Harold Worst

baby huey

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I wanted to get some information about the great Harold Worst. We've mentioned him a few times but mostly about his appearances in Johnson City. I went on line and discovered a few facts. But, those may not be facts in reality. A few of our members may be able to shed some light on his short but prolific career.

FACT OR FICTION:

Worlds 3 C champion in 1955/6. The event was held in Buenos Areas. It was my understanding that when he won he had to be ushered out of the arena as a riot was about to happen. Did Juan and Eva Peron entertain Harold at the Executive Palace after the match and have to smuggle him out of the country to save his life?

He was a protege of Hoppe and Hoppe declared him to be the best billiard player he'd ever seen?

He switched to pool in 1958 and began to beat all the pool players who came to his hometown playing nine ball, 14.1 and etc.? It was said he would play for any amount?

He was so prolific at pool that he was barred from the ring games in Johnson City. It was said that he'd watch the ring games and any player could solicit/pay him to shoot any one shot during the game.

He took to One Pocket late in his pool career and after one year of playing One Pocket he was unbeatable?
 

lfigueroa

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I wanted to get some information about the great Harold Worst. We've mentioned him a few times but mostly about his appearances in Johnson City. I went on line and discovered a few facts. But, those may not be facts in reality. A few of our members may be able to shed some light on his short but prolific career.

FACT OR FICTION:

Worlds 3 C champion in 1955/6. The event was held in Buenos Areas. It was my understanding that when he won he had to be ushered out of the arena as a riot was about to happen. Did Juan and Eva Peron entertain Harold at the Executive Palace after the match and have to smuggle him out of the country to save his life?

He was a protege of Hoppe and Hoppe declared him to be the best billiard player he'd ever seen?

He switched to pool in 1958 and began to beat all the pool players who came to his hometown playing nine ball, 14.1 and etc.? It was said he would play for any amount?

He was so prolific at pool that he was barred from the ring games in Johnson City. It was said that he'd watch the ring games and any player could solicit/pay him to shoot any one shot during the game.

He took to One Pocket late in his pool career and after one year of playing One Pocket he was unbeatable?

Have heard he was a monster.

Just a casual look brought these up:



Lou Figueroa
 

mr3cushion

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Jerry I posted this up a while ago.

https://onepocket.org/forum/index.p...t-video-playing-3c-world-championship.431066/

About Hoppe publicly saying, "Worst Best he had ever seen" is dubious at best!

Hoppe and Worst were at different spectrums in the game of 3C. Hoppe was beautiful, 'Finesse' player. Worst is what we called/call a, 'Heavy hitter/Big Stroke' player.

I do believe was/is the, G.O.A.T. All around player!
 
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baby huey

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Great post Bill. So much of what I thought has an element of "FACT" to it.
 

Dennis "Whitey" Young

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I like this story; with Worst becoming the world 3c champion, and then Johnny Irish goes over to his house and played him 3c on his table and took him off.
I see similarities between these two players, both recognized as having the best/biggest stroke in the game, and just what game can not they play, and both suffered from illnesses. Also Irish had to have known OP, where else would Jersy Red and Ervolino learn the game. I believe Irish had a great influence on OP that is not realized.

Another story, Ronnie Allen's story of how he and other champion 9-ball players first met Worst. And the continuing story of Allen's as to why Worst for him was the greatest player.

When you look at the history of Johnston City and how the players placed, we see evidence leading up to Worst winning it, that he was coming, and coming on strong, he learned the game of OP and others.
I remember when Worst won Johnston City, and I said; "Yes"!

For me, IMO why he was so feared is that the other players knew he was fearless, why, not only his abilities, but he had money, he played on his own money, that is huge!

thanks Baby Huey, and guys for your posts!
Whitey
 

HowardK

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Ronnie told me that he thought Harold Worst was the pool player he had seen. The man could play anything.
 
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mr3cushion

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In all honesty, if Worst had lived during the 3C transition, (70's-?) and did not adapt his 3C game, He wouldn't rank in the Top 200 in the World.
 

baby huey

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Great posts guys. This is the Fact vs Fiction I was talking about earlier. Interesting about the worlds 3C title in Argentina. How did that come about and what's more intriguing is how long did it take Harold to get there. This is before Jet Airplane Travel. I would like to see the lineup of players that competed in that event if there's a way to view it.
 

RabbiHippie

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In all honesty, if Worst had lived during the 3C transition, (70's-?) and did not adapt his 3C game, He wouldn't rank in the Top 200 in the World.
How do you think his game in the 50's compares to that of the players from the "classic" era of the 20's-40's?

