Steve Davis

Few players in the history of cue sports have enjoyed the notoriety or the success Steve Davis has accrued over his career.  Six times the World Champion of snooker and six times the winner of the UK Championships in the discipline, his 25 years as a professional have been followed by a great number of fans in the united Kingdom and throughout the world.  Now 46, Davis is still o­ne of the preeminent players in England and is based in Brentwood, Essex.

"I started playing at the age of fourteen and a half," Davis said of his beginnings.  "I took an interest in snooker because it was my father's hobby."  By 17, Davis found himself playing every day.  He established himself quickly as a top amateur, and after playing junior events for cueists 19 and under, he took his first win in a junior English billiards tournament.  Davis' first World Championship came at the age of 23, a scant few years after he made the choice to go pro.

"With the advent of color television, the BBC was looking for vehicles to show off their new baby.  And snooker was quite colorful," Davis said.  "By the time I turned professional, they were showing the World Championship as a two-week event like Wimbledon.  I couldn't have timed it better."

During his dominant period in the game during the '80s, Davis was "on television more than Margaret Thatcher," as the saying went.  His recognition o­n the streets anywhere in England was astronomical, and a television show of puppet satire featured a Davis character.

Of the 99 snooker finals he's been in, Davis has won 70, which he calls " a good strike rate."  Often described as having nerves of steel, Davis has become a millionaire through his success in snooker but has taken to playing 9-ball as well.

"I'm still more or less full-time snooker, other than the four tournaments Matchroom Sport produces," said Davis.  He has been a member of every European Mosconi Cup team.  This year, despite the claims in the great York Hall sing-along favorite "Walking in a Davis Wonderland" of his need for o­nly o­ne cue, the inimitable "Romford Slim" debuted a new o­ne, a beautifully butterfly-inlaid John Parris number.

"The cue I had before was a half-and-half cue," Davis said of the previous companion to his legendary snooker cue.  "It felt a bit weak playing pool shots.  I thought is was time I had a proper weapon."

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