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Show speaking Released by Western Newspaper Union. YX THEN Willie Hoppe won his first v billiard title, Joe Louis hadn't been born, Eddie Plank was the American league's leading pitcher, DeWolf Hopper was on Broadway and a city speed demon was pinched for beating the eight-mile limit in New York. In case your memory doesn't extend ex-tend back that far, the year was 1906. Hoppe, 18, the boy wonder, conquered con-quered the great Maurice Vignaux for the 18.1 balkline world title in Paris. Today, at 55, the same Willie Hoppe is more active in the game than he ever was as a stripling of 30 or 40. He is giving a far larger number of exhibitions on a tour of army camps than he did in the class days of balkline when he could play to a five-dollar top. Mr. Billiards rolled up 14,000 mKes in a four-month trip south and west. He has clayed as many as n'.ne ex- WILLIE HOPPE hibitions in a day, averaged four, and for the first time finds himself booked solidly for as long as he cares to perform. Fine Reception "I'm having a more lively time, if you could put it that way, than I ever did," he says. "I mean there is so much excitement and enthusiasm enthu-siasm in the camps that I get a lift myself. No one ever played to more responsive and appreciative audiences audi-ences than the soldiers." By sport's stopwatch, it's hard to realize how long Hoppe has been at the top. He has seen a generation of athletes shuffle on. As long ago as the early twenties, a writer pointed point-ed out that "At 36, Hoppe is the patriarch of the billiard world, the survivor of the old school." This statement was made after he pulled the first of his so-called comebacks. He had lost the 18.2 balkline title in 1921, a title he had held since 1912. Young Jake Schaef-er Schaef-er beat him. A nervous ailment bothered both-ered his shooting arm and he retired re-tired for six months. Returning in 1922 he defeated Young Jake in a five-way tournament which brought Hoppe $6,680. Hoppe's career goes back further than his defeat of Vignaux. He was far from unknown, even then. Willie had toured the country in 1904 with Old Jake Schaefer, and managed to outclass "The Wizard" quite consistently. con-sistently. He was only eight when he started to play the game in 1896. Triumphant Return Willie bowled the best of 'em over when he cne back from France and whipped the 18.1 title holder in America. He beat George Slosson (The Student) for a $3,000 purse and a $500 side bet. Two years later in 1908 he beat George B. Sutton, 500-272, in Madison Square Garden for the 18.2 world championship. He then relinquished both titles because be-cause he objected to the conditions governing play. In 1910, when the rules were changed, he took back both championships. No one was able to catch Hoppe from then on until Young Jake caught up with his sore arm in 1921 In 1923 Welker Cochran looked good He tied the old master, but lost in a playoff for the 18.2. Six months later Hoppe handed Cochran a one-sided defeat worth more than $6,500 to him. The experts were ready to lay him away again in 1925. when he fell on the ice and his cue arm was badly cut. The next year Young Jake i made it "inevitable" again when he won from Willie the 18.1 title he had taken from Ora Morningstar in 1912. Ten years later, In 1936, Hoppe captured the 18.1 again, plus two other titles the cushion carom and the three-cushion for the first time. Both Schaefer and Cochran were on the mourner's bench. Recent Record Willie has lost only one match in the past three years-to Art Rubin last winter in Chicago as he took the three-cushion title for the third time in a row. This year's tournament has been cancelled. Billiards, particularly in its plebi-an plebi-an form-pool, is an important part of army recreation, according to the champ. Almost every camp has at least a fair setup for pool and three cushion billards, which should help u tram" |