In November 1939, Ruth McGinnis (1910-1974), the Women’s Pocket Billiard Champion of the World (1932-40) played at Frank’s Pool Parlor in Carmel, Putnam County, NY. McGinnis was left-handed and like many touring billiards professionals of the time, known as a trick shot artist. She typically shot Straight Pool.
McGinnis, nicknamed “Lefty,” started playing billiards at the age of seven at her father’s billiard parlor in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where she was discovered by Ralph Greenleaf, professional pool and carom billiards player.
By the age of 10, she was acclaimed one of the billiard game’s greatest performers and in 1934 was named Queen Billiard Player of the World by the World Billiards Association.
At age 11 she played seven-year-old future billiards legend Willie Mosconi in an exhibition match in Philadelphia, in violation of a local law barring minors from pool halls. The match was stopped by police.
For many years, she worked as an exhibition player, hired by Brunswick-Balke Collender Co., today’s Brunswick Corporation, who then manufactured billiard and pool tables among other sporting equipment.
She toured for the company playing local champions – mostly, if not always, men – during the Great Depression to lift the image of the sport and promote opportunities for women to play in the male-dominated sport.
In 1939, McGinnis came through Putnam County to play at Frank’s Billiard Parlor, owned by Frank P. D’Amico, in the pool hall formerly run by local barber Morey Randazzo in the “Donegan building” (near the intersection of Route 6 and Fair Street, site of today’s Carmel Diner).
It is unknown who Putnam County’s local champion was at that time, only photos of her visit and mention in the local newspaper testify to this special exhibition. Perhaps the gentleman in the picture is Frank D’Amico?
A reporter from The New York Sun once described her as “a snappy-eyed brunette with a boyish stride and a pair of very feminine eyes.” During this interview she stated, “men never think they’re going to be beaten when they play a woman, and they hate it when they’re beaten.”
Although she achieved great success, McGinnis always felt her height was a handicap. She measured 5’4”, and blamed her short reach a hindrance “because I can’t throw my legs over the table the way the men do.”
By 1948, she was the first woman ever to compete for the national pocket billiards championship.
McGinnis had earned a degree from Stroudsburg Teachers College and following her retirement from billiards taught at S. A. Douglass School in Philadelphia.
This essay is provided courtesy the office of Putnam County Historian Jennifer Cassidy. Located in Brewster, NY, in the lower Hudson River Valley, the Historian’s office preserves, interprets, and promotes the history of Putnam County. Visit their website for more information and Putnam County resources.
Illustrations, from above: Ruth McGinnis in ca. 1924; and a photo of McGinnis is Frank’s Pool Parlor in 1939 (photo by Willitt Jewel of the Courier, courtesy Putnam County Historian’s Office & Archives).
