STRICTLY BUSINESS: `MINNESOTA FATS' MADE BILLIARDS A BUSINESS

Rudolf Wonderone Jr. made playing billiards a business.

Wonderone, more popularly known as "Minnesota Fats," has been described as a world traveler, a humanitarian, gambler and a billiards player deluxe.

He was probably all of the above.

The boastful billiards wizard, who made a lot of money with pool because of his skill and brought fame to a game few considered a real sport, died last week in Nashville, one day before his birthday.

When I met Rudolf Wonderone, he was still playing pool competitively and some of his matches were televised.

The day he visited Cape Girardeau early in 1977 he was en route to Dowell, Ill., where he made his home at that time.

He had participated in the nationally televised "Battle of the Sexes" sports competition, paired against the top lady billiards player in the nation, Jean Balukas of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Fats was 80 pounds lighter than his usual 260 pounds when he was here. But he was in his usual jovial and talkative mood. He had taken time out of a busy schedule to visit some old friends in Cape Girardeau -- Rocco and Jerry Colletti, who operated Colletti's Restaurant in downtown Cape Girardeau.

For those not in the billiards know, Minnesota Fats was one of the greatest pool players in the history of the game.

"I was raised in a saloon," said Fats. "At the age of eight, I was an accomplished pool player."

By the time he was 10, he had played pool in France, Germany and Spain.

Fats was an animal lover. Before moving from Dowell to Nashville, Fats said he kept about 100 dogs and cats, and "not a full-blooded one in the bunch...just a bunch of mutts and alley cats."

A household name in the '60

Reams and reams of copy have been written about Minnesota Fats. His name became a household word during the 1960s when Jackie Gleason played the part of the billiards "shark" in a movie, "The Hustler."

Minnesota Fats, said Conrad Burkman, publisher of National Billiard News, didn't play pool nearly as well as he talked it, but he brought the game of billiards to the attentions of millions of Americans.

Billiards has become one of the top 10 sports and fitness activities in the U.S. The sport now ranks number three in participatory sports, behind bowling and basketball, with more than 40 million participants.

During the past decade, billiards -- or "pool" -- has adopted some upscale airs. Today's brass-and-dark-wood billiards centers are a far cry from the old classic smoke-and-hustler-filled pool halls of the past.

The 10-year-long-and-counting billiards boom continues, with Americans spending more than $350 million a year on equipment -- cue sticks, balls, tables and other billiards equipment.

Minnesota Fats was an entertainer. It was said that he could talk you out of a game rather than shoot you out of a game.

He was born in New York City and was known as New York Fats early in his life. He became known as Minnesota Fats because of Gleason's character in the movie -- a dapper, deadeye pool player challenged by a younger player (Paul Newman) out to win his respect.

Fats said Gleason used to rack balls for him when he (Gleason) when he was a kid in Brooklyn and in Long Island.

Fats could shoot pool with either hand and was known for wearing $100 bills in the handkerchief pocket of his suits.

Until the early 1990s, he played pool occasionally at the Hermitage, a plush Nashville hotel where he lived and often was seen feeding the birds outside.

Fats suffered a heart attack in 1992.

"He was the world's greatest," said his wife, Theresa Bell Wanderone, in announcing his death.

"Now he's finally in heaven shooting it out again with (Willie) Mosconi (Mosconi was another familiar name to billiards fans, a national champion, and a big rival of Minnesota Fats)," said Mrs. Wanderone. "He always said, `St. Peter, rack 'em up.'" Mosconi died in 1993 at age 80.

Oooh...the pressure

We may even be more "stressed out" than we thought.

Seventy-five percent of workers surveyed by the Gallup people recently reported experiencing stress in the workplace anywhere from daily to at least once or twice a week.

"While greater demands on our personal productivity have made us more competitive, it has also increased the personal pressure each of us faces in getting our jobs done," said Steward C. Libes, president and CEO of Accountants on Call, which arranged for the stress survey.

These are the same people that a year ago quizzed workers, from the boss on down, to see if they would remain in the same career giving the choice.

The 1995 survey revealed that 50 percent of workers "wouldn't change a thing," while 31 percent would strike out in a different vocational direction.

In other words about 70 percent of workers indicated they were satisfied with their jobs "most days," while only 12 percent say they are dissatisfied with their job. In between, many workers indicated they were "somewhat satisfied" with their jobs.

The latest survey, on job-related stress, is part of AOC"s on-going Profiles of the American Worker Series which summarizes opinions and behavior of employed Americans concerning workplace issues.

For the survey, full- and part-time workers were asked:

How often are you bothered by stress in our job situation? The possible responses were: Never, less than once a week, once or twice a week, several days a week, almost every day, or every day.

Twenty-five percent responded that stress is a daily part of their job. An additional 12 percent say they experience job-related stress almost every day, and 9 percent say they are bothered several days a week.

Twenty-nine percent of those responding say they are bothered by job stress once or twice a week, an additional 14 percent report stress less than once a week, and incredibly, 10 percent say they are never bothered by job stress.

While no significant differences exist between the genders or among geographical locations in the frequency of job-related stress, full-time workers report a higher level of daily or almost daily stress than part-time employees (40 versus 28 percent). The survey is based on telephone interviews with 705 adults 18 years of age and over. Interviews were conducted in October 1995. Gallup says the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.