Eddie Parker

Eddie Parker, known as Fast Eddie, lived from about 1932 in Springfield, Missouri, to February 2, 2001, and was an American pool player claimed by many to have been the inspiration for Fast Eddie Felson in Walter Tevis's 1959 novel The Hustler. He started playing pool at nine when his father, a school superintendent, bought a used table, and earned the nickname for his speed in football and basketball. In Kansas City he was mentored by six-time world champion Bennie Allen, and he made a living from the game without getting rich, his biggest win being 30,000 dollars at three-cushion billiards. Tevis maintained the characters were fictitious. Parker died at 69 of a heart attack while attending a tournament near Brownsville, Texas.