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Steve Davis is an English former professional snooker player, who is known for dominating the sport during the 1980s, as he was ranked world number one for seven consecutive seasons. Here are 43 facts about the player:
- Davis was born on August 22, 1957 in Plumstead, London, England.
- Davis took to snooker after his father gave him the book ‘How I Play Snookers,’ an instructional book by Joe Davis. He accompanied his father to Working Men’s Club to play snooker. He was 12 years old.
- He was regular at Lucania Snooker Club in Romford and developed his own technique in the 1970s. In 1976 Davis won the English Under-19 Billiards Championship.
- His talent drew the attention of Barry Hearn, Chairman of the Lucania Club. He became his manager and paid 25 pounds for every match to Davis.
- Davis reputation earned him the nickname ‘Nugget.’ He took part in challenger matches against professional such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer and Alex Higgins.
- In 1978 he won the ‘Potin’s Spring Open’ beating Tony Meo in the finals by 7-6 scoreline. He defended the title in the following year defeating Jimmy White 7-4 in the finals.
- As a professional he made his debut in the BBC Television series annual snooker tournament called ‘Pot Black.’ He turned professional on September 17, 1978.
- Davis reached quarterfinal of the ‘1980 World Championship.’ He defeated the top seed and the defending champion, Terry Griffith before losing in the quarterfinals to Alex Higgins.
- Davis won his first major title, the ‘Coral U.K Championship ‘on November 28, 1980. He defeated Alex Higgins in the final 16-6.
- Davis started the 1981 season with titles in Classic, International Master and in the English Professional tournaments.
- In 1981 World Championship, he defeated Doug Mountjoy in the final true to bookmakers’ predictions. He was seeded 15 for the tournament.
- In one of the many finals he contested with Griffiths, he defeated him in the 1981U.K Championship 16-3 to retain the title.
- On January 10, 1982 Davis made history by registering maximum break in a quarterfinal match at the Classic against John Spencer. He was gifted a Lada car by the sponsor for his effort.
- The Crucible Curse haunted Davis too. He failed to defend the World Championship title. He lost in the first round to Tony Knowles 10-1.
- Davis won the 1982 World Doubles title pairing with Tony Meo. The pair won four of the six titles before the tournament was abandoned.
- Davis won the 1983 World Championship title with session to spare in the finals. He defeated Cliff Thorbun 18-6 frames.
- Davis lost the 1983 Coral UK Championship to Alex Higgins despite leading 7-0 at one point. He lost 16-15 in closely contested finals.
- In 1984 Davis regained the UK Championship defeating 16-8. He also retained the World Championship Title at the Crucible Theatre by defeating Jimmy White 18-16 in the final. He is the first player to do so.
- At the 1985 World Championship, Davis despite leading through the match lost to Dennis Taylor 17-18 in a best of 35 frames.
- As per Channel 4 the Black Ball finish at 1985 World Championship was voted 9th greatest sporting moment of all time in 2002 poll. A record 18.5 million viewers watched the nailbiting finale.
- The match between Davis and Taylor in the 1985 Rothmans Grand Prix set a record for the longest one day final in snooker history. They played for 10 hours and 21 minutes. Davis won the match 10-9 frames.
- Despite losing the 1985 World Championship to rank outsider Joe Johnson, Davis remained number 1 in the world ranking.
- In 1987 Davis became the first player to win UK Championship, Masters and World Championship in the same year.
- Davis claimed his second Masters title in 1988, defeating Mike Hallett in the final 9-0. It was the only whitewash final in the event history.
- Davis became first player to make three century breaks in major tournaments, when he beat Jimmy White in the 1988-89 seasons International Open.
- In 1989 World Championship Davis beat John Parrott 18 frames to 3 in the final. This is the heaviest defeat in the world final of modern era.
- In 1989 Rothmans Grand Prix final, Davis defeated Dean Reynolds 10-0 to record only whitewash final in a ranking snooker tournament.
- By end of 1980s Steve Davis became snooker’s first Millionaire.
- Davis lost his world number one ranking, after losing in the semi-finals of 1990 World Championship to Jimmy White.
- Davis won his third B&H Masters in 1997, nine years after his last win in 1988. He defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the finals 10-8.
- Davis dropped out of top sixteen ranking in 2001 and failed to qualify for the World Championship for the first time in 22 years.
- Davis reached the finals of 2005 UK Championship held in New York. He lost to Ding Junhui 6-10. It was his 100th finals of his career in major championship.
- In March 2010 Davis qualified for the World Championship for record 30 the time. He became the oldest player at 52 years to win a match at Crucible, when he beat Mark King 10-9 in the first round.
- Davis defeat of defending champion John Higgins in the second round of 2010 World Championship was considered as the greatest upset in the 33 years of championship.
- On April 29, 2010 Davis and Taylor re-enacted historic final frame of their 1985 black ball final to mark its 25th anniversary.
- Davis reached the final of 2011 World Seniors Championship. He lost to Darren Morgan 2-1 in the finals.
- Davis had won 28 ranking events out of 80 professional titles. He had reached 115 finals.
- Davis failed to qualify for the 2014 World Snooker Championship and for the first time in 36 years dropped out off the professional main tour.
- Davis was rated as the third greatest player of all time by the authors of book ‘Master of the Baize.’
- In 2011 Davis was inducted in to Snooker’s Hall of Fame. He had won record six World Championship title and six U.K Championship title.
- Davis was instrumental in creation ‘Mosconi Cup’ the annual nine ball pool tournament between Europe and U.S.A. He was the member of victories team of 1995 and 2002 for Europe.
- Davis apart from snooker was also keen chess player. He was the president of British Chess Federation for a while.
- Davis had published book on chess and cookery apart from many books on snooker.
