About the great Mosconi

They enjoyed a mentor/protege relationship beginning early on when the 7-yr old Mosconi played Greenleaf in an exhibition, holding his own remarkably well considering the vast differences in age and experience. Then, years later while a young man in his early 20s, Mosconi teamed up with Greenleaf on exhibition tours sponsored by Brunswick, winning nearly half of their matches.

Here's a promo poster for the "11 Year Old Boy Wonder" with a testamonial by Greenleaf (in the upper left box) mentioning his 50 - 46 win and predicting the 7-yr old's future as a World Champion: http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/images/d9744-5.jpg The above activities are described in the beginning of Willie's biography at this Smithsonian website about the "WILLIE MOSCONI PAPERS, 1924-2000" donated by his widow in 2000, at http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/d9744.htm, along with several other interesting links to other items in the collection.

Unfortunately, all kinds of searching their websites has yet to discover the whereabouts of the other items - "At the same time she also donated several artifacts to the Museum's Division of Cultural History, including a cue stick, an ivory cue ball, and trophies." Posting a reply here with any info discovered by any members on this Message Board would certainly be appreciated.

On another The Hustler-related topic, has anyone spotted the vintage Mosconi memorabilia props adorning the movie sets? They escaped me during my first viewing in the first-run theater in 1961, several TV broadcasts over the last half century, and even on my own ©2002 DVD until just last week! Here's a hint - one of the two I've found can be seen here: http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/images/d9744-2.jpg

Here's a follow-up that may be of interest to you: the "[Nov] 1983 Billiard News from [among a bundle of same obtained at his nearby home during a in-house 2011 sale of the] estate of the late Willie Mosconi in new condition and unfolded. (Other issues from 1970′s available for sale all with original address labels addressed to Willie Mosconi [at his home address].)" The cover story "Who's The Greatest? Greenleaf or Mosconi", two full pages with a table of compiled official stats side-by-side for each player, supports your choice with which I concurr. Links:

http://lanzabilliards.com/accessories/books-publications/
http://lanzabilliards.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/172.jpg Enlarged

BTW, it's somewhat ironic that both the hustler and the champ, Rudolph Wanderone (AKA NY Fats pre-1961, MN Fats post-1961) and Willie Mosconi, respectively, were born in 1913, the actual "golden age of pocket billiards" that foresaw a gradual decline from the 1913 peak high numbers of pool rooms and players to their all-time low (1957-1961). It's even more ironic, perhaps bordering on tragic, that the 1961 film The Hustler (on which Mosconi was a technical consultant, pool coach to Paul Newman, actor as Willie the stakesholder, and Jackie Gleason casting agent for his MN Fats role) would be the movie that not only resuscitated pool, but also provided Wanderone with his new personna that he then exploited towards his newly-found role as a media entertainer more lucratively than the genuine, real-life Willie Mosconi himself!