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Masako Katsura

February 15, 2023

Masako Katsura (桂 マサ子, Katsura Masako, listen; 7 March 1913 – 1995), nicknamed "Katsy"[3] and sometimes called the "First Lady of Billiards",[4] was a Japanese carom billiards player who was most active in the 1950s. Katsura blazed a trail for women in the sport by competing and placing among the best in the male-dominated world of professional billiards. First learning the game from her brother-in-law and then under the tutelage of Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama, Katsura became Japan's only female professional player. In competition in Japan, she took second place in the country's national three-cushion billiards championship three times. In exhibition she was noted for running 10,000 points at the game of straight rail.

Masako Katsura
Katsura lining up a shot at the 1954 World Three-Cushion Billiards tournament in Buenos Aires[1]
Personal information
Native name桂 マサ子
Nickname(s)Katsy
NationalityJapanese
CitizenshipAmerican
Born(1913-03-07)7 March 1913
Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Died20 December 1995(1995-12-20) (aged 82)[2]
Japan
OccupationProfessional carom billiards player
Spouse(s)
Vernon Greenleaf
​
​
(m. 1950; died 1967)​
Sport
CountryJapan
Sportcarom billiards
Turned pro1947
Coached byTomio Kobashi
Kinrey Matsuyama
Retired1961

After marrying a U.S. Army non-commissioned officer in 1950, Katsura emigrated to the United States in 1951. There she was invited to play in the 1952 U.S.-sponsored World Three-Cushion Championship, ultimately taking seventh place at that competition. Katsura was the first woman ever to be included in any world billiards tournament. Her fame cemented, Katsura went on an exhibition tour of the United States with eight-time world champion Welker Cochran, and later with 51-time world champion Willie Hoppe. In 1953 and 1954, she again competed for the world three-cushion crown, taking fifth and fourth places respectively.

Little was seen of Katsura for the next few years. She made 30 exhibition appearances in 1958, and went on a one-week exhibition engagement the following year with Harold Worst, but did not compete in any professional tournaments. In 1959, she made two television appearances on ABC's You Asked for It, and one on the CBS primetime television hit What's My Line? Katsura returned to competition in 1961, playing a challenge match for the World Three-Cushion title against Worst, then reigning world champion, and was defeated by him. Katsura disappeared from the sport thereafter, only making a brief impromptu appearance in 1976. She moved back to Japan around 1990 and died in 1995.

Life and career

Early years

I practice before parlor open every day for two hours. Every day I practice, Soon I play with many men. Men want to beat me. I play men, six, seven hours a day. Men no like, they do not beat me. If I hit no good, my brother-in-law, after billiard parlor closed, say this shot no good. This shot bad, I make good. He tells me. Not so many good woman players in Japan. I have sister. Very good. Same stroke.

—Masako Katsura, from an interview by Jimmy Cannon, excerpted in Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards (1990)[5]

Masako Katsura was born on 7 March 1913 in Tokyo. Little is known about Katsura's childhood in Japan.[6] Katsura had three sisters and a brother.[7] Their father died when Katsura was 12 years old and she went to live with her elder sister and her sister's husband,[8] Tomio Kobashi,[9] who owned a billiard parlor.[8] By 13 she was spending time in her brother-in-law's billiard room,[10] and by 14 she was working as a billiard attendant there. Kobashi was a fine player and taught Katsura the fundamentals of various carom billiards games.[11][footnote 1] Katsura also had a billiard table at home, bought by her family after she showed intense interest in the sport.[12] Katsura practiced diligently, and began competing against Japanese men and beating them.[11] At just 15, Katsura won the women's championship straight rail tournament of Japan. "Then I turned professional and began touring with a sister all over Japan, China and Formosa", said Katsura in a 1959 interview.[10] Katsura's two younger sisters, Noriko and Tadako, also won the women's straight rail championship in other years.[5]

In 1937, Katsura met Kinrey Matsuyama, who had won Japan's national three-cushion championship multiple times.[13] Matsuyama was also U.S. national champion in 1934,[14] was the runner-up three other times[15] and had four second-place finishes in world competition at 18.2 balkline prior to World War II.[16] Matsuyama was impressed with Katsura and began teaching her top level play.[14] By 1947, Katsura was a long-established billiard star in Japan—the country's only female professional player.[17]

Marriage and titles in Japan

During 1947 Katsura caught the eye of American serviceman Vernon Greenleaf[11] (no relation to the pool and carom billiards champion Ralph Greenleaf),[18] a master sergeant in the U.S. Army's Quartermaster Corps who had been in the armed services for 22 years.[6][18] Katsura and Greenleaf first met in a Tokyo service club where she was giving billiard exhibitions.[11] Greenleaf began taking lessons from Katsura[14] and was quickly smitten with her.[11] They were married on 30 November 1950,[19] but never had any children.[7]

At the time of their marriage Katsura already boasted two second-place finishes at Japan's national three-cushion championship; one from the year prior to their wedding.[17][20] She claimed the runner-up spot for a third time the year of her marriage.[14] About that time she accomplished the lofty feat of scoring 10,000 contiguous points at straight rail in an exhibition by nursing the balls around the table 27 times over about 4+1⁄2 hours.[9][footnote 2] She stopped at 10,000 points only because it was a benchmark round number.[21] In later years she said that her high run in three-cushion billiards (number of points scored consecutively in a single inning) was 19.[22][footnote 3]

Immigration to the U.S.

In 1951 Greenleaf was transferred to a U.S. post from Haneda Air Base in Tokyo.[14] He and Katsura, who spoke little English,[18] set sail for the United States on the USS Breckinridge, debarking in San Francisco at the end of December 1951,[14] just a few months before the 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards tournament was scheduled to begin in that city on 6 March.[23] Katsura had been conditionally invited to play at the world championship after Cochran, whose billiard parlor was hosting the tournament, had heard of her brilliance from Matsuyama.[20] Cochran was an 8-time world champion having won the world crown at three-cushion billiards in 1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1944 and 1945, and at 18.2 balkline, in 1927 and 1934.[24] Cochran sent his son, W. R. (Dick) Cochran, a naval officer stationed in Japan, to investigate and received back a glowing report[20] that said (possibly to Cochran's annoyance), "this girl is better than you are!"[25] Though the decision was ultimately in the hands of the Billiard Congress of America as tournament sponsor, they gave Cochran the option to invite her.[20]

After Katsura arrived in the U.S., she gave a private exhibition for Cochran, who wanted to make sure she was as good as reported before finalizing the invitation. At that meeting she clicked off runs of 300 and 400 at straight rail, made in the words of Cochran "almost unbelievable shots"[20] after switching to balkline, and showed high competence at three-cushion, consistently scoring.[20] Cochran made the invite "final"[19] and stated: "She's the most marvelous thing I ever saw... She's liable to beat anybody, even Willie Hoppe... I could not see any weak spots... She's going to give lots of those players fits."[20] As a warm-up for the competition Katsura gave a number of billiard exhibitions during February 1952.[26]

1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards tournament

First woman to compete for a world title

If you eliminate three cushion, I don't think you could find five people in the world who could beat her. Her best games are straight rail and balkline, but she'll be the three cushion champion of the world in time. She has one of the best strokes I've ever seen, and she shoots as well left-handed as right-handed.

