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[[File:Calvin Demarest sitting.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Calvin Demarest, date unknown]]
[[File:Calvin Demarest 1911 Mecca cigarette card.jpg|thumb|200px|Demarest 1911 Mecca [[cigarette card]]]]
[[File:Demarest 2163060951 911a566093 o.jpg|thumb|400px|Demarest on March 26, 1912]]
'''Calvin W. Demarest''' (June 1886 – June 12, 1925) was a national amateur and professional [[carom billiards]] champion from [[Chicago]] in the early 20th century known for an open, crowd-pleasing style of play.<ref>{{cite news |title=Calvin Demarest Defeated in Hotel Astor Ball Room by 500 Points to 440 |work=[[The New York Times]] |quote=[[Willie Hoppe]], the 18.2 balkline billiard champion, successfully defended his title by defeating Calvin W. Demarest of Chicago last night 500 to 440 before an enthusiastic assemblage in the ballroom of the [[Hotel Astor]]. |date=April 12, 1912 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/12/archives/hoppe-retains-182-billiard-title-calvin-demarest-defeated-in-hotel.html |access-date=April 28, 2008}}</ref> He later gained notoriety for stabbing his wife and injuring his mother during a suicidal [[psychotic episode]].<ref name="assails"/> Demarest won major amateur championships in 1907 and 1908.<ref name="assails"/>

==Biography==
Demarest was born in June 1886 in [[Illinois]]. His mother was Ida B. Demarest (1860–1923) of [[Ohio]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3GD-DVH |title=Ida Demarest, October 25, 1923 in ''Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916–1947,'' database |date=9 March 2018 |via=FamilySearch |access-date=30 October 2023}}</ref><ref>Calvin W. Demarest in the [[1910 US census]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]. His mother was a widow by 1910 and he had a brother, Dean L. Demarest (1889-?). Their father was born in New York.</ref> He studied music as a child, his father an [[organist]] in Chicago, and his mother a singer. At an early age he developed an interest in [[pool (cue sports)|pool]] and [[Balkline|balkline billiards]].<ref name="arouses"/>

On March 9, 1907, he set a new record 14.2 [[Balkline|balkline billiards]] average of 27 3–11 during the national amateur championship tournament in [[New York City]] beating the record set by [[Justus Ferdinand Poggenburg III]].<ref>{{cite news |title = Billiard Record is Broken Twice; Amateur Figures Are Surpassed First by Poggenburg and Then by Demarest |work=The New York Times |quote=Records for amateur 14.2 balk-line billiards were created under the masterful cue-work of Calvin Demarest and J. Ferdinand Poggenburg yesterday in the continuation of the National championship tournament. The genius of the young Westerner's billiards was demonstrated in no uncertain way, and he held a big crowd of spectators thoroughly interested in the concert hall of the Liederkranz Club, Fifty-eighth Street, near Park Avenue. |date=March 9, 1907 |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F2091FFC395A15738DDDA00894DB405B878CF1D3 |access-date = April 28, 2008}}</ref>

