Editing Titanic Thompson (section)

==Origin of the nickname==
In his own story, published in ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' in 1972,<ref name=SI/>{{Dead link|date=September 2024}} Alvin Thomas, listed as a co-author, said:

{{blockquote|In the spring of 1912 I went to [[Joplin, Missouri]], just about the time the [[RMS Titanic|''Titanic'']] liner hit an iceberg and [[Sinking of the RMS Titanic|sank]] with more than 1,500 people on board. I was in a pool room there and beat a fellow named Snow Clark out of $500. To give him a chance to get even, I bet $200 I could jump across his pool table without touching it. If you think that's easy, try it. But I could jump farther than a herd of bullfrogs in those days. I put down an old mattress on the other side of the table. Then I took a run and dived headfirst across the pool table. While I was counting my money, somebody asked Clark what my name was. "It must be Titanic," said Clark. "He sinks everybody." So I was Titanic from then on.}}

Minnesota Fats, real name [[Rudolf Wanderone]], said in an interview with the ''Los Angeles Times''<ref name=fats>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-12-sp-7239-story.html |title=The World According To Fats: He Has Had a Long and Colorful Life; These Days, He Is Spending Time Looking Back at It |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |first=Julie |last=Cart |date=June 12, 1988}}</ref> that "Titanic got his nickname when he went down with the Titanic in 1912. He put on ladies' clothes to save himself. Got off the boat first."