John Dunning (snooker player)

John Dunning (April 1927 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire – 11 September 2009^[1]) was an English professional player of snooker. Considered a Yorkshireman through and through, he was eleven times Yorkshire amateur champion. In 1964, he became CIU champion, beating Geoff Thompson in the final, making this his best win as an amateur. He had lost to Mark Wildman the previous year.

Dunning turned professional in 1970, and played his first World Championship match in 1972, when he lost to John Pulman in the first round, after beating Pat Houlihan and Graham Miles at the Qualifying rounds. He produced his best performance in 1974, when he made the Quarter-finals, which he lost to Miles 13–15. He last played at the main stages in 1982.

He re-emerged in 1977, when he reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural UK Snooker Championship, before losing 0–5 to Alex Higgins.

But his biggest moment in his career came when he reached the final of the Yamaha Masters in March 1984. The tournament, played on a three-man-group round-robin basis, saw Dunning start the tournament as 7–1 outsider to qualify from his first group. After he beat Tony Knowles 2–1 in the opening game, he became favourite; all he had to do then was to beat Les Dodd – and that he did without much difficulty. He then made it to the semi-finals, which he played against Australian Warren King and Terry Griffiths of Wales. Dunning lost to King, but beat Griffiths, which made his place in the final, in which he met Dave Martin and the reigning World Champion and World No. 1 Steve Davis. The final proved to be a real challenge for Dunning, and he lost both matches, ending up third, with Davis winning the title, but he did receive a cheque for £6,000. He is still to this day the oldest ever finalist in a major snooker event, at 56 years and 11 months.

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