Alfredo de Oro (April 28, 1863 – April 22 or 23, 1948) was a

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

professional

carom billiards Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards, is the overarching title of a family of cue sports generally played on cloth-covered, billiard tables. In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score or "counts" by ' one's o ...

and

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

player who several times held the world title in both

three-cushion billiards Three-cushion billiards, also called three-cushion carom, is a form of carom billiards. The object of the game is to the off both while contacting the at least three times before contacting the second object ball. A point is scored for each su ...

and straight pool simultaneously. He was posthumously inducted into the

Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory, and Mexico, though ...

's Hall of Fame in 1967, the first non-American to receive the honor."The BCA Hall of Fame"
,

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States; accessed February 2, 2007 He was ranked number 4 on the ''Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players of the Century''.

Biography

He was born April 28, 1863, in

Manzanillo, Cuba Manzanillo is a municipality and city in the Granma Province of Cuba. By population, it is the 14th-largest Cuban city and the most populated one not being a provincial seat. Geography It is a port city in the Granma Province in eastern Cuba on t ...

. His first public appearance as a professional was in the fourth US National Fifteen-ball Championship, held in New York, February, 1887. He has been a winner of World Championships in multiple disciplines. He won the Continuous Pool Championship in a match against Jerome R. Keogh in New York, November, 1910, making the highest recorded of 81. He also won the World Three-cushion Championship title a record 19 times. In 1912 he was defeated in

pocket billiards Pool is a classification of cue sports played on a table with six pockets along the , into which balls are deposited. "Pool billiards" is sometimes hyphenated and/or spelled with a singular "billiard". The WPA itself uses "pool-billiard" in ...

James Maturo James Maturo was a 5 time World Straight Pool Championship finalist. Biography He was born in 1878. In 1912 he defeated Alfredo de Oro by a score of 150 to 136 in Philadelphia, to play Edward Ralph in the world final match. In 1917 he was matched ...

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

by a score of 150 to 136. In 1914 he defeated Charles R. Morin in

for the World Championship. De Oro was inducted into the

BCA Hall of Fame This is the list of people inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's hall of fame to honour outstanding people who, through their competitive skills and dedication, have enriched the sport and industry. Two categories have been established i ...

in 1967.

Family

His son Alfredo de Oro Jr. was an amateur billiard player in turn, making it to the final round of the 1931 National Association of Amateur Billiard Players Championship (defeated by soon-to-be-pro Edward Lee).

Career titles

*World

Fifteen-ball pool Fifteen-ball pool, also known as sixty-one pool, is a pocket billiards game developed in America in the nineteenth century from pyramid pool. Created by members of the Bassford's Billiard & Chess Rooms in Manhattan during the late 1830s or 1840s, ...

Championship (1887, 1888) *World

Continuous pool Straight pool, which is also called 14.1 continuous and 14.1 rack, is a cue sport in which two competing players attempt to as many billiard balls as possible without playing a . The game was the primary version of pool (cue sport), pool play ...

Championship (1889-1893, 1896, 1898-1901, 1904-1905, 1908, 1910-1911) *

World Straight Pool Championship The World Straight Pool Championship is a pool competition, that was held up until the game of Nine-ball became popularized in America. It was the most prestigious straight pool tournament up until the early 21st century, tournaments like the Amer ...

(1912-1913) * World Three-cushion Championship (1908-1909, 1910, 1911, 1913-1919)

In popular culture

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To N ...

referenced Oro in his short story "Madame La Gimp", showing his name to be widely known in 1920s New York: "Well, when I step in I see the judge miss a shot anybody can make blindfolded, but as soon as I give him the office I wish to speak to him, the judge hauls off and belts in every ball on the table, bingity-bing, the last shot being a bank that will make Al de Oro stop and think, because when it comes to pool, the old judge is just naturally a curly wolf."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oro, Alfredo de Cuban pool players Cuban carom billiards players 1863 births 1948 deaths People from Manzanillo, Cuba Place of death missing Three-cushion billiards players