Globetrotter Cue

What's the Ruling? Is he Balls in or out of the pocket. Both balls are halfway in and halfway out of the pockets?

**Remembering Jack White — The Legendary Showman of Pocket Billiards**

Sometimes you meet someone when you're young and don't fully appreciate until years later just how extraordinary that person's life really was.

For me, one of those people was **Jack White**.

I met Jack while I was a student at **James Madison University from 1983–1987**. I knew him through his visits to JMU, where he entertained students with his incredible pocket-billiards exhibitions. At the time, I knew he was special. What I didn't fully understand was just how remarkable the life behind that pool cue really was.

After recently researching Jack's history, I discovered the man I knew at JMU had lived a life that sounds almost impossible.

Jack White was born in **New York City in 1931** into a family with deep roots in billiards. His father was involved in the billiards-supply business, and Jack began playing at only eight years old. Billiards wasn't simply something he learned—it became his life's work.

And Jack was very particular about one thing:

He didn't "play pool."

He played **pocket billiards**.

Over a career spanning more than five decades, Jack became one of America's legendary billiards showmen. He combined world-class skill with humor, storytelling, confidence and an ability to command a room. His exhibitions weren't simply demonstrations of difficult shots. **Jack entertained people.**

He traveled to hundreds of colleges and universities, including JMU, teaching students, challenging players and performing trick shots that seemed impossible.

His career went far beyond college campuses.

Jack traveled extensively for the **Department of Defense**, entertaining American military personnel around the world, including during the Vietnam era. He once said he'd traveled to **128 countries**. His performances took him from military installations and college student unions to audiences involving presidents, royalty and celebrities.

Jack said he had been to the **White House four times** and personally knew President Lyndon B. Johnson. He performed a **command performance for the Queen of England**.

He appeared on **The Ed Sullivan Show**, where he demonstrated his famous "handkerchief shot." He was reportedly paid $3,500 for that appearance—a substantial amount of money at the time.

Jack also said his hands were used to perform a billiards shot for **Paul Newman in the classic movie *The Hustler*.**

His walls later displayed photographs and memories involving people such as **Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, Tom Selleck, Tony Danza and Arnold Schwarzenegger**.

But beneath all those famous names was a man who spent decades bringing billiards directly to ordinary people.

One of his remarkable accomplishments reportedly came at **Loring Air Force Base in Maine**, where Jack ran **319 consecutive balls in straight pool without missing**.

He co-wrote the book ***Come Let Us To Billiards Away*** with Dale Griffin and received several tongue-in-cheek honorary academic titles from universities—including "Doctor of Poolology." Those titles fit Jack perfectly because entertainment was always part of the package.

Jack was also a hustler from an earlier generation of American pool. He knew and competed around legendary figures including **Minnesota Fats, Luther Lassiter, Don Willis and Willie Mosconi**.

But Jack understood something about professional billiards that many great players didn't: there was a living to be made not simply by winning tournaments, but by **entertaining people and promoting the game**.

His personal life had its share of loss.

Jack was married to his first wife, **Mollie**, for approximately 49 years. She traveled extensively with him and was an important part of his career. Mollie died in **2006**.

Jack later remarried. His second wife was **Elsie**, and they lived at **Sun Lakes Country Club in Banning, California**. Jack had a daughter, **Cheryl Ann Schanz**, as well as four stepdaughters, including **Mary Ann Tabor**.

Interestingly, another talented player connected to Jack was **Max Eberle**, who met him at James Madison University in 1991—several years after my own years there. Jack eventually helped mentor Max as another generation carried the game forward.

Jack's final months were spent in California. He received hospice care through the VA medical system in Loma Linda and died on **July 25, 2014**, at approximately 82 years old. His local newspaper, the *Banning Record Gazette*, published notice of his death, and records indicate that **Jack was cremated**.

There apparently isn't a traditional gravesite where someone can walk up and read:

**JACK WHITE — POCKET BILLIARDS LEGEND.**

Maybe that's appropriate.

Because Jack's real memorial isn't a headstone.

It's scattered across hundreds of college campuses, military installations and poolrooms around the world—and in the memories of the thousands of people who stood around a pool table watching him do something they didn't think was possible.

I'm fortunate enough to be one of those people.

I knew Jack White at JMU between 1983 and 1987. Back then, he was the incredible trick-shot artist who came to campus and entertained us.

More than 40 years later, after researching the rest of his story, I understand that I wasn't simply watching a man perform trick shots.

**I was watching one of the great showmen from a remarkable era of American pocket billiards.**

Rest in peace, Jack White.

**1931–2014**

*The Legendary Showman.*