Jacob Schaefer Jr.
Jacob Schaefer Jr. (born October 18, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois; died November 10, 1975, in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American professional carom billiards player with German grandparentage, a specialist in balkline games, and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968.[1] His nickname was "the Prodigy".[2]
Professional career
Schaefer is widely considered by historians of the sport to have been America's all-time greatest balkline player.[1]
Titles and tournament wins
- World 18.1 Balkline Champion (1921, 1923-1927, 1929, 1930)
- World 18.2 Balkline Champion (1927, 1928)
- World 28.2 Balkline Champion (1937, 1938)[1]
Records
In 18.2 balkline, Schaefer held four records never broken by another American (some have since been beaten by non-Americans):[1][3]
- A 400-point game average (from the break)
400-0. The 1925 World Championship 18.2 Balkline Tournament was held in the Congress Hotel, Chicago. The sixth game of the tournament on Thursday evening, February 26, featured Jake Schaefer II against Erich Hagenlocher of Germany. Schaefer won the lag and shot first. He made 400 consecutive billiards and won the game. Hagenlocher was quoted later as saying that toward the end of the run he was hoping that Schaefer wouldn't miss. Hagenlocher was afraid that after sitting and watching for more than an hour, he wouldn't be able to stand up and hit the end rail.
- A 57.14 tournament grand average
- A 93.25 match grand average
- A high run of 432 in a match
Personal life
He was the son of fellow billiards pro Jacob Schaefer Sr. (1855–1910),[1] who was known as "the Wizard" by reason of his exploits with the cue.[4]
Both Jacob Jr. and Hoppe were tutored by the elder Schaefer, whose last match before his death was a successful defense of his title against Hoppe.
Jacob Schaefer III (b. 1938) and Jacob Schaefer IV (b. 1970) are both academics in science. Jacob Schaefer V (b. 2007) has not yet made a career decision.
References
- v
- t
- e
- Eight-ball
- British eight-ball
- Nine-ball
- Straight pool
- Ten-ball
- Artistic pool and trick shots
- Bank pool
- Baseball
- Bottle pool
- Bowlliards
- Chicago
- Cowboy pool
- Cribbage
- Cutthroat
- Fifteen-ball
- Golf
- Honolulu
- Kelly pool
- Killer
- One-pocket
- Pyramid pool
- Rotation
- Seven-ball
- Speed pool
- Three-ball
international
tournaments
- Artistic Billiards World Championship
- UMB World Three-cushion Championship
- World Snooker Championship
- Six-red World Championship
- World Women's Snooker Championship
- WPA World Nine-ball Championship
- WPA World Ten-ball Championship
- World Straight Pool Championship
- WPA World Eight-ball Championship
- World Cup of Pool
- Mosconi Cup
- World Pool Masters
- Cue sports at the World Games
- Cue sports
- Players
- Organizations
- Competitions
The rules of games in italics are standardized by international sanctioning bodies.