The players in the Godfather’s Cup
David “The Godfather” Mork
Willie Mosconi played almost all his matches in a suit and tie and was a great American professional pool player. Between the years 1941-1957, he won the World Straight Pool Championship 15 times! In March 1954, he set a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss over a two-day period. To this day, the record has not been broken, and there is speculation in the pool halls of America that it may never be bested. 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 of 9-Ball. In 1978, in a $15,000 prize money winner take all held in the 9-Ball format between Minnesota Fats and Willie, they played three matches in a race to five wins, for each match. The event was won by Willie, 5/2, 5/3 and 5/2. Willie claimed he never hustled anyone, and played everyone straight. Willie passed away in 1993 and in 1994, the annual pool competition in 9-Ball was renamed as the Mosconi Cup, held every other year in the USA between the USA and Europe.
Based on the above, and other reasons to be the subject of another article, is why our league began wearing tuxedos and suits when playing in the Godfather’s Cup. It is meant to honor the game as it was played in its heyday. And in the spirit of the Godfather movies, the links between the movies and pool are blurred on purpose. On the eve of the fourth annual Cup play, one player withdrew, thus we began with 15 players in a double elimination, blind draw event, over a three day period from April 14-16. Records achieved during the event, which had not been achieved in the past three Godfather Cup events were: David “The Godfather” Mork and Jim “The Mountie” Boyes ran the table in Championship play, albeit in separate matches; and of the 290 total games, one player, Larry “Cuestick” Stadler, played 66 games in just over eight hours, which should be some sort of record in our league!
The 2016 Godfather’s Cup Champion is Jim “The Mountie” Boyes (a retired RCMP), with second place going to Larry “Cuestick” Stadler and third place won by Red “The Preacher” Boyles. In the final matches, as Larry had lost once, he played Jim in what would become the semi-final match which Larry won. They played again in another game of Race to seven wins, and Jim defeated Larry by a score of 7/5. Jim was presented with $100 prize money, an engraved cup, and his name on the winner’s plaque in the Billiard Room! Congrats to all! Next year’s Championship for the Godfather’s Cup will be played in the 8-Ball format. Photos are on the wall in the Billiard Room of our tournament winners. Now, let’s play pool!