Fred Davis

Fred Davis, OBE (14 August 1913 – 16 April 1998) was an English professional player of snooker and billiards, one of only two players ever to win the world title in both, the other being his brother Joe. He was one of the most popular personalities in the game, with a professional career which lasted from 1929 to 1993. He was an 8-time World Snooker Champion.

Born in Chesterfield in Derbyshire, Davis was originally a billiards player - he called billiards 'his first love' - and he won the British Boys Under 16 Billiards Championship in 1929. He turned professional automatically under the rules of the Billiards Association and Control Council in 1929. By the time that he was ready to play competitive billiards, the sport was in sharp decline, although he did beat Kingsley Kennerley to win the United Kingdom Professional Billiards Championship in 1951. Davis remarked that once snooker had come to the fore he assumed that he would never play another billiards match.

Concentrating on snooker, he first played in the World Snooker Championship in 1937 but lost 17–14 to Welshman Bill Withers in the first round, a defeat that Davis put down to ignoring his worsening eyesight. His brother Joe considered this defeat an affront to the family honour and hammered Withers 30–1 in the very next round. Joe's fury with his brother's performance persuaded Fred to consult an optician who devised a pair of spectacles with swivel lens joints. He reached the semi-finals in 1938 and 1939 and lost only 37–36 to Joe Davis in the 1940 final (although the winning margin was reached at 37–35 as 'dead' frames were still played out). This was the only time they met in the World Championship final. A short clip of the match and a mention of Fred's impending World War II service is recorded in a Pathé news clip. Davis in fact was called up on 20 July 1940, only five days after his marriage to Sheila.

Post-war career

He was the younger brother (by twelve years) of Joe Davis, who dominated snooker from 1927 to 1946; they are no relation to later champion Steve Davis. Joe retired from the World Snooker Championship after his 1946 victory, leaving the way open for Fred to win three times, in 1948, 1949 and 1951. Fred would go on to have the distinction of being the only player to beat Joe on level terms (albeit outside of the world championship as Joe retired from championship play in 1947), a feat he achieved four times between 1948 and 1954. Such victories were especially sweet as Joe had told Fred that he would never beat him. Following a disagreement between some of the players and the governing body, Davis played in an alternative tournament—the World Professional Match-play Championship—which he won on five consecutive occasions from 1952 to 1956. Between 1947 and 1954 Fred's great rival was Walter Donaldson, and they met in eight consecutive finals. Donaldson's 1947 victory over Davis by 82–63 was a huge shock and Davis put down his defeat to a mixture of over-confidence and Donaldson's solid practice regime ahead of the championship which gave him a huge edge in his long potting.

Snooker remained a huge attraction at this time, and crowds filled Blackpool Tower Circus to see Davis beat Donaldson 84–61 in the 1948 final and 80–65 in the 1949 final. However times were changing, and from 1950 matches became shorter. Donaldson beat Davis for the last time to win the 1950 title, 51–46. When Davis won the 1954 event with a 39–21 victory over Donaldson, it was clear there was a decline in interest as only five players entered the championship; Donaldson then retired.

After defeating John Pulman in two close finals in 1955 and 1956, Davis chose not to play in the 1957 Championship—held in Jersey and, for financial reasons, featuring just four entrants—thus leaving the path clear for his rival Pulman. After the war Davis and his wife had invested in a hotel in Llandudno, and this gave them some financial security away from snooker. This proved a wise move; by the early 1960s Davis was playing exhibitions in aid of cancer charities, but soon even this limited amount of snooker activity dried up. Following tours of Canada and Australia (where he won an international tournament in 1960) and after an exhibition in Pontefract where he performed in front of only a handful of people, Davis effectively went into retirement. He hardly played for four seasons before being contacted by Rex Williams, who was keen to restart interest in snooker.

When the official World Championship was resumed in 1964 on a challenge basis, Davis had lost his edge and was defeated on each occasion by Pulman: in 1964 by 19 frames to 16, in 1965 by just 37 frames to 36 and in 1966 by 5–2 in matches.

Later career

The revival of the World Championship as a tournament in 1969 saw Davis beat future world champion Ray Reardon by 25 frames to 24 (the final frame not ending until 1.33am), before losing 37–24 to Gary Owen in the semi-finals. Davis's epic match with Reardon would earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records (as the longest recorded snooker session) and Reardon would later note that he learned more from that match than he had in the previous 20 years.

