| Fred Davis, younger
brother by twelve years of the legendary Joe, was possibly the
most charming and loveable player the game has produced. Always
with a twinkle in his eye, and a ready smile, he was nevertheless
a ruthless player and one of the hardest to beat right into
his late 60s. He was the only man to beat Joe Davis in competition
on level terms which he did on four occasions.
Fred was born on 13 August 1913 near Chesterfield in Derbyshire.
Although much younger than Joe, he was inspired by his brother's
success. Like Joe, he began with billiards becoming National
Under-16 champion in 1929 following which he turned professional
and was world junior professional billiards champion for three
successive years. He played in his first world snooker championship
in 1937 but lost in the first round to a virtual unknown.
He had known he was short sighted and after this defeat decided
to do something about it and got himself fitted with a pair
of swivel-lens glasses. This made all the difference and the
following year he reached the world semi-final. In 1939 he
got to the semis again, this time meeting brother Joe who
beat him 17-14. He got to the final in 1940 and gave Joe his
closest ever match losing in the deciding 73rd frame 37-36.
Fred spent five years in the army during the war but came
back with another semi-final in the 1946 world championship.
By the time the 1947 championship came round, Joe had retired
from the event and Fred was favourite to succeed him and keep
the name of Davis on the trophy. In the event he was well
beaten in the final by Walter Donaldson 82-63. Davis got his
revenge in 1948 and enjoyed a run of ten consecutive world
finals from 1947 to 1956. He won eight in all losing out to
Donaldson again in 1950.
Following a sad decline in the game, there was a revival
in 1969 with several new young professionals. Fred however
was still a force in the game and reached three more world
semi-finals, the last of them in 1978 at the age of nearly
65. He played his last world championship match at the Crucible
in 1984 aged 70 but he still competed in the event, and on
the professional circuit, until 1992 when arthritis restricted
his mobility. At that time he was, aged 78, the oldest active
professional sportsman in the world.
Having been ranked as high as number 4 when the world rankings
were introduced in 1976, he went on to captain England in
the World Cup and was still in the top 16 at the age of 67.
When he was 66 he decided to try and emulate his brother by
winning the world billiards title which he duly did and successfully
defended it in 1981.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s he continued to play
all the ranking events insisting he would never retire although
by then he was hardly able to win a frame against the new
young professional coming into the game, but eventually his
difficulty in moving round the table forced him to call it
a day.
Fred always played for fun yet still played to win. He died
on 16 April 1998 and had been awarded the MBE for services
to billiards and snooker in 1977.
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