|
THE HISTORY OF THE GAME
<br />Few other games, if any, have enjoyed the long lasting appeal of billiards. In one form or another, billiards can be traced back to at least
<br />the fourteenth century with countless kings, counts and commoners hooked on the simplicity and elegance of the game. It's been said that
<br />Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI played pool in their parlor as their people came to arrest them, although she apparently never suggested
<br />to anyone to "let them play pool" Shakespeare makes mention of the game in one of his plays, as did several writes of the seventeenth
<br />and eighteenth centuries. And, in this country, presidents since the dawn of the republic have professed a passion for the game from
<br />Washington and Jefferson up to the present administration. But how did this simple game get its start and how did it take shape.
<br />To start with, the game probably began as an offshoot of lawn bowling in England. When lawn bowlers became tired of interruptions due
<br />to the dreary rain ever present in England, they apparently moved the game indoors, sating up wi*ets through which the balls were bit
<br />To do this, they useda heavy clublrnte stick called amace. In time, it was raised onto a table and pockets were cut into the sides to substitute
<br />for the wickets. When it was carried by the king's emissaries to the continent, it was given, as was cvaything chic and new in those days,
<br />a French title. Thus the French word " billiard," meaning "bent stick," came to apply to the game. and the peculiar curved cne sticks ofthe
<br />king's court became popular throughout the sport
<br />The most noted monarch of those times was Louis XIV, "The Sun King." who, among other things, built France into a world power and
<br />moved the French court to his newly built palace at Versailles Among his most lasting, but overlooked accomplishments was his
<br />popularization of playing pool. To build up his failing health. his doctor prescribed the game, recently salved from England, as a way of
<br />regulariyexercising after meals. So proficient was the king shis ncw found fancy, that he spread the game farand wide, issuing chalienges
<br />to any nranalivewho could beat him. Apparently, the only memberof his coutt who could. orperhaps dared beathim was a lowly nobleman
<br />named Camilla= So impressed was the king at his mastery of the game, that he elevated him to be a minister of the crown, thus forever
<br />ending the notion made popular by more than one mother that you can never amotmt to anything playing pool!
<br />..."91:12 this start, the game quickly caught on, spreading around the world. The Spanish brought the game to the New World, the French
<br />ikkt� Africa and the South Seas, and the British brought it into India and the Far East. As it spread and grew in popularity, the game
<br />took on different forms. The most dramatic change accused in 1807 with the introduction of the leather tipped cue. By accldeat, more
<br />tlrandesigr,thissimpleinnovati ontevolationizedp lay. In 1825 JackCarr anemployeeinBartley' sBri !'razdRoominUpperBatb,Fagland
<br />discovered that by ruing a leather tipped cue and some chalk on the end, he could cause the cue ball to curve, backup or stop dead in its
<br />tracks. In his day. the inuovadon was called "site." Today, it is commonly referred to as"Engiish." Carrmadeasmall fortunepromoting
<br />his new discovery and selling his own special "twisting chalk," until others discovered that the new tip was the real cause of all this.
<br />In 1829, the fir st description of the game was written bya contemporary ofC air's, Edwin Kcntfleld, �e of thefizzt wue champions of the
<br />game. The book was called, quite simply. THE GAME OF BILLIARDS -SCIENTIFICALLY EXPLAINED AND PRACTICALLY
<br />SET FORTH SERIES OF NOVEL AND EXTRAORDINARY BUT EQUALLY PRACTICAL STROKES, and contained,
<br />I IN A ... among things, an equally long winded description of the game's "health giving Trafidesc.-
<br />IAround this time, marble began to replace wood tables, but twasdiscover edthatmarbkhasatendencyto sweatinhotwea ther,whemfter
<br />' sl atewasfotrndto bea suitable substitute. Thenextdevelopmertwasputringsrnoothcl ahoverrhesbrretoinaaethebaiswouldnmbettet
<br />1 And then, in 1865, Michael Phelan, the first American to win a billiards championship, piareeted the » se of Vn1caaiud rubber in the
<br />cushions to replace the idea of wood heav iilypadded with felt. He also reduced the heightof the miisandxeplaad the diamoads along the
<br />I top. Together, this allowed playas, for the fast time, to make a rail shot without having to hold the are straight up and down to get over
<br />the rails and the bumps along their top edges.
<br />And that brought the game into its prtesent form. The rules changed cansidaably.as billiaxdssplitinto two factions pocket biltiards ,such
<br />4 as the popular eight and nine ball and szraightpool. alt played by puuing balls into. the pockets and carom billiards such as Elute Cushion
<br />and its predecessor Four Cushion, in which the object is to strike several cushions and several balls, scoring points accordingly. Names
<br />wen added to the annals of the sport such as Willie Hoppe, Ralph Greenleaf, Willie Mosconi and Irving Crane: romantic images sprang
<br />up about bar room heroics halls were packed for exhibitions of all kinds and warnings were issued to unsuspecting small towns that the
<br />• "dual of the game meant "trouble my friends, right heroin River City, with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!"
<br />`., . through it all, the hype, the halos and the hellcue damnation, the sport has remained an elegant and enchanting pastime, with endless
<br />possibilities and combinations that continue to captivate young and old, rich and poor, and men and women as much today as it did nearly
<br />1 500 years ago.
<br />Billiard Congress of America 170(
<br />Page 69
<br />52240 (319) 351 -2112
<br />
|