Biography

All You Need To Know About The First Lady Of Billiards: Masako Katsura

Masako Katsura

Contents

Masako Katsura was born on the 7th of March 1913. She was born in Tokyo, Japan. She is a celebrity billiards player and that is why she is nicknamed the “First Lady of Billiards.” She turned into the very first lady to win the World Three-Cushion Billiards title back in 1952.

Nickname(s)Katsy
NationalityJapanese
CitizenshipAmerican
Born1913Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Died1995 (aged 81–82)Japan
OccupationProfessional carom billiards player
Spouse(s)Vernon Greenleaf​​(m. 1950; died 1967)​
SportsBilliards
CountryJapan
Turned Professional1947
Coached byTomio KobashiKinney Matsuyama
Retired1961

Personal Information:

She belongs to Tokyo, Japan. According to Masako Katsura Biography, she lived with her dad before his unexpected passing when she was 12 years of age. She had three sisters and a sibling. During this time she started living with her more established sister and her better half. She would ultimately wed a U.S sergeant named Vernon Greenleaf at age 37 and in this way moved to the United States. They had no kids together

Professional Billiards Career: 

Tomio Kobashi, a proprietor of a billiards club, taught Masako Katsura how to play pool. He is her brother in law. During her high school years, she started working there and consummating her speciality. At age 15, she started her vocation as an expert pool player visiting and winning co-ed competitions across the Japan and China region. In 1937, she started being educated by Kinney Matsuyama, a previous 3-time National Billiards champ of Japan and a U.S public champion.

Migration to America:

In 1951 Greenleaf was moved to a U.S. post from Haneda Air Base in Tokyo. He and Katsura, who talked minimal English, set forth for the United States on the USS Breckinridge, debarking in San Francisco toward the finish of December 1951, only a couple of months before the 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards competition was booked to start around there on March 6. Katsura had been restrictively welcome to play at the big showdown after Cochran, whose billiard parlour was facilitating the competition, had known about her splendour from Matsuyama. Cochran was an 8-time best on the planet having won the world crown at three-pad billiards in 1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1944 and 1945, and at 18.2 balkline, in 1927 and 1934. Cochran sent his child, W. R. (Dick) Cochran, a maritime official positioned in Japan, to examine and got back a shining report that said (potentially to Cochran’s inconvenience), “this young lady is superior to you are!” Though the choice was at last in the possession of the Billiard Congress of America as competition support, they gave Cochran the choice to welcome her.

Facts:

  • On March 7, 2021, Katsura was included in a Google Doodle on the web search page,  to celebrate International Women’s Day.
  • She is also known by the nickname Katsy. 
  • She is celebrated as the greatest women player of all time.

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