Jacob Schaefer Jr. (born October 18, 1894 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

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, died November 10, 1975 in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

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) was a 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 ...

player with German grandparentage, a specialist in

balkline Balkline is the overarching title of a group of carom billiards games generally played with two and a red on a -covered, 5 foot × 10 foot, billiard table. The object of the game is to score points, also called ''counts'', by a play ...

games, and was inducted into the

Billiard Congress of America 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 in ...

in 1968."Hall of Fame Inductees, 1966-68"
Billiards Congress of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; accessed February 3, 2007 His nickname was "The Prodigy".Legendary Players
Retrieved May 24, 2014.

Professional career

Schaefer is widely considered by historians of the sport to have been

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

's all-time greatest balkline player.

Titles and tournament wins

* World 18.1 Balkline Champion (1921, 1923-1927, 1929, 1930) * World 18.2 Balkline Champion (1927, 1928) * World 28.2 Balkline Champion (1937, 1938)

Records

In 18.2 balkline, Schaefer held four records never broken by another American (some have since been beaten by non-Americans):"In Memory of Jake Schaefer", ''The National Billiard News'', November 1975 *A 400-point game average (from the ) 400-0. The 1925 World Championship 18.2 Balkline Tournament was held in the Congress Hotel, Chicago. The sixth game of the tournament on Thursday evening, February 26, featured Jake Schaefer II against

Erich Hagenlocher The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

of Germany. Schaefer won the lag and shot first. He made 400 consecutive billiards and won the game. Hagenlocher was quoted later as saying that toward the end of the run he was hoping that Schaefer wouldn't miss. Hagenlocher was afraid that after sitting and watching for more than an hour, he wouldn't be able to stand up and hit the end rail. *A 57.14 tournament grand average *A 93.25 match grand average *A high run of 432 in a match

Personal life

He was the son of fellow billiards pro

Jacob Schaefer Sr. Jacob Schaefer Sr. (February 2, 1855 – March 8, 1910), nicknamed "the Wizard", was a professional carom billiards player, especially of the straight rail and balkline games, and was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of Amer ...

(1855–1910), who was known as "the Wizard" by reason of his exploits with the cue.''National Tavern News'', January 1984. Both Jacob Jr. and Hoppe were tutored by the elder Schaefer, whose last match before his death was a successful defense of his title against Hoppe. Jacob Schaefer III (b. 1938) and Jacob Schaefer IV (b. 1970) are both academics in science. Jacob Schaefer V (b. 2007) has not yet made a career decision.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Jacob Jr. American carom billiards players 1894 births 1975 deaths American people of German descent World champions in carom billiards