John Spencer (snooker player)
John Spencer ( born September 18, 1935 in Radcliffe, Lancashire, United Kingdom, † July 11, 2006 in Bolton) was a professional English snooker player. Together with Ray Reardon, he dominated in the 1970s, the snooker community.
Career
With 15 years Spencer began to play as a hobby snooker. The interest in Snooker has been falling throughout his youth and he was only decided in the 30s to become a professional player as the public interest increased again. He won the first World Cup in 1969, after he had borrowed £ 100 from his bank to pay the entry fee. In the 1970s, he fought with Ray Reardon and Alex Higgins for supremacy, when snooker still a period of irrelevance was to then also be one of the most popular sports in Britain. Spencer still won two more championship titles, of which the last was the historic kick-off event at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 1977. He won many other titles, including 3 times Pot Black and 1 time the Irish Masters. He never reached the top of the world rankings and was always overshadowed by his friend and rival, Reardon.
In January 1982 Steve Davis was his opponent when he made the first televised maximum break at the Lada Classic transmitted tournament at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham. Ironically, Spencer had played an even 147 at a televised event three years earlier, but the camera men had gone to a tea break, also corresponded to the table and the balls not the standard.
Spencer was the first player who used a two-piece cue, with this he won the 1977 title.
His queue game contained an unusually long backswing, which allowed him an immense impact force and with whom he could play new shocks with an unusual twist that supported the development of the modern break- training.
He was the owner of Spencer's Snooker Club in Bolton in the 1980s, was as billiards at the height of its popularity. In addition, he was also for many years snooker commentator for the BBC and for six years (from 1990) Chairman of the WPBSA.
Spencer retired in 1991 from the snooker back because he suffered ( accompanied Severe muscle weakness with symptoms of the disorder of binocular vision ) from myasthenia gravis. In 2003 he was diagnosed with stomach cancer but refused treatment from to enjoy the rest of his life free from the effects of chemotherapy. Spencer committed many years at charity events and took, in spite of his illness, in a sponsored parachute jump in 2005 in part. His biography, titled "Out Of The Blue And Into The Black ", was released the same year.
Spencer died on 11 July 2006 at age 70 at a hospice in Radcliffe cancer.
In 2011 he was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame.
Achievements
Ranking Tournament Win
Other successes
Publications
- Out Of The Blue And Into The Black, John Spencer, Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Parrs Wood Press ( 1 April 2005), ISBN 190315863X