Wayman Crow McCreery (June 14, 1851
–1901
) was a real estate agent, opera composer, and the internal revenue collector of
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. He is best known as the popularizer and possible inventor of
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 ...
.
Soon after McCreery's 1897 appointment as St. Louis' internal revenue collector, he was described as "probably the most accomplished officeholder in the service of the government. He has held the college record for the long distance baseball throw, has been a champion amateur billiardist, is choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral, is a good singer
ndhas composed an opera."
Playwright
Augustus Thomas
Augustus Thomas (January 8, 1857 – August 12, 1934) was an American playwright.
Biography
Born in St. Louis, Missouri and son of a doctor, Thomas worked a number of jobs including as a page in the 41st Congress, studying law, and gaining some ...
' wrote of him in 1922:
A moving spirit in the McCullough Club—in its organization, its management, and in its active expression—was Wayman McCreery, now dead. I am sure that ten thousand of his surviving contemporaries in the city of St. Louis will remember Wayman McCreery. Few men are so physically and intellectually equipped as he was. There was nothing that an athlete could do with his body that in a notable degree Wayman McCreery could not do. He was boxer, wrestler, fencer, runner, and swimmer, and all-round athlete. In addition to these he was a graceful step dancer. Intellectually he was equipped with a college training and had an interest in everything that interested the intelligent people of his day. He sang well enough to be a leading tenor in a fashionable choir. He wrote music of good quality. He was the author of the opera "L'Afrique," which was first done by amateurs in St. Louis and subsequently produced in New York, although with not very great success, by Jesse Williams. McCreery will be remembered by the sporting world as the inventor of the three cushion game of billiards, of which he was at one time the national champion. As ''Hugh Chalcot'' in Robertson's comedy "Ours" it would have taken a professional to equal him. Another part of McCreery's was ''Captain Hawtree'' in "Caste," by the same author.
The very first tournament at three-cushion billiards took place January 14–31, 1878, in C. E. Mussey's Room in St. Louis. McCreery played in the tourney, which was won by
New Yorker
New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to:
* A resident of the State of New York
** Demographics of New York (state)
* A resident of New York City
** List of people from New York City
* ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925
* '' The ...
Leon Magnus. The high run for the tournament was just 6 points, and the high average a .75.
McCreery won the Amateur Championship of Missouri four straight times. He posted high runs during competition of 336 at
straight rail; 54 at
cushion caroms, and 14 at three cushion—in which his "remarkable skill has given him a worldwide reputation."
In the estimation of
Willie Hoppe
William Frederick Hoppe (October 11, 1887 – February 1, 1959) (surname rhymes with "poppy"), was an internationally renowned American professional carom billiards champion, who was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America ...
, a 51-time world champion in three forms of
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 ...
,
McCreery was "one of the finest performers
straight_rail.html" ;"title="t
straight rail">t
straight railin the country."
In February 1899, McCreery competed against Martin Mullen and Wilson P. Foss in the American Athletic Union's Class A Amateur Championship of America, at 14-point
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 ...
held at New York City's
Knickerbocker Club
The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most aristocratic gentlemen's clubs in th ...
. They were described by the ''
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
:''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently''
The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...
'' as "without doubt the best three amateurs in the country".
There, McCreery set two amateur world records: the first for a of 139 points in one game, and the second for maintaining a point average of 13.33, in the context of a to 400 points.
McCreery was secretary of the
Security Building Company.
McCreery composed a ''
Te Deum Laudamus
The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...
'' and the music to the
libretto'' L'Afrique'', also known as "the Tale of the Dark Continent".
McCreery was married and had three daughters and a son.
In August 2018, a 3-cushion tournament called "Champion of Champions" was organized under his name.
''McCreedy 3-Cushion Champion of Champions''
August 2018
Footnotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCreery, Wayman C.
1851 births
1901 deaths
American carom billiards players
American classical composers
American male classical composers
American opera composers
Male opera composers
American sports businesspeople
Cue sports inventors and innovators
Musicians from St. Louis
Classical musicians from Missouri
19th-century American businesspeople
19th-century American male musicians