Ray Reardon

Infobox Snooker player
Name = Ray Reardon


Caption =
Born = birth date and age|1932|10|8
Birthplace = Tredegar, Monmouthshire
Died =
Deathplace =
Nationality = flagicon|Wales Welsh
Nickname = "Dracula"
Professional = 1967–1992
High ranking = #1 (6 years)
Current rank =
Prize money =
High break =
Best finish =
Ranking wins = 5
Other wins = 10
World champ = 1970, 1973–1976, 1978

Ray Reardon, MBE (8 October 1932) is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade. A genial figure, his dark widow's peak and sharp-toothed grin nonetheless earned him the nickname Dracula.

Early Life & Career

Born 8 October 1932, in the coal mining community of Tredegar in Wales, Reardon left school and became a coal miner when he was just 14, like many of his generation and earlier. It is rumoured that he used to wear gloves to protect his hands for snooker. Following an accident underground in which Reardon was actually buried for several hours, he quit mining and became a police officer. Cite web
url = http://welshaa.org.uk/ind/sport/snooker/defn/rayreadon1.htm
title = Ray Reardon Profile
publisher = Welsh Archive of Achievement
date =
accessdate = 2008-04-12] He played snooker at an amateur level for many years including wining 5 Welsh Amateur titles and the 1964 English Amateur title, before finally turning professional in 1967.

His first appearance at the World Championship was in 1969, and he won his first title the following year, beating John Pulman 39-34 at London's Victoria Hall. After winning the title, Reardon was in big demand for exhibitions and on the holiday camp circuit. Winning the first ever Pot Black in 1969 made him instantly recognisable, and Reardon and John Spencer were the first two men to capitalise on the snooker boom in the early 1970s.

Entertainer

Reardon also became popular because he added a touch of humour and entertainment to his game. A deadly long potter and tactician in his prime, Cite web
url = http://www.johnvirgo.com/watn.asp
title = Where are they now? - Ray Reardon
publisher = johnvirgo.com
date =
accessdate = 2008-04-09] he played seventeen World Championship matches without defeat and won the title four years in succession. He won his second in 1973 in Manchester when he beat Eddie Charlton 38-32, but the match of the championship was the semi-final between Reardon and Spencer, which Reardon won 23-22.

He beat the up-and-coming Graham Miles the following year, and in 1975, when it was held in Melbourne, Australia, he had a tough quarter-final with Spencer which he won 19-17. He then beat Alex Higgins 19-14 before meeting local hero Eddie Charlton in the final. Reardon initially trailed by 23 frames to 29, putting Charlton two frames away from the title, but Reardon then won seven consecutive frames to lead 30-29. Charlton took the sixtieth frame to tie the match but Reardon took the vital sixty-first and won his fourth title.

Reardon won his fifth the next year in Manchester, beating Alex Higgins 27-16. Earlier that year, he had won the Benson and Hedges Masters in London, his second snooker title after the World Championship. His unbeaten run at the World Championship ended at the first Crucible championship in 1977, when he lost to John Spencer in the quarter-finals 6-13, his first defeat since Rex Williams in 1972.

He regained the title in 1978 winning it for the sixth time by beating Perrie Mans 25-18. Reardon remains the oldest winner of the World Championship at the age of 45 years and 6 months. He then regained his Pot Black title in 1979.

Six World Titles

After his sixth world title he did not win another, but he remained one of the world's very best players for some years. He was beaten by Dennis Taylor in the 1979 quarter-final, and by David Taylor at the same stage in 1980. He went a step further in 1981, being surprisingly beaten by countryman Doug Mountjoy in the semi-finals.

It was the rise of Steve Davis in 1980-81 that saw Reardon and his generation lose their grip on the sport as it became "a young man's game", having previously been dominated by players in their 30s and 40s.

However, despite Davis' total domination over an 18 month period between late 1980 and the Spring of 1982, Reardon remained a major force in the game. At 49, he reached the World final in 1982, losing to Alex Higgins 15-18.

In 1983, Reardon's career went through an Indian summer. He reached the final of the Benson & Hedges Masters, losing 7-9 to Cliff Thorburn, and went on to win several tournaments including the Yamaha Organs International Masters, where he beat Jimmy White 9-6 in the final. This led him to be fancied in some quarters for that year's World Championship, but he was beaten 12-13 in a high-quality second round match by Tony Knowles.

After 1983, he never again looked likely to triumph in major championships although he reached the semi-finals of the World Championships once more, in 1985 (losing 5-16 to Davis). He last played at the Crucible in 1987, losing to Steve Davis again in the second round.

World Number One

When the world rankings were introduced in 1976, Reardon was the first number one, retaining that position until 1981/1982. His win in the 1982 Professional Players Tournament at the age of 50 led to him recapturing the world number one position in the first set of rankings to be calculated on tournaments other than the World Championship. Apart from Reardon, only Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins have ever recaptured the number one ranking.

Reardon remains the oldest player ever to win a ranking tournament. He has also won the State Express World Team Classic for Wales during the first two years of the tournament in 1979 and 1980 with Mountjoy and Terry Griffiths. He also won the Welsh Professional Championship in 1981 and 1983. His last final was the 1985 World Doubles when he partnered Tony Jones and lost to Steve Davis and Tony Meo 5-12. He was awarded the MBE in the same year.

Later years

Reardon began to struggle in 1982 when his father died. He also developed poor sight and started wearing 'Dennis Taylor-style glasses' later on in his career. He went out of the top 16 in 1987 but surprisingly whitewashed Steve Davis 5-0 in the 1988 British Open. He retired in 1992, but maintains an active interest in the game. He also advised Ronnie O'Sullivan on his way to his 2004 World Championship victory, giving him psychological and technical help. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/3677833.stm 'Magic' Ronnie wows Reardon] ", BBC Sport, 2 May 2004. Retrieved on 13 July 2008.]

Tournament wins

Ranking wins

*World Championship - 1974–1976, 1978
*Professional Players Tournament - 1982

Other wins

*World Championship - 1970, 1973 (world rankings did not begin until 1974)
*Benson & Hedges Masters - 1976
*Pot Black - 1969, 1979
*World Cup - 1979, 1980 (with Wales team)
*Yamaha International Masters - 1983
*Welsh Professional Championship - 1981, 1983

External links

* [http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/Players/Global_Europe/Global_Welsh/wales_ray_reardon.htm Ray Reardon's biography at Global Snooker Centre]
* [http://www.worldsnooker.com/players_head_to_head-8629.htm Profile on World Snooker]

References