—Welker Cochran, quoted in Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards (1990)[5]

Katsura's participation in the 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards title marked the first time that a woman had competed for any world billiards title.[11][27] This was only ten years after Ruth McGinnis became the first woman to have ever been invited to play in any men's professional billiard championship (the New York State Championship of 1942).[28] The defending champion was the then 64-year-old internationally renowned Willie Hoppe, who would retire later that year with 51 world titles to his name between 1906 and 1952[29] in three forms of carom billiards, three-cushion, (four sub-disciplines of) balkline and cushion caroms.[30] Before the tournament, speculation had it that when Hoppe met Katsura in the championship in the race to 50 points format, he would defeat her with Katsura still needing at least 40.[31] After seeing her play, Hoppe said "she has a fine stroke and can make shots with either hand. I look forward to playing with her."[23] The public was fascinated by the novelty of a woman player. Life magazine reported that "San Franciscans who did not know a cue from a cucumber crowded in to see her... Katy [sic]... stole the show."[32]

Tournament roster

The 10 champions slated to play in the round robin format tournament[31] were Katsura, her mentor, Matsuyama, favorite and defending champion Willie Hoppe, Mexican champion Joe Chamaco, Herb Hardt of Chicago, New York's Art Rubin, Los Angeles' Joe Procita, Ray Kilgore of San Francisco, Jay Bozeman of Vallejo and Binghamton's Irving Crane.[13][33][34] The championship between the invitees was to take place at Cochran's 924 Club, with 45 total games to be played[13] (each player to play every other once)[35] over the 17-day tournament ending on 22 March 1952.[13] The tournament was reported to have "The greatest billiard field since before World War II".[36] First place earned a $2,000 purse (today $20,400), plus thousands in exhibition fees. Following behind to eight places were prizes of $1,000, $700, $500, $350, $300, $250 and $250 respectively.[36]

Detail of play

On the second day of the competition,[23] 7 March 1952, Katsura drew Irving Crane for her first match. They made quite a contrast as Crane was the tallest player at the tourney,[37] while Katsura was described by reporter Curley Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner as "so small and doll-like she looks like a figurine in her flowing, gold-satin gown."[5] Crane's main discipline was straight pool, at which he won numerous championships, including six world titles.[38] The match was close, but Crane prevailed 50 to 42[5] in 57 innings.[39] On 10 March, Katsura defeated Herb Hardt 50 to 42 in 58 innings.[40] Katsura was significantly behind at one point but counted 15 points in five innings to take the lead. On 11 March, she lost to Chamaco, 50 to 35,[41] but the following day Katsura upset Procita 50–43 in 63 innings, with runs of six, five and four. "Spectators exclaimed 'brilliant' and 'sensational' at some of her shots."[31]

On 14 March, Katsura faced the undefeated Hoppe, losing 50 to 31 in 36 innings.[42] Though Hoppe was a darling of the public, the crowd of more than 500 spectators was clearly rooting for Katsura throughout.[43] The next day she faced her mentor, Matsuyama, considered the contender with the best shot at beating Hoppe.[42] Matsuyama edged out his protégé with a close 50 to 48 finish[44] in 51 innings. By the 21st inning Matsuyama held a 29–21 lead. Katsura battled back, the score 43–42 in her favor by inning 33, but Matsuyama ran three in the 46th inning, and Katsura could not close the gap. Mentor and protégé alike posted high runs of six in the match.[45]

 
Chart recording final standings for the 1952 World Three-Cushion tournament. The form emulates that of the original handwritten chart used at the tournament.[46] The three numbers in each box are read as follows: the top number is the points scored by the player; at bottom right is the number of innings; at bottom left is the player's high run.[46]

On 18 March Katsura trounced Art Rubin 50–28 in 58 innings.[47] but was handed a worse defeat in her next match on 20 March, losing to Bozeman 50 to 18 in 52 innings.[48] In her last match on 21 March, Katsura pulled off a 50–46 win against Kilgore in 61 innings. This was the biggest upset of the tournament. Kilgore, the "Giant Killer", was the only player other than Matsuyama who was considered to have a fighting chance at dethroning Hoppe.[49] Between this win and her earlier win over Procita, Katsura had beaten the only two players in the tournament that had won their matches against Hoppe.[50] That evening a separate exhibition match between Katsura and Kilgore was featured on KRON-TV, with commentary provided by Cochran.[51] The next day the tournament concluded with Hoppe repeating as champion as he had so many times before.[29] Katsura took seventh place, ahead of Procita at eighth place, Chamaco at ninth and Rubin at tenth. Above her were Crane at sixth, Rubin at fifth, Kilgore at fourth, Bozeman at third and Matsuyama as runner-up.[52]

Following the competition, Jay Bozeman, said "We've found it hard to believe that a woman could actually step into the best billiard championship in the world and hold her own. Miss Katsura is one of the finest players I've faced in a world's tournament",[11] while Welker Cochran, five-time holder of the Billiards World Crown, predicted:[6] "Given another two or three years of American competition and she will be the world's champion.... Masako has opened a new field for women. Her presence has made the game attractive to women for the first time. She has the power of a man and strokes beautifully. Her maneuvers with the cue ball are fantastic. All she needs is a bit more experience and she will be unbeatable."[6]

Exhibition tours

Masako Katsura was the greatest thing that ever happened in the whole history of billiards... maybe the greatest thing that ever happened period. For a woman to compete on absolutely equal terms with men... and a cute, feminine woman, at that... why, it's never been done before or since. She was not competing against just any men, understand, she was competing against the greatest players in the world. She was a sensation. People who had never heard of billiards before stood in line around the block for tickets to see her perform.

—Danny McGoorty, as quoted in Robert Byrne's McGoorty: A Pool Room Hustler (1972)[18]

Soon after the 1952 championship, Cochran announced he was coming out of a seven-year retirement to play an exhibition tour with Katsura.[18] "Millions of fans want to see this charming first lady of billiards" he said, "now some of them can."[53] The duo previewed their tour with a three-day engagement at the Garden City Parlor in San Jose starting on 18 April 1952. Thereafter, they planned stops in Kansas City (2–3 May); Chicago (5–11 May); Detroit in mid-May; and on to tentative stops in Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles and Long Beach. The format was to be a 100-point straight-rail match, followed by a 50-point three-cushion game played under tournament conditions[53] with trick or "fancy" shots to follow.[54] Katsura stated prior to departing: "I hope my tour will convince women that billiards is not only a man's game. Women can play just as well as men."[50]

Billiards champion Tex Zimmerman (Cochran's partner in the 924 Club)[13] and well known pool hustler Danny McGoorty had a hand in organizing the tour. In preparation, they played up Katsura's exoticness and her physical attractiveness. Tex Zimmerman's wife sewed tight-fitting kimono for Katsura, slit up the side, which she wore during her exhibitions with high heels.[18] Katsura was a tiny woman, weighing between 88[37] and 96 pounds.[33] and standing 5 feet tall—just about the height of a standard cue stick.[37] McGoorty later mused: "Masako was cute! She was thirty-nine years old but she looked twenty-nine. She hopped around that table on her high heels, giving the fans a little smile, and everybody loved her."[18]

It was Katsura's playing ability, though, rather than her other charms, that made her a phenomenon. When Cochran returned from his tour with Katsura he told McGoorty, who was a world class player in his own right, "you will have trouble with her."[18] When they finally got a chance to play, the match drew crowds. "They could have sold seats in the toilet!" McGoorty exclaimed.[18] After the match, McGoorty confirmed Cochran's prediction:

I had trouble with her. I played hard and I threw her all the dirtiest stuff I knew, and I was lucky to win five out of the ten games. If you had the slightest idea of easing up on her because she was only a cute little girl, you were dead. She would murder you. I found out damn quick you could not leave her an open shot. If you did she would take those balls away from you and stick them right up your pooper. The killer instinct—that broad had it, and never mind the little smile.[18]

A number of pre-booked stops on the tour suffered from lack of attendance. Cochran was very bitter about it. NEA sports editor, Harry Grayson indicated that the game was in general decline, and said that Cochran "traces the decline of championship and exhibition billiards to manufacturers taking the stars off the payroll during the depression."[9] In a previous exhibition tour by Cochran and Hoppe in 1945, they had sold out in 13 cities.[9] Despite some lackluster stops, upon her return to California, Katsura continued to play exhibition matches with the game's greats. Katsura and Kilgore put on a week-long exhibition in San Francisco in January 1953, where they seesawed back and forth. On 12 January, Katsura beat Kilgore in their first match with runs of seven and ten, but lost to him in their second. The total points scored by the two at that time was 349 for Katsura to Kilgore's 379.[55]

Katsura started another exhibition series with Cochran at his club in February 1953[56] and, tuning up for the 1953 world tournament, to start on 26 March, went on a nationwide tour with Willie Hoppe in the latter part of February 1953.[57] The 30-day tour of the northeastern U.S. included Chicago, Boston and other locations. Her husband accompanied her to provide translation.[21] In their multiple-day exhibition match in Chicago, it was reported in the midst that Katsura had unsurprisingly won only one out of four matches against Hoppe,[58] often pegged as the greatest player of all time.[59][60]

