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Rudolf Wanderone

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For the fictional character after whom Wanderone nicknamed himself, see Minnesota Fats.
Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, Jr.
Front cover of Minnesota Fats on Pool (1967)
BornJanuary 19, 1913,
New York City, New York
DiedJanuary 15, 1996(1996-01-15) (aged 82),
Nashville, Tennessee
NationalityAmerican
Other namesMinnesota Fats
New York Fats
Double Smart
OccupationPool hustler

Rudolf Walter Wanderone, Jr. (January 19, 1913 – January 15, 1996; originally spelled Wanderon)[1][2] best known as "Minnesota Fats", was an American professional pocket billiards (pool) player and entertainer. As "Fats", he was perhaps the most publicly recognized pool player in the United States,[3] in spite of the fact that he never won a major pool tournament. He was inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame for his decades-long public promotion of pool.

Wanderone began playing pool at a young age in New York City and became a traveling pool hustler as a teenager. In his 30s, he moved to southern Illinois, where he met and married his first wife, Evelyn. During World War II, he hustled servicemen in Norfolk, Virginia. With the end of the war, Wanderone returned to Illinois and entered semi-retirement.

Wanderone adopted the nickname "Minnesota Fats" from a character in the 1961 film The Hustler (and the novel it was based on), claiming that the character was based on him. He parlayed the association with the film into book deals and television appearances, including a series of matches with rival Willie Mosconi. Later in life Wanderone divorced Evelyn and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he married his second wife, Theresa. He lived with her until his death in 1996.

Early life and career

Wanderone was born in New York City to Rosa and Rudolf Wanderon, Swiss immigrants.[2][4]: 9  Reliable sources give 1913 as the year of his birth,[5][6] but he claimed to have been born in 1900.[5]

Known as Rudy to friends and family,[3] Wanderone started playing pool as a child, while growing up in Washington Heights, Manhattan. In 1923, he traveled to Europe with his father, where he received training from German balkline billiards champion Erich Hagenlocher.[4]: 12  His first prominent match was in 1926, when he competed against former nine-ball champion Cowboy Weston. Wanderone won the match handily.[4]: 13  Wanderone dropped out of school in the 8th grade,[5] and became a traveling pool hustler, spending much of the 1920s playing at a pool hall called Cranfield's in New York. It was here that Wanderone received his first nickname. He beat another hustler known as "Smart Henry," leading Wanderone's friend Titanic Thompson to dub Wanderone "Double Smart."[4]: 16  He eventually ended up managing a pool hall in Anacostia, in Southeast Washington, DC.[4]: 35 

In 1941, Wanderone and friend Jimmy Castras arrived in the region of southern Illinois nicknamed Little Egypt (later to be a hustling center, building up to televised tournaments),[4] settling in Du Quoin.[4]: 52  There Wanderone continued to hustle pool.

While living in Du Quoin he met Evelyn Inez Grass. They were married on May 7 1941, two months to the day after they met.[7][4]: 61  In 1942, the couple moved to Norfolk, Virginia. The town had become a key mustering point for US soldiers as well as a shipbuilding center. The vast influx of people led to an enormous increase in gambling in the city and Wanderone, in partnership with fellow hustler Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter, took full advantage.[4]: 71  The action in Norfolk dried up following World War II and the Wanderones returned to Little Egypt.[4]: 88  Wanderone semi-retired for a period, but made occasional trips to New York throughout the 1950s; it was during this time that he picked up the nickname "New York Fats".[4]: 116 

"Minnesota Fats"

In 1961, the film version of Walter Tevis's novel The Hustler was released. The film tells the story of a pool shark, "Fast Eddie" Felson, and his quest to beat the greatest pool player in America, "Minnesota Fats". World Champion Willie Mosconi served as a technical advisor and trick shot stunt man for the film. During a promotional interview, Mosconi stated that the character of Minnesota Fats was based on Wanderone. Wanderone almost immediately dropped his "New York Fats" nickname, adopted the name "Minnesota Fats" and began spreading the story that the character was based on him. Tevis denied this for the rest of his life.[4]: 122 

His notoriety as "Minnesota Fats" led to a job as executive vice-president of billiard table manufacturer Rozel Industries, playing exhibition matches and giving demonstrations. Rozel published Wanderone's first book, Minnesota "Fats" Book of Billiards: Complete Summary of All Billiard Games – Pocket and Carom, in 1965. He also appeared on the TV game show What's My Line? on January 17 of that year, successfully stumping the panel.[8]

In 1966 he wrote his autobiography, The Bank Shot, and Other Great Robberies: The Uncrowned Champion of Pocket Billiards Describes His Game and How It's Played, with Sports Illustrated journalist Tom Fox (in 2006, it was edited by billiards writer R. A. Dyer and republished).[7]

Minnesota Fats Hustles the Pros, his first TV game show, in which he played against other professional players of the era, debuted in 1967.[9][10] Also in 1967, he completed and published his instructional paperback Minnesota Fats on Pool: The Complete Book for the Pool Enthusiast Including the How To of Shotmaking and All Game Rules. It was reprinted numerous times in large quantities, through 1976 (and reissued in 1993 as a hardcover), and remains commonly available.[11] A year later, he was a guest on the The Joey Bishop Show, January 24, 1968.[12]

