In these days when the first-grade professional ranks have gaps to fill if the old traditions are to be maintained, the quick rise to notice of young Joseph Davis, of Chesterfield, is, to lovers of billiards, a welcome feature.
There had been claims as to the talent of this Derbyshire boy, but until he made his London debut in the recent St. Dunstan event at Leicester Square, the appraisements had been attributed to local partiality. But now London opinion (generally regarded as conclusive where billiards talent is concerned) agrees with Chesterfield. Since Smith, Falkiner, and Newman began to take the metropolis by storm years ago, there has been seen no more promising aspirant for the pastime's highest honours.
Joseph Davis was born just 20 years ago (on April 16, 1901) in the colliery village of Whitwell, and his parents removed to Chesterfield in his infancy. Billiards appealed to him when he was 11 years of age, and his natural aptitude for the game is revealed by the fact that twelve months later he made his first hundred break. At 13 he won the Chesterfield and District Amateur Championship, and in January, 1920, he made his first 400 in public. His record is 468, made in Chesterfield some three months ago.
A sturdy, well-set-up lad, Davis has a nice free cue action, is a rapid scorer, and has, for one so young, an excellent conception of the game. His attitude at the table is brisk and businesslike, and the only weakness one could detect in his play was that he does not appreciate the safety phase of the game at its full value. Experience will correct this shortcoming.
Davis had never set foot in London until he came up for the St. Dunstan's tournament, and then he established a unique record by compiling a grand break of 147 (against Aiken, the Scottish champion) at his very first visit to the table at Thurston's—a remarkable achievement. Davis got into the semifinal of the event and would probably have won it but for an oversight of the rule relating to misses.
Since then Davis has beaten Raynor (one of the best match players in the second division) in the Midlands Professional Championship, and has qualified to meet the holder (Lawrence) in the final. A teetotaller, non-smoker, and with all the advantages that youth confers, Davis is the most promising recruit that professional billiards has had for a decade.
His next appearance in London will be in a week's match, with Arthur Peall in May, and short of a meeting with one of the "Big Four," the Chesterfield youth could not have a better public trial of his potential.