1953–1954

1953 World Three-Cushion tournament

With Hoppe retired as of 1952, there was excitement over who would take the 1953 world three-cushion crown,[61] to be held in Chicago[62] at the Chicago Town Club in the Sheraton Hotel.[63] Eleven competitors were slated to play, many repeats of the prior year, including Chamaco, Katsura, Matsuyama, Bozeman, Kilgore, Procita and Rubin. New to the field were Harold Worst of Grand Rapids, Hollywood's John Fitzpatrick, Mel Lundberg of Minneapolis and Ezequiel Navarra of Argentina. Navarra was considered the favorite by experts, having won championships that year in Cuba, Colombia, Peru and Argentina and having just come off an exhibition tour with Cochran in which Navarra averaged a formidable 1.16, scoring 1,295 three-cushions in 1,120 innings over the length of the tour.[61]

In Katsura's first match she defeated Lundberg 50–44, in 71 innings.[64] Thereafter she: lost to Matsuyama 50 to 37 in 39 innings;[65] lost to Rubin, 50–37, in 52 innings;[66] beat Fitzpatrick 50–38 in 50 innings, undefeated to that point;[67] beat Chamaco 50 to 44, in 56 innings with a high run of eight;[62] upset favorite Navarra 50 to 40 in 43 innings;[68] followed by a loss to Kilgore, 50 to 41, in 42 innings;[69] and a loss to Harold Worst 50 to 42, in 52 innings;[70] but then defeated Bozeman 50–48 in 60 innings in her last match.[71] When the dust had settled, Katsura shared fifth place with Matsuyama, each having won and lost five matches. The winner of the world crown was Kilgore with an eight-win, two-loss record. Navarra and Bozeman tied for second.[72]

Exhibitions and death of Matsuyama

 
Advertisement for a Katsura vs. Matsyama [sic] exhibition to be held on April 22, 1953, in a Long Beach, California, billiard parlor[73]

After the 1953 championship wrapped up, Katsura and Matsuyama gave an exhibition together in Long Beach, California[74] (advertisement at right). The format was 100 points at balkline, followed by a race to 40 at three-cushion and then a trick shot exhibition. Katsura crushed her teacher, 100–11 and 100–3 at balkline, but Matsuyama won both the three-cushion matches, 40–34 and 40–39.[75] This was Katsura and Matsuyama's last close interaction. After returning to Japan, Matsuyama suffered a heart attack and died on 20 December 1953.[76][77] He had had plans to move to Honolulu with his family, become an American citizen, and purchase a billiard parlor. His eldest son, Hideo, 18, was attending a San Francisco high school at the time. He was said to have taught all of Japan's top players, among which Katsura was the star pupil.[76]

Next, Katsura played a five-day, 600 point three-cushion exhibition series with Ray Kilgore in San Francisco, 12–17 March 1953.[78] At the end Kilgore was the winner with a final score of 600 to 547. Kilgore said: "She played really remarkable billiards and I played a little over my head."[79] The next week Katsura faced Kilgore again in another exhibition at Welker Cochran's room, beating him 50–33 in 45 innings.[80]

1954 World Three-Cushion tournament

The 1954 World Three-Cushion tournament was held in Buenos Aires with only 8 contestants: Katsura; Ray Miller[81] of Jackson, Michigan;[82] Harold Worst; Argentinian brothers Juan and Ezequiel Navarra; Welker Cochran, who had come out of retirement; Chamaco; and defending champion, Kilgore.[81] As usual, Katsura was the sole female contestant.[1]

In her first round she was victorious over Miller, 60–47[83] in 76 innings,[82] then beat Chamaco 60–55,[81] but followed with a loss to Ezequiel Navarra 60–28 in 48 innings.[84] Katsura then beat his brother, Juan Navarra, 60–52 in 77 innings in her last match to take fourth place overall. On the last day Harold Worst and Ezequiel Navarra ended in a tie with a playoff to be held[85] initially to 60 points, later raised to a 350 point format,[86] at which Worst ultimately prevailed on 25 October 1954.[87]

1955–1961

Hiatus and exhibition

Little was seen of Katsura for the next few years. She made 30 exhibition appearances in 1958[7] but had been in "virtual retirement"[88] for about five years.[88] During this break the second of Katsura's two billiards instruction books came out in Japan: 撞球上達法 (1956) ("Improve Your Billiards").[89] An earlier primer, 撞球入門 ("Introduction to Billiards"), was published in 1952.[90] In 1959 it was announced that Katsura and Harold Worst would compete in a one week exhibition match to 1,200 points, beginning 9 February at Randolph Recreations in Chicago.[91][92] Worst and Katsura moved their show to Philadelphia next[10] where they played six matches at three-cushion billiards to 50 points,[93] and thereafter went to exhibit in New York.[94]

TV spots

On 1 March 1959, Katsura appeared on CBS' popular primetime television show, What's My Line?[95] The show was in the format of a guessing game, in which a panel attempted to determine the line (occupation), or in the case of a famous "mystery guest", the identity of the contestant.[96] After she signed in using Japanese characters on a chalk board, show officials listed Katsura's occupation for the audience as "Professional Billiard Player (World's Women's Champion)".[95] Panelist Arlene Francis was successful in guessing Katsura's occupation, though she admitted that she had read about her but said she had never seen her picture.[95] Later that month Katsura made a guest appearance on ABC's You Asked For It, going behind the scenes of westerns[97] to show how television productions set up and filmed a covered wagon rolling over and crashing on cue.[98] She appeared again on You Asked For It in a 25 November 1960 broadcast, this time operating in her bailiwick, demonstrating trick shots for the camera.[99]

1961 title match with Worst

By 1961 and for a few years prior, there was no longer an organized world three-cushion championship.[100][101] Accordingly, Harold Worst, the reigning champion since 1954,[102] issued a challenge match to Katsura to defend his title, with the match to take place 13–18 March of that year at the Pantlind Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan,[101] for a purse of $2,000.[88] The preceding year Worst had issued a similar title-defending challenge to Joe Chamaco of Mexico,[101] which also took place in Grand Rapids at the same venue.[100] Worst even took unsuccessful legal action to block an Argentinian three-cushion tournament, billed as a "world title" event, that was scheduled to overlap the dates of his title match with Katsura.[88] Worst defeated Katsura in six out of seven matches, with total three-cushions scored between them, respectively, of 350 and 276.[103] Meanwhile, Chamaco claimed the world crown as well, after winning the tournament in Argentina.[104]

After 1961

Little was heard from Katsura for many years after the 1961 world championship. McGoorty lamented her retirement, stating various theories that he had heard bandied about in billiard circles, such as that her husband[18] (who died in June 1967)[105] kept her from playing for various reasons.[18] In 1976 Katsura made an impromptu appearance at Palace Billiards in San Francisco. She borrowed a cue from someone present and proceeded to run 100 points at straight rail without problem.[106] Prolific pool and billiard author Robert Byrne wrote that after Katsura finished that 100-point run, "without a miss she smiled and bowed to the applauding crowd, stepping away from the spotlight, and disappeared forever from the American billiard stage."[5] Katsura returned to Japan in or about 1990 to live with her sister, Noriko, where she said she planned to live out her days.[5] Katsura died in 1995.[2] In September 2002 a memorial tournament for Katsura, billed as Katsura Memorial: The First Ladies Three Cushion Grandprix, was held in Japan and aired on SKY PerfecTV![107]

Legacy

On 7 March 2021, Katsura was featured in a Google Doodle on the search engine's home page, as part of its celebration of International Women's Day.[108]

Footnotes

  1. ^
    As opposed to pocket billiards, commonly called pool.[109] Carom billiards games are typically played on cloth-covered, 5 by 10 foot (approximately 1.5 × 3 m) pocketless tables with three balls used in the play of most games; two cue balls (one for each player), and a third ball. At their simplest, the object of carom games is to score points or "counts" by caroming one's own cue ball off both the opponent's cue ball and the third object ball on a single shot. The required manner this is to be done, e.g., whether a certain number of rails need to be contacted before hitting both object balls, or whether the balls must be moved to a different area of the table after a set number of shots, generally separates one carom game from another.[110]
  2. ^
    In straight rail, the object of the game is simply to carom one's cue ball off both object balls, with no restrictions on the manner this may be accomplished, such as a number of rails required to be struck before the hit on the second ball (as in three-cushion or cushion caroms), or a limit on the number of points that may be scored while the balls are gathered in a demarcated area of the table (as in the balkline games).[111] Astronomical high runs at straight rail are possible using nursing techniques, where the balls are manipulated in close quarters with the same or near the same position being replicated over and over.[112] Though few have achieved such a rarefied run as 10,000 points,[110] even that record has been doubled—Charles Peterson reportedly ran 20,000 points in the game in May 1935.[113] The balkline games developed to curtail these seemingly endless and monotonous long runs,[114][115] where an opposing player might "[sit] in a chair and [grow] a full beard waiting to play."[116]
  3. ^
    In three-cushion billiards, the object of play is to carom one's cue ball off both object balls with at least three rail cushions being struck before the cue ball contacts the second object ball. Three-cushion is a very difficult game, with an average of just one point per inning considered professional-level play.[117] The high run at three-cushion billiards (number of points scored consecutively in a single inning) was for many years 25, set by Willie Hoppe in 1918 during an exhibition with Charles Peterson,[118] later eclipsed by a 32-point high run[119] by 23-time world champion, Raymond Ceulemans of Belgium.[120]

