The Washington herald., 1921-01-23
BY ROBERT EDGREN.

In these days when there is SO
much talk about boy prodiGies"
who play chess better than the old
masters. go to college when they
ought to be in grammar schools, or
solve mathematical problems in
stantly without knowing by what
processes they arrive at results, we
shouldn't overlook boy wonder"
who startled the world of sport fif-
teen years ago and is still an in
comparable world champion.
Willie Hoppe, billiard champion.
was born with A genius for the
game. When Willie was years
old he was a great billiard player.
At Z he was a wonder to all mis-
fathers friends. He could stand on
n soap box to reach the table. and
heat the best of them with ease. At
his parents took him down to
"rir Ceton University to give an ex-
"ibition before A number of profess
sors who were amazed by his feats
on the tournament table. One pro-
fessor said he could explain the
boys skill only by saying that his
eye had a peculiar faculty Of mea-
surinE angles with mathematical
precision
Put there WIS more than that-in
Willie Hopes play. The peculiar
faculty" he displayed was some
thing that science has not yet
fathomed. Hoppe himself didn't un-
derstand it. and doesn't understand
II now. Like some of the mathe-
matical prodigies of history he
seems to have n, subeonsCious mind
that works with. amazing speed. so
that he solves any billiard problem
at a glance. without being at all
conscious of trying.
Many of the other champions. like
Slosson. study the angles of every
zauts-nake a careful mental Calcui-
alton of the force needed. and use
extreme care in applying that force.
Even when he was a small boy
Hopne didn't study his shots at all.
He glanced at the table and saw his
nIay Immediately, without the
slightest hesitation and without
taking a second for calculation Of
angles and snNed. He never stud
i"d a shot His sUbconscious mind
Nll lidN lbI llht' AhSNduAly anu
without effort.
A Prediction FULFILLED.
In describing to me willie's man
Ter Of playing when the wizard was
child. his father said:
i"I don't understand it myself. I
always had to study my shots. Both
willie's mother and I have been
professional billiard players for
wears. and werc billiard, players long
before Willie was born. but We had
~ such genius for the game. The
man who studies has a limit. but
the man who doesn't have to study
has no limit. and there's no telling
what he may he able to do when
his muscles and nerves are deSel-
0ned to follow exactly the impulse
If his genius. have known all
the great billiard players of my day
and none were horn to the game
IKE While. thfn6 he will easily
heat them all and Fold t1fe cham
pionship as long as he lives unless
some other greater genius is born
in his time"
That prediction of Hoppe's father
was made January 80. 1906. and so
FAR 1t has been absolutely true.
talked with Willie about his
nIay when, he was 4 small boy, one
day when he stood on a soap box
and made the most astonishing
shots.
"You must study out your shots
carefully" 1 said
NO" said Willie, 'T never study"
His skill Ipheritcd.
Was his subconscious mind inA
herited from his father and mother,
developing the skin they both ac-
CURED by years of Billiard playing? +?
Perhaps so, but in that case. why
was Hoppe. as 7-year-old boy,
without any training or billiard ex-
perience at all, and just beginning
to knock the balls around the ta-
ble. at home, infinitely more skill
col than either of his parents aver
thought of being? II there is any
thing in the theory of reincarna-
tion Willie Hopes deft hands are
guided by the reinGarnated ~inteIli-
isGnGe of some perhIman mathe-
matlcal genius.
That Willie Is peculiarly faYnrad