Ruth McGinnis

Ruth McGinnis (1910 to 1974) was an American straight pool player, born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, who is considered one of the greatest female pool players of all time. She began playing at seven on the tables in her father's barbershop and drew press coverage while still a child, including an exhibition against Willie Mosconi at eleven that police stopped because minors were not allowed in pool halls. In 1933 she beat Babe Didrikson 400 to 62 in a six-day match in Manhattan, in 1942 she became the first woman to compete in a men's tournament at the New York State championship, and in 1948 she was the first woman to enter the World Straight Pool Championship. She was widely considered the women's world champion in the 1930s and 1940s, retired in 1954, and entered the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1997.