This was followed in 1970 by the game show series Celebrity Billiards with Minnesota Fats, featured Wanderone playing against celebrity guests such as Sid Caesar.[13][14]

He also played himself (as "Minnesota Fats") in the rare 1971 feature film The Player, written and directed by Thomas DeMartini and also starring Jerry Como, Rae Phillips, Carey Wilmot, and Jack Colavita. Filmed in December 1970 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the film had only a very limited local/regional release in 1971 by International Cinema.[15] Also that year, he was a guest on both The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (September 21, 1971, on which he hustled Carson out of US$1)[16] and The David Frost Show (October 13, 1971).[12]

By 1979, he was well-known enough to be a celebrity guest star, playing himself, on an episode of the popular TV detective drama Vega$, season 2 episode "The Usurper";[17][12] "Fats" was joined at the pool table by billiards pro Jimmy Mataya, also playing himself. In 1980, Wanderone had to double his order of autographed pictures after he was stopped 37 times in a one-mile stretch while visiting St. Louis.[18]

File:FatsBirkbeck.jpg
A watercolor of Wanderone, by the Birkbeck Twins

Rivalry with Mosconi

Wanderone enjoyed promoting his feud with Willie Mosconi, which was largely over how to present pool (as a rough-and-tumble gambling activity or as a genteel pastime and artform, respectively).[19] Mosconi's widow, Flora, has said of their rivalry, "My husband hated Minnesota Fats because he felt that [Wanderone] was always hurting the image of the game instead of helping it."[20] Wanderone would publicly state, "I may have 'given away' a few games to deserving competitors, but I have never lost a real money game since I was old enough to spell 'Weeli Mesconi'."[21] The two played a televised match against each other on Valentine's Day 1978. It aired on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and with almost 11 million viewers it was the second-highest rated episode of the show for the year, behind only the Muhammed Ali vs. Leon Spinks rematch. The event was held at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and was announced by Howard Cosell.[4]: 212  Although Wanderone lost the pool match, he won the audience with his banter and joking manner, as Mosconi was perceived as coldly serious, even hostile.[4]: 212 [22]

In his last notable TV appearance, Wanderone later turned the tables on Mosconi in the nationally-broadcast Resorts International Shoot-Out in October 1984,[clarification needed] commentated by sports broadcaster John Madden. The event began with a trick shot competition between Wanderone, Mosconi, Steve Mizerak, and Allen Hopkins. The next events were Hopkins and Fats against Mosconi and Mizerak in doubles seven-ball and nine-ball. Wanderone and Mosconi then played a one-on-one game of seven-ball, and Wanderone won the match. During an interview after the event, Wanderone was asked about his strategy to defeat Mosconi, and he replied, "I'll make [the 7 ball] on the break and end it...then I'll help carry Willie out on a stretcher."[23] Mosconi blocked out Wanderone's chatter by wearing ear plugs during the exhibition, which didn't stop Wanderone from putting on a show for the fans.[24]

The Billiard Congress of America inducted Wanderone into its Hall of Fame in 1984 for "Meritorious Service" in recognition of his contributions to helping popularize the game of pool.[25] Also in 1984, Wanderone left his wife Evelyn; they would divorce a year later.[4]: 219 

Later life

Wanderone moved into the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, Tennessee in 1985, remaining there for the next several years. In 1992, while undergoing surgery for a knee injury, he suffered a massive heart attack, but survived. In 1993, he met and married his second wife, Theresa Ward Bell. He lived in Bell's Nashville house until his death on January 15, 1996, just short of his 83rd birthday[6][4]: 220–1  (although some journalistic sources, including the New York Times, placed it at January 18).[5]

He had no known children. Singer Etta James has claimed that Wanderone was her father, although there is no published evidence of such a relationship. James and Wanderone are only known to have met once, in 1987.[26]

The epitaph on his tombstone reads: "Beat every living creature on Earth. 'St. Peter, rack 'em up. – Fats'".[1][16]

Personal character

Aside from ostentation, self-aggrandizement (he was recognized by famed boaster Muhammad Ali as better at boasting),[16] fast-talk and entertaining banter, Wanderone was known for his love of animals, and was reported to have had dozens of cats and dogs at once, and to have devoted a lot of time to finding homes for strays. "I'm crazy about every living creature, it doesn't matter what it happens to be. I even love insects; in fact, I wouldn't swat a fly or a mosquito for a whole barrel of gold", he wrote in The Bank Shot.[7][16]

He is, however, certainly well-remembered for his turns of phrase and punning. He once wrote that, "if you happened to drive from Mobile to Dowell [Alabama] with a carload of pool hustlers, you would get bit so hard and so often that you would need a malaria vaccine and a new bankroll as well", in reference to both the area's notorious mosquitos and the predatory nature of hustlers.[7][16] He is also remembered for saying, "Boys, the only difference between me and everybody else is that everybody else drives around in a Volkswagen, and Minnesota Fats drives around in a Duesenberg", when departing pool rooms in his travels.[27] Wanderone would go anywhere to help the game, and he was a crowd-pleaser.[28]

The flamboyant Wanderone once toured the country in a colorful Lincoln limousine and had little trouble with identity recognition: his elongated nickname, "Minnesota Fats, King of Pool", on the side panels was done in translucent paint which changed colors with reflections from the sun as it moved.

