Irving Crane

Irving Crane (November 13, 1913 – November 17, 2001), nicknamed "the Deacon", was an American pool player from Livonia, New York, and ranks among the stellar players in the history of the sport. Widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time, and a member of the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, he is best known for his mastery in the game of straight pool (14.1 continuous) at which he won numerous championships, including six World Straight Pool Championship titles.

Early life Crane's fascination with billiards started at age 11, sparked by play on a toy pool table his brother received as a Christmas gift. When he showed interest and ability, his father Scott Crane, a trial lawyer and sportsman, and his mother, a high school teacher, soon replaced their dining room table with a 4' by 8' pool table. He soon ventured out of the home to practice a couple days each week at Olympic Billiards, a room that was part of a bowling alley in Scottsville, a suburb of Rochester, New York. Crane stated in 1998: "Other kids, you know they'd play for twenty minutes or half an hour and they'd say, 'let's do something else.' I could play all day and never get enough. I couldn't wait to get home from school to play."

World titles This coup was soon followed by his first world title in 1942. Over the following three decades, Crane won almost two dozen major championships, including the World Straight Pool Championship in 1942, 1946, 1955, 1968, 1970 and 1972,

Despite his mastery and world renown, Crane found it hard to make a living solely playing pool, and in 1957 began working as a Cadillac salesman at Valley Cadillac Inc. 333 East Avenue in Rochester, New York. He continued there for 17 years. According to Crane's daughter, at Rochester's annual auto show his dealership's exhibit featured a pool table at which Crane would run balls while answering questions. Crane earned the appellation "the Deacon" because of his gentlemanly ways, his very cautious approach to the game In his entry there, he is lauded as having been, along with Mosconi, the "best in the world, flat out" between 1941 and 1956.

Career titles

1939 14.1 Record High Run. 309 Consecutive Balls 1942 BAA World Straight Pool Championship 1946 BAA World Straight Pool Championship 1950 U.S. National Straight Pool Championship 1952 Eastern States 3-Cushion Championship 1955 BCA World Straight Pool Championship 1963 Tournament of Champions 1963 U.S. Masters Straight Pool Championship 1965 Stardust Open Straight Pool Championship 1965 Schaeffer Straight Pool Classic 1965 Ballatine Invitational Championship 1966 BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship 1967 Johnston City Straight Pool Championship 1968 BRPAA World Straight Pool Championship 1968 Stardust Open Nine-Ball Championship 1968 International Pocket Billiard Championship 1968 National Billiards News Achievement Award 1970 BCA World Straight Pool Championship 1970 Salt City Championship 1970 National Billiards News Achievement Award 1972 BCA World Straight Pool Championship 1975 Masters Classic 14.1 Championship 1978 World Series of Pool 1978 Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame 1999 Billiards Digest 4th Greatest Living Player of the Century