Willie Jopling at the Derby City Classic, demonstrating one of his pet games, “Kiss Pool”, in which object balls are caromed off the cue ball in order to score.
Born William Jopling Marshall, Jr. in Bedford, Virginia January 20, 1926, but better known in the pool world as ‘Willie Jopling’, Marshall died suddenly in his home early in the AM of November 24, 2009. Bill Marshall was a veteran of WWII, a career graphic designer and a family man, who put those priorities ahead of pool, although he played at a competitive level. The name Willie Jopling became synonymous with trick shots as under that moniker he wrote popular instructional columns for several pool and billiard magazines for many years. Early on in his pool career he became enthralled with trick shots and the game of One Pocket, and it was these two disciplines that his columns focused on. He self-published an instructional book on Trick Shots which also included a large section on One Pocket shots, which may have been the first published One Pocket instructional work. Recently he had published two One Pocket instruction videos which were well received in the One Pocket community.
He was a close friend to many great players, including the late Eddie Taylor, and many of his columns mixed in personal anecdotes along with his excellent pool advice, which added to the popularity of his writing. He was a regular at every US Open Championship in his home state of Virginia, but also traveled every year to the Derby City Classic to enjoy the pool action, catch up with his many friends and to sell a few books and tapes to help pay his way. He was still contributing columns, and still enjoyed getting out for a little pool until his death.
Complete Willie Jopling Interview from 2005