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William Joseph Mosconi (; June 27, 1913 – September 17, 1993), generally known as Willie Mosconi, was an American professional pool (pocket billiards) player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between the years of 1941 and 1957, he won the World Straight Pool Championship an unmatched fifteen times. For most of the 20th century, his name was essentially synonymous with pool in North America – he was nicknamed "Mr. Pocket Billiards" – and he was among the first Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame inductees.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://home.bca-pool.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=31 )〕 Mosconi pioneered and regularly employed numerous trick shots, set many records, and helped to popularize pool as a national recreation activity. During the 1940s and 1950s, the pocket billiards game most often played in competition was called straight pool, or 14.1 continuous, a form of pool considered by most top players to be more difficult than today's fast tournament game nine-ball. Mosconi still holds the officially recognized straight pool high world record of 526 consecutive balls (see below for more details). ==Early life== Willie's father Joseph Mosconi owned a pool hall that the family lived above. Joseph Mosconi was strongly opposed to Willie playing pocket billiards, preferring he become a Vaudeville performer. He tried to keep his young son away from the game by hiding the billiard balls, but Willie improvised by practicing with small potatoes from his mother's kitchen and an old broomstick. The young Mosconi was a prodigy and his father soon realized that his son's talent could help earn money for their growing family. His father began advertising challenge matches, and though Willie had to stand on a box in order to reach the table, he beat experienced players many years his senior. In 1919, an exhibition match was arranged between six-year-old Mosconi and the reigning World Champion, Ralph Greenleaf. The hall was packed, and though Greenleaf won that match, Mosconi played well enough to draw considerable attention and launch his professional career.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Willie Mosconi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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