Ray Reardon dies age 91: Snooker legend passes away after cancer battle as tributes pour in for six-time world champion

Six-time world snooker champion Ray Reardon has died at the age of 91.

Welshman Reardon, who dominated the sport in the 1970s, died on Friday evening, his wife Carol confirmed to the World Snooker Tour.

A statement on the WST’s official website said: ‘Ray Reardon, widely regarded as one of snooker’s greatest ever players and a six-time world champion, has died at the age of 91.’

Jimmy White said on X: ‘I’m devastated to hear that my good friend Ray Reardon has passed away.

“A total class act and very kind to me as I was finding my way in the game. A giant of the game. Rest in peace mate.”

Reardon will go down in history as one of snooker’s greatest players, winning six world titles

Reardon, pictured with his first wife Sue, receives his MBE at Buckingham Palace in 1985

Ray, affectionately known as ‘Dracula’, became a household name. Yet his story nearly ended long before the Welshman with the widow’s peak became famous.

On April 30, 1957, the world came crashing down for 24-year-old Reardon when a mining accident nearly took his life.

He was lucky to win six world titles the next day, let alone win them. His last title was in 1978, when he was 45.

Reardon, who has died aged 91, was born on October 8, 1932 in Tredegar.

He left Georgetown Secondary School at the age of 14 and after a brief stint as an apprentice mechanic, he followed his father Ben into the mines, first at nearby Ty Trist and later at the Pochin Colliery.

The teenage Reardon showed a talent for snooker and was given no evening shifts so he could practice. Unlike the modern game, however, there was little money to be made from potting balls.

Mining coal underground was the career choice, and when the Welsh mines began to close, the Reardon family moved to North Staffordshire. Ben and Ray Reardon found work at Florence Colliery in 1956, and disaster nearly struck the following year.

The future world champion cueman was developing a pit roadway when a ‘drop of earth’ fell on his helmet. Sensing danger, he threw himself down and as a 12-foot beam came crashing down along with a torrent of debris, Reardon was trapped.

After three hours, he was rescued. To avoid panic, Reardon drew on his memories of playing marbles with his brother Ron, who was 17 years younger than him.

Reardon wrote in his 1982 autobiography: “My ordeal left me looking and feeling a bit like a dirty dishrag. As the blood began to flow through my numb legs, I screamed in pain for a moment. But they gave me sips of water and I was soon better.”

During the war, mother Cynthia had bought a four-by-two-inch billiard table for young Ray for Christmas. He turned out to have a natural talent.

One afternoon, after attending the funeral of a headmaster, Reardon slipped out of a school row and went to the Tredegar Workmen’s Institute Society, where he won a match against site manager Tommy Biggs, who had a wooden leg. Reardon was quickly apprehended by his maths teacher.

From a young age he played billiards for money. His father did not like it at all, until he heard that his son won.

At the age of 13, Reardon represented the Institute’s men’s team in the Sirhowy Valley Billiards and Snooker League, quickly becoming All-Wales Champion.

As a miner, Reardon wore white gloves, similar to those of a snooker referee. But after meeting his future wife, Sue, his career continued above ground.

Ray and Sue married on Easter Monday 1959 and Reardon joined the Stoke-on-Trent police a year later, where he remained for almost eight years.

He won the English Amateur Championship in 1964, beating John Spencer, and became a father a year later when Sue gave birth to their son Darren. Daughter Melanie followed in 1969.

Reardon considered staying on as a police officer, but snooker won out. The BBC television show Pot Black was a hit, even when many watched it in black and white, and Reardon beat Spencer to win the first edition in 1969.

He lost his opening match at the World Championship that same year 25-24 to 55-year-old Fred Davis. But a year later, the 37-year-old Reardon reigned supreme in the snooker world for the first time by beating John Pulman 37-33 in the final. He said that ‘nothing will ever surpass the miracle’ of that moment.

Reardon’s first car was a Ford Prefect which he called the ‘Gutless Wonder’. Later, after an upgrade, it had the 1 PRO registration.

Manchester hosted the 1974 World Cup and during the closing session of the final against Graham Miles, Reardon introduced the team that would forever associate him with Bram Stoker’s bloodsucking Count Dracula.

Reardon was sponsored by Marsden’s Tailors of Stoke and he appeared dressed in a cape, top hat and scarlet silk jacket.

“Someone thought the outfit made me look like Dracula and that name stuck with me more than most,” Reardon later said.

Reardon spent many years giving exhibition matches in apartheid South Africa. He explained the trips this way: ‘The only world I tried to change was the world of snooker.’

He won four world titles in a row from 1973 to 1976. Then, as reigning champion, Reardon had the honour of playing on the first morning when the tournament moved to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 1977. He defeated Patsy Fagan before falling to eventual champion Spencer.

Twelve months later, Reardon dominated the Crucible when he defeated Perrie Mans 25-18 to claim his sixth world title at the age of 45 years and 203 days.

Four years later he returned to the final, but lost 18-15 to Alex Higgins.

Reardon remained competitive until the mid-1980s, retiring in 1991.

His marriage to Sue ended in divorce in the final years of his playing career.

Reardon settled in Brixham and later Torquay and spent many happy years as chairman of Churston Golf Club.

In 2004, he joined Ronnie O’Sullivan in a mentoring role at the World Championships, helping the Rocket to his second world title. He had received a call from O’Sullivan’s imprisoned father, Ronnie Sr., encouraging the union.

Reardon, who is survived by his second wife Carol, saw the Welsh Open trophy named after him in 2016 but has continued to enjoy a quiet retirement in Devon, saying: ‘It’s lovely on the golf course.’