Talk:Joe Davis

Lead needs work
The lead section is far too ho-hum, and does not summarize why Davis is notable.

Memoirs
I remember him publishing his memoirs, titled 'The Breaks Came My Way'. I don't know if there are any reviews of this book. Valetude (talk) 16:09, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

Televised Century
Markham Wildman (i.e. Mark Wildman) made a televised century break in November 1960. However, a contemporary newspaper report (Sports Argus - Saturday 12 November 1960, page 3) says he was the first amateur to do so, "and the second player - Joe Davis being, of course, the first - to have ever done so." So either the century against Pulman (mentioned in the article) was before this rather than in 1962, or Wildman was the first, or there was an earlier televised century by Davis. (Or the sources are wrong about Wildman being first.) Can anyone confirm which? BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 00:56, 25 December 2019 (UTC)
 * I've removed the claim that Davis made the first televised century from the article. Everton (Guinness Book of Snooker, 1981) says "Two amateurs, Mark Wildman (1962) and Jonathan Barron (1963) made century breaks on television before any professional did." Morrison (Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker) also says it was Wildman who made the first televised century, and also has 1962. There is some confusion over the date but based on sources I've seen, it was Wildman first. Other internet sources may be taking the BBC video of Davis (or this Wikipedia page) as the source for Davis being the first. If anyone can clear this up, thanks! BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 18:04, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

Sections removed
I have removed "Steve Davis, who held the record for most professional tournament wins and himself is generally regarded as the beginning of the modern game, has stated that if he could play against a player from the past, it would be Joe Davis, to "find out how good he really was". " - Steve Davis does say in the book that he would like to play Joe "and see what he was like and to see what his standard was" but I don't see that him really singling Joe out when talking about other greats there. Also "generally regarded as the beginning of the modern game" would need a source. Please add this back in if it can be sourced.

I've also taken out "Davis is widely perceived as one of the greatest players of all time by enthusiasts and fellow professionals, including five-time World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. " and replaced it with a quote from O'Sullivan's autobiography referencing one of Davis' books. BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 21:36, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

Infobox (number of titles)
As there is no mention of ranking tournaments in the article, nor link to explain what they are here, I'd suggest it's better to omit "Non-ranking: 24" from the tournament wins section. Davis retired from snooker decades before the ranking system. The total of 24 also omits his billiards titles. (See also Talk:Walter_Donaldson_(snooker_player)) Regards, BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 16:53, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Requested move 8 December 2022

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) – robertsky (talk) 15:48, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

Joe Davis → Joe Davis (snooker player) – The announcer, who is the voice of the World Series, Los Angels Dodgers and does NFL games is the primary topic. Google Joe Davis and the announcer is clearly the primary topic. The announcer also receives many more page views. Pennsylvania2 (talk) 14:19, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Strong oppose The snooker player is clearly the primary topic. We're comparing the snooker player who won the first 15 world championships and single-handedly turned an obscure pastime into the massive sport that snooker is today, with an announcer. From an encyclopedic perspective there's no comparison. In a generation or two time the snooker player will still be a big name in snooker while the announcer (who I've never heard of) will be a footnote in history. Do all American soap stars, broadcasters, etc have to be the primary topic simply because they get a lot of page views? Surely not. Classic case of recentism IMO. Nigej (talk) 14:54, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose Google search results are a pretty poor way to judge the primary topic. This person is clearly the primary topic.  Lee Vilenski (talk • contribs) 16:59, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose per Nigej. YorkshireExpat (talk) 17:22, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose The snooker player is listed in Britannica and other established reference sources; and he has 30 different language Wikipedia entries compared to one for the sportscaster. I don't think Google results are the best metric but, for me (maybe due to geography or past search history), all of the first page results are for the snooker player. Regards, BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 10:53, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Weak support the snooker player may be primary by long-term significance but not by usage, the sportscaster has more views (4,773) than the snooker player (3,745)[].  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 19:27, 10 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Clear primary topic by long-term significance. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:13, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Added info (thought this would be the best place to store it)
Over a 20-year period, Davis won four World Billiards Championship titles and 15 World Snooker Championship titles. Other than in handicapped matches in which he conceded a start, he lost only four times, all towards the end of his career and against his brother Fred.

Everton has said of Davis's influence on the game in the early 1920s: "in those days, the prevailing idea was to pot a red or two, a couple of colours and play safe but in the time he could spare from billiards Davis devoted considerable thought and practice to evolving the positional and break-building shots, sequences and techniques which are taken for granted today.

Fred Davis, the second person to become a world champion at both snooker and billiards, said that his brother Joe was "a very good player before anyone else knew how to play the game. Ted Lowe, manager of Leicester Square Hall and later a snooker commentator for the BBC, wrote that "because of his magnetism, snooker was able to replace billiards in most clubs, pubs and billiard halls. Journalist Donald Trelford provided a similar assessment in his book Snookered (1986), writing that Davis had the vision to identify snooker as a replacement for billiards and "had the organizing genius and force of habit to make things happen in that moribund world."

Davis was not able to focus with his right eye; he played with his cue to the left of his chin.[19] Coach Frank Callan, in his book Frank Callan's Snooker Clinic (1989), compared the most successful player at the time, Steve Davis, to Joe Davis and concluded that Joe was the better player.

While learning to play snooker, Steve Davis was heavily influenced by Joe Davis's book How I Play Snooker (1956). Ronnie O'Sullivan said of one of Davis's coaching books: "2007–8 ... was one of my best years and it was all because I was reading the Joe Davis book." O'Sullivan again paid tribute to Davis after claiming his sixth world title in 2020.

Everton wrote that, following his retirement from the world championship, Davis "through his force of personality ... controlled the game", being the pre-eminent player, chairman of the professional players' association, a co-owner of the Leicester Square Hall (the main venue for professional matches), and the negotiator for television contracts.

Davis was nicknamed "Mr Snooker", "the Sultan of Snooker" and "the Emperor of Pot". Sandman1142 (talk) 10:25, 28 March 2024 (UTC)