Date of Birth

1899

Tom  Jones.

Home Town

Abertillery

Club

Mines' Welfare Institute, Crumlin

High Break Billiards

344

High Break Snooker

91

Achievements

1951 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1949 London Snooker Championship Runner up

1949 London Billiards Champion

1949 London Billiards Champion

1948 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1948 CIU Individual Billiards Champion

1946 CIU Individual Billiards Champion

1946 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1942 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1941 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1940 CIU Individual Billiards Champion

1940 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1939 CIU Individual Snooker Champion

1939 English Amateur Billiards Championship Semi Finalist

19xx News of the World Handicap Snooker Champion

1934 Welsh Amateur Billiards Champion

1933 Empire (World) Amateur Billiards Championship Runner up

1933 Welsh Amateur Billiards Champion

1928 Monmouth Open Billiards Champion

1928 Western Valley Individual Handicap Billiards Cup Winner

Biography

Tom Jones was one of the leading amateur players to emerge from Wales either side of the second world war.

Born in Abertillery in 1899, Jones started playing at thirteen years old and he'd made his first billiards 100 break by the age of fourteen.

In the early 1920s he played at the Minters' Welfare Club in Crumlin and won many local titles for his club, including the Welsh Billiards championship in 1933 and 1934.

In 1936 Jones packed his bags and moved to Hayes in Middlesex. There he continued to find success in many events including winning the News of the World snooker championships and reaching the semi finals of the English Amateur billiards championship. During that event he beat Frank Edwards 2835-2235 making five century breaks, the highest being 192 and had an average of 20.39.

He found particular success in the CIU Championships at both snooker and billiards. Jones won the snooker in 1939, 1940 1941, 1942, 1946, 1948 and 1951 and the billiards title in 1940, 1946 and 1948.

Living in Hayes, he was eligible to enter the London & Home Counties events and took the London Billiards title in 1947 and 1949 and was runner up in the 1949 snooker championship.

Had he not left Wales it is likely he would have dominated the Welsh snooker and billiards championships for many years.

In 1952 The Billiard Player magazine pay tribute to Jones saying "Perhaps no amateur or professional has ever had an easier and more free-flowing style. When in forms Jones passes the classical test of fine billiards. He makes scoring look like child's play. He plays quickly and confidently and altogether can be said to be a genuine artist and one of the best amateurs in billiards history. We are pleased to pay tribute to this outstanding exponent of the game."