The ‘Primary Woman of Billiards’ Wowed 1950s Masako Katsura — and the Remainder of the World
Masako Katsura was brought into the world in Tokyo, Japan, in 1913. There is next to no had some significant awareness of what life resembled for youthful Katsura, yet we in all actuality do realize that she lived with her sibling and three sisters.
Early Life of masako katsura
Tragically, when masako katsura was only 12 years of age, her dad died, and she had to proceed to live with her more established sister and her significant other, Tomio Kobashi, who possessed and worked in a billiard parlor.
This is where masako katsura would have first been acquainted with billiards appropriately and where her affection for the game bloomed. At 13, she was at that point a characteristic at the game and would be tracked down routinely inside the pool lobbies, and at 14 was working there as a collaborator.
It’s likewise realized that Kobashi himself was a good player and would surely play had an impact in assisting masako katsura with grasping the game and excel when it came to all parts of it. As a matter of fact, masako katsura was at that point turning out to be so given to the game in such a little space of time that the family wound up purchasing a billiard table for the house so she could rehearse at home.
Masako Katsuro Truly establishes herself playing pool
It’s not difficult to see that in view of this training, masako katsura immediately turned out to be staggeringly capable at the game to where she entered competitions, whipping the opposition and beating Japanese men from everywhere the encompassing urban communities.
At 15 years old, only years after she got the game interestingly, she brought home the ladies’ title straight rail competition for the aggregate of Japan, which was no simple accomplishment. Indeed, even masako katsura more youthful sisters were getting in on the activity, with both winning similar competition in later years.
What was so that’s what amazing about masako katsura abilities is, at that point, ladies were not playing pool seriously as much as men. In Japan explicitly, it was viewed as unladylike for a lady to play the game out in the open.
This main made masako katsura achievements even more critical, and she immediately became something of a big name in her nation of origin.
Close to this time, masako katsura started to be known as the “Principal Woman of Billiards.” The moniker stuck, and she would proceed to involve it as her expert name when she began visiting universally during the 1930s.
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Marriage and Sentiment
By 1947, masako katsura was spotted by an American serviceman named Vernon Greenleaf, who was an expert sergeant in the U.S. Armed force Officer Corps and, right now, had served for quite some time.
The two met in a Tokyo administration club where masako katsura facilitated and coordinated billiard shows. Captivated all along, Vernon began to take examples from Katsura, and the two experienced passionate feelings for. They wedded in November 1950 yet never had kids.
While we’ll get into the titles and victories a little beneath, masako katsura was at that point on the up with her billiards profession when they wedded.
She held runner up titles in Japan’s three-pad title. Likewise, masako katsura scored 10,000 touching focuses at a straight rail rivalry, and that implies she sank balls in succession without missing. This was a fantastic presentation of ability that couple of could copy.
During this accomplishment, she breast fed the balls around 27 tables over the range of four and a half hours. The main explanation she halted was on the grounds that 10,000 was a decent achievement number.
It was a world record that would represent 20 years.
Moving to the U.S.
The following achievement part in masako katsura life was moving to the U.S. with her new spouse. This was a year after they wedded in 1951 when Vernon was moved to a U.S. post, finishing his time at the Haneda Air Base in Tokyo.
This was a major move, particularly since masako katsura didn’t communicate in English well overall, however the not set in stone to make it work. They set forth and arrived in San Francisco in December 1951, which was precisely where the World Three-Pad Billiards competition was set to happen in only three months.
masako katsura was set to participate in the competition in the wake of being given a contingent situation by Cochran, the billiard parlor who was running the competition.
Obviously, with masako katsura prosperity, she was truly beginning to make a name for herself, and expression of her standing was voyaging quick.
Cochran himself was an eight-time title holder and won the crown somewhere in the range of 1933 and 1945. Nonetheless, as over, the arrangement in the competition was restrictive, and Cochran needed to ensure that she depended on norm.
In light of this, Cochran sent his child, W.R. Cochran, a maritime official himself who was positioned in Japan, to proceed to search for himself.
W.R. was floored by masako katsura abilities and cited to his dad, ‘She’s superior to you are.’ obviously, as a hero himself, Cochran was presently significantly more interested and eager to meet masako katsura.
At the point when she showed up with her significant other in the U.S., she gave herself to a confidential display for Cochran, where she was all that his child guaranteed. As per Cochran himself, she hit runs of 300 and 400, making ‘very amazing shots,’ as he watched in amazement.
In the wake of seeing this for himself, Cochran settled the proposition, and Katsura was presently in her most memorable big showdown.
Katsura’s Expert Profession
What’s more, this is where Katsura’s vocation truly took off. In the 1952 World Three-Pad Billiards title, Katsura was the main lady to at any point contend in such a competition. At that point, the boss was Willie Hoppe, a best on the planet with more than 51 world titles added to his repertoire, which he gathered between the years 1906 and 1952.
