Man of Many Talents: Hall of Fame Inductee Charles Ursitti Known for Marksmanship

Did you know that Charles Ursitti, recent Hall of Fame inductee and a key figure in the book The Hustler & The Champ, was also a highly competitive sharpshooter? He learned about guns from his father, and then went on to shoot both in public exhibitions and in tournaments.

Charlie was the driving force behind the Great Shoot-Out, the famous 1978 televised match between Minnesota Fats and Willie Mosconi. You can read more about that in The Hustler & The Champ, published by Lyons Press. Charlie also has amassed one of the greatest repositories of historical pool and billiard statistics in America.  You can see those stats online, for free, at charlesursitti.com.

The New York Newsday article shown above describes Ursitti's victory in the individual shooting competition at the Charlton Heston Celebrity Shoot in California, back in July 1993. That's Heston himself in the photo, in the middle, and the actor Paul

Sorvino on the left. Charlie is pictured at right.

According to the article: "Ursitti's dead-eye shooting stole a large part of the show. 'It was
unbelievable,' said Brendan Banahan, Ursitti's teammate and publisher of Field and Stream magazine. 'I'd never seen anyone shoot as confidently and accurately.' Ursitti earned a perfect score in all four events of the handgun competition and recorded the highest score of 100 participants."

Ursitti is to be officially enshrined into the Billiard Congress Hall of Fame during a ceremony in October. Wimpy Lassiter, the late hustler and fellow Hall of Famer who figured prominently in Hustler Days, also was an expert marksman.

-- R.A. Dyer

Allingers Pool Room Photo Mystery

That's a picture, above, of the famous Allinger's Billiard Academy as it appeared in 1910.  I found the picture at the 3cushion.com website. The greatest players in the world made their way to Allingers, including Greenleaf and Mosconi. I believed the room may have moved around during its tenure -- folks from Philadelphia would know better. At any rate, in the 1950s it was located at 1307 Market Street. It was at this location in 1954 that Wimpy Lassiter won his first national championship. He defeated defeated Irving Crane 150 to 130 in the final. (You can read about it in Hustler Days).

Why am I writing about Allingers? Because reader Jason McManus recently sent me some photos that once hung on the walls of the poolroom. He explains that these are reproductions -- that is, they're photos of photos. That's why you can see the flash in many of them. 

Jason said he didn't take the photos himself, but rather they were taken by his friend Joe. "I remember Joe telling me a funny story of how he learned the game of pool there from the older guys.  They sort of babysat him, as he was supposed to go to the dentist.  What Joe did not know was that his mother gave them passes for a burlesque show where his mother was a makeup artist."

I can imagine a lot of these guys appreciating tickets to the girly shows. Jason wonders about the identities of these pool players. Anybody have any clues?  The guy right below looks to be Hubert "Daddy Warbucks" Cokes, the famous gambler and one-pocket player. Also: who has more stories about Allingers?

-- R.A. Dyer