Black History Month

The Late Great Cisero Murphy

Since we're all about history here, and this month is Black History Month, I figured it's important to commemorate today one of this nation's all-time great African American pool players. Cisero Murphy, shown in the video that you can find here, was the first African-American pool player to ever win a World or U.S. National billiard title. Murphy also was a trailblazer for equal access, having to overcome prejudice to gain his right to compete at the very top echelon of pool.


A native of Brooklyn, Murphy was born in 1937. He was one of eight children. He took up the sport early, dropped out of high school at age 15 and then a year later won the city pool championship. He won the state championship in 1958. 

But because of his race, Murphy was excluded from world and national competition, including the Billiard Room Proprietor's Association of America events in New York and major tournaments in California. Finally, after pickets in both states, Murphy was invited in 1965 to compete in the World Invitation 14.1 tournament in Burbank California. He won it convincingly after defeating Luther Lassiter in the finals. With his victory, Murphy became the first pool player ever to win a world title in his first attempt. The BRPAA would also relent, inviting Murphy to compete in the organization's tournaments in New York. This effectively ended all official race-based barriers to entry in major professional pool tournaments.

Through the years Murphy would play and defeat many of the other greats, including his friend Jersey Red and even Willie Mosconi himself. He continued to place near the top in straight pool events during the 1960s and, according to the Billiard Congress of America website, posted several competitive high runs of over 250 balls.

Murphy was inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame in 1995. He died the next year.

-- R.A. Dyer

Johnston City -- 1962?

Spring cleaning continues. This is a picture sent to me by Charles Howard, the son of Norman "Jockey" Howard. It shows the players at the famous Johnston City tournaments. Charles sent me this photo in 2006. I had it posted up elsewhere, and now I'm posting it up here. That's Jockey Howard on the far right. Although the photo is labeled "1961, first tournament held in Johnston City", I don't believe that can be right. Although Paulie and George Jansco are clearly there seated in the middle, there's also Luther Lassiter and Cisero Murphy in attendance. They were not at the first Johnston City meet. Charles said his dad went to Johnston City in '62 and '63.


Here's another photo from Charles Howard. This one shows his dad, "Jockey" Howard, with the great Willie Mosconi. This picture was definitely not taken at Johnston City. I know this because I know that Mosconi never set foot into the hustler's den that were the Johnston City tournaments. By contrast, Charles said his dad was a full-time pool hustler. "He never entered tournaments that generated national attention," said Charles, "(But) he was best man at Cornbread Red's wedding and has played with some of the greats such as Mosconi and Fats."

-- R.A. Dyer