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St. Jean Could Beat Greenleaf, but Not the Bottle. Story by R.A

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St. Jean Could Beat Greenleaf, but Not the Bottle. Story by R.A UNTOLD STORIES: ANDREW ST. JEAN ALL THAT TALENT SQUANDERED St. Jean could beat Greenleaf, but not the bottle. Story by R.A. Dyer HIS IS the story of Ralph Greenleaf’s of booze and gambling, and was treach- Desell that they lost track of St. Jean drinking partner, a man who was erous as a player and extremely skilled. over the years, although one recalled T a gambler and a contender for the He was said to have the ability to run seeing him play against Willie Hoppe national championship. He was a hell- 70 balls one-handed and during his during the 1920s. St. Jean also was said raiser of the old school — of the very old later years made his living playing three- to frequent a social club in Lowell popu- school — a product of Prohibition and cushion billiards with only one hand. lar with French-Canadians. It’s called of the Roaring ’20s. Sometimes he wore It was cirrhosis that killed him. He the Pastetempe Club and it’s still there a tuxedo, sometimes a mask. He almost was buried in his hometown of Lowell, in downtown, looking pretty much the always carried a fl ask. Mass. (also the home of Jack Kerouac), same as always. “He was dyed-in-the- Welcome back to Untold Stories. PHOTOS COURTESTY OF THE BILLIARD ARCHIVE This month I’m profi ling Andrew St. Jean, one of the most colorful almost-champions of our most col- orful sport. In 1928, St. Jean was runner-up for the title, being bested only by the great Greenleaf himself. St. Jean also was among that stable of players contracted by the Coca- Cola Company to don masks and appear in poolrooms. They played anonymously as “Masked Marvels” as a promotional gimmick. For this month’s column, I have interviewed New Englander Ray Desell, one of the nation’s few ex- St. Jean, left, could perform at the highest level in perts on the life of St. Jean. I also plainclothes, or in costume as the Masked Marvel. have consulted Willie Mosconi’s memoirs and those of Minnesota Fats. over in his family’s plot at St. Joseph’s wool Canadian — the whole family I gathered a few more details on Steve Cemetery. “He only lived a few miles was,” said Desell. “The French-Canadi- Booth’s Web site, www.onepocket.org, from where I live now,” says Desell, a ans worked in factories there — textile and from The New York Times. Mike resident of Lawrence, Mass. “His father factories in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Shamos, curator of The Billiard Archive, owned a poolroom in Lowell, and … and Lowell. They were all textile cit- provided one of the few remaining pho- he liked to drink and he partied with ies, and there were many ethnic groups tos of St. Jean. Greenleaf many times. They both liked there, mostly working class.” These things we know for sure: St. to go out and drink — even before they One of the few known photos of St. Jean was of French-Canadian extraction did exhibitions they would go out and Jean (provided to us courtesy Shamos and of working-class parentage. His was get tanked.” and The Billiard Archive) reveals a man from a family of immigrants. His parents Desell said St. Jean was the oldest of with a long nose, a rising hairline and spoke French, and the language was four known siblings: He had a brother sleepy languid eyes. His dark hair is probably St. Jean’s fi rst. He was born in and two sisters, and the sisters later be- rigid and slicked back. There’s a straight 1902, died in 1954, had a life-long love came nuns. The sisters, now dead, told ruler racing-stripe part on the left. Un- September 2007 BILLIARDS DIGEST 49 SSEPT07_untold.inddEPT07_untold.indd 4499 88/6/07/6/07 99:27:35:27:35 AAMM UNTOLD STORIES: ANDREW ST. JEAN sober at the time I played him. I only beat him by one ball, 100 to 99.” Taylor, the so-called Knoxville Bear, provided Steve Booth more evidence of St. Jean’s prowess. “I didn’t know him, but you know who told me that he was a tremendous one-handed player? Fats told me, and another guy named Day- ton Omstead — and Dayton was a pretty damn good three-cushion billiards play- er. He [Omstead] told me that he played St. Jean even up, and he was running three and four and going fi ve rails and whatever, playing one-handed.” Desell himself said he was told by the late Bob Ingersoll of Boston