References

  1. ^ a b Staff writers (1 November 1954). "A Big Week For Women Everywhere". Sports Illustrated. 1 (12): 23. from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  2. ^ a b Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards [ロバート・バーンのビリヤード・アドバンスブック] (in Japanese). Translated by Kengo Hitomi. BABジャパン出版局. 2000. p. 210. ISBN 978-4-89422-391-2. 註：桂マサ子は1995年にその生涯を閉じている (literally "Masako Katsura closes the life in 1995"){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Staff writers (11 April 1955). "Pat On The Back: A salute to some who have earned the good opinion of the world of sport, if not yet its tallest headlines". Sports Illustrated. 2 (15): 72.
  4. ^ "Ex-Billiards Champ Dead at The Age of 63" (PDF). Utica NY Daily Press. 30 July 1960.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Byrne, Robert (1990). Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards. San Diego: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 196–200. ISBN 978-0-15-614971-6. (Date of world championship provided here (1951 rather than 1952) is incorrect per hundreds of newspaper articles)
  6. ^ a b c d Kronish, Sid (17 June 1952). "Japanese War Bride is Billiard Ace" (fee required). The Ada Evening News (Oklahoma). p. 7.
  7. ^ a b c Kronish, Sid (25 February 1959). "Fancy This, A Woman Pool Shark" (fee required). Lawton Constitution (Okl.). p. 30.
  8. ^ a b Thackrey, Don (11 March 1952). "Japan's Woman Billiard 'Shark' Sheds Jitters" (fee required). The Lima News. p. 14.
  9. ^ a b c d Grayson, Harry (4 June 1952). "Cochran Cannot Sell First Lady Of Billiards—Game on Decline" (fee required). Warren Times-Mirror. p. 15.
  10. ^ a b c "Anyone For Pool" (fee required). Winnipeg Free Press. 2 February 1959. p. 43.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g "She Takes Her Cue and Does Right Well With It" (fee required). Salina Journal (Kansas). 21 August 1952. p. 22.
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February 15, 2023
masako, katsura, マサ子, katsura, masako, listen, march, 1913, 1995, nicknamed, katsy, sometimes, called, first, lady, billiards, japanese, carom, billiards, player, most, active, 1950s, katsura, blazed, trail, women, sport, competing, placing, among, best, male,. Masako Katsura 桂 マサ子 Katsura Masako listen 7 March 1913 1995 nicknamed Katsy 3 and sometimes called the First Lady of Billiards 4 was a Japanese carom billiards player who was most active in the 1950s Katsura blazed a trail for women in the sport by competing and placing among the best in the male dominated world of professional billiards First learning the game from her brother in law and then under the tutelage of Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama Katsura became Japan s only female professional player In competition in Japan she took second place in the country s national three cushion billiards championship three times In exhibition she was noted for running 10 000 points at the game of straight rail Masako KatsuraKatsura lining up a shot at the 1954 World Three Cushion Billiards tournament in Buenos Aires 1 Personal informationNative name桂 マサ子Nickname s KatsyNationalityJapaneseCitizenshipAmericanBorn 1913 03 07 7 March 1913Tokyo Empire of JapanDied20 December 1995 1995 12 20 aged 82 2 JapanOccupationProfessional carom billiards playerSpouse s Vernon Greenleaf m 1950 died 1967 wbr SportCountryJapanSportcarom billiardsTurned pro1947Coached byTomio Kobashi Kinrey MatsuyamaRetired1961After marrying a U S Army non commissioned officer in 1950 Katsura emigrated to the United States in 1951 There she was invited to play in the 1952 U S sponsored World Three Cushion Championship ultimately taking seventh place at that competition Katsura was the first woman ever to be included in any world billiards tournament Her fame cemented Katsura went on an exhibition tour of the United States with eight time world champion Welker Cochran and later with 51 time world champion Willie Hoppe In 1953 and 1954 she again competed for the world three cushion crown taking fifth and fourth places respectively Little was seen of Katsura for the next few years She made 30 exhibition appearances in 1958 and went on a one week exhibition engagement the following year with Harold Worst but did not compete in any professional tournaments In 1959 she made two television appearances on ABC s You Asked for It and one on the CBS primetime television hit What s My Line Katsura returned to competition in 1961 playing a challenge match for the World Three Cushion title against Worst then reigning world champion and was defeated by him Katsura disappeared from the sport thereafter only making a brief impromptu appearance in 1976 She moved back to Japan around 1990 and died in 1995 Contents 1 Life and career 1 1 Early years 1 2 Marriage and titles in Japan 1 3 Immigration to the U S 2 1952 World Three Cushion Billiards tournament 2 1 First woman to compete for a world title 2 2 Tournament roster 2 3 Detail of play 3 Exhibition tours 4 1953 1954 4 1 1953 World Three Cushion tournament 4 2 Exhibitions and death of Matsuyama 4 3 1954 World Three Cushion tournament 5 1955 1961 5 1 Hiatus and exhibition 5 2 TV spots 5 3 1961 title match with Worst 6 After 1961 7 Legacy 8 Footnotes 9 ReferencesLife and career EditEarly years Edit I practice before parlor open every day for two hours Every day I practice Soon I play with many men Men want to beat me I play men six seven hours a day Men no like they do not beat me If I hit no good my brother in law after billiard parlor closed say this shot no good This shot bad I make good He tells me Not so many good woman players in Japan I have sister Very good Same stroke Masako Katsura from an interview by Jimmy Cannon excerpted in Byrne s Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards 1990 5 Masako Katsura was born on 7 March 1913 in Tokyo Little is known about Katsura s childhood in Japan 6 Katsura had three sisters and a brother 7 Their father died when Katsura was 12 years old and she went to live with her elder sister and her sister s husband 8 Tomio Kobashi 9 who owned a billiard parlor 8 By 13 she was spending time in her brother in law s billiard room 10 and by 14 she was working as a billiard attendant there Kobashi was a fine player and taught Katsura the fundamentals of various carom billiards games 11 footnote 1 Katsura also had a billiard table at home bought by her family after she showed intense interest in the sport 12 Katsura practiced diligently and began competing against Japanese men and beating them 11 At just 15 Katsura won the women s championship straight rail tournament of Japan Then I turned professional and began touring with a sister all over Japan China and Formosa said Katsura in a 1959 interview 10 Katsura s two younger sisters Noriko and Tadako also won the women s straight rail championship in other years 5 In 1937 Katsura met Kinrey Matsuyama who had won Japan s national three cushion championship multiple times 13 Matsuyama was also U S national champion in 1934 14 was the runner up three other times 15 and had four second place finishes in world competition at 18 2 balkline prior to World War II 16 Matsuyama was impressed with Katsura and began teaching her top level play 14 By 1947 Katsura was a long established billiard star in Japan the country s only female professional player 17 Marriage and titles in Japan Edit During 1947 Katsura caught the eye of American serviceman Vernon Greenleaf 11 no relation to the pool and carom billiards champion Ralph Greenleaf 18 a master sergeant in the U S Army s Quartermaster Corps who had been in the armed services for 22 years 6 18 Katsura and Greenleaf first met in a Tokyo service club where she was giving billiard exhibitions 11 Greenleaf began taking lessons from Katsura 14 and was quickly smitten with her 11 They were married on 30 November 1950 19 but never had any children 7 At the time of their marriage Katsura already boasted two second place finishes at Japan s national three cushion championship one from the year prior to their wedding 17 20 She claimed the runner up spot for a third time the year of her marriage 14 About that time she accomplished the lofty feat of scoring 10 000 contiguous points at straight rail in an exhibition by nursing the balls around the table 27 times over about 4 1 2 hours 9 footnote 2 She stopped at 10 000 points only because it was a benchmark round number 21 In later years she said that her high run in three cushion billiards number of points scored consecutively in a single inning was 19 22 footnote 3 Immigration to the U S Edit In 1951 Greenleaf was transferred to a U S post from Haneda Air Base in Tokyo 14 He and Katsura who spoke little English 18 set sail for the United States on the USS Breckinridge debarking in San Francisco at the end of December 1951 14 just a few months before the 1952 World Three Cushion Billiards tournament was scheduled to begin in that city on 6 March 23 Katsura had been