Armed with a 40-year-old cue balls do almost everything but sing as he gives a running commentary. But that is the only time he will play for laughs, and as a result of WIZARD MAKES IT this outlook, he was able to know, when he returned to Bermuda, that snooker has become a dominant sport through his help. LOOK EASY The story of Joe Davis can be the story of any youngster with am­ By George Brech bition. He had no advantage over The photo on opposite page by Ed Kelly other boys. Unlike Walter Lindrum, the billiards expert, who was born in­ to a family of champions and prac­ Tom Webster, a famous English angle of a master at the game, rather tised on his own table from the age sports cartoonist, always drew Joe than the amazement of a novice. of 8; or Tom Newman, who was Davis as a little man with a pert Joe Davis was responsible for this coached by John Roberts and taken nose pointing to high noon and hold­ upsurge in the game and he was very on world tours with him. ing a cue three times his height. conscious of the difference in the Davis came from an ordinary Webster was correct about the spectators' interest during this second family in the Derbyshire village of button nose but was doubly wrong visit. Which is one reason why he Whitwell and grew up in Chesterfield. about the stature, as he knew. is such an unusual world figure in But from an early age he had several Joe Davis does give the impres­ sport. traits of a Yorkshireman in that he sion of shortness through an unusual Knowing his fame as a cue artist, was stubborn, inquisitive and aggres­ stockiness in build, but in actual fact he considers he should play at his sive. he is 5 feet 10 inches tall. And, of best in every game, whether he is He decided to learn to play bil­ course, as the puckish Webster said giving a massive start to an earnest liards — which he did. Then he de­ many times in tributes to a friend amateur in a village hall, or com­ cided that snooker was a better game of many years, there is nothing small peting against top-flight competition and concentrated on becoming its about this man who ranks in sports at level terms before a critical Lon­ leading player — which he did. history as the greatest snooker player don audience. For many years, while snooker of all time. He respects himself, his talents, was regarded as an upstart interloper On the opposite page is a striking his opponent and his audience by re­ in the sacred province of a billiards photo of this cue immortal in a fusing to play for laughs during a hall, he was stubbornly campaigning characteristic pose — the pose which game. When he plays, it is with a to popularise it. Today, snooker out­ has launched a million breaks at fierce concentration and a determina­ ranks billiards throughout the world. snooker and billiards. tion to win, no matter who the other When the first world snooker This is the man who, starting to player might be. championship was held in London, in play when he was 11 years old, re­ At the end of each session he re­ 1927, Joe Davis and a few profession- tired as undefeated world snooker laxes with an exhibition of trick champion after holding the title for shots, and then he will make the Continued on Page 25 20 consecutive years, and was English billiards champion four times in the days when it ranked as the world title. He has compiled 612 breaks of The Day Joe Davis' Wife Cried 100 and over at snooker, including the maximum score, 147. The greatest moment in the career later that he took longer over that And a few weeks ago. at the ripe of Joe Davis came in January last shot than any other in his life. But old age of 54, Joe Davis won a £1,500 year when he made a maximum break he sank the red — and the spectators snooker tournament with his usual of 147, the first man in snooker his­ gasped with relief. mastery over opponents and the game. tory to do so and a feat Davis had Prom that point on, he said, he The photo was taken in Bermuda been trying to achieve for 30 years. was so excited and also so afraid of during a recent stop-over on his way It was made at historic Leicester flufQng every shot, that he was al­ home to England from a West Indies Square Hall just a week before the most scrambling the rest of the balls tour, where he played at a Hamilton hall was closed for ever, his opponent down. hall in a one-day appearance divided was Willie Smith, another top-ranking As he sank the black for the last into afternoon and evening sessions. player, and it was the last frame of time to make history, pandemonium This was his second visit to the the afternoon session. broke out in the staid old hall, where Colony. A 10-day visit in 1949 resulted Not a ball had been potted when a cough had always been frowned on. in snooker staging an astonishing rise Joe started on his break, conscious, Willie Smith flung his arms around to become one of the Colony's top from the position of the balls, that him in delight, the marker followed. sports. Previously, only a handful the chance to achieve his life's ambi­ Then the spectators poured from their of enthusiasts had played the game, tion was possible at last. seats and rushed in a mob to con­ as billiards held undisputed sway as He went along smoothly until he gratulate him. Joe finished on his the top attraction. But after Joe had scored 80 when a movement by a knees with the crowd milling above Davis had demonstrated his almost spectator broke his concentration. At him. incredible skill, snooker staged a leap 104, with 13 reds and 13 blacks potted, Finally he staggered out to phone in popularity and has now eclipsed he found his ball between a red and his wife Juanita. When he told her the three-ball game. a top pocket, both on the side cushion the news, she promptly burst into In this second visit he was watch­ with only an inch or so between them. tears. "Cheer up. Darling," said Joe, ed by many who had taken up snooker He had just one chance to make "this is the greatest moment of my through the influence of that earlier the shot — to drive the red straight life." tour, and they were now able to ap­ down the side cushion into the pocket, "I know, I know," she sobbed. preciate his skill from the technical a distance of 10 feet. Davis admitted "I'm so happy I can't stop crying." BERMUDA SPORTS Twenty-Three .