Jimmy White
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| Jimmy White | |
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| Born | May 2, 1962 |
| Nationality |  English |
| Nickname(s) | The Whirlwind The People's Champion |
| Professional | 1980– |
| Highest ranking | #2 (2 years) |
| 2008/09 ranking | #65 |
| Career winnings | GB£4,658,290[1] |
| Highest break | 147 (1992) |
| Best ranking finish | 10 wins |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 10 |
| Non-ranking | 21 |
| World Champion | Runner-up (6 times) |
James "Jimmy" Warren White, MBE (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed the "Whirlwind" (and occasionally the "People's Champion"[1][2], White is a multiple World Championship finalist. He has been a professional since 1980, the year in which he won the World Amateur title.
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[edit] Early life
White was born in Tooting, London, United Kingdom, and studied at Ernest Bevin College. He never achieved academic success, as he was often truant from school from the age of eight or nine, spending more and more time at Ted Zanicelli's snooker hall. It was around this time that he met Tony Meo with whom he would compete in money matches in many venues.[2] His natural aptitude for snooker led to a successful amateur career. After winning the English Amateur Championship in 1979, a year later he became the youngest ever winner of the World Amateur Snooker Championship, aged 18.
[edit] Career
With a host of major titles and achievements, including ten ranking tournaments, White has been described by the BBC as a "legend".[3] A left-hander, he has reached the World Professional Championship Final on six occasions but has yet to win this most prestigious title. Yet his overall record is on a par with many of the most successful players the sport has seen. Only the World Championship, which he first entered in 1981, has eluded him although he has been runner-up on six occasions (1984, 1990-1994). Nonetheless, his consistency and dominating style of play have been on the wane for some years and with his first-round defeat in the 2006 World Championship White dropped out of the world's top 32 player rankings. White said in 2006 that he would go off and play golf in Spain if he thought he had no chance of regaining his former glory. "I guarantee you I will be in the top 16 for next year. I am far too good", he commented.[4] White's slide down the rankings has seen him drop to 60th (as of May 2007). However, he remains in the top 64 and is playing on the 2007-2008 professional tour. He lost his first qualifying match for the 2007 World Championship to Jamie Burnett in March 2007 and as a result did not appear in the televised stages for only the second time since 1981.
The World Championship has provided the theatre for White's greatest disappointments. In 1982, he led Alex Higgins 15-14 in their nip-and-tuck semi-final, was up 59-0 in the penultimate frame and a red and colour away from the final. However, he eventually succumbed to Higgins' fightback. In the 1984 final he trailed Steve Davis 12-4 at the end of the first day's play, made a determined comeback, yet eventually lost by a margin of only 18-16.
In 1992, he led Stephen Hendry 12-6 and then 14-8. After Hendry pulled back to 14-9, White needed to pot only one red to win both the 24th and 25th frames, obstacles he could not overcome. After the deficit was reduced further to 12-14, White went in-off when compiling a potentially frame-winning break. Hendry moved 15-14 ahead without conceding a further point and won a closely contested thirtieth frame to lead 16-14. Two century breaks completed Hendry's ten-frame winning streak and a remarkable 18-14 victory. White's defeat may be attributed to a combination of his own inability to secure crucial frames from winning positions, to an opponent who played his best snooker as White faltered, and, less importantly, to one or two instances of bad luck.
White also reached the final in 1993 but found Hendry much too strong: his 5-18 defeat was the second heaviest reverse in a final in the modern era. However, arguably his best chance came in the 1994 final, his fifth consecutive and third in a row against Hendry. White trailed 1-5 early on but recovered well to lead 10-9. Hendry again surged clear 15-13 and 17-16 but a break of 75 from White took the match to a decider. In the final frame, White was on a break of 29 and leading the frame by 37 points to 24. He then missed an easy black off its spot, after which commentator Dennis Taylor observed: "Dear me, that was just a little bit of tension". Had White potted the black, he would have been required to pot only three more reds (with blacks) to leave Hendry needing snookers. As it happened, Hendry cleared with a technically straightforward break of 58 to win the title. Gracious in defeat, White joked that Hendry was "beginning to annoy" him in the post-match interview.
White became the first player to beat Hendry twice at the World Championship, when he added a 1998 first-round win (10-4 after leading 7-0 and 8-1) to his 13-12 second-round success over Hendry ten years earlier. The feat has since been matched by Matthew Stevens and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
White is one of only six players to have completed a maximum 147 break at the World Championship (1992). He has also compiled 253 competitive centuries during his career.
