George Chenier

George Chenier
Born (1907-01-14)14 January 1907
Hull, Quebec, Canada
Died 16 November 1970(1970-11-16) (aged 63)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sport country  Canada
Professional 1949–1950 [1]
Best ranking finish Semi-Final (1950 World Championship)[1]

George Chenier (January 14, 1907– November 11, 1970) was a Canadian snooker player widely regarded as the best player Canada has ever produced.[2] Chenier is considered to be one of the premier break builders of his era, who was also the North American Snooker Champion from 1948 to 1970 and is one of only two snooker players to have been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the other being Cliff Thorburn.[3]

Career

Born in Hull, Quebec, he began playing snooker as a youngster in Ottawa, and lived in various cities around North America including Detroit, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto where he spent most of his time, explaining it was where “the best players are”.[3] He is noted for being the first world-class snooker player to use a two-piece cue.[4]

Chenier was invited to England in 1950 by the 15 time World Snooker Champion Joe Davis himself. Davis had perviously met Chenier went he was touring in Canada. Chenier would go on to take part in the 1950 World Snooker Championship at Tower Circus in Blackpool, England where he would advance to the semi-finals before losing 43–28 to the defending champion Fred Davis. Chenier also competed in the 1949/50 News of the World Tournament. On 3 February 1950, while in competing in England, Chenier made a break of 144, which was a world record at the time and brought a large degree of recognition for Chenier.[5][6]

In 1963, he won the World Pocket Billiard Championship and ran the first perfect game of 150 ever registered in that tournament.[3] Whilst in Los Angeles for the 1966 World Pocket Billiards Championship, Chenier suffered a stroke prior to the tournament that affected his speech and the left side of his body. That left him unable to compete for a short time. However in spite of his failing health, he still managed to successfully defend his North American Snooker Championship in April 1970.

Chenier died from complications following series of strokes on November 11, 1970. The following year in 1971 he was posthumously inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[3]

Non-Ranking wins: (23)

External links

References

  1. 1 2 "Career-total Statistics for George Chenier – Professional". CueTracker – Snooker Database. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "In Memoriam - George Chenier". Snooker Canada. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "George Chenier". Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ Thorburn, Cliff (1987). Cliff Thorburn's Snooker Skills. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall. p. 9. ISBN 0-13-136730-7.
  5. ↑ "George Chenier Snooker Player Who Made A 144". alamy.com. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "George Chenier". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20 October 2015.


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