Jacob Schaefer Jr.
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
File:Jacob Schaefer Jr.-01.jpg
Jacob Schaefer Jr. (born October 18, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois; died November 10, 1975, in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American professional carom billiards player with German grandparentage, a specialist in balkline games, and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968.[https://bca-pool.com/general/custom.asp?page=31 "Hall of Fame Inductees, 1966-68"], Billiard Congress of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; accessed February 3, 2007 His nickname was "the Prodigy".[http://www.recroomonline.com/personality.asp Legendary Players] Retrieved May 24, 2014.
Professional career
File:Schaefer—Matuyama balkline match ad.png match to be played between Schafer and Japanese champion, Kinrey Matsuyama]]
Schaefer is widely considered by historians of the sport to have been America'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 {{Cuegloss|Break|break}})
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 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
File:Jacob Schaefer Jr sitting on pool table.jpg
He was the son of fellow billiards pro Jacob Schaefer Sr. (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
{{Reflist}}
{{Commonscat|Jacob Schaefer, Jr.|position=left}}
{{Cue sports nav}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Jacob Jr.}}
Category:American carom billiards players