With Katsura in the opposition, he later resigned in the year, and obviously, the publicity for seeing the two contend was out of this world. While billiards was in no way, shape or form an extraordinarily well known sport, the public still totally revered the possibility that a lady was contending in a generally male game (which most games were back in that time), and there was without a doubt buzz encompassing her and how she could whip her male rivals.
As Life magazine revealed at that point, ‘individuals from San Francisco would didn’t have the foggiest idea about a signal from a cucumber rushed in to see her play as she captured everyone’s attention!”
However, katsura didn’t stop at the 1952 title. In 1953, Katsura partook in and won her very first U.S. Ladies’ Three-Pad Billiards Title, which was a gigantic second for her as well as ladies overall who were endeavoring to break obstructions in male-overwhelmed sports.
This title was one of six U.S. titles that Katsura would proceed to win in her vocation.
Nonetheless, it is not necessarily the case that Katsura was relentless. As her profession advanced, particularly to the 1954 World Three-Pad Competition, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a portion of the world’s best players were on the scoreboard, large numbers of whom emerged from retirement.
The line-up was;
- Katsura
- Beam Mill operator
- Harold Most terrible
- Juan and Ezequiel Navarra
- Welker Cochran
what’s more, the reigning champ, Kilgore
Katsura was, as usual, the main female rival in the opposition. The matches got going great as Katsura prevailed upon Mill operator (60-47) and progressed forward with a series of wins against different rivals.
Be that as it may, she began to lose games against players like Ezequiel Navarra (60-28), however won against his sibling and came in fourth spot. Most terrible, who had emerged from retirement for the competition, won on 25th October 1954.
Making a Stride back from Billiards
In 1958, she returned and showed up in displays, yet had likewise delivered two educational books on the most proficient method to play pool that were sent off in Japan.
Nonetheless, the billiards world blended in 1959 when word broke that Katsura would play a show against Harold Most exceedingly terrible in a one-week coordinate to 1,200 places, facilitated by the Randolph Diversions scene in Chicago.
The show was then moved to Philadelphia, where they played six matches to 50 places (three pads) and afterward displayed in New York. This didn’t come without stirring a couple of media feathers.
Media Appearances
In Walk 1959, Katsura showed up on CBS’s well known surmise game show, What’s My Line?, where she amusingly composed and marked her name on the name card utilizing Japanese characters.
She additionally showed up on You Requested It, the ABC show where she went behind the stage on western film sets to show how they were set up and recorded, and again in 1960, where she displayed a portion of her trickshot exhibitions for the cameras.
By 1961, there had arrived at a point in the billiards world where such three-pad big showdown contests had not been coordinated nor occurred. This implied that Harold Most exceedingly terrible had stayed the hero for north of seven years and, in doing as such, gave Katsura a serious match offer for $2,000.
Most terrible was very dedicated to these occasions that he attempted to make a legitimate move against the Argentinian three-pad competition that was charging itself as the big showdown competition for covering the dates of the occasion.
Katsura acknowledged yet was beaten by Most terrible by 350 to 276.
After this 1961 big showdown time, Katsura went calm, and the world tracked down her living somewhat off the network. Expertly and in the billiards world, it was accounted for that she had gone into retirement, and there were bits of gossip that her significant other had attempted to hold her back from playing pool any more. He died in 1967.
Come 1976, Katsura showed up at Castle Billiards in San Francisco, where she acquired a signal from an irregular player and continued to sink 100 focuses at the straight rail without any mistakes, almost 20 years after she had last acted in the public eye.
Supposedly from the scene, it was expressed that ‘without a miss, she grinned and bowed to a praising group, moving back from the spotlight and vanishing everlastingly from the American billiard stage. (Robert Byrne, a productive pool and billiard creator at that point.
Also, that occurred.
Katsura got back to Japan to reside with her sister in 1990, where she spent her other days prior to dying in 1995.
In September 2002, a remembrance competition was coordinated in Katsura’s name, named the Katsura Commemoration: The Primary Women Three Pad Excellent Prix, which was facilitated in Japan and broadcasted on SkyTV all over the planet.
Her Inheritance
Right up ’til now, masako katsura is as yet viewed as one of the best pool players ever.
She was drafted into the Billiard Congress of America’s Corridor of Acclaim in 1966, and in 2003, she was granted the U.S. Billiard Media Affiliation’s Player of the Century grant. In Walk 2021, she was highlighted in the GoogleDoodle work of art observing Global Ladies’ Day.
Katsura’s effect on the game of billiards can’t be put into words, and she will constantly be recognized as one of the untouched greats.