That same year BBC TV started its Pot Black series. Davis's familiarity with long matches contested over several weeks in his prime meant he was not immediately suited to the single-frame format of the event; however, he acclimatised well to it, finishing as runner-up in the 1971 series (to John Spencer), and achieved the highest break in the 1970, 1971 and 1975 series.

Soon after winning the Professional Snooker Association of Canada's Invitation Event (beating Rex Williams and Paul Thornley in the last two rounds) Davis suffered the first of two heart attacks in May 1970 and did not travel to the November 1970 World Championship, which was held in Australia and won by John Spencer. He lost 31–21 to Spencer in his first match in the 1972 championship, but beat David Greaves 16–1 in the second round of the 1973 championship before losing to Alex Higgins, the defending champion, 16–14 in the quarter-finals, a match most notable for a leak in the roof which forced rain to stop play while a cover was found and the position of each ball marked.

Davis gained his revenge in 1974, when he beat Higgins 15–14 in the quarter-finals, having earlier beaten Bill Werbeniuk 15–5. This return match with Higgins also contained a notable incident when the referee, Jim Thorpe, called a 'push-shot' in frame 25, a decision to which Higgins vehemently objected, swearing at the referee. Higgins blamed his subsequent defeat on the incident, but never blamed Davis for any part of it, clearly stating his admiration for Davis for playing so well following his second heart attack. Davis, for his part, also praised Higgins for his 'sportmanship'. However, Davis's 1974 World Championship campaign ended with a 15–3 defeat by eventual champion Ray Reardon in the semi-finals.

In 1975 Davis travelled to Australia to compete in the World Championship, where he played Dennis Taylor in an ordinary club billiard room in which a large number of fruit machines were in constant use. Hampered by such conditions, an unhappy Davis lost by a single frame, 15–14. The 1975 Watney Open in Leeds provided some consolation, and Davis beat Patsy Fagan 13–9 and John Spencer 13–12 before losing 17–11 in the final to Alex Higgins. Davis stated that a win over Spencer convinced him that he could still compete at the highest level of tournament play.

World rankings were introduced in 1976. Davis's abilities had peaked long before this, but he was still ranked number 4 that season. In 1977 Davis was ranked number 9, rising to 6 during both the 1978 and 1979 seasons; he maintained his form as the tour expanded, still being ranked inside the top 16 players in 1982, aged 67, and only falling outside the top 64 in 1988, aged 74.

Although Davis lost 15–13 to Eddie Charlton in the quarter-finals of the 1976 World Championship, having beaten Bill Werbeniuk 15–12 in round one, he came close to winning his first professional title for twenty years at the 1976 Pontins Professional. With victories over Willie Thorne, 7–4 in the quarter-finals, and Graham Miles, 7–2 in the semi-finals, he faced Ray Reardon in the final. Davis missed a crucial brown in the final frame, having made a break of 107 during the match, and Reardon won 10–9. This game would be described by Clive Everton in Snooker Scene as, 'the Pro Match of the Season'.

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1977. Davis (accompanied by his wife Sheila) was presented with the award by H.M. The Queen Mother at Buckingham Palace.

He reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship in 1978, at the age of 64, having defeated John Virgo 9–8, Dennis Taylor 13–9 and Patsy Fagan 13–10. His defeat by South African Perrie Mans saw Davis miss a crucial pink from its spot on the verge of pulling up to one frame behind at 15–16 (Davis went on to lose the match 18-16). His brother Joe, following each ball intently, swaying in his seat, almost fell into the gangway when his brother missed this key pot, and was taken ill after this frame; he was rushed to hospital to undergo a six-and-a-half-hour operation, but died a few weeks later. So dramatic was the missed pink that it became known as 'the ball that killed Joe Davis'. Davis closed 1978 with a quarter-final appearance in the UK Championship. He defeated veteran Yorkshireman John Dunning 9–2 before losing to Alex Higgins 9–4.

In early 1979 Davis met Alex Higgins in the final of the Castle Open (an event hosted at Bernard Bennett's club in Southampton). Davis lost the match 5–1, having earlier defeated Willie Thorne 4–3 and Cliff Thorburn 4–1, but clearly won over the crowd at the event.

