The world of sports and entertainment was stunned when news came out that carom billiards player Masako Katsura had passed away. It was 20 December 1995 when she died in Japan. She was an influencer in the society of carom billiard and a hope for women in the male dominating society in 1950s. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 10 facts you didn’t know about the Masako Katsura.
1. Masako Katsura was born in Tokyo, Japan, on 7 March 1913
2. when we think about the billiard the first name pop up in our mind that is Masako Katsura.
3. She was also renowned with the name of First Lady of Billiards
4. She was only the first professional lady of billiard.
5. She learn billiard from her brother in law and a Japanese champion in 1950s the Kinrey Matsuyama
6 She get the 2nd rank in Japanese national three-cushion billiards championship consistently three times.
7. She married with a U.S. Army non-commissioned officer Vernon Greenleaf in 1950 and then she move to the US in 1951 with her husband. Therefor she was a source of honor for both United States of America and Japan.
8. The two professional coach Tomio Kobashi and Kinrey Matsuyama change her life and she became champion of America and japan. They encourage him in the conservative 1950s male dominating society and she is now a source of inspiration for women worldwide.
9. When we think that every successful man has influenced by women. This is one side of picture. Masako Katsura was inspired by two males. They discourage the male dominating standers of society.
10. Masako Katsura participate in 30 exhibition appearances in 1958. She come back to Japan since 1990 and died in 1995.
How long did she live?
Masako Katsura was born on 7 March 1913, and died on 20 December 1995. She lived for 82 years years that is average age of Japanese.
Masako Katsura: Who Was She?
Masako Katsura began to play snooker when she was 14 years old. Katsura was born in Tokyo on March 7, 1913, and was raised primarily by her mother after her father’s passing. And Katsura’s mother encouraged her to learn to play billiard.
I was weak and worn out all the time, Katsura said. Therefore, in order to make me stronger and get exercise, my mother is trying me to play pool.
Billiards halls were common in Tokyo in the 1920s. In fact, Katsura’s brother-in-law had one. Katsura believed she had a gift for the game after she learned how to use a cue. Katsura didn’t take long to begin playing daily and working at the pool hall.
She showed a talent for trick shots when she was a young girl.
Katsura won the women’s straight-rail competition in Japan at the age of 15. The present champion of Japan, Kinrey Matsuyama, is impressed by the teen’s abilities. Matsuyama took on the role of Katsura’s coach and coached her how to play three-cushion pool.
The difficult sport demanded accuracy. Players had to aim two object balls while hitting the cue ball three times on the rail cushion. Expert players could score ten points in a single turn. With a score of 25 points, world champion Hoppe broke the record for the best turn.
A powerful game was played. Men smashed the cue into the balls to lift up many points. But Katsura added grace to the game.
Masako Katsuru decided to move to the United States.
World War II forced Katsura to put his billiards career on hiatus. During the war, she performed a solo act for the Japanese troops. After the war, she shifted her attention to billiards tactics to amuse the American soldiers.
Those performances helped to advance Katsura’s worldwide career. To his father, billiards champion Welker Cochran, one American soldier wrote home about Masako Katsura. This girl is better than you are, he yelled. Katsura received a call from Cochran encouraging her to visit the US.
Katsura started playing in the national men’s championship before she did after winning the women’s billiards competition.
California became Katsura’s new home in 1951. From the Tokyo city halls, she discovered an entirely different world. In the thousands of pool rooms back home, women worked and played. However, males only were allowed in American pool rooms.
While I’ve been here, I’ve only encountered one other woman who plays pool, Katsura acknowledged. A pool hall is regarded as a man’s domain in this country. It would be great if there was a pool hall exclusively for ladies, you know.
The Masako Katsura Legacy That Lives on Since from 1900s
Masako Katsura gave women access to a new field. She not only made the sport more appealing to women, but also possessed the “strength of a man.”
At a pool hall in San Francisco, Katsura made her final appearance in 1976. She took a cue, ran up a 100-point run, and then essentially vanished. When the Women’s Professional Billiard Association was established in the 1970s, Katsura was inducted into its Hall of Fame by a group of players.
1953–1954
World Three-Cushion Championship of 1953
There was anticipation for the 1953 world three-cushion championship, which would be contested in Chicago at the Chicago Town Club at the Sheraton Hotel, as Hoppe had retired as of 1952. Eleven contestants, including Chamaco, Katsura, Matsuyama, Bozeman, Kilgore, Procita, and Rubin, were scheduled to compete, with several of them being repetitions from the previous year. Harold Worst of Grand Rapids, John Fitzpatrick of Hollywood, Mel Lundberg of Minneapolis, and Ezequiel Navarra of Argentina were all newcomers to the field. Experts viewed Navarra as the favourite since he had just returned from an exhibition tour with Cochran in which he averaged an impressive 1.16 and hit 1,295 three-run home runs in 1,120 innings, winning championships that year in Cuba, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina.
In 71 innings, Katsura overcame Lundberg in her debut game, 50-44. She then went on to lose to Matsuyama 50–37 in 39 innings, Rubin 50–37 in 52 innings, Fitzpatrick 50–38 in 50 innings (while still unbeaten up to that point), Chamaco 50–44 in 56 innings (with a high run of 8), surprise favourite Navarra 50–40 in 43 innings, lose to Kilgore 50–41 in 42 innings, and Harold Worst 50–42 in 52 innings before winning her final match 50–48 in 60 innings over Bo When everything was said and done, Katsura and Matsuyama, who each had played five matches, shared fifth place.Kilgore took home the title with an eight-win, two-loss record. Bozeman and Navarra shared second place.
