Early Years
Davis turned pro in 1978 (aged 21) after a successful amateur career winning age-group titles in snooker and billiards. He made his debut at the World Championship a year later, losing 11-13 to Dennis Taylor in the first round. His performance at the 1980 tournament saw a significant improvement as he reached the quarter-finals. Professional Career
Davis has won more professional snooker titles than any other player and is considered one of the greatest players of all time. Such was Davis ' popularity and dominance in the 1980s that it was suggested that he was on television more often than the then Prime Minister. At the age of 49, he is still going strong, retaining his place in the elite world top 16 players almost every year. For the 2006-07 he is ranked no. 11.
Davis won his first major title - the UK Championship in 1980 and won his first World Championship title in 1981. This is considered the year that his dominance of the game began. He later reached seven of the next eight finals. In 1982, he made TV sporting history when he compiled the first televised 147 maximum break at the Lada-Classic, against John Spencer. Later he fell victim to the Crucible Curse affecting first-time world champions on their return to the Crucible, Davis suffered a shock 10-1 loss to Tony Knowles in the first round at the World Championships in 1982, and was also denied a third consecutive UK title with defeat in the quarter-finals to Griffiths. Davis regained the world title in 1983 with a session in the final to spare, defeating an overwhelmed Thorburn by 18-6, and a year later became the first man to retain his title at the Crucible Theatre by beating Jimmy White 18- 16 in the final. Perhaps his most notable match was the 1985 World Championship playing the final against Dennis Taylor at 17-17 the match went into a deciding frame. With the score close, Taylor potted to the final colors to leave the black as the winner-takes-all ball. After a series of safety shots and attempts at potting it, Davis over cut the black, leaving Taylor with a simple pot to secure the championship. The exciting finale saw a record post-midnight audience on British television and a record audience for BBC2 of 18 million people. He gained a measure of revenge over Taylor shortly afterwards, winning their Rothmans Grand Prix final, also in the deciding frame. Davis dominated the 1980s and although he continued to compete and win tournaments well into the 1990s. He was replaced as the world number one by Stephen Hendry. For the most part he has retained his place in the top 16, and reached the world semi-finals in 1990, 1991 and 1994. Among others he won four of his eight Irish Masters titles, the European Open and the Mercantile Credit Classic during the decade. Arguably the most memorable of his later tournament wins came in the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1997. Trailing his opponent Ronnie O'Sullivan 8- 4 in the final, he reeled off the next 6 frames to secure a 10-8 win. That win remains his last in a major snooker tournament. Davis dropped out of the Top 16 for three seasons during the early 2000s, before subsequently enjoying an up-turn in form and winning his place back for the 2003/2004 season. He was runner-up in the Welsh Open to O'Sullivan in 2004, while in 2005 he reached the quarter finals of the World Championship before losing to eventual winner Shaun Murphy. As of 2006, Davis has won a record 73 professional titles, 28 of them in ranking events. His record of six world titles in the modern era has been bettered only by Stephen Hendry and no player has yet matched his tally of six UK titles. Davis has also compiled 309 competitive centuries during his career. Style
Davis became known for his cool and impeccable conduct in high-pressure situations, earning himself the nicknames The Ginger Magician and The Nugget. His initial lack of emotional expression and somewhat monotonous interviewing style earned him a reputation as boring. As a result, the satirical television series Spitting Image gave him the ironic nickname Steve 'Interesting' Davis . Personal Life
Steve Davis lives in Brentwood, Essex with his wife and two sons. Davis has taken up his non-snooker interests in the public arena too. In 1983, he hosted The Steve Davis Sports Quiz for Channel 4 and later a soul music show for commercial radio stations, titled Steve Davis' Interesting Soul. Since 1996 he has presented a similar show on his local radio station, Phoenix FM. He is also a keen chess player and was, for a while, the President of the British Chess Federation. In 1995 Davis began playing pool professionally and is responsible for the institution of the Mosconi Cup, a multi-day competition between teams from Europe and the USA , inspired by and roughly based on the format of the Ryder Cup. He has also become a proficient poker player, with successful appearances at televised tournaments; one of these included an appearance at the final table together with fellow snooker player Jimmy White, who eventually won. Later, at the 2006 World Series of Poker, Davis finished in the money of the $10,000 no limit Texas hold'em main event. In 1988, Davis was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and was made an MBE. He was awarded an OBE in 2001 and is currently honorary president of the Snooker Writers' Association. He is co-author (with Geoff Atkinson) of the books How to Be Really Interesting (1988) and Steve Davis Plays Chess (1995) (with David Norwood). Davis is a big fan of the French progressive rock band Magma, and even organized a concert in London so he could watch them. Davis is no relation to snooker players Joe Davis and Fred Davis. Tournaments Won (Ranked Events) - World Championship: 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987-1989
- Jameson International: 1983, 1984
- Fidelity Unit Trusts International: 1987, 1988
- BCE International: 1989
- UK Championship: 1984-1987
- Lada Classic: 1984
- Grand Prix: 1985, 1988, 1989
- British Open: 1986, 1993
- Mercantile Credit Classic: 1987, 1988, 1992
- Asian Open: 1992
- European Open: 1993
- Regal Welsh Open: 1994, 1995
Non-Ranked Tournaments Won: - Benson & Hedges Masters: 1982, 1988, 1997
- Scottish Masters: 1982, 1983, 1984
- Irish Masters: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994
- Pot Black: 1982, 1983, 1991
- UK Championship: 1980, 1981
- World Trickshot: 1994, 1995, 1997
- Hofmeister World Doubles" 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 - all with Tony Meo
* Member of the British Empire Back to articles page
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