page_title: Three-cushion billiards
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Three-cushion billiards / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Wayman C. McCreery, the popularizer and possible inventor of three-cushion billiards.
context_page_description: Three-cushion billiards, also called three-cushion carom, is a popular form of carom billiards.
  The object of the game is to carom the cue ball off both object balls and contact the rail cushions at least three times before the last object ball. A point is scored for each successful carom. In most shots the cue ball hits the object balls one time each, although hitting them any number of times is allowed as long as both are hit. The contacts between the cue ball and the cushions may happen before and/or after hitting the first object ball. The cue ball does not have to contact three different cushions as long as they have been in contact at least three times in total.
  In modern three-cushion, the two players' cue balls are white and yellow, while the third ball is red. The introduction of the yellow ball is a relatively recent change to make it easier for spectators to follow the game; previously two white balls with small markings on one or both in order to distinguish them were used.
context_section_description: Three-cushion dates to the 1870s, and while the origin of the game is not entirely known, it evolved from one-cushion carom, which in turn developed from straight rail billiards for the same reason that balkline also arose from straight rail. Such new developments made the game more challenging, less repetitive, and more interesting for spectators as well as players, by thwarting the ability of highly skilled players to rack up point after point at will by relying on nurse shots.
  It is undisputed that the Internal Revenue Collector of the Port of St. Louis, Missouri, one Wayman Crow McCreery, born June 14, 1851 in St. Louis, popularized the game. At least one publication categorically states he invented the game as well.
  The first three-cushion billiards tournament took place January 14–31, 1878 in C. E. Mussey's billiard room in St. Louis, with McCreery a participant. The tourney was won by New Yorker Leon Magnus. The high run for the tournament was just 6 points, and the high average a .75. The game was infrequently played prior to 1907, with many top carom players of the era voicing their dislike of it. However, after the introduction of the Lambert Trophy in 1907, the game became increasingly popular both in the United States and internationally.
  By 1924, three-cushion had become so popular that two giants in other billiard disciplines agreed to take up the game especially for a challenge match. On September 22, 1924 Willie Hoppe, the world's balkline champion (who later took up three-cushion with a passion), and Ralph Greenleaf, the world's straight pool title holder, played a well advertised, multi-day match to 600 points. Hoppe was the eventual winner with a final score of 600–527. The game's decline in the United States began in 1952 when Hoppe, then 51-time billiards champion, announced his retirement. Over time, three-cushion completely supplanted balkline billiards, once the world championship carom game.
  Three-cushion retains great popularity in parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and is the most popular carom billiards game played in the United States today, where pool is far more widespread.  The game's slow resurgence in United States popularity is due in part to the introduction of the Sang Lee International Open tournament in Flushing, New York in 2005, with first-place prize money up to US$25,000. The game has also seen increased coverage in cue sports publications based in the United States, such as Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine.
caption: Wayman C. McCreery, popularizer and possible inventor of three-cushion billiards
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