Norman Dagley

Norman Dagley
birthday	1929
place of birth	Earl Shilton , Leicestershire
date of death	January 15, 1999
nationality	England
Success in English Billiards
Active time	approx. 1965-1998
World championships	4th
Continental Championships	1
National championships	15th

Norman Dagley (* 1929 in Earl Shilton , Leicestershire ; † January 15, 1999 ) was an English English Billiards player who won numerous titles during his playing days, including the English Billiards World Cup twice .

Career

Dagley was born in Earl Shilton in Leicestershire in 1929 (other information says 1930) and grew up there. As a child he played cricket and soccer and was the captain of the school cricket team and was tried on the right wing as a soccer player for Aston Villa . For the next several years, Dagley worked as a factory worker, bus driver and chauffeur. He also served in the Korean War , during which he experienced an emergency landing of a military aircraft on water as a passenger. He was also the manager of a snooker club in Earl Shilton. There were two of the best amateurs at the time, Jack and Reg Wright, with Dagley being trained hard by Reg. Dagley had already won a snooker tournament there when he was fourteen. Through this training, Dagley had a good feel for the selection of thrusts and an instinctive sense of precision and nuance. He had also developed various tricks that allowed him to continue breaking out of difficult situations. He was also a good hole player and had good nerves.

From the 1960s Dagley played at a high level English billiards and won fifteen titles in the English championship between 1965 and 1984, the last seven of them in a row. He had waited to take part in this tournament until his mentor considered him good enough for it. In his last title he set a world record with a score of 1477 points in a session according to the two-hole rule, while his opponent only scored 75 points in the same session and jokingly stated that he wanted a world record for it. Between 1964 and 1981 he also won the CIU Individual Billiards Championship eleven times . In 1971 and 1975 he won the IBSF World Billiards Championship , the amateur world championship in English Billiards. At this tournament he was also in the final two more times, but lost it. Finally, at the age of 54, he became a professional player in the mid-1980s and was able to win the final of the professional English Billiards World Championship in each of the following two years . For the 1986/87 season he finally rose to the paid ranks. In the same year Dagley made a big impression when he won the World Cup against Robby Foldvari 3-1 at the end of the season . He won £ 9,500 for this title alone , a new high at the time. At the same time, he won a total of £ 20,000 during the season of £ 50,000, having won the World Matchplay Championship, the UK Championship and the European Championship, which also put him in first place in the world rankings.

In 1988, when the World Cup set a new record with 24 participants, Dagley defended his title with a 7-4 win over Foldvaris compatriot Eddie Charlton . Before he had defeated the young Englishman Mike Russell 4-0 at the World Cup , Dagley lost against him in the final of the European Championship. Dagley was able to hold onto the top of the world until the next season, but then had to make way for Russell. In the years that followed, Dagley Russell often had to admit defeat just before the final. One reason for this was - in addition to the strength of Russell and his colleague Peter Gilchrist - Dagley's health problems. In 1991 he won another title at the British Open. In the following years Dagley could not show any more successes, but he continued to play on the professional tour and in 1998 took part in all professional tournaments. At that time he was considered one of the most popular and outstanding players. Before April 1998 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and fell ill with the lymph glands.

On December 23, 1998, Dagley still attended the annual general meeting of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association . A good three weeks later, on January 15, 1999, Dagley died. He left behind his wife Nita and was buried in Nuneaton five days later . He lived in his place of birth until the end. In 2010 a memorial plaque was inaugurated at the local community center in the presence of his brother Ken.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Plaque in Earl Shilton commemorates former world champion. Hinckley Times, November 4, 2010, accessed April 30, 2020 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} various authors: The Earl Shilton Social Institute - History. thestute.co.uk, accessed April 30, 2020 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Trevor Baxter: Obituary: Norman Dagley. The Independent , January 18, 1999, accessed April 30, 2020 .  
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Clive Everton : Norman Dagley obituary. The Guardian , January 28, 1999, accessed April 30, 2020 .  
5. ^ CIU Individual Billiards Championship. English Amateur Billiards Association, October 18, 2013, accessed April 30, 2020 .