Rather than being deficient in any technical aspect of the game, for instance he is very proficient in using the rest, it is arguable that occasional moments of inconsistency or lack of concentration, particularly at critical points in a match, have cost White dearly. But for these, the record books could have been very different. This image of "nearly man" has fuelled the affection in which he is held, particularly when compared to Davis in the 1980s and Hendry in the 1990s, both of whom have consistently played excellent snooker but have not been quite as popular. Regardless, his comeback in the 2003-04 season also highlighted how tough a player White can be when he adopts a more disciplined approach and reins in his array of shots.
Despite being best known for snooker, he is also a pool player. Along with Steve Davis and Alex Higgins, White was a member of Europe's victorious Mosconi Cup team of 1995, and won the deciding match against Lou Butera.
[edit] Tournament Wins
[edit] Ranking Wins
- Mercantile Credit Classic - 1986, 1991
- Rothmans Grand Prix - 1986, 1992
- British Open - 1987, 1992
- Canadian Masters - 1988
- European Open - 1992
- UK Championship - 1992
- Players Championship - 2004
[edit] Non-Ranking Wins
- English Amateur Championship - 1979
- World Amateur Championship - 1980
- Scottish Masters - 1981
- Northern Ireland Classic - 1981
- Hofmeister World Doubles - 1984 (with A. Higgins)
- Benson & Hedges Masters - 1984
- Carlsberg Challenge - 1984, 1985
- Thailand Masters - (season) 1984/85
- Irish Masters - 1985, 1986
- Pot Black - 1986
- Malaysian Masters - (season) 1986/87
- Hong Kong Masters - 1988
- World Matchplay - 1989, 1990
- Mita World Masters - Men's Singles - 1991
- Canal Plus European Challenge - 1991
- Matchroom League - 1993
- Mosconi Cup - 9-ball pool event, member of winning European team
- Pontin's Professional Tournament - 1999
- Nations Cup - 2000 (representing England, with John Parrott, Stephen Lee, and Ronnie O'Sullivan)
[edit] Filmography
White had a cameo role as himself (as the World Billiards Champion) in Stephen Chow's 1990 kung fu and billiards comedy film, Legend of the Dragon.
On the popular BBC game show Big Break, White was the first player to clear the table with 3 reds still remaining in the final part of the challenge (thus winning the top prize for the contestant he was playing for). He was introduced to the studio audience on each appearance with the song "Jimmy Jimmy" by the Undertones.
[edit] In popular culture
Jimmy White has endorsed three computer games, these being Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker, Jimmy Whites's Cueball and Jimmy Whites's Cueball 2. These games have been released on numerous machines from 8 bits up to second generation consoles and mobile phones, computer and video games. These include games for the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Sega Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy Color, Sony PlayStation, Playstation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox and PC platforms.
On June 2007, Jimmy was contracted to the online billiard website Play89.
The band Dustin's Bar Mitzvah wrote a song about him.[clarify]
Comedian Bill Hicks makes reference to White on his album Salvation Oxford.
[edit] Personal life
White was awarded an MBE in 1999. Coincidentally, the three players to have beaten him in the world finals (Davis, 1984; Hendry, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994; Parrott, 1991) have also received an MBE.[5]
White is a very keen poker player, and won the second Poker Million tournament, which also included Steve Davis at the final table.[6] He is also good friends with professional poker player Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott.
White was formerly married to Maureen White, and they have five children. He currently lives in Epsom and supports Chelsea F.C.[7]
White had an operation for testicular cancer in 1995.[8]
In February 2005, after hearing of a sponsorship deal from HP Foods, makers of brown sauce, whereby the HP logo will be present on the brown ball at all major tournaments, White announced he had changed his name by deed poll to 'James Brown', and would wear brown clothing with a blue bow tie when competing at the upcoming Masters tournament.[9] World Snooker subsequently announced that as he had registered for the tournament as Jimmy White, he would be referred to by that name during it, and the press has continued to call him Jimmy White after the tournament.
In November 2007, his father, Tommy White, died aged 88. White is a director of Jimmy White Ltd, with his daughter Lauren Albert, which turned over £180,359 in 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ World Snooker profile of White
- ^ White, Jimmy; and Rosemary Kingsland (1998). Behind the White Ball: My Autobiography. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-180126-5.
- ^ Whirlwind Q&A
- ^ BBC interview, 20 July 2006.[not specific enough to verify]
- ^ "World Snooker: Players"; accessed July 24, 2007
- ^ "The History of Poker Million", at official site of event sponsor Ladbrokes Poker; accessed February 15, 2007.
- ^ Profile: Jimmy White MBE" BBC Profile; accessed July 23, 2007
- ^ Jimmy White: How I beat testicular cancer Daily Mail; accessed May 1, 2008
- ^ "Jimmy Gets Saucy with Name Change", no by-line, BBC News (online edition), "Sport: Fun and Games" section, 8 February 2005; accessed 14 March 2007
[edit] External links
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