name some of those small towns in Kansas, I was there. I used to work 320 days out of the year, doing four exhibitions a day, $25 an exhibition." In Chirago in the early '30s, Mosroni said it was common for him to draw 1,500 spectators to a Saturday night pool exhibition. The Chirago Bears only had 1,200 spertators for their football game the next day. Mosroni said he never hustled, except the time he said he was a Philadelphia dress manufarturer named Shuman and played Jarkie Gleason for $100. After pocketing the rash, and left and 75 Mosroni ran 75 balls right-hande- left-hande- d d Gleason sitting in his rhair. "Hustlers rouldn't beat good players. They'd have to go to the towns to beat the loral players," Mosroni explained. "I played in tournaments. I don't play in tournaments any more, son; I represent this rompany. "I can't work in this damn thing," Mosroni said, shedding a blue sport roat. He asked for Sweet and Low in his roffee e h rue from its alligator-ski- n and took the case. "I've had this about 15 years," he said, srrewing the two parts together. "You ran't buy these any more. The guy's dead." 56-inr- two-pier- it an easy shot. See what 1 mean? "Here's a masse shot," he said, and hit almost straight down on the cue ball. It knocked one of the balls into the corner pocket. Die rue ball started rolling away but suddenly reversed dim lion, poinked a bumper, and knocked the other ball into the coiner. "Here's a shot from the motion picture The Hustler," Mosconi said. Mosroni was technical adviser for the 1961 film, starring Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman. "Gleason, one I Newman, iiicv get t w'.t f i all lu-s- shots. Wr-rmade," he aid. "We call this the machine gun shot. As the cue ball runs along the c ushion, it makes a sound resembling the dinner of a machine gun. r "It takes an to set up this shot," he said, fixing six balls in the middle of the table. "I need a woman from the audience who can hit the halls hard." Mosconi told hei what to do and the blonde stroked home all six, one into each jMxket of the table. , 'J ' i i ? old-time- Fat's big mouth Harold West, Eddy Tavlor, Jimmy Moore, Irving "Deacon" Crane, William "Weenie Beenie" Staton, Onofrio Lauri, Johnny Ervolino, Jack Breit, William Hoppe, Babe Cranfcld, Jay Bozeman, Welker Qxhran and Ralph Greenleaf... Willie knew them all. Between 1911 and 1956, Mosconi held the world pexket billiards title every year but two. No one has beaten his record run of 526. "1 he c losest was 465. hv me." Mosroni aid "And after that. VV by ni" "Minnesota Eats? I hat guv never beat anybody. He sure is a braggadoc io. That's what I've been sa . in foi 15 seat he can't play pool. I came out of iciiiemeni to play hini for television. Did you set ic? He sine had a big mouth. You notice how quiet he was the last 15 minutes, though." Who was the toughest he ever played? "A gentleman by the name of Ralph Greenleaf, son. I played him 13 times. He couldn't play without having a drink. I never drank in my life when I was in competition. Some thought it steadied them and improved their game. The s- - last time we played I beat him My nerves were in better I wasn't drinking." because shape, Pool has changed immensely since Mosconi was inch champion. Tables used to be made of one and one-hathick slate. "We used to have to play on a five by 10 table; it was like playing on a football field. It wasn't until 1950 that they changed it to four and a half by nine for tournament play. They don't even have championships any more. It's a damn shame. There should be a champion in every sport," he said. The future of pool is in rolleges, as most university union buildings have tables, Mosroni said. No longer is there a living to be made in hustling. The future is in tearhing, opening up a srhool, he said. 14-1- w X ( kJl - Willie Mosconi 2. lf - was almost time for Willie to leave to sell pool tables, but he had time for one last question. Did he remember Salt lake's own jxx1 great, Dick "l.efty" Miles? "Sure, he's in Las Vegas now," Mosconi said, putting his case. "I was out jacket on and picking up the alligator-skithere in May. We were at the Sahara; they had a trick shot It n thing. "The last time I was in Salt Lake had to be 12, 13. 14 years ago," he recalled. "We played in that room downstairs in the basement..." Thinking ahead Mosroni broke. Two balls dropped. Thinking as many shots ahead as neressary, he hurried around the table, always - leaving the rue ball in position, sinking 14 in quick surression, the balls gliding arross the green felt and plunking into the porkets. "You like that shot?" he asked as the three-babounred off four bumpers and into the corner. "That's the way I railed it." He dazzled the audienre with a demonstration of follow, stop, draw and combinations, then started on trirk shots. "Sometimes you'll be in a situation where the ball is frozen to the rushion. You ran't bank it berause you'll get a double d kiss, but you can put it in the rorner porket. Put English on it, and hit the rushion first, so it'll spin and make 226 Emti fflh South ll left-han- "T 1L Now! Your Chrony is at i TIMBERLINE ANNOUNCES THE You asked for it! You've got it! 6:40 a.m. Because of popular demand, some classes filled, others crowded during the day and evening and some students unable to fit in an institute class during regular hours, two earlybird sections of New Testament have been added in room 12 central. At this time of morning there is no parking problem and both classes end at 7:30 a.m. in time to get to a 7:45. Mon. & Wed. Teachings of Paul Dr. C. Kent Dunford 12 Central Some of the 177 sections still open $4 for one or any number of classes Tue. & Thu. Teachings of Jesus Dr. C. 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