conditionally invited to play at the world championship after Cochran whose billiard parlor was hosting the tournament had heard of her brilliance from Matsuyama 20 Cochran was an 8 time world champion having won the world crown at three cushion billiards in 1933 1935 1937 1938 1944 and 1945 and at 18 2 balkline in 1927 and 1934 24 Cochran sent his son W R Dick Cochran a naval officer stationed in Japan to investigate and received back a glowing report 20 that said possibly to Cochran s annoyance this girl is better than you are 25 Though the decision was ultimately in the hands of the Billiard Congress of America as tournament sponsor they gave Cochran the option to invite her 20 After Katsura arrived in the U S she gave a private exhibition for Cochran who wanted to make sure she was as good as reported before finalizing the invitation At that meeting she clicked off runs of 300 and 400 at straight rail made in the words of Cochran almost unbelievable shots 20 after switching to balkline and showed high competence at three cushion consistently scoring 20 Cochran made the invite final 19 and stated She s the most marvelous thing I ever saw She s liable to beat anybody even Willie Hoppe I could not see any weak spots She s going to give lots of those players fits 20 As a warm up for the competition Katsura gave a number of billiard exhibitions during February 1952 26 1952 World Three Cushion Billiards tournament EditFirst woman to compete for a world title Edit If you eliminate three cushion I don t think you could find five people in the world who could beat her Her best games are straight rail and balkline but she ll be the three cushion champion of the world in time She has one of the best strokes I ve ever seen and she shoots as well left handed as right handed Welker Cochran quoted in Byrne s Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards 1990 5 Katsura s participation in the 1952 World Three Cushion Billiards title marked the first time that a woman had competed for any world billiards title 11 27 This was only ten years after Ruth McGinnis became the first woman to have ever been invited to play in any men s professional billiard championship the New York State Championship of 1942 28 The defending champion was the then 64 year old internationally renowned Willie Hoppe who would retire later that year with 51 world titles to his name between 1906 and 1952 29 in three forms of carom billiards three cushion four sub disciplines of balkline and cushion caroms 30 Before the tournament speculation had it that when Hoppe met Katsura in the championship in the race to 50 points format he would defeat her with Katsura still needing at least 40 31 After seeing her play Hoppe said she has a fine stroke and can make shots with either hand I look forward to playing with her 23 The public was fascinated by the novelty of a woman player Life magazine reported that San Franciscans who did not know a cue from a cucumber crowded in to see her Katy sic stole the show 32 Tournament roster Edit The 10 champions slated to play in the round robin format tournament 31 were Katsura her mentor Matsuyama favorite and defending champion Willie Hoppe Mexican champion Joe Chamaco Herb Hardt of Chicago New York s Art Rubin Los Angeles Joe Procita Ray Kilgore of San Francisco Jay Bozeman of Vallejo and Binghamton s Irving Crane 13 33 34 The championship between the invitees was to take place at Cochran s 924 Club with 45 total games to be played 13 each player to play every other once 35 over the 17 day tournament ending on 22 March 1952 13 The tournament was reported to have The greatest billiard field since before World War II 36 First place earned a 2 000 purse today 20 400 plus thousands in exhibition fees Following behind to eight places were prizes of 1 000 700 500 350 300 250 and 250 respectively 36 Detail of play Edit On the second day of the competition 23 7 March 1952 Katsura drew Irving Crane for her first match They made quite a contrast as Crane was the tallest player at the tourney 37 while Katsura was described by reporter Curley Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner as so small and doll like she looks like a figurine in her flowing gold satin gown 5 Crane s main discipline was straight pool at which he won numerous championships including six world titles 38 The match was close but Crane prevailed 50 to 42 5 in 57 innings 39 On 10 March Katsura defeated Herb Hardt 50 to 42 in 58 innings 40 Katsura was significantly behind at one point but counted 15 points in five innings to take the lead On 11 March she lost to Chamaco 50 to 35 41 but the following day Katsura upset Procita 50 43 in 63 innings with runs of six five and four Spectators exclaimed brilliant and sensational at some of her shots 31 On 14 March Katsura faced the undefeated Hoppe losing 50 to 31 in 36 innings 42 Though Hoppe was a darling of the public the crowd of more than 500 spectators was clearly rooting for Katsura throughout 43 The next day she faced her mentor Matsuyama considered the contender with the best shot at beating Hoppe 42 Matsuyama edged out his protege with a close 50 to 48 finish 44 in 51 innings By the 21st inning Matsuyama held a 29 21 lead Katsura battled back the score 43 42 in her favor by inning 33 but Matsuyama ran three in the 46th inning and Katsura could not close the gap Mentor and protege alike posted high runs of six in the match 45 Chart recording final standings for the 1952 World Three Cushion tournament The form emulates that of the original handwritten chart used at the tournament 46 The three numbers in each box are read as follows the top number is the points scored by the player at bottom right is the number of innings at bottom left is the player s high run 46 On 18 March Katsura trounced Art Rubin 50 28 in 58 innings 47 but was handed a worse defeat in her next match on 20 March losing to Bozeman 50 to 18 in 52 innings 48 In her last match on 21 March Katsura pulled off a 50 46 win against Kilgore in 61 innings This was the biggest upset of the tournament Kilgore the Giant Killer was the only player other than Matsuyama who was considered to have a fighting chance at dethroning Hoppe 49 Between this win and her earlier win over Procita Katsura had beaten the only two players in the tournament that had won their matches against Hoppe 50 That evening a separate exhibition match between Katsura and Kilgore was featured on KRON TV with commentary provided by Cochran 51 The next day the tournament concluded with Hoppe repeating as champion as he had so many times before 29 Katsura took seventh place ahead of Procita at eighth place Chamaco at ninth and Rubin at tenth Above her were Crane at sixth Rubin at fifth Kilgore at fourth Bozeman at third and Matsuyama as runner up 52 Following the competition Jay Bozeman said We ve found it hard to believe that a woman could actually step into the best billiard championship in the world and hold her own Miss Katsura is one of the finest players I ve faced in a world s tournament 11 while Welker Cochran five time holder of the Billiards World Crown predicted 6 Given another two or three years of American competition and she will be the world s champion Masako has opened a new field for women Her presence has made the game attractive to women for the first time She has the power of a man and strokes beautifully Her maneuvers with the cue ball are fantastic All she needs is a bit more experience and she will be unbeatable 6 Exhibition tours EditMasako Katsura was the greatest thing that ever happened in the whole history of billiards maybe the greatest thing that ever happened period For a woman to compete on absolutely equal terms with men and a cute feminine woman at that why it s never been done before or since She was not competing against just any men understand she was competing against the greatest players in the world She was a sensation People who had never heard of billiards before stood in line around the block for tickets to see her perform Danny McGoorty as quoted in Robert Byrne s McGoorty A Pool Room Hustler 1972 18 Soon after the 1952 championship Cochran announced he was coming out of a seven year retirement to play an exhibition tour with Katsura 18 Millions of fans want to see this charming first lady of billiards he said now some of them can 53 The duo previewed their tour with a three day engagement at the Garden City Parlor in San Jose starting on 18 April 1952 Thereafter they planned stops in Kansas City 2 3 May Chicago 5 11 May Detroit in mid May and on to tentative stops in Cleveland Buffalo Boston Philadelphia Dallas San Diego Los Angeles and Long Beach The format was to be a 100 point straight rail match followed by a 50 point three cushion game played under tournament conditions 53 with trick or fancy shots to follow 54 Katsura stated prior to departing I hope my tour will convince women that billiards is not only a man s game Women can play just as well as men 50 Billiards