Robert Byrne

Robert Leo Byrne (; May 22, 1930 – December 6, 2016) was an American author and Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame instructor of pool and carom billiards.

Early life and education

Robert Leo Byrne, son of Tom and Clara Byrne, was born on May 22, 1930, and raised in Dubuque, Iowa. He attended St. Columbkille's elementary, Loras Academy, and Loras College. Byrne coined the pool jargon term "" in this book, defining the deflection effect that sends the toward the right when struck with left , and vice versa.

Byrne's books, hundreds of instructional magazine articles, and seven instructional videos (shot on sound stages in Burbank and Hollywood, California), established him as the pre-eminent teacher and commentator in the world of pool and billiards. His most recent publication is Behold My Shorts, the collection of a decade of his monthly newspaper columns.

In 1994, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, he received the Industry Service Award from the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America, an honor previously bestowed on Willie Mosconi, Paul Newman, and Jackie Gleason. In 1998, the readers of Billiards Digest named Byrne "Best Billiards Writer".

Playing career Byrne's first success as a pool hustler came at the age of 12 when he beat the gas-meter reader out of 85¢, playing 8-ball on his family's basement pool table.

As a player, he had success at U.S. national-class tournaments in multiple disciplines: Byrne and Heifetz were divorced in 1976.

He died on December 6, 2016.

Works Pool and billiards books McGoorty, The Story of a Billiard Bum, 1972, Lyle Stuart (hardcover, ); republished 1984, as McGoorty, A Billiard Hustler's Life, Citadel Press, (hardcover, ); republished again 2004, as McGoorty, A Pool Room Hustler, Broadway Books (paperback, ) Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards, 1978, Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich (hardcover, ), 1987 (paperback, ) Byrne's Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards, 1982, Harcourt Brace/Harvest (paperback, ); 1983, Mariner (paperback, ); 1984, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press (hardcover, ) Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards, 1990, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press (hardcover, ), Harcourt Brace (paperback, ) Byrne's Book of Great Pool Stories, 1995, Harcourt Brace Byrne's Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards, 1996, Harcourt Brace Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards, 1998, Harcourt Brace Byrne's Complete Book of Pool Shots: 350 Moves Every Player Should Know, 2003, Harcourt/Harvest Books

Instructional videos

Byrne's Standard Video of Pool, Volume I, 1987, Premiere Home Video Byrne's Standard Video of Pool, Volume II, 1988, Premiere Home Video Byrne's Standard Video of Trick Shots, Volume III, 1993, Premiere Home Video Byrne's Standard Video of More Trick Shots, Volume IV, 1993, Premiere Home Video Byrne's Power Pool Workout, Volume V, 1996, Premiere Home Video Byrne's Rack 'Em Up!, 1996, Premiere Home Video Byrne's Gamebreakers, 2002, Accu-Stats Video Productions

Billiard tournament commentary videos The Best of Three Cushion Billiards, Volume I, 1995, Accu-Stats Video Productions The Best of Three Cushion Billiards, Volume II, 1997, Accu-Stats Video Productions

Novels Memories of a Non-Jewish Childhood, 1970, Lyle Stuart (hardcover, ); 1972, New American Library (paperback, ) Staged as a musical by Dubuque's Grand Opera House in 2005. Once a Catholic, 1981m New American Library (paperback, ) The Tunnel, 1977, Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich . The Dam, 1981, Atheneum . Part of Reader's Digest Condensed Books #136, 1981, vol. 3 Always a Catholic, 1981, Pinnacle Skyscraper, 1984, Atheneum . Part of Reader's Digest Condensed Books #154, 1984, vol. 3 Mannequin, 1988, Atheneum . Included under the title Death Train in Reader's Digest Condensed Books #180, 1988, vol. 5 Thrill, 1995, Carrol & Graf

Collections of quotations The 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1983, Fawcett The Other 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1985, Fawcett The Third and Possibly the Best, 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1986, Ballantine Books The 1911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1988, Fawcett/Columbine . Collection of the first three volumes. The Fourth and by Far the Most Recent 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1990, Fawcett The Fifth and Far Finer than the First Four 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1994, Crest The 2548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1996, Budget Book Service ; 2001, Galahad (hardcover, ); 2002, Fireside (paperback, ); 2006, Simon & Schuster (hardcover, ). Collection of the first four volumes.

Other books Writing Rackets, 1969, Lyle Stuart Cat Scan: All the Best from the Literature of Cats, 1983, Scribner Every Day is Father's Day, 1990, Crest Behold My Shorts, 2009, Telegraph Herald

As editor Heifetz-Byrne, Josefa. Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words, Gathered from Many and Diverse Authoritative Sources, 1974, University Press Kruse, Len. My Old Dubuque: Collected Writings on Dubuque Area History, 2000, Loras College Center for Dubuque History