A profile of the great Snooker player, Joe Davis

For the latest episode in our ‘Snooker Greats’ series Kurt Edwards delves further into history than ever before and profile the great Joe Davis.

Born in 1901, Davis is credited with introducing many of the aspects we have come to take for granted in the modern game such as break building and positional play. He was also a big driving force in the creation of the World Snooker Championship, which in turn helped the sport to become fully professional.

Early Life

Davis was born in Derbyshire, England just after the turn of the century and came from extremely humble beginnings. He was one of six children, and the son of a coalminer and pub landlord and it was in this pub that he first picked up a cue.

It was English billiards that he first played, and it was obvious from the start that Davis was a special natural talent with a cue in hand, as he scored his first billiards century, aged just 12. Davis turned professional in Billiards at aged just 18 and winning 4 world titles, but it is what he did for snooker that has cemented his place in the history books.

Much of Joe Davis’ early life was devoted to the game, managing various Billiard Halls as his full-time job alongside playing. It was here that the seed of a professional snooker tournament was planted, and the rest is history.

How Joe Davis changed Snooker forever

Professional Snooker Career

Having observed the growing popularity of snooker over the perceived ‘boring’ billiards, Davis set about convincing Billiards Association and Control Council to officially recognise a professional snooker tournament, and from this, in 1927 the World Snooker Championship was born.

It was Davis himself who won the inaugural tournament, and he went on to win the first 14 annual editions of the tournament, dominating right up until the onset of World War 2, during which it was not held. In the 1930 edition of the tournament, Davis made the first-ever century break in the World Championship en route to victory.

Joe Davis returned to the Championship he helped to create post war, and again took home the title, meaning that he won 15 World Titles in a row and had been World Champion for two decades.

It was after the 15th title that Davis decided to ‘retire’ from the World Snooker Championship and he never entered it again, resulting in him ending his career unbeaten in Snookers leading competition, a feat that no one has even come close to matching since.

Davis would carry on playing in other tournaments after this retirement, winning the News of the World Snooker Tournament 4 times, as well as the Sunday Empire News Tournament, and Sporting Record Master’s Tournament. These wins are made even more impressive by the fact that they would often be handicapped, giving his opponents a points advantage before the frame had even begun.

Davis eventually retired from the game at the grand old age of 62 in 1964, just under 40 years after he had helped it to become a professional sport. During his career, only his brother Fred Davis manage to beat him without receiving a handicap start.

The legacy left by Joe Davis is unmistakable and he is rightly regarded as a sporting legend both in and out of the game of snooker

In 1978, Davis sadly died from a chest infection that he contracted during a chest operation marking the passing of possibly the most influential player of all time.

Joe Davis - A pioneer of the game of Snooker

Greatest Moment

The greatest moment of Joe Davis’ career is undoubtedly completing the first ever officially recognised maximum break. He achieved this incredible feat in January 1955, when playing against old friend Willie Smith at Leicester Square Hall during an exhibition match.

Due to the match being played under the new retake rules after a foul shot, the Billiards Association and Control Council initially refused to acknowledge the break as official. But they backtracked in this in 1957 and the moment has gone down in history as ground-breaking for the game of snooker.