Willie Hoppe Early Photo

[aelefson]

Hi-

I purchased this cabinet photo scanned below at the Hartford Papermania show this past weekend. On the back, the following is written "Willie Hoppe wonderful 13 year old billiards...? who promised to become the champion...?" (I cannot read some of the writing).

Is this a picture of Willie Hoppe at age 13? The mount is from a Chicago photographer. He grew up in NY but according to Wikipedia did start touring at a young age. If needed, I can provide a higher resolution scan. I tried searching online but only found images of Hoppe beginning in the 1910s. This photo would be circa 1900. Does anyone know if Hoppe toured Chicago at that age? Does anyone have any pictures of Hoppe pre 1910? Do you think this is him?

I really appreciate any help with this, and I am very thankful for all of the help you folks have provided to me and others in the past.

Thanks,
Alan

[bgar3]

There is what seems to be a German language web site that comes up when you hit the image of Hoppe's book Thirty Years of Billiards, on the google images, that shows a photo of Hoppe at 11 years old. Seems to be very similar,but I am not great on photo ids. The photo may actually be from the book.

[Duluth Eskimo]

Hoppe is considered to be one of if not the greatest billiard player of all time. He was a tremendous player at a very young age. This is a quote from a billiard forum I found. I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I have a Hoppe signed photo and other items in my collection amongst other billiards guys.

"At the young age of five, Willie Hoppe started learning how to play billiards. He played on the pool table in the hotel that his father owned and operated. Because he was so short, he would stand on a box in order to reach the table. By the age of nine, he became known as the "Boy Wonder" and by age fourteen, he was playing billiards professionally with men three times his age."

[Duluth Eskimo]

Here's a photo I found as well as a young man

[aelefson]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the help.

Alan

[1880nonsports]

I looked through my only two billiard related books - but want to say I'm jealous of your visit to the paper show. Some good memories and good finds. There was even the day the fire department came in and said there were too many people!!!! Imagine that.........

[aelefson]

Thanks for the try Henry! I have heard stories about some of the crowds in the past. I lucked out this year as a snowstorm kept a lot of regular buyers (and even some dealers) away. I love searching through ephemera and other antique shows as you never know what you will find.

Aside from the Hoppe photo, I found an autographed cabinet photo of the 19th century soprano Nellie Melba (Melba toast was named after her. Yes, it is missing the bottom half but I still thought it was cool to have), 4 B33s (3 basketball and one baseball), and several Boy Scout items (pins and pre 1920 postcards with a 1918 basketball team one scanned below). Below are some additional scans. The best part was the price. I bought the Hoppe, Melba, and a few other items for about 100 dollars, and paid 30 dollars total for the 4 B33s.

[Runscott]

Yes, it's Willie Hoppe. I've seen other copies of the same image before, also mounted as a cabinet. You can find some of my Hoppe photos via the link below.

[aelefson]

Thanks Scott! I am very happy to hear that. You have some really cool photos of Hoppe on your site.

Thanks again,
Alan

[D. Bergin]

Great guys. Maybe I can put this one to bed. Been kicking this around for years. It was originally part of a large boxing collection and identified to me as Willie Hoppe.

I determined it was NOT the boxer named Willie Hoppe. On to the pool/billiard player. It bears a remarkable resemblance but I could never find a decent enough photo of Hoppe from that age bracket (or his left ear at that approximate age) to convince myself for sure that it was him either.

Would love any opinions one way or another. Thanks.

[Runscott]

Not Willie Hoppe the pool player.

[D. Bergin]

Not Willie Hoppe the pool player.


Thanks Scott, I had a feeling and wanted to get a definite NO from someone so I can move on.

I'm pretty sure it must be somebody at least known. It came out of the old Al Grayber mostly boxing and other misc. sports collection of photos and cabinets that was sold off 15 years ago or so.