mcginnis played a straightforward game. She didn't chat or joke with anyone while she was playing. The ball clicked clearly when she was cleaning the table. The manager joked that he should borrow a bowling ball from the gym next door and draw a big eight on it, so these people have a chance. But this is a bad joke. She beat everyone.
This is just an ordinary day for mcginnis. She won the male flying field in the swimming pool and won the nickname "Billiards Queen". Born in 191, she began to play ball in Honesdale's house in Pennsylvania, a 7-year-old barber shop: her father prepared two pool tables and a soap box for waiting customers, on which little Ruth could stand. She did well.
The swimming pool was a big problem at that time. You must understand that as early as the 192s, 193s and 4s, the swimming pool was in a very different space in this country. Now this sport has been downgraded to bars and leagues, but now the most famous swimmers-their names are not household words. But in mcginnis's time, this was not the case. You can find many stories about Ruth mcginnis and other billiards players in * * *. (Mike Shamos from Billiards Archives)
mcginnis's game, which was very popular in 193s, is straight billiards. This is the role played by paul newman and Jackie Gleason in the iconic film Liar. Today, if you walk into an American bar with a pool table, customers may play eight balls. In straight billiards, it doesn't matter whether the player says that the ball she will try is a striped ball or a solid ball. If she throws 14 balls in a row or "runs 14", she can use the 15th ball to enter another basket and continue shooting.
"When mcginnis was about 1 years old, she ran 47 balls," Dale said. "Most billiards players who can find their way on the pool table will never run 47 balls in their lifetime, let alone when they were 1 years old, just to throw the ball in." Background.
Mary Kensington, a national and world champion, has met someone who knew mcginnis for many years. Kensington said, "In those days, besides playing football like a man, she also ran hundreds of balls." Running a hundred balls is a milestone for a straight billiards player. In other words, he is a very good player. Or she is really a good athlete.
mcginnis studied to be a physical education teacher, but when she graduated from Straudesburg Teachers College in 1932, the Great Depression was raging in the United States. There are bees' attractive magnets in the low-end swimming pool hall to attract dirty people, and unemployed people spend hours there. "Before the 192s, 193s, 4s and 195s, swimming pool rooms were almost entirely the domain of men, which was related to men who behaved badly," Dell said. . Women face harassment and it is difficult to find a mentor.
But mcginnis, a rare left-handed, found a job shooting pool anyway. Dale said that she toured nearly 28, miles around the country in a season as part of an industrial movement to paint swimming pools healthy. This project is called "Better Billiard". Sponsor National Billiard Association of America paid mcginnis to visit some famous stadiums, give a brief introduction to billiards, shoot some skillful shots, and then compete with local champions. In 1936, the Recreation College in New Brunswick, New Jersey set up a special stand, and a group of people gathered to watch mcginnis compete with the local legend Jack leonhardt. The next day, the women in the audience applauded, put ten balls in their pockets one by one, and threw leonhardt into the dust.
"Miss Ruth mcginnis showed her best performance in beating leonhardt," read one headline. Other headlines also show that she doesn't need an introduction. Ruth mcginnis twice defeated Thor, the [world champion] Ralph Greene's new illustrated encyclopedia of billiards. Dale agrees. He said, "She can't take part in the tournament, which is not a blow to her ability." Mcginnis said in 194: "At that time, we were a country, and this was a stepping stone."
"I am interested in beating men because they are always eager to show their advantages." Most of them play as if it were a matter of life and death. If I do this, I will become an institutional case in a few weeks.
mcginnis Pitt was the first woman to take part in a big tournament at a meeting in New York State in 1942. She defeated a man in the third round, but finally lost the game by 125 to 82. In 1948, she became the first woman to win the world pocket billiards championship. She died in 1974 and was elected to the American Hall of Fame Billiards Conference in 1976. Today, mcginnis is regarded as the predecessor of women's swimming pool superstars such as Dorothy Wise, Jean Barucas, Kensington, Alison Fisher and jeanette lee.
"Let's put it this way," Kensington said that 98% (men) think that women can't beat them with anything. The other 2% people are so shocked that they want to pay to watch you play.
"Ruth McGinnis was the first truly important female swimmer in the United States," Dale said. It should be remembered that for most of the history of this sport, women were not frequent visitors to public swimming pools, and they were not even among them. In fact, at that time, many followers of Poole believed that women could not achieve excellent results in this sport physically and mentally. Then Ruth mcginnis came to prove them all wrong, and in the most dramatic way. As a woman who can compete with the best men, she made headlines in America and became a successful sensation. In this very important way, Ruth mcginnis broke the barrier of men's efforts. She thought she was not particularly talented. She thinks others can do what she does. "Women should play this game," mcginnis told reporters. They have a good sense of touch, which is necessary.
"She's more than just an eye candy," Kensington said. I heard that she can play. This is a famous saying. I have heard it a thousand times. She can really play.