3-Cushion was already on the decline when Worst won his world title in the 50's but was at its peak in terms of popularity and participation in the 20's and 30's. Tiff Denton (a distant relative of mine) was world champion in 1923 and still shows up in the BCA record book under high runs with ivory balls with 17. (He actually did this twice). Yet he was just a middle-of-the-pack contender in the 30's after Hoppe and Cochran switched from balkline to 3-Cushion. Johnny Layton was a rival of Denton's--they were just about even in championship play--and there were a whole host of other players like Bozeman who fell into the middle of the pack but were really strong.
 
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mr3cushion

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How do you think his game in the 50's compares to that of the players from the "classic" era of the 20's-40's?

3-Cushion was already on the decline when Worst won his world title in the 50's but was at its peak in terms of popularity and participation in the 20's and 30's. Tiff Denton (a distant relative of mine) was world champion in 1923 and still shows up in the BCA record book under high runs with ivory balls with 17. (He actually did this twice). Yet he was just a middle-of-the-pack contender in the 30's after Hoppe and Cochran switched from balkline to 3-Cushion. Johnny Layton was a rival of Denton's--they were just about even in championship play--and there were a whole host of other players like Bozeman who fell into the middle of the pack but were really strong.
The Top 10-12 players of the 20's-40's would have robbed Worst! Tiff Denton was a pretty good player, IMO, he wasn't in the same league as Johnny Layton. I'd put him in with Jay Bozeman. Jay finished 2nd or 3rd in more World Championships than any other 3C player of that era.
 
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RabbiHippie

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The Top 10-12 players of the 20's-40's would have robbed Worst! Tiff Denton was a pretty good player, IMO, he wasn't in the same league as Johnny Layton. I'd put him in with Jay Bozeman. Jay finished 2nd or 3rd in more World Championships than any other 3C player of that era.
I agree with that assessment. Both Denton and Bozeman were guys with high runs who stood a chance of being world champions until Hoppe and Cochran entered the arena. And Layton could dominate prior to that but (I'd have to check to be certain) I think his world titles didn't come as often after the 20's with the higher level of competition in the 30's.

Point being it was a strong field of competitors in that era, a lot like the jump that came in the 70's and 80's with Ceulemans.
 
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Dennis "Whitey" Young

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Correct me if I am wrong, but after Worst won the title at 25 yrs old, he then held it for a number of years. I do not the history of the world 3c championships during that time, and I am going on memory!
Whitey
 

RabbiHippie

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Deno Andrews compiled these detailed histories of 3-Cushion with excellent stats and standings for just about all the world championship events.



If you check out his profile page, you'll find where he did the same for pool as well ...

 
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mr3cushion

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Deno Andrews compiled these detailed histories of 3-Cushion with excellent stats and standings for just about all the world championship events.



If you check out his profile page, you'll find where he did the same for pool as well ...

These are all from, Charlie Ursitti's old website.

Deno was supposed to start it back up.

If you study these charts, you can see that Worst was a little better than a, 1.00 average player in the World tournaments, (Not challenge matches) when he played.
 
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RabbiHippie

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These are all from, Charlie Ursitti's old website.

Deno was supposed to start it back up.

If you study these charts, you can see that Worst was a little better than a, 1.00 average player in the World tournaments, (Not challenge matches) when he played.
Thanks for the clarification on the source of this historical data. Charles Ursitti was in the back of my mind and I think you're right that he was the original author.

It's an incredible piece of work and there's nothing else available that's comparable for pool and billiards.

Wasn't Charles Ursitti the guy racking when Mosconi made one of his "better than 526" runs in practice?

Here's a link to the "basement tapes" where Mosconi talks about running over 600 in practice.

 
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RabbiHippie

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To bring the thread back on-topic to Harold Worst ...

Johnny Layton makes for an interesting comparison with Worst. Both were world champions at both pool and 3-Cushion. I think Alfredo de Oro at the turn of the (last) century is the only other person to ever do that.

Layton's heydey was in the 20's and 30's. He was from Sedalia, Missouri.
 

RabbiHippie

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If you study these charts, you can see that Worst was a little better than a, 1.00 average player in the World tournaments, (Not challenge matches) when he played.
How would Worst's 1.00 average translate to today with modern equipment?

To be fair, the record when Worst played was something like 1.3 by Hoppe. 1.00 with ivory balls and unheated cloth was a lot higher standard than it is now.
 

baby huey

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We don't see too many "crossover players" today that can play all the games. Those days are probably gone. I would think Efren could for sure and the last really good player I saw who crossed over with a high degree of skill was Boston Shorty. But back to Harold Worst. His 3C skill IMO does stand out in that he played at close to the top speeds of his ERA. His pool skills would stand out today as well. Had Harold lived longer, he probably would still stood atop the best american players playing the game. I can't see Allen Gold beating him in his prime certainly not for the cash.
 
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