Career
His nickname was "The Prodigy". Schaefer is widely considered by historians of the sport to have been America"s all-time greatest balkline player. Titles and tournament wins
Records
In 18.2 balkline, Schaefer held four records never broken by another American (some have since been beaten by non-Americans):
A 400-point game average (from the break)
400-0.
The 1925 World Championship 18.2 Balkline Tournament was held in the Congress Hotel, Chicago.
The sixth game of the tournament on Thursday evening, February 26, featured Jake Schaefer II against Erich Hagenlocher of Germany. Hagenlocher was quoted later as saying that toward the end of the run he was hoping that Schaefer wouldn’t mississippi
A 57.14 tournament grand average
A 93.25 match grand average
A high run of 432 in a match
He was the son of fellow billiards pro Jacob Schaefer Senior (1855–1910), who was known as "the Wizard" by reason of his exploits with the cue.
Both Jake, Junior., and Hoppe were tutored by the elder Schaefer, whose last match before his death was a successful defense of his title against Hoppe.
Jacob Schaefer III (b 1938) and Jacob Schaefer IV (b 1970) are both academics in science. Jacob Schaefer V (b 2007) has not yet made a career decision.