Collegiate Billiards

The Lindenwood Lions Billiards Team was born on August 28th, 2012 with their first practice. We are now beginning our third week of training and will begin competing in October. The amount of progress displayed by the team members has been remarkable already.

The first year of any undertaking of this magnitude is full of details and changes and certainly will encounter some unforeseen hurdles and setbacks, but these will all be conquered with the team enthusiasm and spirit.

We have sixteen players that are on the team and have divided them into smaller groups for training and inter-team competition.

 The Mosconi squad is comprised of: Federica Bertolini, Anthony Foppe, Gary Nie, and Dan Otto.

The Greenleaf squad: Jaydan Hergott, Chris Salvo, Kelly Zahn, and Joe Thorington.

The Crane squad is: Sean Sommers, Caleb O'Leary, Jimmie Martialay, and Charles Herrmann.

The Lassiter squad is: Nick Phillips, Bobby Wilson, Roy Rui Qin, and Jack Temple.

Beyond learning the actual playing skills many other parts of the game will be taught including some history. This will be today's quiz for the team and you also, the answers provided at the bottom of this article.

My personal "Mount Rushmore" of pool champions would be, Willie Mosconi, Ralph Greenleaf, Irving Crane, and Luther Lassiter. I was blessed to have played or interacted with all but Ralph Greenleaf who had passed away five years before I was born. I consider myself as very fortunate to have known these players, in addition to Minnesota Fats, and all of the players of my era, Earl Strickland, Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel, and Buddy Hall. However most of these people to my very youthful team seem fictional and historic, so I want to share some of my experience to round out the billiards education for them, so they must find out the answers to the following twelve questions.

1.) What is Willie Mosconi's high run?
2.) Willie was the technical advisor on what movie?
3.) When Willie's father took away his pool balls what did Willie substitute?

4.) Where was Ralph Greenleaf born?
5.) What size table did Ralph primarily play on?
6.) What was the final score of the 1937 Championship Title game against Irving Crane?

7.) What was Irving Crane's nickname?
8.) Why was this his nickname?
9.) What did Minnesota Fats say about Irving Crane?

10.) What was Luther Lassiter's nickname?
11.) How did he get his nickname?
12.) Where was his hometown?


Answers, 1.) 526  2.) The Hustler  3.) potatoes ( he once ran fifty potatoes)  4.) Monmouth, Illinois  5.) 5'x10'  6.) 125 to -1  7.) The Deacon  8.) conservative playing style and always well dressed  9.) Fats declared that Crane was so conservative that he would be the only guy to know what kind of horse that Lady Godiva was riding topless  10.) Wimpy  11.) he ate multiple hot dogs and sodas 12.) Elizabeth City, North Carolina

If you scored all twelve answers correct you could be a member of the Lindenwood Billiards Team.