champion Tex Zimmerman Cochran s partner in the 924 Club 13 and well known pool hustler Danny McGoorty had a hand in organizing the tour In preparation they played up Katsura s exoticness and her physical attractiveness Tex Zimmerman s wife sewed tight fitting kimono for Katsura slit up the side which she wore during her exhibitions with high heels 18 Katsura was a tiny woman weighing between 88 37 and 96 pounds 33 and standing 5 feet tall just about the height of a standard cue stick 37 McGoorty later mused Masako was cute She was thirty nine years old but she looked twenty nine She hopped around that table on her high heels giving the fans a little smile and everybody loved her 18 It was Katsura s playing ability though rather than her other charms that made her a phenomenon When Cochran returned from his tour with Katsura he told McGoorty who was a world class player in his own right you will have trouble with her 18 When they finally got a chance to play the match drew crowds They could have sold seats in the toilet McGoorty exclaimed 18 After the match McGoorty confirmed Cochran s prediction I had trouble with her I played hard and I threw her all the dirtiest stuff I knew and I was lucky to win five out of the ten games If you had the slightest idea of easing up on her because she was only a cute little girl you were dead She would murder you I found out damn quick you could not leave her an open shot If you did she would take those balls away from you and stick them right up your pooper The killer instinct that broad had it and never mind the little smile 18 A number of pre booked stops on the tour suffered from lack of attendance Cochran was very bitter about it NEA sports editor Harry Grayson indicated that the game was in general decline and said that Cochran traces the decline of championship and exhibition billiards to manufacturers taking the stars off the payroll during the depression 9 In a previous exhibition tour by Cochran and Hoppe in 1945 they had sold out in 13 cities 9 Despite some lackluster stops upon her return to California Katsura continued to play exhibition matches with the game s greats Katsura and Kilgore put on a week long exhibition in San Francisco in January 1953 where they seesawed back and forth On 12 January Katsura beat Kilgore in their first match with runs of seven and ten but lost to him in their second The total points scored by the two at that time was 349 for Katsura to Kilgore s 379 55 Katsura started another exhibition series with Cochran at his club in February 1953 56 and tuning up for the 1953 world tournament to start on 26 March went on a nationwide tour with Willie Hoppe in the latter part of February 1953 57 The 30 day tour of the northeastern U S included Chicago Boston and other locations Her husband accompanied her to provide translation 21 In their multiple day exhibition match in Chicago it was reported in the midst that Katsura had unsurprisingly won only one out of four matches against Hoppe 58 often pegged as the greatest player of all time 59 60 1953 1954 Edit1953 World Three Cushion tournament Edit With Hoppe retired as of 1952 there was excitement over who would take the 1953 world three cushion crown 61 to be held in Chicago 62 at the Chicago Town Club in the Sheraton Hotel 63 Eleven competitors were slated to play many repeats of the prior year including Chamaco Katsura Matsuyama Bozeman Kilgore Procita and Rubin New to the field were Harold Worst of Grand Rapids Hollywood s John Fitzpatrick Mel Lundberg of Minneapolis and Ezequiel Navarra of Argentina Navarra was considered the favorite by experts having won championships that year in Cuba Colombia Peru and Argentina and having just come off an exhibition tour with Cochran in which Navarra averaged a formidable 1 16 scoring 1 295 three cushions in 1 120 innings over the length of the tour 61 In Katsura s first match she defeated Lundberg 50 44 in 71 innings 64 Thereafter she lost to Matsuyama 50 to 37 in 39 innings 65 lost to Rubin 50 37 in 52 innings 66 beat Fitzpatrick 50 38 in 50 innings undefeated to that point 67 beat Chamaco 50 to 44 in 56 innings with a high run of eight 62 upset favorite Navarra 50 to 40 in 43 innings 68 followed by a loss to Kilgore 50 to 41 in 42 innings 69 and a loss to Harold Worst 50 to 42 in 52 innings 70 but then defeated Bozeman 50 48 in 60 innings in her last match 71 When the dust had settled Katsura shared fifth place with Matsuyama each having won and lost five matches The winner of the world crown was Kilgore with an eight win two loss record Navarra and Bozeman tied for second 72 Exhibitions and death of Matsuyama Edit Advertisement for a Katsura vs Matsyama sic exhibition to be held on April 22 1953 in a Long Beach California billiard parlor 73 After the 1953 championship wrapped up Katsura and Matsuyama gave an exhibition together in Long Beach California 74 advertisement at right The format was 100 points at balkline followed by a race to 40 at three cushion and then a trick shot exhibition Katsura crushed her teacher 100 11 and 100 3 at balkline but Matsuyama won both the three cushion matches 40 34 and 40 39 75 This was Katsura and Matsuyama s last close interaction After returning to Japan Matsuyama suffered a heart attack and died on 20 December 1953 76 77 He had had plans to move to Honolulu with his family become an American citizen and purchase a billiard parlor His eldest son Hideo 18 was attending a San Francisco high school at the time He was said to have taught all of Japan s top players among which Katsura was the star pupil 76 Next Katsura played a five day 600 point three cushion exhibition series with Ray Kilgore in San Francisco 12 17 March 1953 78 At the end Kilgore was the winner with a final score of 600 to 547 Kilgore said She played really remarkable billiards and I played a little over my head 79 The next week Katsura faced Kilgore again in another exhibition at Welker Cochran s room beating him 50 33 in 45 innings 80 1954 World Three Cushion tournament Edit The 1954 World Three Cushion tournament was held in Buenos Aires with only 8 contestants Katsura Ray Miller 81 of Jackson Michigan 82 Harold Worst Argentinian brothers Juan and Ezequiel Navarra Welker Cochran who had come out of retirement Chamaco and defending champion Kilgore 81 As usual Katsura was the sole female contestant 1 In her first round she was victorious over Miller 60 47 83 in 76 innings 82 then beat Chamaco 60 55 81 but followed with a loss to Ezequiel Navarra 60 28 in 48 innings 84 Katsura then beat his brother Juan Navarra 60 52 in 77 innings in her last match to take fourth place overall On the last day Harold Worst and Ezequiel Navarra ended in a tie with a playoff to be held 85 initially to 60 points later raised to a 350 point format 86 at which Worst ultimately prevailed on 25 October 1954 87 1955 1961 EditHiatus and exhibition Edit Little was seen of Katsura for the next few years She made 30 exhibition appearances in 1958 7 but had been in virtual retirement 88 for about five years 88 During this break the second of Katsura s two billiards instruction books came out in Japan 撞球上達法 1956 Improve Your Billiards 89 An earlier primer 撞球入門 Introduction to Billiards was published in 1952 90 In 1959 it was announced that Katsura and Harold Worst would compete in a one week exhibition match to 1 200 points beginning 9 February at Randolph Recreations in Chicago 91 92 Worst and Katsura moved their show to Philadelphia next 10 where they played six matches at three cushion billiards to 50 points 93 and thereafter went to exhibit in New York 94 TV spots Edit On 1 March 1959 Katsura appeared on CBS popular primetime television show What s My Line 95 The show was in the format of a guessing game in which a panel attempted to determine the line occupation or in the case of a famous mystery guest the identity of the contestant 96 After she signed in using Japanese characters on a chalk board show officials listed Katsura s occupation for the audience as Professional Billiard Player World s Women s Champion 95 Panelist Arlene Francis was successful in guessing Katsura s occupation though she admitted that she had read about her but said she had never seen her picture 95 Later that month Katsura made a guest appearance on ABC s You Asked For It going behind the scenes of westerns 97 to show how television productions set up and filmed a covered wagon rolling over and crashing on cue 98 She appeared again on You Asked For It in a 25 November 1960 broadcast this time operating in her bailiwick demonstrating trick shots for the camera 99 1961 title match with Worst Edit By 1961 and for a few years prior there was no longer an organized world three cushion championship 100 101 Accordingly Harold Worst the reigning champion since 1954 102 issued a challenge match to Katsura to defend his title with the match to take place 13 18 March of that year at the Pantlind Hotel in Grand Rapids Michigan 101 for a purse of 2 000 88 The