Jimmy Caras - "In billiards the ability to concentrate must be balanced by the power to relax when the other fellow is up there at the table running rack after rack and you think he is never going to miss.  Relaxation isn't easy under such circumstances, but unless you are able to keep your nerves loosened up the chances are that when you do step up to the table you miss.  21 years of billiards has taught me that" - The Philadelphia Enquire - 1/15/1940

We think it was Civil War Senator George Graham Vest who remarked after being defeated in a pool game - "Show me a man who plays a great game of pool, and I'll show you a man with a misspent youth" - Courier Post - 1/19/1940

Women's Professional Billiards Championship was started 10 years ago.  Only 2 players have held the title - Miss Ruth Harris (3 times) and Miss Joyce Gardener (7 times) - Evening Standard - 2/6/1940

Willie Hoppe's hands were once insured for $100,000 ($2.2 Million in 2025 $) - Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph - 5/5/1940

Johnny Layton, 51, Sedalia, MO, former three cushion billiards champion, was in a hospital today under treatment for internal injuries suffered when he was struck by a streetcar - The Oakland Post Enquirer - 12/17/1940

Willie Hoppe deserted his sick bed to defend his world 3 cushion billiards title, 33 years after he won his first cue championship - Elmira Star-Gazette - 1/29/1941

Willie Hoppe, master of precision billiards, moved into fifth round of the world's three cushion billiards tournament today after drubbing a veteran opponent 50 - 8 in 26 innings to set a new record for the best game. - The Daily Record - 2/1/1941

Willie Mosconi wins his 1st of 19 World Pocket Billiards Championships - The Long Beach Sun - 11/8/1941

Erwin Rudolph wins his last of 5 World Pocket Billiards Championships - Kitsap Sun- 11/8/1941

Willie Hoppe becomes World Champion of Three Cushion - Lansing State Journal - 1/22/1942

Charlie Peterson - "The government has realized that sighting a cue and sighting a rifle are pretty much the same thing.  The body stance is the same and you have to have a clear eye and a steady hand.  They think billiards playing is a pretty important part of military recreation" - The Charlotte News - 2/18/1942

Three steel billiard balls, valued at $50 ($900 in 2025$) were stolen from the club rooms at Redondo club in the Masonic Hall - The Redondo Reflex - 2/26/1943

Ralph Greenleaf - "There is much more to the pocket game then to there is to three cushions.  Pocket billiards is a greater strain on teh nerves; there is a greater variety of strokes, of English, of speed, in pocket billiards then there is in three cushions - which does not call for the exact stroking that makes for success when a player is figuring 8 - 10 strokes ahead. - The Philadelphia Inquirer - 3/6/1942

Irving Crane, wins his 1st of 6 World Pocket Billiards Championships at the age of 28 - Berwick Enterprise - 5/12/1942

County War Price and rationing board has put billiards and pool under price regulations - Set at the highest charged for the same class of entertainment in March, 1942 - Holdenville Daily News - 1/17/1943

Alfredo De Oro, rates Gottlieb Walhstrom, a Swede who died in 1882, the greatest executor and pool player of all time.  The reason for his anomality was his practice of winning and losing at will with large bets on, or against him - Mount Carmel Item - 2/8/1943

Andrew Ponzi wins his last of 4 World Pocket Billiards Championships - dethroning Willie Mosconi - The Indianapolis Star - 4/19/1943

Willie Hoppe - "Some Army camps have as many as 300 pocket billiards tables" - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 6/15/1943

Willie Hoppe, another old timer.  But Willie, who was a billiard champion when Maurice McLaughlin was a tennis champion, is still playing championship billiards.  Hoppe is now in his fifties.  The oldest active player of today is George Slosson, who is still going strong at 91. - Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph - 1/27/1944

Erwin Rudolf watched an army Sargent get hustled in El Paso - he worked up a plan with the Sargent to get his money back - "That was one time I was glad that I could still shoot winning pool" - "I told the hustler that if I ever heard of his pulling that stuff again I would report him and have his place declared out of bounds"  - Salt Lake Telegram - 5/23/44

