which was televised on the then-fledgling ESPN network, Luther Lassiter pitched a shutout. He won all six of his matches for 20 points each, amassing a perfect score of 120 points and the first place prize of $10,000. After Lassiter defeated Willie Mosconi to put the exclamation point on the tournament, commentator for the match, Allen Hopkins, remarked to co-commentator Chris Berman, "This is no surprise to me; Wimpy's a great nine-ball player. I watched him play, and he looked like the young Wimpy, from years back. He played great. The way he played this tournament he could have beat anybody, including [today's players]." His first game winning combination shot is as good a billiards shot as has ever been seen on network television. After defeating U.J. Puckett earlier in the same tournament, Lassiter said in response to Berman's praise of his playing, "Well, I'm the youngest and I'm still lucky." Luther Lassiter spent his final days practically broke, living alone in the house of his childhood in Elizabeth City, on a pension provided by oil tycoon Walter Davis, who was a lifelong friend of Lassiter's. When they were children during the Great Depression, Lassiter would give Davis, who came from a poor farming family, a couple of dollars whenever he needed it, which often meant the difference between eating and not eating. Davis never forgot Lassiter's kindness, and repaid him by taking care of his necessities in his last years. To escape his loneliness, Lassiter would often ride his bicycle a couple of blocks away to his younger brother Clarence's and his wife, Barbara's, house, and hang out and play with their two sons. On October 25, 1988, days before what would have been his 70th birthday, Lassiter died of natural causes in his hometown of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was found by his nephew next to his pool table where he had apparently been practicing. Lassiter was interred in New Hollywood Cemetery in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. and was survived by two brothers and three sisters. Clarence's wife, Barbara, said after his death, "I knew two or three people in my life who I thought would go to heaven - with no doubt - and [Wimpy] was one of them. He treated everybody like they was supposed to be treated." Quotes "I watch a man shoot pool for an hour. If he misses more than one shot