Steve Davis - Biography & Images

Steve Davis OBE – born 22 August 1957 – is a retired professional snooker player.

He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World Snooker Championship finals in nine years, won six world titles, and held the world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons.

He was runner-up to Dennis Taylor in one of snooker’s most famous matches, the 1985 World Championship final, whose dramatic black-ball conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, still the largest British television audience for any broadcast after midnight and any broadcast on BBC Two.

In addition to his six world titles, Davis won the UK Championship six times and the Masters three times for a total of 15 Triple Crown titles, placing him third on the all-time list behind Ronnie O’Sullivan (21) and Stephen Hendry (18).

During the 1987–88 season, he became the first player to win all three Triple Crown events in a single season, a feat only two other players—Hendry and Mark Williams—have since emulated.

Named the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 1988, he remains the only snooker player to win the award.

He won his last major title at the 1997 Masters but competed at a high level into his 50s, making his last Crucible appearance in 2010 when he defeated the defending world champion John Higgins to become the oldest world quarter-finalist since 1983.

As of 2023, Davis’s 30 Crucible appearances are second only to O’Sullivan’s 31.

He retired in April 2016 after 38 seasons on the professional tour, but remains active as a commentator and analyst for BBC’s snooker coverage.