preceding year Worst had issued a similar title defending challenge to Joe Chamaco of Mexico 101 which also took place in Grand Rapids at the same venue 100 Worst even took unsuccessful legal action to block an Argentinian three cushion tournament billed as a world title event that was scheduled to overlap the dates of his title match with Katsura 88 Worst defeated Katsura in six out of seven matches with total three cushions scored between them respectively of 350 and 276 103 Meanwhile Chamaco claimed the world crown as well after winning the tournament in Argentina 104 After 1961 EditLittle was heard from Katsura for many years after the 1961 world championship McGoorty lamented her retirement stating various theories that he had heard bandied about in billiard circles such as that her husband 18 who died in June 1967 105 kept her from playing for various reasons 18 In 1976 Katsura made an impromptu appearance at Palace Billiards in San Francisco She borrowed a cue from someone present and proceeded to run 100 points at straight rail without problem 106 Prolific pool and billiard author Robert Byrne wrote that after Katsura finished that 100 point run without a miss she smiled and bowed to the applauding crowd stepping away from the spotlight and disappeared forever from the American billiard stage 5 Katsura returned to Japan in or about 1990 to live with her sister Noriko where she said she planned to live out her days 5 Katsura died in 1995 2 In September 2002 a memorial tournament for Katsura billed as Katsura Memorial The First Ladies Three Cushion Grandprix was held in Japan and aired on SKY PerfecTV 107 Legacy EditOn 7 March 2021 Katsura was featured in a Google Doodle on the search engine s home page as part of its celebration of International Women s Day 108 Footnotes Edit As opposed to pocket billiards commonly called pool 109 Carom billiards games are typically played on cloth covered 5 by 10 foot approximately 1 5 3 m pocketless tables with three balls used in the play of most games two cue balls one for each player and a third ball At their simplest the object of carom games is to score points or counts by caroming one s own cue ball off both the opponent s cue ball and the third object ball on a single shot The required manner this is to be done e g whether a certain number of rails need to be contacted before hitting both object balls or whether the balls must be moved to a different area of the table after a set number of shots generally separates one carom game from another 110 In straight rail the object of the game is simply to carom one s cue ball off both object balls with no restrictions on the manner this may be accomplished such as a number of rails required to be struck before the hit on the second ball as in three cushion or cushion caroms or a limit on the number of points that may be scored while the balls are gathered in a demarcated area of the table as in the balkline games 111 Astronomical high runs at straight rail are possible using nursing techniques where the balls are manipulated in close quarters with the same or near the same position being replicated over and over 112 Though few have achieved such a rarefied run as 10 000 points 110 even that record has been doubled Charles Peterson reportedly ran 20 000 points in the game in May 1935 113 The balkline games developed to curtail these seemingly endless and monotonous long runs 114 115 where an opposing player might sit in a chair and grow a full beard waiting to play 116 In three cushion billiards the object of play is to carom one s cue ball off both object balls with at least three rail cushions being struck before the cue ball contacts the second object ball Three cushion is a very difficult game with an average of just one point per inning considered professional level play 117 The high run at three cushion billiards number of points scored consecutively in a single inning was for many years 25 set by Willie Hoppe in 1918 during an exhibition with Charles Peterson 118 later eclipsed by a 32 point high run 119 by 23 time world champion Raymond Ceulemans of Belgium 120 References Edit a b Staff writers 1 November 1954 A Big Week For Women Everywhere Sports Illustrated 1 12 23 Archived from the original on 4 April 2012 Retrieved 7 February 2010 a b Byrne s Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards ロバート バーンのビリヤード アドバンスブック in Japanese Translated by Kengo Hitomi BABジャパン出版局 2000 p 210 ISBN 978 4 89422 391 2 註 桂マサ子は1995年にその生涯を閉じている literally Masako Katsura closes the life in 1995 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Staff writers 11 April 1955 Pat On The Back A salute to some who have earned the good opinion of the world of sport if not yet its tallest headlines Sports Illustrated 2 15 72 Ex Billiards Champ Dead at The Age of 63 PDF Utica NY Daily Press 30 July 1960 a b c d e f g Byrne Robert 1990 Byrne s Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards San Diego Houghton Mifflin Harcourt pp 196 200 ISBN 978 0 15 614971 6 Date of world championship provided here 1951 rather than 1952 is incorrect per hundreds of newspaper articles a b c d Kronish Sid 17 June 1952 Japanese War Bride is Billiard Ace fee required The Ada Evening News Oklahoma p 7 a b c Kronish Sid 25 February 1959 Fancy This A Woman Pool Shark fee required Lawton Constitution Okl p 30 a b Thackrey Don 11 March 1952 Japan s Woman Billiard Shark Sheds Jitters fee required The Lima News p 14 a b c d Grayson Harry 4 June 1952 Cochran Cannot Sell First Lady Of Billiards Game on Decline fee required Warren Times Mirror p 15 a b c Anyone For Pool fee required Winnipeg Free Press 2 February 1959 p 43 a b c d e f g She Takes Her Cue and Does Right Well With It fee required Salina Journal Kansas 21 August 1952 p 22 Juth Don 16 December 1951 AF Sergeant s Wife to Represent Japan In Billiard Tourney fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes p 13 a b c d e Kilgore Takes Billiard Meet fee required Oakland Tribune 18 February 1952 p 24 a b c d e f Juth Don 11 December 1951 Woman in World Cue Meet Racine Journal Times Archived from the original fee required on 29 January 2013 Former Cue Titlist Believes Lady Artist Big Asset To Game fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 29 February 1952 p 12 Odds Favor Hoppe in Billiards Tourney fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 6 March 1952 p 15 a b Beat All The Men But One fee required The Huronite and The Daily Plainsman S Dakota 10 May 1949 p 8 a b c d e f g h i j k l Byrne Robert 2004 First published 1972 by Lyle Stuart McGoorty A Pool Room Hustler New York Random House pp 184 187 ISBN 0 7679 1631 X a b Jap Woman to Compete in Billiards fee required 6 January 1952 p 59 a b c d e f g Japanese Woman Billiard Player May Steal S F Show fee required Oakland Tribune 24 December 1951 pp 16 17 a b Jap Girl to Play Hoppe fee required Lowell Sun 16 March 1953 p 12 Baille Scott 20 February 1961 Japanese Billiards Champion Stands Even Five Feet Weighs 98 Pounds Oriental Lass After Another Title fee required The Daily Inter Lake Montana UPI p 6 a b c Hoppe Praises Woman Who is Seeking His Billiard Crown Blytheville Courier News Ark 27 February 1952 p 8 Archived from the original fee required on 15 July 2012 Welker Cochran Once Billiard Champ Dies fee required The Terre Haute Star 30 July 1960 p 10 Staff writers 1951 Scene the international East West magazine Scene Magazine in English and Japanese 3 12 OCLC 394552 Exhibition Set fee required Reno Evening Gazette 7 February 1952 p 16 Pert Japanese Cue Star Loses to Hoppe Austin Daily Herald 15 March 1952 p 5 Archived from the original fee required on 15 July 2012 Shamos Michael Ian 1993 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards New York Lyons amp Burford p 264 ISBN 1 55821 219 1 a b United Press International 2 February 1959 Willie Hoppe Dead Master of Billiards The New York Times p 1 Hoppe Willie November 1946 How to Play Three Cushion Billiards Popular Mechanics Hearst Magazines 86 5 123 ISSN 0032 4558 a b c Jap Woman Cueist Meets Willie Hoppe fee required Corpus Christi Times 14 March 1952 p 3 D Staff writers 7 April 1952 At 64 Hoppe proves He is Still Billiards Best But Tiny Japanese Woman Steals Tournament Show Life 32 14 134 135 ISSN 0024 3019 a b Lady with a Cue Time Magazine Time LIX 11 17 March 1952 Archived from the original on 4 November 2012 Retrieved 17 January 2009 Guinness Book of World Records Sterling Pub Co 1956 p 182 OCLC 4562942 Hoppe to Open Billiard Play fee required San Mateo Times 5 March 1952 p 12 a b Hoppe Nine Other Billiard Aces Entered in Three Cushion Tourney fee required Nevada State Journal 2 March 1952 p 9 a b c Masako Katsura Starts in Billiard Tournament PDF The Niagara Falls Gazette 7 March 1952 p 12 Jewett Bob July 2000 A Rusty Game Are today s players out of stroke when it comes to 14 1 Billiards Digest Magazine 22 24 ISSN 0164 761X Crane Beats Jap Cueist fee required Syracuse Herald Journal 8 March 1952 p 29 