Charley Peterson - When the war started, he transferred his sphere of activity to the army and navy camps.  He has traveled over 50,000 miles in each of the last 3 years, has given exhibitions before over 50,000 soldiers and sailors at 576 camps - St. Louis Global Democrat - 10/29/1944

So, between billiards and baseball, sports ruled Mexico City while we (Willie Hoppe and Charley Peterson) were there.  One day 2,000 billiards enthusiasts staged a parade in our honor.  - St. Louis Globe Democrat - 10/29/1944

My mother's first order on the morning after a billiards party was for Anne or Mary to see that all the windows were opened wide.  The reek of cigar smoke was her utmost horror - The Day - 1/6/1945

The Billiard Association of America recognized as an all-time record high run of 127 scored by Willie Mosconi - The Press Democrat - 2/14/1945

Alfredo DeOro, 89, has won the most Billiards Championships to date, winning his first in 1887 - The Bayonne Times - 3/20/1945

Champion Welker Cochran and challenger Willie Hoppe interrupted their world's three cushion billiard championship match today in observance of the late President Roosevelt - Pasadena News - 4/14/1945

During the war Hoppe traveled more than 100,000 miles to entertain servicemen in far-flung camps.  Most of the time he was forced to play pocket billiards, which he says he doesn't play very well.  "I'm not very good at the game, but I managed to run 80 on one occasion. " "Occasionally I took a licking from one of the servicemen." - Detroit Free Press - 1/27/1946

Willie Mosconi, World's Pocket Billiards Champion, will defend his title in a 10,950-point match against Jimmy Caras.  The match will be conducted in 10 different cities - Republican and Herald - 2/4/1946

Joe Davis wins his 15th and last World Snooker Championship, the only winner of the event since it's inauguration in 1927 - The Springfield Daily Republican - 5/19/1946

Irving Crane of Livonia, NY won the world's pocket billiards title beating Andrew Ponzi of Philadelphia - The Mercury - 12/12/1946 

Mark Twain's daughter - "Papa's favorite game is billiards and when he is tired and wishes to rest himself, he stays up all night and plays billiards, it rests his head" - Plattsburg Leader - 1/24/1947

As early as 1767 there were 3 billiard rooms in St. Louis, just 3 years after the plotting of the town - Sweet Spring Herald - 2/7/1947

Willie Hoppe, world 3-cushion billiards champion, was $2,500 ($37,000 in 2025$) richer today as a result of winning his 5th world tournament title.  He won 8 out of 9 matches - Santa Barbara News Press - 3/17/1947

Willie Mosconi tours high schools and colleges - sponsored by Billiards Association of America - Star Weekly 10/25/1947

Ruth McGinnis, "Lady Cue Wizard", shoots left-handed.  She has held the women's title for the past 25 years, winning it at the age of 5. She will make an exhibition appearance at the Elks Club tonight - Sunday News - 1/4/1948

What's the matter with billiards?  Once the gentleman's game and the most popular of all forms of indoor recreation.  That's the question your hear from survivors of the previous generation who were around when St. Louis was called "The Billiards Capital of the world - St. Louis - Post Dispatch - 3/3/1948

New York state law prohibits billiards on Sundays - Press and Sun Bulletin - 5/1/1948

Fred Davis wins his 1st of 8 World Snooker Championships - The Sunday Mirror - 5/2/1948

Territorial law in Hawaii requires that persons obtaining billiard licenses must never have been convicted of gambling.  An exception is, a pardon from Governor Stainback. - Honolulu Star-Bulletin - 1/10/1949

Jimmy Caras wins his last of 5 World Pocket Billiards Championships, interrupting what would have been 8 championships in a row for Willie Mosconi - Daily News - 2/27/1949

100,000 billiard tables were sent to Army and Navy camps during the war - The Cincinnati Enquirer - 3/6/1949

Survivors of the all-time record entry of 7,333 contestants in the largest billiards meet anywhere , 16 lads between the ages of 13 and 17 will begin play in the final elimination rounds of the Boys Club of America national pocket billiards championship at Madison Square Gardens - Brooklyn Eagle - 4/10/1949