Hoppe, Willie (William Frederick Hoppe) [key], 1887–1959, American billiards champion, b. Cornwall, N.Y. He practiced billiards from a very early age and gave exhibitions before he won (1906) his first world championship in Paris. Hoppe subsequently won many championships in three-cushion and the intricate balkline forms of the game, and when he retired in 1952 after winning his 12th world three-cushion championship (the last 6 in a row), he had won 51 world billiards titles in 46 years of tournament competition. He wrote Thirty Years of Billiards (1925) and Billiards as It Should Be Played (1941).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Sports: Biographies
