The Rise of Ralph Greenleaf
Ralph Greenleaf By the age of 16, Ralph Greenleaf had already grown from a “Boy Wonder” into one of the top players in the world. His tournament play against legends like Cowboy Weston, Johnny Layton, and Benny Allen, in addition to a series of popular exhibitions, made him famous across the country.
F
inally,pool—brandedaspocketbilliardsintheearly1900s— had a champion that could raise the profile of the sport, just as Willie Hoppe had already done for carom billiards (balkline). The only problem, of course, was that Ralph was not yet thechampion. Frank “the Snail” Taberski was the current world champion and sat immovable at the top of the pool world. The Snail had earned his nickname through slow and tedious play which
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was despised by the public and the press. The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, who controlled all aspects of the pool and billiards world, arranged for the young, speedy, and charismatic Ralph to challenge the Snail in October 1916. Brunswick certainly was hoping to dethrone the unpopular Snail. Ralph lost. He held the lead after one day, but Taberski easily outplayed Ralph and ultimately won the match 450 to 407. Ralph made amazing
shots. Taberski delayed and then played safe. Ralph made more amazing shots. Taberski complained about the rules and then played safe. Ralph became impatient and missed a few shots. Taberski did not. Ralph lost the battle with the champion but his star was rising faster than ever. With his father, Ralph toured the East Coast, giving sold-out exhibitions at the legendry pool halls of the day. Ralph and his family would move from Monmouth, Illinois to