Raymond Reardon (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to his dark widow's peak and prominent eye teeth, he was nicknamed "Dracula".
Until his mid-thirties, Reardon worked as a coal miner and then as a police officer while pursuing snooker at an amateur level. His titles during this era included six consecutive Welsh Amateur Championships from 1950 to 1955 and the English Amateur Championship in 1964. He turned professional in 1967 and became World Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1978; he was also runner-up in 1982. His other major tournament wins included the inaugural Pot Black tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters, and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. The first player to be ranked "world number one" when world rankings were introduced during the 1976–77 season, he held the position for the next five years. He regained the top ranking position in 1982, after which his form declined; he dropped out of the elite top-16 ranked players after the 1986–87 season.
In 1978, Reardon became the oldest World Champion, aged 45 years and 203 days, a record he held for the next 44 years, until Ronnie O'Sullivan won his seventh world title at the 2022 event, aged 46 years and 148 days. Reardon became the oldest winner of a ranking title when he won the 1982 Professional Players Tournament aged 50 years and 14 days; his record endured for 43 years, until Mark Williams won the 2025 Xi'an Grand Prix at the age of 50 years and 206 days. Appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1985, Reardon retired from professional competition in 1991, aged 58. He never achieved a maximum break in tournament play; his highest in competition was 146.
During his retirement, Reardon served as president of Churston Ferrers golf club in Devon, where he was a member for over 40 years. He mentored O'Sullivan in preparation for his 2004 World Championship campaign, helping him lift his second world title. In 2017, the Welsh Open trophy was renamed the Ray Reardon Trophy in his honour. Reardon died from cancer in July 2024, aged 91.
Early life The son of Ben and Cynthia Reardon, he was born on 8 October 1932 in the coal mining community of Tredegar in Monmouthshire, Wales. When eight years old, he was introduced to a version of snooker by his uncle, and at ten he was practising cue sports twice-weekly at Tredegar Workmen's Institute as well as on a scaled-down billiard table at home. He primarily played English billiards rather than snooker, which, according to authors Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby, helped improve his control of the and his . At the age of 14, following in the footsteps of his father, Reardon turned down a place at a grammar school to become a miner at Ty Trist Colliery. He wore white gloves while mining, to protect his hands for snooker. He made his first century break on his 17th birthday.
In March 1959, Reardon married Sue, a pottery painter. After a rockfall in which he was buried for three hours, and with Sue's encouragement, he quit mining and became a police officer in 1960 when his family moved to Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. While serving in the police force, Reardon earned commendations for bravery. On one occasion, he disarmed a man who was wielding a shotgun. On another, he crawled across an icy rooftop and dropped through a skylight onto a burglar.
Amateur snooker career
In 1949, Reardon won the News of the World Amateur title and was awarded an ash cue stick, presented to him by 15-time world snooker champion, Joe Davis. Reardon used this cue for almost 30 years until it came apart shortly after the 1978 World Championship final. He reached the final of the 1949–50 under-19 Junior championship, losing 2–3 to Jack Carney. Reardon first won the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1950, defeating the defending champion John Ford 5–3 in the final, and he retained the title every year until 1955. He reached the final of the 1956 English Amateur Championship, where he led Tommy Gordon 7–3 after the first day, but lost the from his cue early on the second day and was defeated 9–11.
Reardon played a fellow Tredegar resident, Cliff Wilson, in a succession of and faced him several times in amateur tournaments. Their contests attracted hundreds of spectators and in his 1979 book, The Story of Billiards and Snooker, Clive Everton describes them as "modern snooker's nearest equivalent to a bare knuckle prize fight."
After losing in the first round of the 1957 English Amateur Championship, Reardon decided to take some time out from competitive snooker to work on improving his game. He next entered the championship in 1964, when he won the title by defeating John Spencer 11–8 in the final.
Professional career
Six times world snooker champion That victory in 1964 led to an invitation to tour South Africa with Jonathan Barron, which proved so successful that Reardon was offered the opportunity to return and tour again as a professional. He returned there after having resigned from the police force and turned professional in 1967. When he played Jimmy van Rensberg in the South African Challenge, Reardon won the best-of-three matches event 2–1.
Reardon's first appearance at the World Snooker Championship was in 1969 in a quarter-final against Fred Davis in Stoke-on-Trent. The match featured lengthy tactical exchanges between the players, resulting in some of the longest sessions ever recorded in World Championship play. Neither player was ahead by more than two until Reardon won the 27th frame to lead 15–12, after which Davis won six frames in a row. The best-of-49-frames match went to a , which Davis won. In July 1969, the BBC began broadcasting Pot Black, a competition of one-frame matches which became popular with viewers and enhanced the profile and earning power of the participants. Reardon won the first series by defeating Spencer 88–29 in the one-frame final.