During the World Championship that year he beat Kirk Stevens 13–8 to progress to the quarter-finals. This match was to be his last victory at the Crucible Theatre, but Davis memorably compiled the first century of the championship, a break of 109 in the sixth frame — an effort even applauded by the referee. In the quarter-final against Eddie Charlton, Davis soon fell 5–0 behind; he later admitted that he unwisely played an attacking game. This style enabled him to make a break of 110 in the eighth frame to reduce his arrears from 6–1 to 6–2, but he lost the match 13–4.

During the first World Challenge Cup in 1979 Davis acted as England's captain (the team was completed by John Spencer and Graham Miles). He won his first seven frames, which meant that he was instrumental in England's 8–7 victories over Northern Ireland and the Rest of the World. England were however defeated 14–3 in the final by Wales, whose team included the then-current world champion and his predecessor.

Although Davis lost 13–5 to David Taylor in his first match in the 1980 World Championship, he did reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship the following season, with a 9–6 victory over Mark Wildman before his 9–6 defeat by Alex Higgins.

In 1981, at the age of 67, Davis played in his last snooker final, the Raffles/Sheffield Shield Tournament played at the Sheffield Snooker Centre. He beat Mike Watterson 9–6 (having trailed 5–1) and Dennis Taylor 9–5 (having trailed 5–3). In the final he led Terry Griffiths 4–1 but eventually lost 9–5. Earlier in the season he played in his last Masters, beating Kirk Stevens 5–4 in the first round before losing to Terry Griffiths 5–2 in the quarter-finals.

Billiard career

Davis won the World Billiards Championships in June 1980, beating Rex Williams 5978-4452, and in so doing became the only player except for Joe Davis to have lifted both the World Snooker and World Billiards titles. However, he was quick to point out that standards differed markedly from those of the 1930s when the top players made such large breaks that they killed the game as popular entertainment. He would receive £1500 plus a cheque for £500 for the highest break (583); this was presented to him by 94-year-old Willie Smith, World Billiards champion in 1920 and 1923. Davis also retained the title later in November the same year, when the championship was restored to a knock-out basis for the first time since 1934. Davis beat Paddy Morgan 1907-978, John Barrie 1253-1153 and Mark Wildman 3037-2064 in the final to pocket £4000, then a record for a billiards event.

The modest billiards revival continued during the 1980s and Davis continued to play in events during the decade. In March 1982 he was defeated by a record narrow margin of six points in the semi-finals whilst defending his world title, as eventual champion Rex Williams beat him 1500-1494. In the 1983 event he beat Clive Everton and Eddie Charlton en route to the final where he lost to Rex Williams 1500-605, but at least took the highest break prize for an effort of 427. Also revived (from 1979) was the United Kingdom Professional Billiards Championship. Although Davis lost the title 1548-1031 in the semi-final of the 1979 event (to John Barrie) Davis looked likely to reclaim the title in 1983 when, having dispatched Ian Williamson and Ray Edmonds, he led Mark Wildman 750–477 after the first session of the final. However, Wildman recovered to take the title by 1500–1032.

In the 1984 World Billiards Championship Davis lost to Eddie Charlton 1436-829 in the semi-finals. After this time billiard events increasingly changed structure to a series of games of 400 or 150 points. Davis was always less happy with this structure; with this and with his advancing years, Davis fared less well at the game after this time. In the 1985 World Championship he did defeat Clive Everton 3–1 in round one, but fell 3–0 to Australian Robby Foldvari in the quarter-finals. The following year (still seeded 3) he lost 3–0 to Bob Close, who was making his professional debut. In 1987 he reached the quarter-finals of both the UK Billiards Championship and the World Championship, but lost on both occasions to Robby Foldvari. Davis's last entry in the World Billiards Championship came in 1992, but with the main competition to be played in India, he did not play his first-round match against David Barton. Davis did enter the 1993 UK Billiards Championship, but did not play his first-round match against Ian Williamson and he also scratched from the Radiant Grand Slam Second Leg where he was due to play David Edwards that same month.

Last years

Davis played professionally well into old age, making his last appearance in the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in 1984 aged 70, where he lost to Bill Werbeniuk 10–4. The following year he trailed Canadian Bob Chaperon 7–2 in the fourth qualifying round, but remarkably came back to win the match 10–9. (He would go on to lose 10–6 to Rex Williams in the final qualifying round, having led 6–5. Davis showed similar resilience in the 1985 UK Championship qualifying rounds to survive 9–8 against John Rea. He then went on to beat Bill Werbeniuk 9–7 in the first round, having trailed 5–3 at the interval. Davis then lost to Alex Higgins 9–2 in the second round. That same month Davis defeated Billy Kelly and then Kirk Stevens in the Mercantile Credit Classic; Stevens amusingly asked Davis not to retire until Stevens had finally defeated him. Davis would be defeated 5–3 by Eugene Hughes in the fourth round.

