cue

There was a William Catton of Chicago who was a billiards champion in the 1900s, 1910s... the cue in his portrait might mean he's that guy, or kin to him?

Plus, the photo was taken in Chicago. But if it is Wm. H. Catton ("the Rock Island Wonder")the Bain cataloger got both initials wrong. I found a reference to Marcus Catton, "son of the late Billy Catton, who won renown in foreign billiard academies. Young Catton is counted a comer by the billiard experts who have seen him play, and is expected to make a good record in the league competition". [Story out of Chicago in the Milwaukee Sentinel 12/7/14] news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19141207&... And here's a newspaper account from a few months later, with a photo of the 20 year old Marcus Catton, with a Rock Island, IL pedigree, that seems to be the fellow above: news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19150212&...

Oh, it is the son then. Age makes more sense too.

Thanks artolog, I think the photo in second newspaper looks like the same man. We will update the title with his full name.

This is most likely Edouard Roudil, as mentioned in this NY Times story: ROUDIL DEFEATS BOS AT BILLIARDS; European Champion Loses to French Star in International Tourney.FINAL SCORE, 300 TO 265Winner Comes From Behind to Clinch Victory--Cope MortonLoses to Francis Appleby. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9406EED81E30EE3AB...

Thanks for the information! We’ll look into it.

Masse!

There is the date Feb 16 1912 printed in mirror writing on the photo, which seems to confirm the match.

This appears to be a very young Willie "Can't Stop Me" Hoppe, a billiards champion many times over. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Hoppe

Willie Hoppe, the first great billiards player.