Grady Mathews, also known as "The Professor", was an Americanpool player and was the first inductee into the One-PocketHall of Fame, in 2004. Mathews promoted pool throughout his career, particularly the game of one-pocket. He was the creator of the Legends of One-Pocket tournament series and promoter of many other tournaments. In addition to success at the table, he has been a technical advisor to movie producers, a regular commentator on pool matches taped by Accu-Stats Video Productions, a producer of billiard instructional video tapes, and a pool journalist and author. He was also a notable instructor and coach. He lived in Columbia, South Carolina and managed his pool room, Grady's Billiards. He is survived by two children, Marie and Grady IV. Marie lives in Tampa with her children, and is pursuing a doctoral degree. His son Grady IV is finishing his PhD in Engineering at the University of South Carolina. Mathews continued to compete professionally, as well as putting on exhibitions, pool clinics, and private lessons throughout the United States until he was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. He died April 18, 2012.
Early life
Mathews took up pool in the late 1950s while living in California. When he was 14 years old in San Mateo, Mathews began playing pool at a local bowling alley. When he reached 18, he commuted to nearby San Francisco to watch great pool players of this era, claiming it was very important to watch the game being played by those who know how. He took his game on the road in the 1960s and graduated to become a top player in straight pool, nine-ball, one-pocket, and bank pool. Straight pool was the game played in most American tournaments before the 1960s, but when television broadcast came to the fore, the shorter game of nine-ball replaced straight pool, and a professional player was required to play all games to survive. The era of straight pool played with clay or mud balls on 5-by-10 tables was replaced by the 4½-by-9's and the plastic balls that are commonly used today. Over the next 35 years, Mathews captured several major titles in the four forms of the game, although he is best known for his successes in one-pocket.
Mathews is also well known for his work as a commentator on numerous matches recorded by Accu-Stats Video Productions, and has produced many of his own instructional videos providing strategies that have made Mathews "the most feared one-pocket player in the world. Up until his death, he wrote a monthly instruction column for InsidePOOL Magazine and has been a contributing writer to other pool periodicals such as Billiards Digest, 1984-1987, The Snap Magazine, 1989-1991, and The National Billiard News.
