Minnesota Fats (character)

Minnesota Fats, or George Hegerman, is a fictional pool hustler created by American novelist Walter Tevis.

Real-life pool hustler and entertainer Rudolf Wanderone was known as "New York Fats" (among other nicknames) when the book was published.

"[6] However, Derek Kirunchyk examined the pages of Tevis' original manuscript and discovered that Tevis had changed the character's nickname from "New York" to "Minnesota" in one of the original manuscript pages, lending credence to Wanderone's claim that he was the inspiration for the character.

That year, while at a drive-in movie theater owned by a friend of Wanderone's (George Jansco), in Johnston City, Illinois, showing The Hustler, Wanderone boasted that the author had based the character upon him, a story which was picked up by local news and subsequently by the national press outlets.

Willie Mosconi – famed as the 19-time winner of the World Straight Pool Championship and technical adviser for The Hustler[8][9] – disputed the claim, which had the paradoxical effect of giving it more notoriety.