MADRID, Spain.- One of the four best pool players of the 20th century worldwide was born in 1836 in Cuba, specifically in the municipality of Manzanillo, Granma province. This was Alfredo de Oro, who, at the age of 15, had his first encounter with this sport, when his brother took him to a pool hall. But his successes, which would be many, did not come immediately, as he continued to focus on his studies.
It was in 1881, after returning to Cuba from a trip to the United States, that he began to practice billiards and to the surprise of many, he defeated great Havana players of the moment such as “Chuchú” Méndez, García Mastagán, and “Simón el Catalán”.
In 1885 he participated in his first world championship, where he was tied for the first position with Albert Frey and John I. Malone, two greats of the time. In the definition of the tie he was in third place.
In 1886 he obtained the world crown, which he lost in 1889 against Albert G. Powers; but after recovering it in 1891 he kept it for 18 years. No other billiard player has managed to come close to that mark. He in total he won the world billiards championship 31 times.
During his career he beat icons of the sport such as Grant Eby, Jerome Keogh, Fred Peyton and Thomas Hueston.
In 1904 he won first prize in the World Championship Tournament at the St. Louis Exposition.
For all these achievements and more, the North American magazine Billiards Digest I selected him in 1999 as the fourth best pool player of the 20th century.
Alfredo de Oro retired in 1934 and died in the United States in 1948 at the age of 85.
In 1967 he was inducted into the Billiard Players of America Hall of Fame.
Beside Ramon Fonst Y Jose Raul Capablanca They constituted the so-called “golden triad”, for being the three most important figures in the Cuban sports world in the first decades of the 20th century.
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