Jacob Schaefer Sr.

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Jacob Schaefer Sr. (February 2, 1855{{cite book |last1=Herringshaw |first1=Thomas William |date=1888|title=The Biographical Review of Prominent Men and Women of the Day |publisher=Home Publishing House |location=Chicago |pages=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6IMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA131 |via=Google Books. Retrieved 30 October 2023}} – March 8, 1910{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pKxOAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Jacob Schaefer, Former Billiard Champion, Dead |newspaper=Deseret Evening News |date=8 March 1910 |page=1 |via=Google Books |access-date=1 November 2023}}), 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 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

Schaefer was born in 1855 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SBEAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Jake Schaeffer Dies |newspaper=The Observer |volume=XXVII |issue=21 |date=15 March 1910 |page=2 |via=Google Books |access-date=30 October 2023}} He was the first US-born son of German emigrants. He was the father of fellow billiards pro Jacob Schaefer Jr. (1894–1975).

Schaefer first started playing billiards at the age of eleven,{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbNZAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=The Great Billiard Tourney |newspaper=Chenago Semi-Weekly Telegraph |volume=62 |issue=16 |date=22 February 1890 |page=1 |via=Google Books |access-date=20 October 2023}} at a billiard hall that was owned by his step-father John Berg. At the time of the 1870 United States census, he was listed as "Jacob Berg", aged fifteen at Leavenworth, Kansas, in the home of John Berg, who was a billiard hall owner.{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCJP-HLF |title=Jacob Berg, Leavenworth, Kansas, United States in United States Census, 1870 database |date=3 October 2023 |via=FamilySearch |access-date=30 October 2023}} He was the best player in Leavenworth by the age of fifteen.{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwVYAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Beaten By The Wizard |newspaper=Free Press |date=21 February 1890 |page=1 |via=Google Books |access-date=30 October 2023}} Schaefer's debut as a professional player came in 1873.{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wiJIAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA6 |title=Life Story of Jake Schaefer, Wizard of Billiards |newspaper=The Sunday Vindicator |volume=XXI |issue=190 |date=13 March 1910 |page=11 |via=Google Books |access-date=1 November 2023}} Before May 1874, he had become the champion of Kansas.{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y4FbAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA4 |title=Billiards |newspaper=The St. Joseph Daily Gazette |issue=2798 |date=7 May 1874 |page=4 |via=Google Books |access-date=30 October 2023}}

He became one of the world's top balkline players, to such an extent that some of the more challenging versions of balkline were invented to attempt to level the playing field against him. He won matches and titles around the world, including the March 11, 1908, World 18.1 Balkline Championship versus Willie Hoppe, although extremely ill, he won the match by 500 points to 423. He died of tuberculosis in 1910 in Denver, Colorado.{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VVPAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Wizard Jake Schaefer Has Played Last Game |newspaper=Arizona Journal-Miner |date=9 March 1910 |page=1 |via=Google Books |access-date=1 November 2023}}