| Joe Davis was, without
doubt, the father of modern snooker. Although he did not possess
all the skills of the modern players, it must be remembered
that the balls were different, the cloth was different and many
of the shots made today were just not possible with the old
equipment. You can only be the best of your time and Joe was
certainly that. He was never beaten in the world championship
winning, it 15 times in succession. He was a great billiards
player but taught himself to play snooker before most people
even knew of the game and brought the game to the attention
of the masses.
Born in Whitwell, Derbyshire in 1901, Joe was the local amateur
billiards champion by the time he was 13 and turned professional
at 18. In 1922 at the age of 21 he played in his first world
championship, at billiards, and lost to the great Tom Newman.
He began to take an interest in snooker and helped to organise
the first world championship in 1927, This was staged in Birmingham
and he beat Tom Dennis in the final to win £6.50. He
then won every world title until 1946 when he decided to retire
from that event. The nearest he came to defeat was in the
1940 final, when he beat his brother, Fred by just the odd
frame 37-36.
Joe's classic cue action is still the basis of that used
by most of today's players and it was also he who developed
modern break-building methods using the black as the key.
He made his first snooker century in 1928 and by 1953 had
made 500 of them. He set new record breaks five times, 137
in 1937, 138 (1938), 140 (1947), 146 (1950) and finally, in
1955, he achieved the first officially recognised 147 against
Willie Smith at London's Leicester Square Hall. He also made
the first century in the world championship in 1935.
His exhibitions drew large crowds and he was one of the most
popular sportsmen of his day. He turned his exhibitions into
show business occasions and played at theatres like the Palladium
with a large mirror set up over the table so that the audience
could see what was going on.
Joe eventually retired from all play in 1964 with 687 snooker
centuries to his name and 83 billiard breaks of over 1000.
Only one person ever beat him on level terms and that was
his younger brother, Fred. Some would cynically say that this
was due to the fact that he rarely played anyone, outside
of championships, without giving them a few blacks start and
that this was to ensure that, if he lost, his record was still
intact.
He continued to follow the game as it developed through the
late 1960s and in the 1970s and it was while watching Fred
in the 1978 world semi-final at the Crucible that he collapsed
and he died some two months later on 10 July 1978. He was
awarded the OBE in 1963.
|
