Wade Arlyn Crane was an
American professional
pool player, nicknamed "
Boom-Boom" because of the cannonball sound that emanated from his powerful break. Crane also played under the alias of "
Billy Johnson died from an automobile accident he was , 66.."
A former World 8-Ball and 9-Ball champion, Crane was a dominant player in the 1980s. He was voted by his peers to have the best 9-ball break in history.
[3]
| (February 20, 1944 – December 26, 2010) |
Early Days
Wade Arlyn Crane grew up in
Robbinsville, a small town with a population of 700 located in the western-most part of
North Carolina in the
Smokey Mountains. He was the youngest of four children. His father was killed in an automobile accident shortly after he was born, which necessitated him being raised by his grandmother.
Coming from a modest background, he sought employment at the age of 12 and landed a job in a small five-table pool room named Cooper's. It was here where he initially developed his passion for playing pool. He did odd jobs, keeping the pool room clean, sweeping floors, and even had a shoe shine stand. The owner would direct the customers to play pool with young Wade if the pool room was empty. Crane was a self-taught pool player. He soon began to enjoy the competitive spirit. In high school, he was a fullback on the football team, the
Robbinsville squad, and made it to the state playoffs two years straight.
After high school, Crane decided to leave
Robbinsville and live with his older brother in
Chicago, where he got a job at
Brach's Confections, a candy company. He worked there for three years, earning $150 a week, and initially had little interest in playing pool. Sometimes, though, his older brother, Bill, would call on Wade to meet him at the local pool hall on Cicero Avenue. Bill would make bad games and find himself overmatched. He would then call on his little brother, Wade, to bail him by having him play the same pool players that he lost to. Thereafter, Bill began to match up Wade with the local players. At this time, both Bill and Wade became active in
Chicago's pool scene. Soon Wade was competing at Bensinger's pool room in
Chicago against tough opponents in the area, like Mexican Johnny, John Abruzzo, and George Walker.
In 1965, Crane was making more money playing pool than working at
Brach's Confections, so he decided to leave the Windy City and move to
Atlanta,
Georgia. It was at this time that he assumed the alias of "Billy Johnson," a moniker he would hang onto for 20 more years. He changed his name because he wanted to engage in money matches down South and feared some might recognize the name "Wade Crane" from his earlier days of gambling throughout that region.
"While me and a friend were driving along the interstate to this pool room, we passed a Howard Johnson's," said Crane. He decided to just add on "Johnson" to "Bill" and came up with the road name of "Billy Johnson." It was a good name for him because he had been using his brother's fake ID to get into the Chicago taverns and pool rooms, so he was used to answering to "Bill."
In the early '70s, Crane returned to
North Carolina and opened his own pool room in
Asheville, which was an attraction for many of the top players in the country, i.e.,
Buddy Hall,
Jim Rempe,
Mike Sigel, and
Allen Hopkins. Now the 25-year-old Crane was ranked second to
Luther Lassiter, who was the 9-Ball Champion of the South.
[4]
The money matches began to dwindle, so he decided to move to
Knoxville,
Tennessee, for a change. It is here where he met his third wife, Linda, who was a waitress at a steak and seafood restaurant. They dated for 18 months before he proposed. After they were married, the couple moved back to Crane's hometown of
Robbinsville, where he operated a small video arcade and quit playing pool. It was three and a half years before his wife saw him shoot a game of pool.
In 1983, pool became attractive to Crane once more, due to the large money payouts in pocket billiard competitions. Crane returned to the pool scene, but this time, he would be shooting pool in a new environment, competing in short race-type matches on pristine equipment at tournament venues instead of gambling long ahead sets on inferior equipment in various pool rooms around the country.
[5][6]
Professional Career
At the height of Crane's game in June 1985, he scored a perfect Accu-Stats score in the finals against
Buddy Hall at the Resorts International Casino in
Atlantic City,
New Jersey, in the Last Call for 9-Ball tournament, a feat that to this day has never been achieved by any other competitor in a pool tournament during a finals match.
[7] During one match, he ran seven consecutive racks against Hall. He was the top money winner of major professional pool tournaments in 1985.
[8]
Crane went undefeated at the 1985 Red's Open 9-Ball Championship in
Houston, Texas, until he met
Efren Reyes in the finals, who was at this time shooting pool under an alias of "Cesar Morales." The irony, however, was that Crane happened to be the only other competitor in the 108-player event that also used an alias, "Billy Johnson," when he took second-place honors. The final score was 13 to 9. This was the first tournament that a then-unknown
Efren Reyes, a pool champion from the
Republic of the Philippines, competed in on American soil.
[9]
Pool & Billiards Magazine named Wade Crane in 1985 as the
Pool & Billiard Magazine's All Star Player of the Year.
At the 1987 Steve Gumphreys Memorial 9-Ball Open tournament held in
Jackson, Mississippi, Crane defeated
Earl Strickland twice in the finals of a double-elimination format event to win the title.
[10]
Crane was heralded as a legend by pool industry members.
[11] He was deemed as a courteous pool competitor, with a sense of humor that was enjoyed by his peers, according to
Nick Varner and
Johnny Archer, both
Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame Inductees.
[12]
As owner of Crane's Billiard Academy, he gave instructions to beginners, amateur players, as well as male and female professional pool competitors.
For 15 years, he was an instructional journalist for
Pool & Billiards Magazine, providing guidance on shot selection and other pool-related strategies in his monthly article entitled "Crane's Winning Way."
A recognition ceremony to commemorate Crane's legacy of pool in action will be held at the 7th Annual One-Pocket Hall of Fame dinner on January 25, 2011, at the 2011
Derby City Classic. Wade Crane will be inducted into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame posthumously with the Lifetime Pool in Action Award for his tremendous all-around talent.
[13]
At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 26, 2010, Crane was in an automobile accident in
Knoxville, Tennessee, when his 2000
Volkswagen crossed three lanes of traffic and struck a retaining wall. No other vehicle was involved in the accident. It is believed that Crane suffered from an undiagnosed medical condition before the crash.
[14] He was pronounced dead at the University of Tennessee Hospital.
[15][16]
Filmography
Wade Crane produced a pool instructional videotape entitled "Learn to Play the Winning Way."
[17]
Accu-Stats Video Productions filmed several live matches of Wade Crane in pocket billiards competitions:
[18]
Titles
- 1972 Golden 8-Ball Tournament (Tempe, Arizona)
- 1985 Last Call for 9-Ball (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
- 1985 Florida State 9-Ball Championship (Davies, Florida)
- 1985 Busch World Open 9-Ball Championship (Moline, Illinois)
- 1986 Shenandoah Open
- 1987 Steve Gumphreys Memorial 9-Ball Open (Jackson, Mississippi)
- 1991 Southeastern 9-Ball Tournament (St. Petersburg, Florida)
- 2010 One-Pocket Hall of Fame Lifetime Pool in Action Award
To see more of who died in 2010
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Agathe Johanna Erwina Gobertina von Trapp was the eldest daughter of Georg von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead. She was a member of the Trapp Family Singers, whose lives were the inspiration for the play and film The Sound of Music. She was portrayed as the character "Liesl".[1]
She was the first soprano in the choir, together with her sister Johanna von Trapp. After her father's death in 1947, the family ceased to perform. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1948. She later moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where with her longtime friend, Mary Louise Kane, the women operated a private kindergarten for 35 years at the Sacred Heart Catholic parish in Glyndon, Maryland. They lived together for five decades. Ms. Kane reported Agathe's death to the media.[2]