Wanderone was notorious for his spontaneous wit. When he was named the "uncrowned king" of pool because he never got actively involved in tournament circles due to being too busy out hustling, his reply on his new title was: "You judge a king by the size of his wallet and his palace. You can leave the crown in the toilet."[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "'Rudolf W. Wanderon' Waymark". Waymarking.com. Groundspeak. January 26, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Includes three photos of his grave marker; provides birth and death dates, and alternate surname spelling.
  2. ^ a b ""Rudolph Wanderon" entry in New York City (the only one there)". 1920 United States Federal Census. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau. 1920. Retrieved 2008-08-19. Provides surname spelling without the terminal "e", name with "Jr.", age of 7 as of 1920, mother's name as "Rosa" or "Rose", New York City residence. Copy is poor; data columns verified by comparison to legible blank 1920 census form. Census-taker's handwriting poor as well, but "e" clearly absent. Note: Full details of search results, including scan of document, only available to site subscribers, but original document on file in US National Archives.
  3. ^ a b Dyer, R. A. (September 2008). "Fats Family Breakthrough". Billiards Digest. Chicago, IL: Luby Publishing: pp. 46–9. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); |section= ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Dyer, R. A. (2003). Hustler Days: Minnesota Fats, Wimpy Lassiter, Jersey Red, and America's Great Age of Pool. New York, NY: Muf Books. ISBN 156731807X.
  5. ^ a b c d Thomas, Robert Mcg. (Jr.) (January 19, 1996). "Minnesota Fats, a Real Hustler With a Pool Cue, Is Dead". New York Times, ibid. Retrieved 2008-01-23. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b "U.S. Social Security Death Index search 322-42-2372". MyFamily.com Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
  7. ^ a b c d "Minnesota Fats" (2006) [1966]. The Bank Shot and Other Great Robberies: The Uncrowned Champion of Pocket Billiards Describes His Game and How It's Played (rev. ed. ed.). Lyons Pr. ISBN 1592287018. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coathors= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "What's My Line? episode #747". TV.com. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  9. ^ ""1967, May–June"". Broadcasting. Vol. 72. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan: p. 70. 1993. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help)
  10. ^ This may be aprocrphyal, as IMDb has no record of any such program.
  11. ^ "Fats, Minnesota" (1967). Minnesota Fats on Pool: The Complete Book for the Pool Enthusiast Including the How to of Shotmaking and All Game Rules. Billiard Library Co. ISBN 9990395950.
  12. ^ a b c Rudolf Wanderone Jr. at IMDb
  13. ^ Dyer, R. A. (2005). Billiards: The Official Rules and Records Book. Globe Pequot. pp. p. 154. ISBN 1592287441. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Celebrity Billiards at IMDb
  15. ^ "[untitled column]". Time. New York, NY: Time Warner. December 28, 1970. Retrieved 2008-05-25. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ a b c d e "True Animal Stories by Pool Hustler Rudolph Wanderone". EgyptianAAA.org. Egyptian Area Agency on Aging, Inc. [a reference to the Little Egypt area of Illinois, not Egypt]. 1996–2008 [copyright dates]. Retrieved 2008-08-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
  17. ^ "Vega$: "The Usurper" (1979)" at IMDb
  18. ^ "photo caption". National Billiard News: p. 22. 1980. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  19. ^ Dyer, R. A. (2007). The Hustler & The Champ: Willie Mosconi, Minnesota Fats, and the Rivalry that Defined Pool. Lyons Pr. ISBN 1592288839.
  20. ^ "Willie Mosconi, 80, Who Ruled The World of Billiards With Style". New York Times. New York, NY: New York Times Company. 1993-09-18. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  21. ^ "Minnesota Fats vs. Everybody". National Billiards News: p. 22. April 1980. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  22. ^ Dyer, R. A. "TV Fiasco Spawned Mosconi-Fats Duel". BilliardsDigest.com. Luby Publishing, op. cit. Retrieved 2008-04-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "Shootout on the Boardwalk". National Billiards News: p. 11. 1984. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. ^ "Stars of Resort Shoot-Out". National Billiards News: p. 21. 1984. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  25. ^ "BCA Hall of Fame Inductees". BCA-Pool.com. Billiard Congress of America. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  26. ^ Quan, Denise (September 19, 2002). "A Life Singing the Blues". CNN.com. CNN. Retrieved 2008-04-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ "Fatty". InsidePOOL Magazine: p. 8. April 2006. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  28. ^ "PPPA World Tournament". National Billiard News: p. 8. September 1976. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  29. ^ Stutz, Ellen (February 1982). "Legends of Pocket Billiard Stars Tournament". National Billiard News: p. 11. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)
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