In 1963 Willie Mosconi was touring for Brunswick and he happened to be at Bensingers pool hall on Randolph St. downtown Chicago. He asked for a volunteer from the crowd to play a game to 50 pts.  I jumped up and down to get his attention to pick me. He did.  I ran 3 balls before scratching and he asked if I had ever been beaten 50 to 2 before he proceeded to run 50 balls. Watching him play at the table I learned a lot just through osmosis. It was the greatest event in my life and I will never forget it.

Years ago Mosconi was doing an exhibition  match  at a high school he stopped at a local bar and I saw somebody try to hustle him. I still laugh about it.

Willie Mosconi....the greatest player of all time. He won the World Straight Pool Championship 19 times. If you're a beginner, study this video. Learn the fundamentals, and then practice, practice, practice. Good shooting!

He and my dad were good friends. He didn't like kids, but he really loved me. I was so blessed to play him on a constant bases, along with Buddy Hall and others old time professionals. Luther, Buddy were always teaching me everytime I played them. I learned all games and strategies  from them. RIP all you ald greats

Willie came to Montana State in the ‘70s. Several of us thought we were pretty hot at 14.1 as we played it every day. He made a 14.1 break shot I had never seen before several times. He would make the object ball and the cue ball would jump into the middle of the rack spreading them out from where the cue ball landed. I was gob smacked - it took me a long time to learn how to do that. Then I quit playing pool for forty years while life intervened. Now I’m back at my obsession in the Philippines. I put Willie Mosconi and Efren Bata Reyes in the same category. Willie was like a machine, but he could play all the games better than anyone (as does Efren). Cue ball control and making every shot look easy is their hall marks. Both of them also personify the gentlemanly side of the game.

I had a brush with THE GREAT  Willie Mosconi  at Gaylanes Bowling and Pool hall in Sioux City Ia. It was 1968 I was 14 , Willie  was in town on an exhibition  tour, and asked for volunteers, I was picked by Willie to assist with The Machine Gun Shot. It was Great !  Dan Murphy

This video is a relic from a bygone era. A better era.

17:17 the "Yea...I'm a bad ass" stare.

Too sad we have no video of this legend play pool competetively in his prime!
RIP LEGEND!

"Now this is the same principle as firing a rifle"
Cant get any more american than that

This is just a treat for any billiards enthusiast, regardless of skill level. Thanks for the upload. RIP Mosconi.

17:15 him smiling to himself thinking "still got it" and he absolutely does

My hero....this is how i learned to shoot...i actually met him at phila airport back in 78 or 79.
Got his autograph.
He was actually very friendly to talk to

His follow and draw shots are just perfection.

Mosconi vs Reyes would've been an amazing match.

I'm 76 years-old and still have my own cue stick.  I was NEVER in Willie Mosconi's class by a long shot, but I picked up a few $$ in my day and never came out on the short end.  Made most of my money during my two-year hitch with the army in 1968-1970, off poor slobs who thought they were great pool players.  My game was and still is, 8-ball.  It helped a lot that my dad set up a pool table in our home (to my mother's chagrin!) when I was 13 years-old.  We had family and friends over almost every night for 'tournaments'.  In our first final it was me pitted against my dad.  He scratched on his 8 ball shot, and I won...and BOY was I hooked on the game!  It has always amazed me that so few people know how to play angles and where to hit the object ball.  Round ball to round ball is pretty tricky.  To be a great pool player you have to know how to put 'English' (spin) on the ball, not to just make your called shot, but to have the cue ball line up your next shot. The game of pool is one of the most relaxing (for me) games you can play.  I always hit the cue ball very gingerly as Mr. Mosconi advises (unless some extra force was needed) with the cue stick, and many of my shots would just get to the pocket and barely fall in, like a long putt in golf.  I remember beating this young hot shot one day when he was smiling and trash talking because he thought he had left me with no shot on the 8 ball.  I jumped his ball with the cue ball and pocketed the 8. He threw his stick down in anger.  I guess he had lost his last dollar. LOL!!  BTW, I am a lefty shooter.  Don't see many of us around.

I remember watching Willie play Minnesota Fats. Willie always won. 64 years old here and I used to watch these guys on TV. Huge fan of all of these pool players back then.

Theres just something about watching the hands of someone thats done something THOUSANDS of times and how fluidly they work together.

This is what I’ve been searching for. My daily game at the senior center is about to be upped. Thank you, Willie!

I’ve seen Willie Mosconi  in 1966 in Reading Pennsylvania. He was shooting the Berks County champ at the time, he got up ran two racks and said I’m ready.