Alfredo de Oro


Alfredo de Oro was a Cuban professional carom billiards and pool player who several times held the world title in both three-cushion billiards and straight pool simultaneously. He was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1967, one of the very few non-Americans to receive the honor. He was ranked number 4 on the Billiards Digest 50 Greatest Players of the Century.

Biography

He was born April 28, 1863, in Manzanillo, Cuba.
His first public appearance as a professional was in the fourth US National Fifteen-ball Championship, held in New York, February, 1887. He has been a winner of eleven World Championships. He won the World Continuous Pool Championship in a match against Jerome R. Keogh in New York, November, 1910, making the highest record of 81. He also held the three-cushion championship title three times during 1910.
In 1912 he was defeated in pocket billiards by James Maturo of Denver, Colorado, in Philadelphia by a score of 150 to 136. In 1914 he defeated Charles R. Morin in three-cushion billiards for the national championship. De Oro was inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame in 1967.

Family

His son Alfredo de Oro Jr. was an amateur billiard player in turn, making it to the final round of the 1931 National Association of Amateur Billiard Players Championship.

Career titles

referenced Oro in his short story “Madame La Gimp”, showing his name to be widely known in 1920’s New York:
“Well, when I step in I see the judge miss a shot anybody can make blindfolded, but as soon as I give him the office I wish to speak to him, the judge hauls off and belts in every ball on the table, bingity-bing, the last shot being a bank that will make Al de Oro stop and think, because when it comes to pool, the old judge is just naturally a curly wolf.”