Meet William Frederick Hoppe who is considered the foremost billiards player of all time. An American Billiard champion from 1887 – 1959. Born in New York Hoppe filled his time with billiards starting to practice billiards at a young age and becoming a child prodigy. He had a few exhibitions before winning his first world championship in Paris back in 1906 at age 19. Thought Hoppe’s billiard life he wrote a couple books such as Thirty Years of Billiards in 1925 and Billiards As It Should Be Played 1941. Hoppe was such a brilliant billiard player he won the world three-cushion championship 12 times and won 51 world billiard titles through his 46 year tournament competition career. After his retirement Hoppe became a goodwill ambassadors for the sport constructing a series of exhibition matches and was the only billiard player to ever hold an exhibition in the White House before a President.