In London in April 1970, Reardon won the World Championship for the first time, defeating Davis in the quarter-finals, Spencer in the semi-finals, and John Pulman 37–33 in the final, having led 27–14 before Pulman reduced the lead to one frame at 34–33. At the next World Championship, played in Australia in November 1970, Reardon won all four of his round-robin group matches, and qualified for a place in the semi-finals, where Spencer established a winning margin against him at 25–7 and finished the match 34–15 ahead after . Reardon won the October 1971 edition of the Park Drive 2000, defeating Spencer 4–3 in the final after placing second in the round-robin stage (behind Spencer who had placed first). In the Spring 1972 edition, he made a break of 146 in the round-robin, which was the highest-ever break in competitive play at that time. This remained the highest official break of Reardon's career, as he never achieved a maximum break of 147 in tournament play.
At the 1972 World Championship, Reardon lost his first match 22–25 to Rex Williams in the quarter-finals. He reached the final of the 1973 World Championship in Manchester, beating Jim Meadowcroft 16–10, and Spencer 23–22. He lost the first seven frames of the final to Eddie Charlton, but took 17 of the next 23 to hold a four-frame advantage at 17–13 and then moved further ahead into a 27–25 lead. At this point in the match, he complained to the organisers about the television lighting reflecting on the ; when his complaint was not resolved by the organisers, he approached the tournament sponsors and threatened to withdraw from the competition, after which the lighting was changed. Reardon was ahead 31–29 going into the last day, and won 38–32 to claim his second world title.
Reardon defended his World Championship title in 1974, defeating Meadowcroft 15–3, Marcus Owen 15–11 and Davis 15–3 before beating Graham Miles 22–12 in the final. In a post-match interview, Reardon suggested that he had not played "any better than mediocre" in the final, but that Miles had not created any pressure for him, adding: "I don't feel the elation that I felt at winning last year." He also won the 1974 Pontins Professional, leading 9–4 in the final and winning it 10–9 after Spencer took five consecutive frames to force a decider.
In 1975, Reardon reached the final of the inaugural Masters by winning 5–4 on the against Williams in the semi-final, but lost the final 8–9 to Spencer on a . At the 1975 World Championship in Australia, he won a tough quarter-final against Spencer, 19–17, and then eliminated Alex Higgins 19–14 in the semi-finals to meet Charlton in the final. Reardon was leading 16–8, but Charlton won the following nine frames and then went ahead 28–23 before Reardon pulled back seven of the next eight frames to lead 30–29. Charlton took the 60th frame to tie the match but Reardon won the vital 61st frame to secure the world title for the third successive year. A week later, at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales, he retained the Professional title and won the Spring Open title.
Reardon won the Masters in January 1976, beating Miles 7–3 in the final. He had earned his place in the final by defeating Pulman 4–1 in the quarter-finals, in a match where the highest break (compiled by Pulman) was only 22, and then Charlton 5–4 in the semi-finals.
In 1976, Reardon won his fifth world title, defeating John Dunning 15–7, Dennis Taylor 15–2 and Perrie Mans 20–10. During the final in Manchester against Higgins, Reardon complained about the television lighting (which was changed), the quality of the table (to which adjustments were subsequently made), and the referee (who was replaced). Higgins led in the early stages of the match, but Reardon recovered to 15–13 before winning 12 of the next 15 frames for a 27–16 victory. He claimed the Pontins Professional title for the third consecutive year, defeating Fred Davis 10–9 in a contest described by Snooker Scene correspondent as the best match of the professional season for "quality, interest and excitement". Both players made a century break in the match, Reardon pulling ahead to 8–5 after losing all of the first three frames, but then needing the last two when Davis took the score to 9–8. Reardon also won the 1976 World Professional Match-play Championship in Australia, defeating the event's promoter Charlton 31–24 in the final.
Reardon reached the final of the 1977 Masters, beating Williams 4–1 in the quarter-finals and Miles 5–2 in the semi-finals, but lost the final 6–7 to Doug Mountjoy. He was also runner-up at the 1977 Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament, losing 2–5 to Higgins. Reardon's successful run at the World Championship ended in 1977 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, when he lost to Spencer in the quarter-finals 6–13; it was his first defeat at the World Championship since his quarter-final loss to Williams in 1972.
Reardon regained the world title in 1978 in Sheffield; after recovering from 2–7 down to beat Mountjoy 13–9 in the last-16 round, he defeated Bill Werbeniuk 13–6, Charlton 18–14, and Mans 25–18 in the final to lift the trophy for the sixth and final time. Aged 45 years and 203 days, Reardon was the oldest winner of the World Snooker Championship, a record that lasted until 2022 when Ronnie O'Sullivan won the title aged 46 years and 148 days. Soon after establishing this record, Reardon regained the Pontins Professional title, taking it for the fourth time in five years, defeating Spencer 7–2 in the final. The same year, his old rival from Tredegar, Wilson, won the World Amateur Championship.
Later professional career Toward the end of 1978, Reardon beat Patsy Fagan 6–1 and Higgins 11–9 to win the one-off "Champion of Champions" event, sponsored by the Daily Mirror and held at the Wembley Conference Centre. He also won the 1979 Forward Chemicals Tournament.