Irving Crane - World Titles

World Titles

This coup was soon followed by his first world title in 1942. Over the following three decades, Crane won almost two dozen major championships, including the World Crown in 1946, 1955, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1972, the Ballantine International Championship in 1965, the International Roundrobin championship in 1968, and the World Series of Billiards in 1978 at age 65. Of these triumphs, his win at the 1966 World Crown is the most celebrated. At that tournament he ran 150 and out in the finals, never letting his opponent back to the table after an early safety battle; an accomplishment that has never been equaled. Crane also holds the record for the most runner-up finishes for the World Crown with 13.

Despite his mastery and world renown, Crane found it hard to make a living solely playing pool, and in 1957 began working as a Cadillac salesman at Valley Cadillac Inc. 333 East Avenue in Rochester, New York. He continued there for 17 years. According to Crane's daughter, at Rochester's annual auto show his dealership's exhibit featured a pool table at which Crane would run balls while answering questions. "Working" for a living was purely a choice of survival. In an interview with Sports Illustrated in 1969 Crane said "If I had to make a choice between selling cars and playing pool, I'd choose pool... The only time I've ever been really happy is when I was at a pool table."

Described as a "tall, lean man with the imperial bearing of the headmaster of Eton," Crane earned the appellation The Deacon because of his gentlemanly ways, his very cautious approach to the game and his impeccable dress, never approaching a pool table except in a conservative suit. Los Angeles Times sports columnist Jim Murray once said Crane "would make Henry Fonda look furtive." Highlighting Crane's both cautious approach and mastery, Mike Sigel, one of pool's most illustrious players, reportedly asked Crane to play one day when Sigel was a young player. Crane assented and after Sigel broke, Crane ran 200 balls and then played a safety.