Walter Donaldson (snooker player)

Walter Donaldson
birthday	4th January 1907
place of birth	Coatbridge
date of death	May 24, 1973
Place of death	Newport Pagnell , Buckinghamshire
nationality	Scotland
Active time	1923-1954
Success in snooker
World Championship	Winner 1947, 1950 finalist 1948–49, 1951–54 semi-finalist 1933 quarter-finalist 1939, 1940, 1946
Highest break	142 (1946)
Success in English Billiards
World Championship	U16 champion 1922

Walter Weir Wilson Donaldson (born January 4, 1907 in Coatbridge , † May 24, 1973 in Buckinghamshire ) was a professional snooker player from Scotland .

Career

Donaldson turned pro in 1923 at the age of 16. In 1933 he played for the first time at the World Snooker Championship and at least made it to the semifinals, where he was defeated by Joe Davis .

In 1946 he managed a break of 142 points, which was a world record at the time. In 1947 he won the first World Cup after the resignation of serial winner Joe Davis, where he defeated Fred Davis (brother of Joe Davis) with 82:63 in the final . So he was the second world champion ever and the first non-English world champion. In the following two years, however, he lost to Fred Davis in the final before he won his second and last world title in 1950. It was followed by three more defeats in the final against Fred Davis in the years 1952 to 1954 before Donaldson ended his active career.

He died on May 24, 1973 at his home in Newport Pagnell .

In 2012, Donaldson was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame as the second Scot after Stephen Hendry .

Web links

• Walter Donaldson at World Snooker (English) ( Memento of 4 May 2010 at the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Find a will: Wills and Probate 1858–1996. In: probatesearch.service.gov.uk. Retrieved October 9, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Walter Donaldson. In: global-snooker.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014 ; accessed on October 9, 2016 (English). 
3. ↑ On this Week: English shame. In: uk.sports.yahoo.com. February 1, 2010, archived from the original on November 20, 2015 ; accessed on October 9, 2016 (English). 
4. ↑ Rocket Named Player Of Year. In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , May 11, 2012, archived from the original on February 23, 2014 ; accessed on October 9, 2016 (English).