gulfportdoc
Verified Member
While researching Harold Worst, I came across this interesting story. I’m wondering if any of you guys, especially 3C Bill, has ever heard of this guy? This was from a Sports Illustrated article entitled “The Pool Hustlers” from 3-20-61. The Harold Worst story must have taken place in 1956:
But the name that strikes genuine fright into the hearts of present-day hustlers is Jack Foreaker of Detroit. Foreaker is one of the few players who hustle three-cushion billiards, a game of trapezoids and parallelograms so complicated that it is not even attempted by the average pockets player. Legend—and Foreaker—have it that he once made a standing offer to play the brilliant Willie Hoppe for 510,000 and Hoppe would not take him up on it. Nor could Foreaker get satisfaction in the regular tournaments, since he was barred from official matches because of some misadventures in his past. This reduced Foreaker to hustling, at which he became such a name that hardly anyone would play him and he was forced to offer huge handicaps or play left-handed.
Harold Worst remembers Foreaker well. "When I was 17, a sponsor took me to a three-cushion match in Chicago just for the experience. He gave me $50 side money and told me to play with it, but not to play a guy named Foreaker because I had no chance against him and neither did anybody else. So I walk into Ben-singer's [sic] pool hall and a guy walks right up to me and says, 'You want to play?' I said, 'I'll play you three-cushion for $25.' He says, 'O.K., I'll play you 25 points—13 points left-handed and 12 points right-handed.' Well, I had just got through playing left-handed for eight months so it hit me just right. He walked over to the rack to get a cue, and I was standing there waiting for him and a guy came strolling right past me—a real poolroom detective—and without breaking stride or changing his expression he said out of the corner of his mouth, 'Foreaker!' And he kept right on walking by. So I ducked out. At that time Foreaker was the greatest left-handed right-hander in the game. He would have slaughtered me."
But the name that strikes genuine fright into the hearts of present-day hustlers is Jack Foreaker of Detroit. Foreaker is one of the few players who hustle three-cushion billiards, a game of trapezoids and parallelograms so complicated that it is not even attempted by the average pockets player. Legend—and Foreaker—have it that he once made a standing offer to play the brilliant Willie Hoppe for 510,000 and Hoppe would not take him up on it. Nor could Foreaker get satisfaction in the regular tournaments, since he was barred from official matches because of some misadventures in his past. This reduced Foreaker to hustling, at which he became such a name that hardly anyone would play him and he was forced to offer huge handicaps or play left-handed.
Harold Worst remembers Foreaker well. "When I was 17, a sponsor took me to a three-cushion match in Chicago just for the experience. He gave me $50 side money and told me to play with it, but not to play a guy named Foreaker because I had no chance against him and neither did anybody else. So I walk into Ben-singer's [sic] pool hall and a guy walks right up to me and says, 'You want to play?' I said, 'I'll play you three-cushion for $25.' He says, 'O.K., I'll play you 25 points—13 points left-handed and 12 points right-handed.' Well, I had just got through playing left-handed for eight months so it hit me just right. He walked over to the rack to get a cue, and I was standing there waiting for him and a guy came strolling right past me—a real poolroom detective—and without breaking stride or changing his expression he said out of the corner of his mouth, 'Foreaker!' And he kept right on walking by. So I ducked out. At that time Foreaker was the greatest left-handed right-hander in the game. He would have slaughtered me."
