Later Life
After retiring, Radbourn opened up a successful billiard parlor and saloon in Bloomington, Illinois. Dating back to his playing days, he had always had a reputation for being a bit vain. Radbourn was seriously injured in a hunting accident soon after retirement. He lost an eye in the accident and spent most of the remaining years of his life shut in a backroom of the saloon he owned, too ashamed to be seen after the injury.
After suffering from the effects of syphilis for a number of years, Radbourn died in Bloomington in 1897 and is interred in Evergreen Cemetery. In 1941 a plaque was placed on the back of his (misspelled) headstone, detailing his career.
It is speculated that Radbourn may be the namesake of the charley horse, a painful leg cramp not unlike that from which he suffered.
Read more about this topic: Charles Radbourn
Famous quotes containing the word life:
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Crooning ditties treasured well
From his Afric’s torrid plains.
Sole estate his sire bequeathed,—
Hapless sire to hapless son,—
Was the wailing song he breathed,
And his chain when life was done.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)