In the qualifying rounds of the 1988 World Championship Davis beat Jack Fitzmaurice 10–8 and Jim Bear 10–4 before losing to Australian John Campbell 10–3 in the final qualifying round. This gave Davis a cheque for £3,117, which was his highest ever in a professional snooker competition. The following year he beat Bernard Bennett 10–4 in the second round of qualifying for the World Championship, it would be his last ever victory in a championship he had first graced 52 years earlier.

During the 1989/90 season Davis recorded wins over Jimmy van Rensberg and Mike Watterson, but a 10–6 defeat by Ian Brumby in the second round of qualifying for the World Championship meant that he was forced into a 'play-off' to maintain his full professional status. Davis opted to play and was defeated 10–5 by Jason Prince. Suffering from arthritis of the knee, Davis literally limped from the arena to the press conference during which he was given an emotional standing ovation from spectators, players on other match tables and even those on the practice tables, who all ceased playing to acknowledge the moment. At the press conference, Davis announced he was now retired from competitive snooker but would keep playing in UK-based billiard tournaments. Ironically however, snooker threw its doors open to all comers and Davis resumed his snooker career, but played little competitive billiards thereafter.

During the 1990/91 season he recorded his final professional snooker victories at the Mercantile Classic. In the preliminary round he beat veteran Southampton professional Bernard Bennett 5–1 and Tony Wilson (a new professional from the Isle of Man) 5–4 on the same day. In the next round he lost 5–2 to Rex Williams in a match which saw 99 years of professional experience between the two players.

As a former World Champion, Davis was invited to compete in Barry Hearn's World Masters in 1991, where he lost to Steve Davis (then ranked number 2 in the world) 6–0. It would be Fred's last ever TV appearance in a competitive match.

Controversy

At the end of 1988 Davis spoke out against the governing body and its running of the game. His comments followed the convening of disciplinary action against him following his withdrawal from the Mercantile Credit Classic qualifying competition the previous May. Davis withdrew because of intense discomfort caused by his arthritis and confirmed his withdrawal twice with the tournament director, David Harrison. Davis was furious that his unblemished 60-year career had been called into question by a disciplinary board and took up his case via association member Ian Doyle. Doyle offered an apology, but no official apology was given. Davis stated that the WPBSA was more interested in thinking of ways to get at Barry Hearn, rather than acting in a constructive manner and accused the WPBSA of trying to buy off lower-ranked players to "get them on their side against Hearn".

Retirement

Davis only retired in 1993, aged 79, having lost to future world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan (62 years his junior) 5–1 in the Grand Prix qualifying during his last season. Davis lost 10–1 to Peter Daubney in the first round of qualifying for the 1992 World Championship, an effort which still netted him £500. Just four months later he would lose 5–0 to Mark King in the sixth round of qualifying for the 1993 event; it would be Davis' last World Championship match. His last ever competitive snooker match came in August 1992 when he lost 5–1 to Neil Tomkins in the European Open (he did not play his next scheduled match against Tom Finstad in the International Open).

On 14 August 1993 Davis turned 80, and still held a ranking of 259. Even then he stated that he would have loved to continue playing, but was prevented from doing so by the severe arthritis in his left knee which made it painful to walk. Indeed, it was Davis' attempt to redistribute his stance which contributed to such heavy defeats in his final snooker matches.

He died in April 1998 in Denbighshire, three days after a fall at his home. His death came hours after what would have been his brother Joe's 97th birthday.

On 13 July 2011, an onyx and diamond dress set which had belonged to Fred Davis and which had been worn by him when he won the 1948 World Championship was sold at Bonhams for £2520 (including Buyer's Premium). This was around three times the initial estimate.

Pre-war

Post-war

Modern era

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship – 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952*, 1953*, 1954*, 1955*, 1956*
• News of the World Tournament – 1957/58, 1958
• World Open Snooker Championship (Australia) – 1960
• Canada Invitational Event – 1970
• *event known as the World Professional Match-play Championship

Billiards

• World Billiards Championship – May 1980, November 1980
• UK Billiards Championship – 1951
• British Under-16 Boys Championship – 1929