On March 14, 1908, he broke the world's amateur record for the high {{Cuegloss|Run|run}} in the opening game of the national amateur 14.2 balkline tournament with an impressive high {{Cuegloss|Run|run}} of 168. He was competing against [[Clarence Jackson]] of [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Demarest Breaks Record; Chicago Billiardist Makes Run of 168 and Defeats Jackson |work=The New York Times |quote=Calvin Demarest of Chicago to-night broke the world's amateur record for the high run in the opening game of the National amateur 14.2 billiard tournament at the Chicago Athletic Club, making 168 in his seventeenth inning. Demarest won the game, defeating Clarence Jackson of Chicago by the score of 400 to 165. Demarest's average was 21 1-19, and Jackson's 9 3-18. |date=March 15, 1908 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1908/03/15/archives/demarest-breaks-record-chicago-billiardist-makes-run-of-168-and.html?sq=calvin+demarest&scp=16&st=p |access-date=April 28, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Western Player is the Favorite; Demarest's High-class Billiards Gives Him the Lead in Tournament |work=The New York Times |quote=Among all the followers of billiards yesterday there was not one who was not ready to concede the amateur championship title to the young player from the West, Calvin Demarest. That this youth had displayed the most perfect 14.2 balk line billiards ever played in an amateur tournament was the verdict of all. |date=March 11, 1907 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1907/03/11/archives/western-player-is-the-favorite-demarests-highclass-billiards-gives.html?sq=calvin+demarest&scp=4&st=p |access-date=April 28, 2008}}</ref> Starting in 1909, he competed in professional as well as amateur tournaments, winning at least three professional championships.<ref name="arouses">{{cite news |author= |title = Demarest Arouses the Billiard Fans; Young Chicago Expert Striving to Become Champion |work=The New York Times |quote=Interest in billiards among local enthusiasts received an impetus last week by the initial appearance here, in the role of a professional, of Calvin Demarest, the young Chicagoan who for a year or more held the amateur championship of the world. |date=January 10, 1909 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1909/01/10/archives/demarest-arouses-the-billiard-fans-young-chicago-expert-striving-to.html?sq=calvin+demarest&scp=11&st=p |access-date=April 28, 2008}}</ref> In 1910, he defeated the renowned French champion [[Rerolle]] for the international amateur championship.<ref name="assails">{{cite news |author= |title=Billiardist Assails Wife; Calvin Demarest Also Cuts His Mother, Then Slashes Himself |work=The New York Times |quote=Calvin Demarest, former national amateur billiard champion, attacked his wife with a pocket knife today and then slashed his own throat. His mother, who attempted to restrain him, was cut on the hand. Husband and wife were taken to a hospital. |date=June 17, 1915 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1915/06/17/archives/billiardist-assails-wife-calvin-demarest-also-cuts-his-mother-then.html |access-date=April 29, 2008}}</ref>

By the mid-1910s, Demarest's mental state began to deteriorate. Among other things, he would experience hallucinations regarding his wife, often that she was robbing him. On June 16, 1915, Demarest stabbed his wife in the throat several times with a [[pocket knife]], wounding her severely, and then attempted to slit his own throat. His mother attempted to restrain him and was cut on the hand.<ref name="assails"/>

He was deemed unfit to stand trial and was remanded to the [[Elgin Asylum]] for the insane. He was reported to have died there eight months later, on February 22, 1916,<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Calvin Demarest Dead; Noted Billiard Player Expires in Illinois Insane Asylum |work=The New York Times |quote= Calvin S. [sic] Demarest, former amateur Champion billiard player and later professional, died at the Elgin Asylum for the insane last night, it was learned ...|date=February 23, 1916 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1916/02/23/archives/calvin-demarest-dead-noted-billiard-player-expires-in-illinois.html |access-date=April 28, 2008}}</ref> but the following day's ''[[The New York Times]]'' ran an item titled "Calvin Demarest Not Dead", in which the paper wrote "Dr. Hawley, Deputy Superintendent at the asylum, is at a loss to explain how the report of Demarest's death occurred."<ref>{{cite news | title=Terse News of Sports in Town and Out | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/02/24/archives/terse-news-of-sports-in-town-and-out.html | date=February 24, 1916 | work=The New York Times | access-date=2008-11-21}}</ref> Demarest would die on June 12, 1925 at the [[Elgin Asylum]] in [[Elgin, Illinois]].<ref>Calvin W. Demarest. Birth: June 1886 in Illinois. Death:June 12, 1925 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, from ancestry.com</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/tags/calvindemarest/ Calvin Demarest] at [[Flickr Commons]]
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demarest, Calvin}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:American pool players]]
[[Category:American carom billiards players]]
[[Category:People with psychotic disorder]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Chicago]]

Calvin Demarest - Revision history

imported>Tuesdayboiis2: /* External links */Added related category.