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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
Rudolph Wanderone, a very fat man, called himself Minnesota Fats. He was known as New York Fats, and Brooklyn Fats, or just Fats. People say that he had probably never been to Minnesota. Then the movie (and book), The Hustler came out, and Fats said that the movie was about him. And he began calling himself Minnesota Fats. Walter Tevis, the author of The Hustler (as well as The Color of Money, The Man Who Fell To Earth, and the Queen's Gambit) denied that the book was about Mr. Wanderone. He said that he made up Minnesota Fats and Fast Eddie. Tevis was upset about Wanderone stealing the name from his book and movie.
Fats was not a particularly good pool player, not of tournament pro caliber. He said he was the best. He said that he had never lost a game. He said a lot of things, and he said it loudly. He put on a good show, and he was good for the game. He is in the BCA Hall of Fame, not for his pool, but for his promotion of the game. For this, he deserves his place in the Hall of Fame. He was the best and funniest show in pool. And he was pretty good at making bank shots.
Addendum #1:
I recently received the following email:
you have to be the most ignorant prick to ever chalk a cue.tournement players on these new small tables aren't good enough to clean spit off the floors where fats shot the lights out !!!
Ah! I got a similar response, when I reported that Abner Doubleday may not have invented baseball. In both cases, I was just reporting what is common knowledge. In Fats' case, the top players of his day seem to have thought that he was a joke. Danny McGoorty said:
There's a hundred players who would swim a river of shit to play Fats.
And when a person brags that he has never lost a game, I tend to distrust anything he says. Another email (sounds like the same person):
What gives you the right to say if someones a liar or not! Have you investigated the stories or are you just shooting shit out of your ass. You ignorant prick!! You should respect the fat Man. Check the facts before you call yourself a journalist, you jerk!!!!
Did I call Fats a liar? Maybe he wasn't as bad as a politician, but Fats was a con man.
Addendum #2:
Fats certainly has his rabid fans:
Have you ever seen Fats play? Huh have you? I don't THINK so. How old are you, 16 maybe at best! I have seen Fats play, and my dad saw him IN PERSON play Mosconi and while Mosconi beat Fats many times Fats DID indeed beat that great master on that and other occasions. You are an idiot, a complete idiot, period.
Could YOU beat Fats? He would kick you so far outa this universe you wouldn't know what hit you. How DARE you even THINK about labeling Rudolf Wanderone as a fake or a con man.
You aren't even capable of lifting his cue you moron. You are a liar. You would CRY if you ever had to confront Fats in a game of billiards or pool, he would spank you so bad you wouldn't even be able to walk little boy. It is obvious you are jealous and are simply taking out your insecurity on someone else.
Again I ask, did you ever see Fats play? Did you?
I am 57 going on 58; wasn't that a song in the Sound of Music? I saw Fats play Mosconi on live TV, and Mosconi won every game. Don't you remember that? And this is the second time in my life that I have been called a liar. And Fats could have easily beaten me drunk and with his eyes closed; does that surprise anyone?