BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 842, 26 April 1906, Page 11

BILLIARDS.

(By

“Pyramid.")

[The writer of this column will be glad to answer any Questions on the game.]

A.Z. —Your question as to who is the best amateur in New Zealand is a little difficult to answer, but with Messrs. Hooper and Lyons out of the colony, I should say that Mr. T. Muir, of Dunedin, would hold the position, and it is also quite possible that the Otago man could beat the two Aucklanders mentioned.

Roberts was in good form recently when he met Duncan, the champion of Ireland, who received a start of 3000 in 900. With the scores standing Duncan 7004 to Roberts 5265, the position looked bad for the backmarker, but then the latter came with a great rush and won by 652 points. During the match Roberts made 32 breaks of over a century,’ the highest being 358. On one occasion he put together 1400 in less than two hours. w.■» * *

By the way, Roberts always seems to shine when playing Duncan, for one of the most remarkable features of the year’s billiards was his wonderful performance at the Fine Art Hall, Glasgow, on January 23 and 24, when playing in an exhibition match against the Irish champion. He made a brilliant break of 821 —the highest ever made under Billiard Association rules. On the first day, after making a contribution of 180, he went to his points with 647 (unfinished), and next day, on resuming in the presence of an enormous crowd, increased it by 174 ere he missed a simple white loser, the ball being left in the jaws of the pocket. This was a marvellous performance for a man of his years, and owing to the refusal of the Billiard Association to pass the break as a record —for it beat by just 33 points the 788 made by Stevenson on

April 21, 1904 —caused much comment. This refusal was owing to the fact that the table had not been officially tested.

Peall is the smallest man in his profession, for he stands only sft o%in in height. This was always a great disadvantage to him, for he had not as much command over the table as his confreres. Once he tried to overcome his physical disability by wearing boots with soles three inches thick, and for that purpose went to a surgical bootmaker. After hearing Peall, the boot scientist remarked, “ Well, I’ve had plenty of patients with one short leg, but you are the first that has come here with two.” The boots were made, and Peall found that they gave him more power, but eventually they had such an effect that he found it necessary always to wear the same sort of boots when playing, and this put him in such awkward positions that he resolved not to try and improve upon nature, and discarded them. On another occasion he had just seated himself in the smoking-room of a club where he was about to give an exhibition, when he heard a man say to a friend, “ Have you ever seen Peall? He’s no bigger than a cock sparrow, and can hide himself in a pocket,” and at another time, when engaged to give lessons to a diminutive Oxford coxswain, he said to the lad, “ I’m afraid you are almost too small to play billiards.” However, on getting near the boy he discovered that the undergraduate was just half an inch taller than himself. —London “ Sportsman.”

One of the most interesting figures in the sporting world now is Willie Hoppe, the American, who recently won the world’s championship from Maurise Vignaux in Paris, says the Pittsburg “ Press.” Everybody knows that Hoppe began playing billiards when a child —at a time when it was necessary for him to stand on a chair to reach the table —but few are more familiar with the boy’s progress from that time on than Charles A. Gray, the St. Louis cue expert. In speaking of Hoppe’s wonderful achievements in beating Vignaux, Mr. Gray said: —

“ I first met Willie Hoppe when he and his brother were giving billiard exhibitions in Chicago. The lad was exceedingly expert at the game for his age, and his brother Frank, who was two years older, was equally clever at pool. They were so small at the time that boxes had to be placed about the tables with planks laid on them to enable the boys to reach over the rail. The youngsters played 50 points at straight rail as an exhibition game. “In 1891 Willie spent the summer in Chicago, going to school and playing exhibition games in Bensinger’s Hall at four o’clock each afternoon. In that year he had improved so much than his usual average at 14-inch baulk line was from ten to twelve.

“At that time Bensigner offered a five-dollar hat to any local amateur who would defeat Willie. All of the cracks of that day attempted to turn the trick. With the exception of Taylor, the present Chicago champion, none of them was able to beat Willie, even in one game.”