William A. Spinks

Who was William A. Spinks?

William Alexander Spinks, Jr. was an American professional player of carom billiards in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was known professionally as William A. Spinks or W. A. Spinks, and occasionally also referred to as Billy Spinks. In addition to being amateur Pacific Coast Billiards Champion several times, a world champion contender in more than one cue sports discipline, and an exhibition player in Europe, he became the co-inventor in 1897 of modern billiard cue chalk. He was originally a Californian, but spent much of his professional career in Chicago, Illinois. At his peak, his was a household name in U.S. billiards; the New York Times labeled Spinks one of "the most brilliant players among the veterans of the game", and he still holds the world record for points scored in a row using a particular shot type. Aside from his billiards playing career, he founded a lucrative sporting goods manufacturing business, and was both an oil company investor and director, and a flower and fruit farm operator and horticulturist, originator of the eponymous Spinks cultivar of avocado.