that St. Jean once ran 70 balls against him — and that was one-handed. To my knowledge not Willie Mosconi, not Ralph Green- leaf, not anyone else, anywhere, had ever managed such a Ripley’s Believe-it- or-Not freak run. Fats could play one- handed — but not like that. “During the 1940s, St. Jean would play three-cushion billiards one-handed for $4 a game, be- cause nobody was going to play him any pool — that was just impossible,” said Desell. “But you’d be asking for trouble, because he could run 50 balls with one hand. He’d just take a cue off the rack, and if you promised to buy him a beer he would do it.” Ralph Greenleaf was both a drinking companion and competitor for St. Jean. In 1927, one of his best years as a pro- like many modern players, St. Jean ap- the same thing: St. Jean was the greatest fessional, St. Jean proved that physical peared to shoot crab-like, with both player in the world from the neck down. ability. It was in that year that he bested knees bent. In the photo he seems quite He had the physical ability.” Greenleaf not once, but twice in handi- focused and plenty dignifi ed, although I Several old-timers, the late Eddie Tay- capped exhibition matches. On one imagine he might have had a little bottle lor among them, also tell us that St. Jean occasion, St. Jean didn’t even need the tucked away somewhere beneath the was a world-class one-handed player, spot, as he beat Greenleaf 1,250 points folds of his elegant coat. perhaps one of the best ever. Norm to 1,232. In the following year, on April Like Greenleaf, St. Jean was very much “Farmer” Webber, a fi xture at Cochran’s 3, St. Jean won the Eastern States Cham- a product of the Jazz Age. Both men en- in San Francisco from 1955 to 1963, pionship, which probably then was con- joyed celebrity (although St. Jean’s was sidered the most presti- nowhere near that of Greenleaf’s) and gious regional event in the both were show-boaters. St. Jean, for in- “MOSCONI SAID THE SAME nation. stance, was known to attempt spectacu- THING: ST. JEAN WAS THE BEST Here’s a sample of the lar and ridiculous shots — shots that any coverage, this from The cautious player would pass up. But then PLAYER IN THE WORLD FROM New York Times on April again, St. Jean loved applause almost as 4: much as he loved whiskey, and he was THE NECK DOWN.” “In one of the most sensa- clearly addicted to both. There were few — RAY DESELL tional pocket billiard match- in the pool world who kept pace with es of the present season An- Greenleaf when it came to drinking, but said he played St. Jean just as World War drew St. Jean defeated Arthur Woods to St. Jean certainly was one of them. II was coming to a close. “We played a win the pocket billiard championship at “I got this from people who knew him match together in Portland, Maine, at Kreuter’s Billiard Academy last night. St. and played him — from Portland, Maine, Dube’s Billiard Parlor in 1944 or ’45,” Jean scored his victory 125 to 71 in only and everywhere else. I talked to them said Webber, who was interviewed by two innings, and took the championship and they all said the same thing: St. Jean Steve Booth back in 2004. “He came with a record of nine victories and one de- was an alcoholic … and he squandered to play an exhibition, and I played him feat. his talent,” said Desell. “Mosconi said straight pool and beat him. … He was “St. Jean was forced to watch Woods at- 50 BILLIARDS DIGEST September 2007 SSEPT07_untold.inddEPT07_untold.indd 5500 88/8/07/8/07 111:16:081:16:08 AMAM tain a run of 65 points in the fi rst inning of ply lacked the discipline to stay away their match. St. Jean, however, replied with from tough shots: “You know, some- 118 points on his fi rst trip to the table. times he’d be running 40 balls ahead of Woods got only six in his half of the second, the guy and he’d play some crazy shot and then St. Jean ran out with seven.” and the guy would beat him,” Desell The article noted that St. Jean’s 118 said. St. Jean sometimes lacked the dis- was the high run of the tournament, and cipline to simply lay low. that he went through his 10 games mak- St. Jean was not above dumping games, ing 90 percent of his shots. but he preferred to simply run over his The New York Times, in an article pub- opponents. And any hustler will tell you lished a few weeks later, reported that that sometimes you’ve got to lose money Greenleaf was keen to meet St.
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