Hoppe Procita Lead Cue Classic fee required San Mateo Times 10 March 1952 p 13 Hoppe Goes After 4th Straight Win in Billiards Meet fee required The Leavenworth Times 12 March 1952 p 8 a b Jap Cue Ace Fem Protege Clash in Match Tonight fee required Long Beach Press Telegram 15 March 1952 p 10 Hoppe Scores 5th Win in Tournament Oxnard Press Courier 15 March 1952 p 3 Archived from the original fee required on 16 July 2012 Crane Rubin Cue Victors on S F Tourney fee required Oakland Tribune 16 March 1952 p 51 Matsuyama Nips Katsura in Cue Game fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 17 March 1952 p 14 a b Andrews Deno J 2004 1952 World 3 Cushion Championship 3cushion com Archived from the original on 23 February 2004 Retrieved 24 April 2010 Nippon Leading as Hoppe Falls Before Procita fee required San Mateo Times 19 March 1952 p 17 Bozeman Takes Billiard Lead fee required Redlands Daily Facts 20 March 1952 p 7 Tiny Japanese Cue Artist in Biggest Upset of Tourney The Brainerd Daily Dispatch 22 March 1952 p 8 Archived from the original fee required on 30 January 2013 a b Woman Billiard Shark Says Fair Sex Should Break Male Monopoly of Game fee required The Lima News 13 May 1952 p 14 Cue Sharks to Give TV Show Tonight fee required San Mateo Times 20 March 1952 p 22 Willie Hoppe Retains World Title fee required Ogden Standard Examiner 24 March 1952 p 8 a b Woman Cueist to Open Tour fee required Dixon Evening Telegraph 17 April 1952 p 4 Woman Billiard Player to compete in City Matches fee required Suburbanite Economist 7 May 1952 p 39 Miss Kalsura Beats Cue Champ Kilgore fee required The Times 13 January 1953 p 14 Exhibition Billiard Series to Open fee required Oakland Tribune 1 February 1953 p 94 Hoppe Vs Woman fee required Oakland Tribune 1 February 1953 p 1 Willie Hoppe Leads Japan s Billiard Queen The Athens Messenger 1 February 1953 p 10 Archived from the original fee required on 12 July 2012 Hoppe Captures Last of World Cue Titles The Independent St Petersburg Fl 13 January 1936 p 4 A Wizard Hoppe Thrills Sailors Miami Daily News 18 November 1943 p 2 b permanent dead link a b Suave Navarra Picked in Cue Tourney fee required Ogden Standard Examiner 22 March 1953 p 12 a b Miss Masako is Winner fee required Lowell Sun 2 April 1953 p 28 Stein Victor Rubino Paul 1996 The Billiard Encyclopedia An Illustrated History of the Sport 2nd ed Blue Book Publications p 299 ISBN 1 886768 06 4 Navarra Turned Back by Hollywood Cueist fee required The Times San Mateo 27 March 1953 p 16 Nippon Cue Ace Tied for Lead fee required Long Beach Press Telegram 31 March 1953 p 11 Billiards Results fee required Long Beach Press Telegram 30 March 1953 p 13 Losses Still Leave Matsuyama and Kirkpatrick Tied fee required Anderson Herald 1 April 1953 p 9 Japanese Women Still Leading Billiard Field fee required Cumberland Evening Times 3 April 1953 p 14 Kilgore and Worst Lead Billiard Field fee required Syracuse Herald Journal 4 April 1953 p 9 Kilgore Worst Knotted in World Billiards Meet fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 6 April 1953 p 13 Billiards Key Held by Jap fee required Long Beach Press Telegram 8 April 1953 p 20 Kilgore Replaces Hoppe as World s Billiard King Downs Navarra For Title fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 11 April 1953 p 16 Advertisement fee required Long Beach Press Telegram 22 April 1953 p 17 Woman Cue Artist in L B fee required Independent Press Telegram 22 April 1953 p 34 Japanese Cue Stars Shine fee required Long Beach Independent 23 April 1953 p 23 a b Matsuyama Billiard Artist Dies in Japan fee required Oakland Tribune 21 December 1953 p 51 Cemetery entry for まつやま きんれい Kinrey Matsuyama in Japanese 6 plala or jp Archived from the original on 20 May 2009 Retrieved 20 April 2010 Kilgore Slates Series fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 11 April 1954 p 16 Kilgore Defeats Girl Cue Star fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 19 April 1954 p 13 Girl Beats Cue Champ fee required Oakland Tribune 30 April 1954 p 52 a b c Argentine Leads Billiard Tourney fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 11 October 1954 p 11 a b Japanese Woman Cue Star Beats Miller fee required Los Angeles Times 5 October 1954 p C4 Japan Cue Ace Beaten fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 7 October 1954 p 13 Ezequiel Navarra Holds Cue Lead fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 14 October 1954 p 13 Yank Latin Tie For Title fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 18 October 1954 p 12 Worst Navarra Play For Billiards Title fee required The Post Standard 25 October 1954 p 13 Worst Billiard Victor The New York Times 26 October 1954 p 34 a b c d Billiards Title Match Set fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 18 February 1961 p 19 Publication detail for 撞球上達法 in Japanese National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog National Bibliography No 56011129 Retrieved 13 April 2010 Publication detail for 撞球入門 in Japanese National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog National Bibliography No 61003115 Retrieved 13 April 2010 Billiards fee required San Mateo Times 2 February 1959 p 18 Miss Katsura billiards Champ Blue Island Sun Standard 5 February 1959 p 11 Archived from the original fee required on 12 July 2012 Worst Beats Tokyoite fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 2 February 1959 p 13 Worst Beats Masako fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 26 February 1959 p 18 a b c Episode 454 What s My Line 1 March 1959 CBS Masterman Len 1987 Television Mythologies Stars Shows and Signs Routledge p 21 ISBN 978 0 203 99443 6 Weekend Television Toppers fee required The Salt Lake Tribune 23 May 1959 p 25 Spotlight on TV fee required Galveston Daily News 6 September 1959 p 15 Television Log The Independent Long Beach Ca 25 November 1960 p 50 Archived from the original fee required on 13 July 2012 a b Worst Defends Billiard Crown Against Woman fee required Daily Globe Michigan 17 February 1961 p 6 a b c Defends title fee required Record Eagle Michigan 17 February 1961 p 13 Worst Wins First Bout Over Japanese Woman The Holland Evening Sentinel Michigan 14 March 1961 p 2 Archived from the original fee required on 16 July 2012 Staff writers 27 March 1961 For the Record A Roundup of the Sports Information of the Week Sports Illustrated 14 12 81 Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 Retrieved 7 February 2010 Worst Retains 3 Cushion Crown fee required Pacific Stars and Stripes 21 March 1961 p 2 United States Social Security Administration U S Social Security Death Index RootsWeb Archived from the original on 12 March 2009 Retrieved 14 February 2010 Byrne Robert 1983 Byrne s Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 271 ISBN 978 0 15 614973 0 桂メモリアル Katsura Memorial in Japanese Billiardwave com 2 September 2002 Archived from the original on 8 July 2011 Retrieved 18 April 2010 Musil Steven 6 March 2021 Google Doodle honors female billiards trailblazer Masako Katsura CNET Archived from the original on 7 March 2021 Retrieved 7 March 2021 Mosconi Willie 1993 Willie Mosconi s winning pocket billiards for beginners and advanced players Reprint ed New York Crown Trade Paperbacks p 9 ISBN 978 0 517 88427 0 a b Shamos Michael Ian 1993 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards New York Lyons amp Burford pp 28 41 42 ISBN 1 55821 219 1 Chadwick Henry 1884 The sports and pastimes of American boys New York George Routledge and son p 213 OCLC 2748429 The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia New York The Century Co 1911 p 4 347 OCLC 1062940 Byrne Robert 1983 Byrne s Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 234 ISBN 978 0 15 614973 0 Change Is Planned in Balkline Game Miller Proposal Would Eliminate Four of Nine Zones in Effort to Stop Long Runs The New York Times 10 August 1924 p 24 Archived from the original on 5 June 2011 Retrieved 4 May 2010 Cue Stars May Try Straight Rail Play The New York Times 13 December 1925 p S7 Archived from the original on 23 July 2018 Retrieved 23 July 2018 Kieran John 7 December 1937 Sports of the Times Reg U S Pat Off The New York Times p 35 Archived from the original on 23 July 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2010 Fensch Thomas 1995 The sports writing handbook 2nd ed Hillsdale NJ Routledge p 214 ISBN 978 0 8058 1529 0 Gipe George Thomas C Jones Harriet B Helmer 1980 The great American sports book Geneva Ill Hall of Fame Press p 58 ISBN 978 0 935900 00 2 BCA Rules Committee 1992 Billiards The Official Rules and Record Book Iowa City IA Billiard Congress of America pp 111 112 ISBN 1 878493 08 6 Fortin Francois 2003 Sports The Complete Visual Reference Willowdale Ont Firefly Books p 145 ISBN 978 1 55297 807 8 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Masako Katsura amp oldid 1135689986, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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