DescriptionLithograph of John Wesley Hyatt for the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. John Wesley Hyatt, known as the father of the American plastic industry, was an inventor rather than a player, but his invention of the celluloid plastic billiard ball in 1868 revolutionized the billiard industry. Hyatt began his search for a suitable synthetic billiard ball material when a New York billiards firm offered a $10,000 prize for a substitute for ivory. Hyatt's earlier attempts involved shellacking a paper pulp sphere and a ball made of layers of cloth. Hyatt was inducted into the Billiard Congress Hall of Fame in 1971.