It’s National Billiards and Pool Day, and today we have the story of an accomplished billiards player who made his name by playing the game after losing his hands.
George H. Sutton was born in Canada in 1870.
He lost both his hands in a sawmill accident as a child.
Later, while studying medicine at a college in Wisconsin, he got into billiards, and he discovered that he had a knack for the game.
The main differences between his game and that of players with hands: he gripped the pool cue with his arms, he frequently used a bridge to set up his shots, and he was really, really good.
There’s not a lot of information available about Sutton’s life and career; most of the articles about him focused on how a guy without hands had become a star billiards player.
But there are newspaper articles that have him competing for championships, and winning some of them.
So he could hold his own with the top players of the time.
Sutton also toured the country putting on exhibitions, sometimes playing and beating local billiard enthusiasts, and giving lectures on behalf of a billiard company in Chicago.
A New York Times obituary in 1938 summed up Sutton’s career pretty well: “He had toured the country annually for thirty-five years and never failed to astonish the onlookers with the ease and assurance with which he executed difficult shots.”
Today in Scotland, day two of the 10-day Edinburgh Deaf Festival.
There’s live theater, film, arts and crafts and more, and all of it is fully available to Deaf and hearing audiences.
There’s even a fully inclusive Dungeons and Dragons session for beginners!
‘HANDLESS’ SUTTON, BILLIARD PLAYER, 68; Despite Handicap, Had Opposed Many Leading Professionals (New York Times)
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Image via Wikicommons