Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 April 1918 — WELKER COCHRAN IS PICKED BY CRITICS [ARTICLE]

WELKER COCHRAN IS PICKED BY CRITICS

Youngster Being Selected to De- - throne Hoppe of Crowru lowa Youth Has Been Improving Hie Billiards by Leaps And Bounds -Since He First Broke Into Limelight Yesye Ago. Time was when the man who mentioned any billiard player as a possible successor to Willie Hoppe as balk-line champion was ridiculed. The idea was preposterous, the talent declared. Hoppe was so pre-eminent in his line that there was not the remotest chance of anyone displacing him.

Hoppe «is still pre-eminent, his wizardry with the cue is as faultless as ever, but nevertheless his matchless play is being approached by a youngster who is planning a campaign to culminate in a challenge for Hoppe’s many titles. Welker Cochran, the lowa youth,jias been improving his billiards by leaps and bounds since he first broke into the limelight a few years ago. On a tour with Hoppe two or three _years ■ago Cochran looked like a novice -beside the master billiardist, but he worked hard, continually studying Hoppe’s game and improving his own. This year he has shown such phenomenal billiards that critics believe he would be able to give the champion trouble at his favorite balk-line games.

Cochran is also a talented threecushion player. He has never entered competition for the championship perhaps for the same reason that Hoppe has refused to compete for these honors. . The National Three-Cushion Billiard association rules make It imperative for a champion to defend his title every two or three months if there is a challenge and Hoppe has never considered the hopor worth the trouble. In the last two" years there have been so many three-cushion champions that scarcely remembers who they were. Alfredo De Oro has held the ~tltle three times in that length of time. This rule probably also keeps Cochran from com? petlng.