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Masako Katsura was a Japanese carom billiards player who lived from March 7, 1913, to 1995. She was known as “Katsy” and was sometimes called the “First Lady of Billiards.” She was at her best in the 1950s. Katsura broke new ground for women in the sport of billiards by competing and placing among the best in a world where men were the norm. Katsura is the only professional female player in Japan. She learned the game first from her brother-in-law and then from the Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama. In Japan, she came in second place three times at the national three-cushion billiards championship. At an exhibition, she ran 10,000 points at the game of straight rail, which made her famous.
After getting married to a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army in 1950, Katsura moved to the U.S. in 1951. There, she was asked to play in the 1952 World Three-Cushion Championship, which was put on by the United States. She ended up coming in seventh place at that tournament. Katsura was the first woman to play billiards in a world tournament. Katsura’s fame grew, so she went on a show tour of the United States with Welker Cochran, who had won the world title eight times, and then with Willie Hoppe, who had won the world title 51 times. In 1953 and 1954, she tried again for the world three-cushion crown. In 1953, she came in fifth, and in 1954, she came in fourth.
Katsura wasn’t seen much over the next few years. She played in 30 exhibitions in 1958 and went on a one-week exhibition tour with Harold Worst the following year, but she never played in a professional tournament. In 1959, she was on two episodes of the ABC show You Asked for It and one episode of the CBS hit show What’s My Line? Katsura went back into competition in 1961. He played Worst, who was the world champion at the time, in a challenge match for the World Three-Cushion title, but he lost. After that, Katsura stopped playing the sport and only came back for a short time in 1976. Around 1990, she moved back to Japan, and she died in 1995.
Billiards player masako katsura
The final standings for the 1952 World Three-Cushion tournament are shown on this chart. The form looks like the original chart that was written by hand at the tournament. Here’s how to read the three numbers in each box: The player’s score is at the top, the number of innings is at the bottom right, and the player’s high run is at the bottom left.
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